Articles | Volume 18, issue 16
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-11863-2018
© Author(s) 2018. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-11863-2018
© Author(s) 2018. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Wildfires as a source of airborne mineral dust – revisiting a conceptual model using large-eddy simulation (LES)
Leibniz Institute for Tropospheric Research (TROPOS), Leipzig,
Germany
Michael Jähn
Leibniz Institute for Tropospheric Research (TROPOS), Leipzig,
Germany
now at: Swiss Federal Laboratories for Material Science
and Technology (Empa), Dübendorf, Switzerland
Kerstin Schepanski
Leibniz Institute for Tropospheric Research (TROPOS), Leipzig,
Germany
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Sofía Gómez Maqueo Anaya, Dietrich Althausen, Matthias Faust, Holger Baars, Bernd Heinold, Julian Hofer, Ina Tegen, Albert Ansmann, Ronny Engelmann, Annett Skupin, Birgit Heese, and Kerstin Schepanski
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We use 90,000 dust point source observations (DPS), identified in satellite imagery across 9 global dryland environments to develop a novel dust emission model performance assessment. We evaluate the albedo-based dust emission model (AEM), which agrees with dust emission observations, or lack of emission 71 % of the time. Modelled dust occurs 27 % of the time with no observation, caused mostly by the incorrect assumption of infinite sediment supply and lack of dynamic dust entrainment thresholds.
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Dust emissions influence global climate while simultaneously reducing the productive potential and resilience of landscapes to climate stressors, together impacting food security and human health. Our results indicate that tuning dust emission models to dust in the atmosphere has hidden dust emission modelling weaknesses and its poor performance. Our new approach will reduce uncertainty and driven by prognostic albedo improve Earth System Models of aerosol effects on future environmental change.
Matthias Faust, Ralf Wolke, Steffen Münch, Roger Funk, and Kerstin Schepanski
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Trajectory dispersion models are powerful and intuitive tools for tracing air pollution through the atmosphere. But the turbulent nature of the atmospheric boundary layer makes it challenging to provide accurate predictions near the surface. To overcome this, we propose an approach using wind and turbulence information at high temporal resolution. Finally, we demonstrate the strength of our approach in a case study on dust emissions from agriculture.
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Short summary
Wildfires can disturb the lower tropospheric wind conditions and are able to mobilize and inject mineral dust particles into the atmosphere. This study presents a conceptual model of fire-driven dust emissions using large-eddy simulations and evaluates how efficiently wildfires are able to modify the near-surface winds. The results show that typical threshold velocities necessary for dust emission are frequently exceeded and wildfires should be considered a source of airborne mineral dust.
Wildfires can disturb the lower tropospheric wind conditions and are able to mobilize and inject...
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