HR: 10:20h
AN: A11G-01 INVITED     [PDF]
TI: TOMS and the Identification and Environmental Characterization of Global Dust Sources.
AU: * Prospero, J M
EM: jprospero@rsmas.miami.edu
AF: Univ. of Miami, RSMAS, 4600 Rickenbacker Cswy, Miami, FL 33149 United States
AU: Ginoux, P
EM: pag@gfdl.noaa.gov
AF: UCAR & NOAA GFDL, Forrestal Campus, Princeton, NJ 08542 United States
AU: Gill, T E
EM: tom.gill@ttu.edu
AF: Texas Tech University, P.O. Box 42101, Lubbock, TX 9409 United States
AU: Torres, O
EM: torres@tparty.gsfc.nasa.gov
AF: JCET Univ. Md Baltimore County, NASA GSFC Code 916, Greenbelt, MD 20771 United States
AU: Mc Tainsh, G
EM: g.mctainsh@mailbox.gu.edu.au
AF: Griffith University, Nathan Campus, Brisbane, 4111 Australia
AB: Although the Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) was designed for ozone measurements, it has proven to be extremely useful for measuring aerosols. TOMS is especially sensitive to the presence of UV absorbing aerosols such as smoke and mineral dust. An advantage of TOMS as an aerosol sensor is that it can detect aerosols over land as well as ocean surfaces. As a result TOMS has provided us with an unprecedented picture of the global distribution of smoke and dust and their transport paths through the atmosphere. The TOMS absorbing aerosol product has been particularly useful in the study of mineral dust sources which are of great interest because of the important role that dust plays in atmospheric radiation and cloud processes. There were, however, major uncertainties in the sources of dust and the factors affecting dust mobilization and transport. The TOMS product has led to dramatic improvements in our knowledge of the global distribution of dust sources. This, in turn, has enabled us to identify the environmental characteristics of these dusty terrains. TOMS-based studies show that dust sources, regardless of size or strength, can usually be associated with topographical lows located in arid regions with annual rainfall under 200-250 mm. Although the source regions themselves are arid or hyperarid, the action of water is evident from the presence of ephemeral streams, rivers, lakes, and playas. Most major sources have been intermittently flooded through the Quaternary as evidenced by deep alluvial deposits. In this presentation we will review some of these studies and present examples of some of the dust source types that are believed to be characteristic of major sources.
DE: 0305 Aerosols and particles (0345, 4801)
DE: 0322 Constituent sources and sinks
DE: 0368 Troposphere--constituent transport and chemistry
SC: Atmospheric Sciences [A]
MN: 2003 Fall Meeting