HR: 1340h
AN: A33A-0866    [Abstracts]
TI: Evidence of Long Range Transport of Dust From Southwest Asia to the United States
AU: * Bucholtz, A
EM: bucholtz@nrlmry.navy.mil
AF: Naval Research Laboratory, 7 Grace Hopper Avenue, Monterey, CA 93943 United States
AU: Jonsson, H H
EM: hjonsson@nps.navy.mil
AF: Center for Interdisciplinary Remotely Piloted Aircraft Studies, 3200 Imjin Rd. Hangar #507, Marina, CA 93933 United States
AU: Liu, M
EM: liu@nrlmry.navy.mil
AF: Naval Research Laboratory, 7 Grace Hopper Avenue, Monterey, CA 93943 United States
AU: Reid, E A
EM: reidb@nrlmry.navy.mil
AF: Naval Research Laboratory, 7 Grace Hopper Avenue, Monterey, CA 93943 United States
AU: Reid, J S
EM: reidj@nrlmry.navy.mil
AF: Naval Research Laboratory, 7 Grace Hopper Avenue, Monterey, CA 93943 United States
AU: Walker, A L
EM: walker@nrlmry.navy.mil
AF: Naval Research Laboratory, 7 Grace Hopper Avenue, Monterey, CA 93943 United States
AU: Westphal, D L
EM: westphal@nrlmry.navy.mil
AF: Naval Research Laboratory, 7 Grace Hopper Avenue, Monterey, CA 93943 United States
AB: On March 25, 26 and 27 2003, strong dust storms occurred in Iraq and Saudi Arabia at the start of Operation Iraqi Freedom that severely impaired visibility throughout the region. Evidence will be presented here that indicates this dust was carried westward by prevailing winds and transported halfway around the world to the west coast of the United States. A combination of transport modeling, surface and airborne measurements, and compositional analysis will be used to argue the case. A regional mesoscale weather model, the Navy's Coupled Ocean/Atmospheric Mesoscale Prediction System (COAMPS^TM), and a global tropospheric aerosol model, the Navy Aerosol Analysis and Prediction System (NAAPS), will be used to illustrate the lofting and transport pathways of the dust, and the favorable meteorological conditions for such long range transport. In addition, surface meteorological observations in Asia will be used to show the lack of any significant dust generation in that region during the same time period. Serendipitously, a surface and airborne field study to investigate the properties and effects of the natural and anthropogenic Asian aerosols transported to the west coast of the United States in the springtime began operation in April 2003. Based out of Monterey on the central coast of California, the Asian Dust Above Monterey (ADAM) field study consisted of surface and airborne measurements of the radiative, microphysical, and morphological properties of the aerosols in the region. The surface observations included MPLNET lidar measurements and AERONET sun photometer measurements as part of the Naval Research Laboratory's Mobile Atmospheric Aerosol and Radiation Characterization Observatory (MAARCO), while the airborne observations included bulk filter samplers, and in situ particle number and size samplers on board the Naval Postgraduate School's Center for Interdisciplinary Remotely Piloted Aircraft Studies (CIRPAS) Twin Otter aircraft. The first flight of the Twin Otter for ADAM occurred on April 3rd and coincided with the predicted arrival of the Iraqi dust on the west coast of the U.S. The measurements from the surface lidar and sun photometer, and the aircraft in situ particle sampler will be used to indicate the presence of aerosol layers aloft on this day, and the compositional analysis of the bulk filter sampler will be used to determine the presence of Iraqi dust.
DE: 0305 Aerosols and particles (0345, 4801, 4906)
DE: 0345 Pollution: urban and regional (0305, 0478, 4251)
SC: Atmospheric Sciences [A]
MN: Fall Meeting 2005