Article
Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences
Qiantao Liu, Zhongwei Huang, Zhiyuan Hu, Qingqing Dong, Shuting Li
Summary: This study investigates the long-range transport of Saharan dust over East Asia from 2007 to 2020. The results show that a significant portion of dust events in East Asia originate from the Sahara Desert, and the transported dust is usually distributed in the upper troposphere. The total amount of transported Saharan dust in East Asia is estimated to be around 33.05 +/- 9.78 Tg/yr between 2010 and 2015, with a significant contribution to dust loading in the upper troposphere in Northern China during spring.
JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH-ATMOSPHERES
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Weiqi Tang, Tie Dai, Yueming Cheng, Su Wang, Yuzhi Liu
Summary: In this study, the most severe East Asian dust storm in the past decade is investigated using a weather research and forecasting model and various measurements. The dust emissions from the Gobi Desert, especially over Mongolia, are found to be the dominant sources of this intense dust event. The coarse mode particles have a larger impact on the North China Plain, while the fine particles mostly affect the desert source and nearby regions.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Hengheng Zhang, Frank Wagner, Harald Saathoff, Heike Vogel, Gholamali Hoshyaripour, Vanessa Bachmann, Jochen Foerstner, Thomas Leisner
Summary: The evolution and properties of a Saharan dust plume near Karlsruhe, Germany were studied using scanning LiDAR, a vertically pointing LiDAR, a sun photometer, and the transport model ICON-ART. The study discussed the advantages of scanning aerosol LiDAR and validated a method to determine LiDAR ratios independently. The measurements showed good agreement with previous studies and the transport model accurately predicted the plume's arrival time and structure. The work will be useful for future studies characterizing aerosol particles with scanning LiDARs.
Article
Engineering, Environmental
Than T. N. Dam, Alon Angert, Michael D. Krom, Laura Bigio, Yongfeng Hu, Kevin A. Beyer, Olga L. Mayol-Bracero, Gilmarie Santos-Figueroa, Casimiro Pio, Mengqiang Zhu
Summary: Research shows that as Saharan dust travels from the Sahara Desert to Cape Verde and Puerto Rico, the proportion of Ca-bound P decreases, while the proportion of iron/aluminum-bound P increases. Laboratory experiments suggest that these changes may be attributed to increasing degrees of particle sorting and atmospheric acidification during dust transport.
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Astronomy & Astrophysics
Dominika M. Szczepanik, Iwona S. Stachlewska, Eleni Tetoni, Dietrich Althausen
Summary: On June 29-30, 2019, a huge amount of mineral dust from North Africa was forecasted to be transported to Poland, resulting in a unique dust event observed by lidar in Warsaw. The analyses conducted on the dust properties evolution revealed different characteristics of fine and coarse mode dust particles during the event, providing valuable data for future research and comparative studies.
EARTH AND SPACE SCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Zhen Wang, Siyu Chen, Chenxi Liu, Yu Chen, Yongqi Gong, Shanlin Cheng
Summary: The dynamic variations in surface bareness play a crucial role in dust modeling. This study estimates the dynamic dust source regions and emissions at the global scale, considering anthropogenic land use and land cover change. The results show significant seasonal and spatial variability in anthropogenic dust emissions, while natural dust emissions are concentrated in large desert areas.
FRONTIERS IN EARTH SCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Engineering, Environmental
Beibei He, Chenhao Shi, Bocheng Chen, Hao Wu, Ashantha Goonetilleke, An Liu
Summary: An in-depth understanding of urban road-deposited MPs is crucial for accurately predicting the risks they pose in different exposure scenarios. This study provides new insights into the factors influencing the concentration and types of MPs found on urban roads. The results showed that a significant amount of MPs, including polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene, and polyethylene terephthalate, are derived from commercial and residential land uses, while rubber MPs mainly come from tire wear. The risk scores of road-deposited MPs varied greatly across different sites, with the highest risks found in areas with a high fraction of industrial, commercial, and residential land uses, especially mixed industrial and residential areas.
JOURNAL OF HAZARDOUS MATERIALS
(2023)
Article
Soil Science
Zhuo Chen, Xin Gao, Jiaqiang Lei
Summary: The rapid drying of the Aral Sea has caused complex environmental changes and a significant amount of aeolian dust to be released from the exposed bottom. This study used models to investigate the emission and transport characteristics of the Aral Sea dust. The results show that the dust emission is concentrated in the eastern Aral Sea basin and exhibits seasonal variation, with the highest value and widest spatial range in spring. The dust can be transported over 4,000 km and affect a land area of more than 38.5 x 106 km2, reaching as far as the Arctic Ocean, Iran, the Atlantic Ocean, and the Pacific Ocean.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Antonis Gkikas, Emmanouil Proestakis, Vassilis Amiridis, Stelios Kazadzis, Enza Di Tomaso, Eleni Marinou, Nikos Hatzianastassiou, Jasper F. Kok, Carlos Perez Garcia-Pando
Summary: This study quantifies the dust optical depth (DOD) and its variability at global and regional levels using the MIDAS dataset. The results show that the DOD is higher in the Northern Hemisphere than in the Southern Hemisphere and higher over land than over ocean. Additionally, dust contributes more to the aerosol optical depth (AOD) in the Northern Hemisphere compared to the Southern Hemisphere.
ATMOSPHERIC CHEMISTRY AND PHYSICS
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
S. Levent Kuzu, Elif Yavuz
Summary: The study compared two dust schemes in simulating the Saharan Desert dust transport event, finding that Zakey's scheme performed better when simulating fine sizes, while Kok's scheme was more accurate in predicting dust size. However, both schemes were unable to simulate coarse size dust transport effectively.
AIR QUALITY ATMOSPHERE AND HEALTH
(2021)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Farouk Lemmouchi, Juan Cuesta, Mathieu Lachatre, Julien Brajard, Adriana Coman, Matthias Beekmann, Claude Derognat
Summary: We propose a supervised machine learning approach to improve the accuracy of CHIMERE chemistry transport model in simulating the regional distribution of aerosol optical depth (AOD) over North Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. Our method utilizes MODIS AOD satellite observations to generate daily AOD maps with enhanced precision and full spatial domain coverage, which is crucial for regions with limited ground-based measurements. Four popular regression models, namely MLR, RF, XGB, and NN, are trained using satellite observations and geophysical variables, and their performances are evaluated against satellite and independent ground-based AOD observations. The results show that all models perform similarly, with RF exhibiting fewer spatial artifacts while slightly overcorrecting extreme AOD values.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Zhuo Chen, Xin Gao, Jiaqiang Lei
Summary: Mongolian dust plays a significant role in Asian aerosols, impacting regional ecological balance and atmospheric environment cycling. Detailed and systematic research is needed to develop appropriate strategies for preventing dust disasters. This study provides a potential diffusion map and comprehensive analysis of Mongolian dust for formulating preventive measures.
LAND DEGRADATION & DEVELOPMENT
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Dustin F. P. Grogan, Terrence R. Nathan
Summary: Theoretical predictions indicate that peak dust transports occur where zonal-mean dust gradients are maximized on an AEW critical surface, as confirmed by experiments using the Weather Research and Forecasting model. Meridional dust transports dominate in the passive case, while vertical dust transports dominate in the active case.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Jiawei Chen, Hanyang Man, Wenying Cai, Laichang Lin, Xiaoduo Chen, Xiaohan Shao, Yumeng Bao, Bo Zhu, Lizhong Xu
Summary: Road dust, a significant contributor to non-exhaust particulate matter emissions in urban transport, poses considerable health risks. By integrating the On-board Conventional Pollutant Monitoring System with the AP-42 method, we devised a dynamic link between the concentration of particles in vehicle plumes and actual road dust emissions. Our research elucidates the interplay between road dust emissions, road types, and human activities, enhancing our understanding of the impacts of road dust on urban particulate pollution.
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Adrian Flores, Ricardo K. Sakai, Everette Joseph, Nicholas R. Nalli, Alexander Smirnov, Belay Demoz, Vernon R. Morris, Daniel Wolfe, Sen Chiao
Summary: A prominent Saharan Air Layer (SAL) was detected over the Northern Atlantic from the West African Coast to the Caribbean Sea in 2007. The SAL resulted in increased aerosol backscatter within the Marine Boundary Layer (MBL), temperature inversion, and static stability, suppressing deep convection over the tropical Atlantic.
Article
Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences
Ricardo Fonseca, Diana Francis, Narendra Nelli, Mohan Thota
Summary: This study investigates the climatological state and seasonal variability of the Arabian heat low (AHL) and the intertropical discontinuity (ITD) over the Arabian Peninsula using ERA-5 reanalysis data from 1979 to 2019. The results show that AHL has strengthened in line with the increase in surface temperature, while ITD exhibits a noticeable northward shift in the summer months.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CLIMATOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Diana Francis, Narendra Nelli, Ricardo Fonseca, Michael Weston, Cyrille Flamant, Charfeddine Cherif
Summary: The study found that a major dust outbreak in the Sahara in June 2020 significantly impacted the tropical Atlantic Ocean, resulting in a significant increase in sea surface and air temperatures.
ATMOSPHERIC ENVIRONMENT
(2022)
Article
Astronomy & Astrophysics
Michael Weston, Diana Francis, Narendra Nelli, Ricardo Fonseca, Marouane Temimi, Yacine Addad
Summary: The study conducted the first measurements of fog microphysics in the arid region of the United Arab Emirates, revealing the meteorological conditions and microphysics characteristics of fog formation. The results showed a bimodal size distribution of cloud droplets, with droplet growth observed during the mature stage, suggesting both collision/coalescence and condensation processes were involved in droplet growth.
EARTH AND SPACE SCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences
Diana Francis, Ricardo Fonseca, Narendra Nelli, Deniz Bozkurt, Ghislain Picard, Bin Guan
Summary: This study investigates the occurrence of atmospheric rivers from northwest Africa towards Europe in the winter season and evaluates their impact on snow melt in the Alps. The study finds that these events lead to significant changes in snow depth and surface albedo.
ATMOSPHERIC RESEARCH
(2022)
Article
Geography, Physical
Diana Francis, Ricardo Fonseca, Narendra Nelli, Oriol Teixido, Ruqaya Mohamed, Richard Perry
Summary: Although anthropogenic pollutants have decreased during the lockdown, particulate matter (PM) concentrations did not show the same trend. In the eastern Arabian Peninsula, PM concentrations actually increased by 30% compared to the same period in previous years. This was due to the influence of desert dust storms and increased long-range transport of aerosols.
Article
Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences
Diana Francis, Ricardo Fonseca, Kyle S. Mattingly, Oliver J. Marsh, Stef Lhermitte, Charfeddine Cherif
Summary: This study investigates the role of atmospheric forcing in the calving of the Brunt Ice Shelf in February 2021. The occurrence of extreme cyclones, a La Nina event, and the positive phase of the Southern Annular Mode were found to contribute to the calving process. The study highlights the importance of local atmospheric conditions in ice-shelf dynamics and emphasizes the need to consider both local and large-scale climate patterns in projecting Antarctic ice shelf evolution.
JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH-ATMOSPHERES
(2022)
Article
Astronomy & Astrophysics
Ricardo Fonseca, Diana Francis, Narendra Nelli, Sufian Farrah, Youssef Wehbe, Taha Al Hosari, Alya Al Mazroui
Summary: This study assesses the usefulness of the WRF model forecasts in guiding seeding operations in the United Arab Emirates. The results show that the WRF model performs well in simulating cloud top pressure/temperature and vertical velocity, but less skillful in simulating cloud fraction and radar reflectivity. The study also highlights the importance of the choice of the Planetary Boundary Layer (PBL) scheme in the model's performance, with the Yonsei University PBL scheme performing the best.
EARTH AND SPACE SCIENCE
(2022)
Review
Geochemistry & Geophysics
G. Zittis, M. Almazroui, P. Alpert, P. Ciais, W. Cramer, Y. Dahdal, M. Fnais, D. Francis, P. Hadjinicolaou, F. Howari, A. Jrrar, D. G. Kaskaoutis, M. Kulmala, G. Lazoglou, N. Mihalopoulos, X. Lin, Y. Rudich, J. Sciare, G. Stenchikov, E. Xoplaki, J. Lelieveld
Summary: Observation-based and modeling studies have identified the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East region as a prominent climate change hotspot. The region's greenhouse gas emissions are rapidly increasing, leading to faster warming compared to other inhabited regions. Projected future trends include continued warming and an increase in extreme weather events. The region's vulnerability to climate change highlights the importance of adaptation and resilience strategies for sectors at risk.
REVIEWS OF GEOPHYSICS
(2022)
Review
Environmental Sciences
Prasoon Raj, Nemeer Padiyath, Natalia Semioshkina, Yacine Addad, Francois Foulon, Diana Francis, Gabriele Voigt
Summary: Ambitious nuclear power programmes in the Arab countries, especially in the UAE, have raised concerns about the long-term impacts of radionuclide discharges on the environment and population. Arid region radioecology is emerging as a major field of research in the UAE to study the migration and bioaccumulation of radionuclides in the unique desert-marine ecosystems. This paper reviews measured data from the UAE and nearby nations, highlighting the variability in radionuclide activity concentrations and transfer parameters, and emphasizes the need for further studies in the understudied aspects of radioecology in the UAE and arid lands in general.
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
(2022)
Article
Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences
Ricardo Fonseca, Diana Francis, Narendra Nelli, Charfeddine Cherif
Summary: This study examines the relationship between consecutive fog days in the UAE and synoptic-scale circulation. The findings reveal that certain weather patterns promote multiple fog days in the UAE. The study also highlights the changes in fog properties and the need for further research on fog microphysics in the region.
ATMOSPHERIC RESEARCH
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Diana Francis, Ricardo Fonseca, Narendra Nelli, Deniz Bozkurt, Juan Cuesta, Emmanuel Bosc
Summary: Large dust storms in the Middle East in May 2022 had severe environmental, social, and health impacts. Through analyzing satellite, in-situ, and reanalysis datasets, this study identified the factors driving these storms and evaluated their effects. It was found that dust emission was promoted by density currents from deep convection over Turkey, triggered by cut-off lows from mid-latitudes fed by moisture from African atmospheric rivers. The dust clouds were transported southward at 4 km in altitude but sank to ground levels when reaching the southern Arabian Peninsula due to strong subsidence. The dust episodes caused a significant drop in shortwave flux and an increase in longwave flux, resulting in a 9 degrees C increase in nighttime temperatures.
ATMOSPHERIC ENVIRONMENT
(2023)
Article
Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences
Ricardo Fonseca, Diana Francis, Giuseppe Aulicino, Kyle S. Mattingly, Giannetta Fusco, Giorgio Budillon
Summary: The occurrence and expansion of the Terra Nova Bay Polynya (TNBP) in Antarctica are influenced by atmospheric conditions and sea ice concentration, with warm and moist air intrusions from lower-latitudes and katabatic winds descending the Transantarctic Mountains being the key factors.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Diana Francis, Michael Weston, Ricardo Fonseca, Marouane Temimi, Aisha Alsuwaidi
Summary: This study investigates methane concentration and trend in the United Arab Emirates and surrounding region, finding an increase in methane concentrations over the past 5 years, with a trend of approximately 9 ppb/year based on satellite data. The findings provide valuable information for assessing the state of methane emissions in this region and developing appropriate emission reduction strategies to achieve the proposed net-zero greenhouse gas emission target by 2050.
FRONTIERS IN ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE
(2023)
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Haifa Ben-Romdhane, Diana Francis, Charfeddine Cherif, Kosmas Pavlopoulos, Hosni Ghedira, Steven Griffiths
Summary: The feasibility of using satellite remote sensing, particularly synthetic aperture radar (SAR), for detecting and predicting buried objects in the archaeological site of Saruq Al-Hadid in the United Arab Emirates was investigated in this paper. SAR was found to be the only satellite-based technology capable of detecting buried artifacts from space, and the study used SAR data along with high-resolution multispectral images to assess the site and its land cover features. Advanced image processing techniques and geospatial analysis were used to characterize the site and automate the process, showing promising results in detecting previously excavated areas and predicting unexplored archaeological areas. The validated results can guide future on-site archaeological work and the developed pilot process can be applied in similar arid environments for archaeological feature detection and guidance.
Article
Geography, Physical
Diana Francis, Ricardo Fonseca, Kyle S. Mattingly, Stef Lhermitte, Catherine Walker
Summary: Pine Island Glacier has experienced increased ice loss, with Foehn winds being an important factor through increased surface sublimation. The impact of blowing snow and melting is relatively small. Therefore, atmospheric forcing plays a crucial role in the ice mass balance.