Potential for Dust Storm Detection Through Aerosol Radiative Forcing Related to Atmospheric Parameters

Abstract

The implications of climatic effects due to aerosols with a large variability like mineral dust serve as indicators of dust events and are examined. Airborne mineral dust can influence the climate by altering the radiative properties of the atmosphere. For instance, aerosols in the form of dust particles reflect the incoming solar radiation to space, thereby reducing the amount of radiation available to the ground. This is known as 'direct' radiative forcing of aerosols. Aerosols also serve as cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) and change the cloud albedo and microphysical properties of clouds, known as 'indirect' radiative forcing of aerosols. Direct and indirect radiative forcing by mineral dust are observed over a desert case study in China as well as a highly vegetated case study over Nile Delta, Egypt, using boundary layer dispersion (BLD), albedo, sensible heat flux (SHF), latent heat flux (LHF) and out going long wave radiation (OLR) parameters. During the presence of the dust event, shortwave fluxes largely decrease accompanied by an abrupt increase in the down-welling long wave fluxes resulting in surface forcing. This leads to absorption of the shortwave and long wave radiations resulting in a positive forcing in the top of the atmosphere. In this research we are focusing on the radiative impacts of the dust over some meteorological parameters.