Rutgers University Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Identifier (type = RULIB)
ETD
Identifier
ETD_4069
PhysicalDescription
Form (authority = gmd)
electronic resource
InternetMediaType
application/pdf
InternetMediaType
text/xml
Extent
viii, 40 p. : ill.
Note (type = degree)
M.S.
Note (type = bibliography)
Includes bibliographical references
Note (type = statement of responsibility)
by Lu Wang
Abstract (type = abstract)
Asian dust transported to the west coast of the United States and Canada has an impact on
the local air quality. Thus, it is important to investigate the trans-Pacific transport of dust.
In this study, observations from two satellite instruments in 2007 were utilized to
evaluate this eastward flux of Asian dust – the 550 nm column aerosol optical depth and
fine-mode fraction from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS),
and the 532 nm column aerosol optical depth and volume depolarization ratio from the
Cloud-Aerosol LIdar with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP). The satellite observations
were then compared with the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory Global Chemical
Transport Model (GCTM) simulations. In both satellite studies, the eastward flux of dust displayed distinct meridional variations on both sides of the North Pacific, peaking between 30 and 40°N in the NW Pacific and between 40 and 50°N in the NE Pacific. Both MODIS and CALIOP revealed the same seasonal pattern of the eastward dust flux in 2007: maximum in spring, minimum in summer, relatively high in winter, and intermediate in fall between that in summer and winter. Despite large discrepancies in magnitude, the percentages of the seasonal contributions to the annual dust fluxes agreed well between the MODIS and CALIOP estimates. This satellite-observed seasonal pattern was different from that simulated by GCTM. Though also having the spring maximum, GCTM showed comparable dust fluxes in winter and fall which were both significantly lower than that in summer. The annual efficiency of the eastward dust transport was 64% as estimated by MODIS and 22% by CALIOP. Both approaches indicated seasonal variations in transport efficiencies with high efficiency observed in winter. In contrast, GCTM simulated relatively constant transport efficiencies throughout the year, averaged 13% for 2007. Overall, MODIS estimated greater dust fluxes than CALIOP, by about 5-fold for the NW Pacific and 14-fold for the NE Pacific. GCTM simulated even lower dust fluxes than CALIOP.
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