Journal
ATMOSPHERE
Volume 12, Issue 11, Pages -Publisher
MDPI
DOI: 10.3390/atmos12111509
Keywords
African easterly waves; Saharan dust transport
Funding
- NSF [1624414-0, 2108233]
- Directorate For Geosciences [1624414] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
- Div Atmospheric & Geospace Sciences [1624414] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
- Div Atmospheric & Geospace Sciences
- Directorate For Geosciences [2108233] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
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Theoretical predictions indicate that peak dust transports occur where zonal-mean dust gradients are maximized on an AEW critical surface, as confirmed by experiments using the Weather Research and Forecasting model. Meridional dust transports dominate in the passive case, while vertical dust transports dominate in the active case.
Theory and modeling are combined to reveal the physical and dynamical processes that control Saharan dust transport by amplifying African easterly waves (AEWs). Two cases are examined: active transport, in which the dust is radiatively coupled to the circulation; passive transport, in which the dust is radiatively decoupled from the circulation. The theory is built around a dust conservation equation for dust-coupled AEWs in zonal-mean African easterly jets. The theory predicts that, for both the passive and active cases, the dust transports will be largest where the zonal-mean dust gradients are maximized on an AEW critical surface. Whether the dust transports are largest for the radiatively passive or radiatively active case depends on the growth rate of the AEWs, which is modulated by the dust heating. The theoretical predictions are confirmed via experiments carried out with the Weather Research and Forecasting model, which is coupled to a dust conservation equation. The experiments show that the meridional dust transports dominate in the passive case, while the vertical dust transports dominate in the active case.
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