Abstract. There have been numerous recent publications showing that mineral dust might be a good absorber for solar radiation in addition to its capability to act as cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) and ice forming nuclei (IFN), and could lead to reduced cloud cover and precipitation in the region where it is present. This effect is investigated using a dynamic cloud model with detailed microphy...

[1] Atmospheric mineral aerosols influence climate and biogeochemistry, and thus understanding the impact of humans on mineral aerosols is important. Our longest continuous record of in situ atmospheric desert dust measurements comes from Barbados, which shows fluctuations of a factor of 4 in surface mass concentrations between the 1960s and the 1980s [Prospero and Nees, 1986]. Understanding fl...

We use the radiative transfer model and chemistry transport model to improve our retrievals of dust optical properties from satellite measurements. The optical depth and absorbing optical depth of mineral dust can be obtained from our improved retrieval algorithm. We find the nonsphericity and absorption of dust particles strongly affect the scattering signatures such as phase function and pola...

Mineral Aerosol dusts have complex non spherical shapes and varying composition. This is utilizes data on morphology (size and shape) and composition of dust particles to determine the extent to which the optical properties of real particles differ from those of spheres. In morphology we find the aspect ratio, circularity factor and radius than discuss the size and shape of the aerosol dust par...

[1] Mineral dust aerosols originating from arid regions are simulated in an atmospheric global chemical transport model. Based on model results and observations of dust concentration, we hypothesize that air pollution increases the scavenging of dust by producing high levels of readily soluble materials on the dust surface, which makes dust aerosols effective cloud condensation nuclei (CCN). Th...

Asian dust events transport the airborne bacteria in Chinese desert regions as well as mineral particles and influence downwind area varying biological ecosystems and climate changes. However, the airborne bacterial dynamics were rarely investigated in the Gobi desert area, where dust events are highly frequent. In this study, air samplings were sequentially performed at a 2-m high above the gr...

In order for Fe contained in aeolian dust to act as a micronutrient for oceanic phytoplankton it must be first mobilized or dissolved. We propose that significant Femobilization can occur in mineral dust from East Asia as a result of the incorporation of SO2 from pollutant emissions into the advecting dust plumes and the subsequent acidification of the dust by heterogeneous SO2 oxidation. To te...

Specific objectives of our research are: (1) elucidate the links between dust particles morphology (shape and size), composition, optical properties and related radiative effects; (2) relate the properties of dust to its source and investigate the evolution of dust properties during transport in the marine boundary layer, focusing on the comparative analysis of the Asian, African, Southwestern ...

Sea salt and mineral dust records as represented by Na and Ca concentrations, respectively, in Greenland and Antarctic ice cores show pronounced glacial/interglacial variations. For the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) mineral dust (sea salt) concentrations in Greenland show an increase of a factor of approximately 80 (15) compared to the Holocene and significant shifts by a factor of 15 (5) during D...

A dust aerosol model was developed and its performance validated against pre-INDOEX measurements. This model was incorporated in the NCMRWF T80 global model. A five-day integration was performed with the assumption that light mineral dust is present over Arabian Sea. Mean shortwave dust forcings were computed from the forecast. In general, at surface, a negative dust forcing was noted. At the t...