HR: 0800h
AN: H51C-0389    [Abstracts]
TI: Detection and Preliminary Assessment of Source Areas of the 15 December 2003 Dust Storm in the Chihuahuan Desert, Southwestern North America
AU: * Rivera Rivera, N I
EM: nirivera2@utep.edu
AF: University of Texas at El Paso, Dept. of Geological Sciences, El Paso, TX 79968 United States
AU: Gill, T E
EM: tegill@utep.edu
AF: University of Texas at El Paso, Dept. of Geological Sciences, El Paso, TX 79968 United States
AU: Bleiweiss, M P
EM: mbleiwei@taipan.nmsu.edu
AF: New Mexico State University, Dept. of Entomology, Plant Pathology and Weed Science, Las Cruces, NM 88003 United States
AU: Hand, J L
EM: hand@cira.colostate.edu
AF: CIRA, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523 United States
AU: Dominguez A., M
EM: migueld@utep.edu
AF: University of Texas at El Paso, Dept. of Geological Sciences, El Paso, TX 79968 United States
AU: Dominguez A., M
EM: migueld@utep.edu
AF: Universidad Autonoma de Ciudad Juarez, Depto. de Ingenieria Civil y Ambiental, Ciudad Juarez, Ch. 32310 Mexico
AU: Ruiz, A
EM: aruiz2@utep.edu
AF: University of Texas at El Paso, Dept. of Geological Sciences, El Paso, TX 79968 United States
AU: Perez, A E
EM: perez@geo.utep.edu
AF: University of Texas at El Paso, Dept. of Geological Sciences, El Paso, TX 79968 United States
AU: Emmert, S P
EM: semmert@utep.edu
AF: University of Texas at El Paso, Dept. of Geological Sciences, El Paso, TX 79968 United States
AU: Lee, J A
EM: jeff.lee@ttu.edu
AF: Texas Tech University, Dept. of Economics and Geography, Lubbock, TX 79409 United States
AU: Mulligan, K R
EM: kevin.mulligan@ttu.edu
AF: Texas Tech University, Dept. of Economics and Geography, Lubbock, TX 79409 United States
AB: Dust storms can disperse large quantities of fine aeolian sediment regionally and even globally. These extreme aerosol events frequently originate with multiple dust plumes developing simultaneously over a large region. Dust outbreaks originating in the southwestern USA and northern Mexico seasonally transport aerosols long distances across continental North America. However, dust sources in this region are not well characterized. Remote sensing data can be used to assess the frequency and magnitude of these dust events for potential impacts on climate, visibility and health-related air quality issues. We applied a technique that consists of examining visible spectral bands, as well as difference "split-window" images for far-infrared (far-IR) channels using a variety of satellite imagery (NOAA/GOES/GVAR/Imager, NOAA/POES/AVHRR and NASA/TERRA/MODIS). This technique was used to locate the origin of multiple dust plumes in the Chihuahuan Desert region of the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico during a significant dust event that occurred on December 15, 2003. After dust sources were identified, we superimposed their locations on Landsat-7 images to assess surface features of these aeolian "hotspots," and visited many of these sites to determine the geomorphology, soil/sediment properties, and land use associated with these dust sources. Dust plumes in the Chihuahuan Desert on 15 December 2003 emanated from several land types, including saline playas, bare desert soils, disturbed/abandoned lands, and agricultural areas. In Mexico, sources included several sites along the edges of pluvial Lake Palomas near the contacts between sand sheets and lacustrine sediments, small dry lake beds (lagunas secas) and several sites in the Casas Grandes river basin in Chihuahua. In the United States, dust emission hotspots included dry, unvegetated saline playas (the White Sands near the E and SE edges of Lake Lucero, New Mexico, and the northern Salt Basin west of the Guadalupe Mountains, Texas) and regions of desert soils within the Pecos River basin of Loving County, Texas and the Indian Basin of Luna County, New Mexico. Although the sites are characterized by sandy aeolian surface sediments, preliminary granulometric investigation of some samples indicates the admixture of noticeable amounts of silts and clays which would enhance dust emissions. Lacustrine sediments (with deflatable silts and clays or evaporites) eroded by saltating sand from upwind could be a potent source of dust aerosols. Evidence of anthropogenic disturbance (construction/excavation, livestock facilities) was present at some of the dust source points, even in otherwise isolated, unpopulated terrain.
DE: 0305 Aerosols and particles (0345, 4801, 4906)
DE: 0480 Remote sensing
DE: 1824 Geomorphology: general (1625)
DE: 1843 Land/atmosphere interactions (1218, 1631, 3322)
DE: 9350 North America
SC: Hydrology [H]
MN: Fall Meeting 2005