The Effects of Local Pollution and Transport Dust on Aerosol Properties in Typical Arid Regions of Central Asia during DAO-K Measurement

Dust aerosol has an impact on both the regional radiation balance and the global radiative forcing estimation. The Taklimakan Desert is the focus of the present research on the optical and micro-physical characteristics of the dust aerosol characteristics in Central Asia. However, our knowledge is still limited regarding this typical arid region. The DAO-K (Dust Aerosol Observation-Kashgar) campaign in April 2019 presented a great opportunity to understand further the effects of local pollution and transported dust on the optical and physical characteristics of the background aerosol in Kashgar. In the present study, the consistency of the simultaneous observations is tested, based on the optical closure method. Three periods dominated by the regional background dust (RBD), local polluted dust (LPD), and Taklimakan transported dust (TTD), are identified through the backward trajectories, combined with the dust scores from AIRS (Atmospheric Infrared Sounder). The variations of the optical and micro-physical properties of dust aerosols are then studied, while a direct comparison of the total column and near surface is conducted. Generally, the mineral dust is supposed to be primarily composed of silicate minerals, which are mostly very weakly absorbing in the visible spectrum. Although there is very clean air (with PM2.5 of 21 mu g/m(3)), a strong absorption (with an SSA of 0.77, AAE of 1.62) is still observed during the period dominated by the regional background dust aerosol. The near-surface observations show that there is PM2.5 pollution of similar to 98 mu g/m(3), with strong absorption in the Kashgar site during the whole observation. Local pollution can obviously enhance the absorption (with an SSA of 0.72, AAE of 1.58) of dust aerosol at the visible spectrum. This is caused by the increase in submicron fine particles (such as soot) with effective radii of 0.14 mu m, 0.17 mu m, and 0.34 mu m. The transported Taklimakan dust aerosol has a relatively stable composition and strong scattering characteristics (with an SSA of 0.86, AAE of similar to 2.0). In comparison to the total column aerosol, the near-surface aerosol has the smaller size and the stronger absorption. Moreover, there is a very strong scattering of the total column aerosol. Even the local emission with the strong absorption has a fairly minor effect on the total column SSA. The comparison also shows that the peak radii of the total column PVSD is nearly twice as high as that of the near-surface PVSD. This work contributes to building a relationship between the remote sensing (total column) observations and the near-surface aerosol properties, and has the potential to improve the accuracy of the radiative forcing estimation in Kashgar.

Automated summary

Dust aerosol has an impact on regional radiation balance and global radiative forcing estimation. This research investigates the characteristics of dust aerosol in the Taklimakan Desert region in Central Asia. The study finds that local pollution enhances the absorption of dust aerosol, while transported dust has strong scattering characteristics. The comparison between total column aerosol and near-surface aerosol reveals differences in size and absorption properties.