Improving dust emission scheme in climate models

MODIS image on 03/19/2012 (Origin: Afghanistan/Pakistan)

- Sagar Parajuli

Scattering Absorption Longwave back radiation

Dust-cloud interaction CCN/IN

Dry/Wet deposition

Wind

Creep

Biogeochemical processes

Figure 1. Mean MODIS aerosol optical thickness ( 2003-2012) indicating average level of dust concentration in the study area (Middle East and North Africa). The diameter of circle is proportional to the population of the city.

Existing Dust scheme in CLM: (DEAD1)

1Dust

Entrainment and Deposition Model

(1Zender, Bian, & Newman, 2003)

CLM dust simulation evaluation

Dataset CLM simulation
(atmospheric forcing: Qian et al. 2006)

Temporal res. (year: 2003) Daily

Spatial res. 0.9 1.25

AERONET AOT at 500nm

Level 3 MODIS AOD at 550 nm

15 min

Station (Solar Village in Saudi Arabia)

1 1

Daily and monthly

CLM Simulated dust flux

MODIS AOT

Temporal variations (2003)

Mean daily AERONET AOT at 500nm
1.5

AOT at 500nm

0.5

0 Jan

Feb
4

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

10

x 10

CLM4 simulated mean daily dust flux

Dust flux (tons/day)

8 6 4 2 0 Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

Mean daily WS at 10m

5 4 3 2 1 Jan

WS at 10m

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

July

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Key issues

Current CLM gives the maximum possible dust emission from bare surface

Threshold friction speed is key in controlling dust flux which is a function of mainly soil moisture and percentage clay content
Soil moisture variation in dust source region being very low, percentage clay content mainly modifies threshold friction speed

Given the unavailability of accurate percentage clay content map, the only way to improve dust emission is: Either use different parameterization for different geomorphological surfaces Or use erodibility map in constraining the model estimate

Animation: Mean monthly AOD in the study area for 2012

Evaluation of the wind data

Description Spatial res. MODIS Deep 1 1 Blue AOT at 550 nm ERA-Interim 1.5 Wind Speed 1.5 NCEP/NCAR 2.5 Reanalysis 2.5 Wind Speed Temporal Res. Daily (01:30 PM local time) 6 hourly Data range 2003-2012 Reference s (Hsu et al. 2006) (Kalnay et al. 1996) Uppala et al. 2005)

2003-2012

6 hourly

2003-2012

Wind speed and AOT at Bodele

6 5
Deep Blue AOT at 550nm
6

Deep Blue AOT at 550nm

y = 0.043*x2 - 0.25*x + 1.1 R-square = 0.48

5 4 3 2 1 0 0

y = 0.026*x2 - 0.054*x + 0.91 R-square = 0.19

4 3 2 1 0 0

2 4 6 8 10 12 1000 hPa ERA-Interim Wind Speed (m/s)

14

4 6 8 10 1000 hPa NCEP Wind Speed (m/s)

12

Comparison with ground-based observations

1.4

AERONET AOT at 550nm

1.2 1 0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2 0 0 SDaeronet/SDmodis = 0.98 R-square = 0.59 0.5 1 Deep Blue AOD at 550nm

Mezaira station 10m wind (m/s)

2 R - Square = 0.29 SDstn/SDera = 0.84 2 4 6 ERA 10m wind at Mezaira (m/s) 8

1.5

0 0

10

Daily data at 01:30 PM (2003)

6 hourly data (2010)

Improving the model: use of Erodibility Map

Proposed erodibility map

(correlation map between Deep Blue AOT and 10m wind (data: 365 observations of 2012)

Expected improvements:

Vegetated area with mountainous topography

Agricultural areas

Topographic erodibility map (Ginoux et al. 2001)

Use of dust source map

Proposed dust source map can be used to mask non-erodible areas (represented by insignificant correlation in the map)

Since residence time of dust is relatively longer than the wind persistence time, this method eliminates the false identification of dust sources associated with transported dust
Monthly erodibility map can be used to account for the dependence of threshold friction speed on vegetation and seasonality

Proposed geomorphological map

(Bullard et al. 2011)

Future works

Implement the developed erodibility in CLM and evaluate the resulting emission Use ERA-Interim wind for forcing CLM; Look for better percentage clay content map Develop geomorphological map from google earth image using image classification algorithm (e.g. maximum likelihood method) Integrate geomorphological map into CLM Develop dust storm forecasting tool using combination of model and satellite data

Thank you!

Existing Model: (DEAD1) Dust Entrainment and Deposition

Model

T is a global factor to compensate models horizontal and temporal resolution sensitivity = 5 10-4 S = 1 (source erodibility factor)

(1Zender, Bian, & Newman, 2003)

DEAD cont..

DEAD cont.

DEAD cont.

http://ldas.gsfc.nasa.gov/gldas/GLDAS soils.php (avilable at .25 and 1 degree)

Soil moisture variation in dust source region

Surface SM (gm/cm3)

0.08 0.07 0.06 0.05 0.04 0 30 60 90 120 150 180 210 Julian Days 240 270 300 330

360

Soil texture used in GLDAS2/Noah

http://disc.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/hydrology/data-holdings

Unlike in visible bands, UV surface reflectivity is low and is not affected by albedo Non-absorbing aerosols(e.g., sulfate aerosols and sea-salt particles) yield negative AI values. UV-absorbing aerosols (e.g., dust and smoke) yield positive AI values. Clouds yield near-zero values.