Investigation of observed dust trends over the Middle East region in NASA Goddard Earth Observing System (GEOS) model simulations

Rocha-Lima, Adriana; Colarco, Peter R.; Darmenov, Anton S.; Nowottnick, Edward P.; da Silva, Arlindo M.; Oman, Luke D.

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-2443-2024

Articles | Volume 24, issue 4

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-2443-2024

© Author(s) 2024. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-2443-2024

© Author(s) 2024. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 24, issue 4

Research article

|

27 Feb 2024

Research article |

| 27 Feb 2024

Investigation of observed dust trends over the Middle East region in NASA Goddard Earth Observing System (GEOS) model simulations

Adriana Rocha-Lima, Peter R. Colarco, Anton S. Darmenov, Edward P. Nowottnick, Arlindo M. da Silva, and Luke D. Oman

Data sets

MODIS Atmosphere L2 Aerosol Product R. Levy https://doi.org/10.5067/MODIS/MOD04_L2.061

MISR Level 2 Aerosol parameters V003 NASA/LARC/SD/ASDC https://doi.org/10.5067/TERRA/MISR/MIL2ASAE_L2.003-23

Aerosol Robotic network AERONET https://aeronet.gsfc.nasa.gov/

MERRA-2 tavg1\_2d\_aer\_Nx: 2d,1-Hourly,Time-averaged,Single-Level,Assimilation,Aerosol Diagnostics V5.12.4 GMAO https://doi.org/10.5067/KLICLTZ8EM9D

merra2\_gmi GMI https://portal.nccs.nasa.gov/datashare/merra2_gmi/

Global MODIS and FLUXNET-derived Daily Gross Primary Production, V2 J. Joiner and Y. Yoshida https://doi.org/10.3334/ORNLDAAC/1835

MYD13C2 MODIS/Aqua Vegetation Indices Monthly L3 Global 0.05Deg CMG V006 K. Didan https://doi.org/10.5067/MODIS/MYD13C2.006

Short summary

Observations show an increasing aerosol optical depth trend in the Middle East between 2003–2012. We evaluate the NASA Goddard Earth Observing System (GEOS) model's ability to capture these trends and examine the meteorological and surface parameters driving dust emissions. Our results highlight the importance of data assimilation for long-term trends of atmospheric aerosols and support the hypothesis that vegetation cover loss may have contributed to increasing dust emissions in the period.