Articles | Volume 21, issue 16
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-12359-2021
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-12359-2021
Research article
 | 
18 Aug 2021
Research article |  | 18 Aug 2021

Observation and modeling of the historic “Godzilla” African dust intrusion into the Caribbean Basin and the southern US in June 2020

Hongbin Yu, Qian Tan, Lillian Zhou, Yaping Zhou, Huisheng Bian, Mian Chin, Claire L. Ryder, Robert C. Levy, Yaswant Pradhan, Yingxi Shi, Qianqian Song, Zhibo Zhang, Peter R. Colarco, Dongchul Kim, Lorraine A. Remer, Tianle Yuan, Olga Mayol-Bracero, and Brent N. Holben

Related authors

The response of the Amazon ecosystem to the photosynthetically active radiation fields: integrating impacts of biomass burning aerosol and clouds in the NASA GEOS Earth system model
Huisheng Bian, Eunjee Lee, Randal D. Koster, Donifan Barahona, Mian Chin, Peter R. Colarco, Anton Darmenov, Sarith Mahanama, Michael Manyin, Peter Norris, John Shilling, Hongbin Yu, and Fanwei Zeng
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 14177–14197, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-14177-2021,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-14177-2021, 2021
Short summary
Understanding processes that control dust spatial distributions with global climate models and satellite observations
Mingxuan Wu, Xiaohong Liu, Hongbin Yu, Hailong Wang, Yang Shi, Kang Yang, Anton Darmenov, Chenglai Wu, Zhien Wang, Tao Luo, Yan Feng, and Ziming Ke
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 13835–13855, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-13835-2020,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-13835-2020, 2020
Short summary
Interannual variability and trends of combustion aerosol and dust in major continental outflows revealed by MODIS retrievals and CAM5 simulations during 2003–2017
Hongbin Yu, Yang Yang, Hailong Wang, Qian Tan, Mian Chin, Robert C. Levy, Lorraine A. Remer, Steven J. Smith, Tianle Yuan, and Yingxi Shi
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 139–161, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-139-2020,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-139-2020, 2020
Short summary
Multi-decadal aerosol variations from 1980 to 2009: a perspective from observations and a global model
M. Chin, T. Diehl, Q. Tan, J. M. Prospero, R. A. Kahn, L. A. Remer, H. Yu, A. M. Sayer, H. Bian, I. V. Geogdzhayev, B. N. Holben, S. G. Howell, B. J. Huebert, N. C. Hsu, D. Kim, T. L. Kucsera, R. C. Levy, M. I. Mishchenko, X. Pan, P. K. Quinn, G. L. Schuster, D. G. Streets, S. A. Strode, O. Torres, and X.-P. Zhao
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 14, 3657–3690, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-3657-2014,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-3657-2014, 2014

Related subject area

Subject: Aerosols | Research Activity: Remote Sensing | Altitude Range: Troposphere | Science Focus: Physics (physical properties and processes)
Opposite effects of aerosols and meteorological parameters on warm clouds in two contrasting regions over eastern China
Yuqin Liu, Tao Lin, Jiahua Zhang, Fu Wang, Yiyi Huang, Xian Wu, Hong Ye, Guoqin Zhang, Xin Cao, and Gerrit de Leeuw
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 4651–4673, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-4651-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-4651-2024, 2024
Short summary
Effect of wind speed on marine aerosol optical properties over remote oceans with use of spaceborne lidar observations
Kangwen Sun, Guangyao Dai, Songhua Wu, Oliver Reitebuch, Holger Baars, Jiqiao Liu, and Suping Zhang
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 4389–4409, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-4389-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-4389-2024, 2024
Short summary
Assessment of smoke plume height products derived from multisource satellite observations using lidar-derived height metrics for wildfires in the western US
Jingting Huang, S. Marcela Loría-Salazar, Min Deng, Jaehwa Lee, and Heather A. Holmes
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 3673–3698, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-3673-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-3673-2024, 2024
Short summary
A remote sensing algorithm for vertically resolved cloud condensation nuclei number concentrations from airborne and spaceborne lidar observations
Piyushkumar N. Patel, Jonathan H. Jiang, Ritesh Gautam, Harish Gadhavi, Olga Kalashnikova, Michael J. Garay, Lan Gao, Feng Xu, and Ali Omar
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 2861–2883, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-2861-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-2861-2024, 2024
Short summary
Opinion: Aerosol remote sensing over the next 20 years
Lorraine A. Remer, Robert C. Levy, and J. Vanderlei Martins
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 2113–2127, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-2113-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-2113-2024, 2024
Short summary

Cited articles

Ashpole, I. and Washington, R.: An automated dust detection using SEVIRI: A multi-year climatology of summertime dustiness in the central and western Sahara, J. Geophys. Res., 117, D08202, https://doi.org/10.1029/2011JD016845, 2012. 
Bian, H., Chin, M., Hauglustaine, D. A., Schulz, M., Myhre, G., Bauer, S. E., Lund, M. T., Karydis, V. A., Kucsera, T. L., Pan, X., Pozzer, A., Skeie, R. B., Steenrod, S. D., Sudo, K., Tsigaridis, K., Tsimpidi, A. P., and Tsyro, S. G.: Investigation of global particulate nitrate from the AeroCom phase III experiment, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 12911–12940, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-12911-2017, 2017. 
Brindley, H. E., Knippertz, P., Ryder, C., and Ashpole, I.: A critical evaluation of the ability of the Spinning Enhanced Visible and InfraRed Imager (SEVIRI) thermal infrared red-green-blue rendering to identify dust events: Theoretical analysis, J. Geophys. Res., 117, D07201, https://doi.org/10.1029/2011JD017326, 2012. 
Buchard, V., Randles, C. A., da Silva, A. M., Darmenov, A., Colarco, P. R., Govindaraju, R., Ferrare, R., Hair, J., Beyersdorf, A. J., Ziemba, L. D., and Yu, H.: The MERRA-2 aerosol reanalysis, 1980 onward. Part II: Evaluation and case studies, J. Climate, 30, 6851–6872, https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-16-0613.1, 2017. 
Carlson, T. and Prospero, J. M.: The Large-Scale Movement of Saharan Air Outbreaks over the Northern Equatorial Atlantic, J. Appl. Meteorol., 11, 283–297, https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0450(1972)011<0283:TLSMOS>2.0.CO;2, 1972. 
Download
Short summary
This study characterizes a historic African dust intrusion into the Caribbean Basin in June 2020 using satellites and NASA GEOS. Dust emissions in West Africa were large albeit not extreme. However, a unique synoptic system accumulated the dust near the coast for about 4 d before it was ventilated. Although GEOS reproduced satellite-observed plume tracks well, it substantially underestimated dust emissions and did not lift up dust high enough for ensuing long-range transport.
Altmetrics
Final-revised paper
Preprint