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Role of Surface Wind and Vegetation Cover in Multi-decadal Variations of Dust Emission in the Sahara and SahelNorth Africa, the world's largest dust source, is non-uniform, consisting of a permanently arid region (Sahara), a semi-arid region (Sahel), and a relatively moist vegetated region (Savanna), each with very different rainfall patterns and surface conditions. This study aims to better understand the controlling factors that determine the variation of dust emission in North Africa over a 27-year period from 1982 to 2008, using observational data and model simulations. The results show that the model-derived Saharan dust emission is only correlated with the 10-m winds (W10m) obtained from reanalysis data, but the model-derived Sahel dust emission is correlated with both W10m and the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) that is obtained from satellite. While the Saharan dust accounts for 82 of the continental North Africa dust emission (1340-1570 Tg year(exp -1) in the 27-year average, the Sahel accounts for 17 with a larger seasonal and inter-annual variation (230-380 Tg year(exp -1), contributing about a quarter of the transatlantic dust transported to the northern part of South America. The decreasing dust emission trend over the 27-year period is highly correlated with W10m over the Sahara (R equals 0.92). Over the Sahel, the dust emission is correlated with W10m (R 0.69) but is also anti-correlated with the trend of NDVI (R equals 0.65). W10m is decreasing over both the Sahara and the Sahel between 1982 and 2008, and the trends are correlated (R equals 0.53), suggesting that Saharan Sahelian surface winds are a coupled system, driving the inter-annual variation of dust emission.
Document ID
20170003438
Acquisition Source
Goddard Space Flight Center
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
Authors
Kim, Dong
(Universities Space Research Association Columbia, MD, United States)
Chin, Mian
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD United States)
Remer, Lorraine A.
(Maryland Univ. Baltimore County Baltimore, MD, United States)
Diehl, Thomas L.
(Science Collaborator)
Bian, Huisheng
(Maryland Univ. Baltimore County Baltimore, MD, United States)
Yu, Hongbin
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD United States)
Brown, Molly E.
(Maryland Univ. College Park, MD, United States)
Stockwell, William R.
(Howard Univ. Washington, DC, United States)
Date Acquired
April 14, 2017
Publication Date
October 31, 2016
Publication Information
Publication: Atmospheric Environment
Publisher: Elsevier
Volume: 148
ISSN: 1352-2310
Subject Category
Geosciences (General)
Report/Patent Number
GSFC-E-DAA-TN41569
Funding Number(s)
CONTRACT_GRANT: NNG11HP16A
CONTRACT_GRANT: NNX11AH66G
CONTRACT_GRANT: NNX15AT34A
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other
Keywords
Inter-annual variation
Vegetation index
Transatlantic dust

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