HR: 14:45h
AN: A43E-04    [Abstracts]
TI: SMART-COMMIT Observations and Deep-Blue Retrievals of Saharan Dust Properties during NAMMA
AU: * Tsay, S
EM: si-chee.tsay@nasa.gov
AF: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Code 613.2, Greenbelt, MD 20771, United States
AU: Hsu, N C
AF: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Code 613.2, Greenbelt, MD 20771, United States
AU: Ji, Q
AF: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Code 613.2, Greenbelt, MD 20771, United States
AU: Jeong, M
AF: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Code 613.2, Greenbelt, MD 20771, United States
AB: Monsoon rainfalls sustain the livelihood of more than half of the world's population. The interaction between natural/anthropogenic aerosols, clouds, and precipitation is a critical mechanism that drives the water cycle and fresh water distribution. Analyses of the long-term trend of July-August precipitation anomaly for the last 50 years in the 20th century depict that the largest regional precipitation deficit occurs over the Sahel, where the monsoon water cycle plays an important role. Thus, it is of paramount importance to study how dust aerosols, as well as air pollution and smoke, influence monsoon variability. The NASA African Monsoon Multidisciplinary Activities (NAMMA) was conducted during the international AMMA Special Observation Period (SOP-3) of September 2006 to better comprehend the key attributes of the Saharan Air Layer (SAL) and how they evolve from the source regions to the Atlantic Ocean. The SAL occurs during the late spring through early fall and originates as a result of low-level convergence induced by heat lows over the Sahara that lifts hot, dry, dust laden air aloft into a well mixed layer that extends up to 500mb. This is crucial for understanding the impact of SAL on the key atmospheric processes that determine precipitation over West Africa and tropical cyclogenesis. Results obtained from the synergy of satellite (Deep-Blue) and surface (SMART-COMMIT) observations will be presented and discussed how the physical, optical and radiative properties of the dust in the SAL evolve from the continental to the marine environment.
DE: 3310 Clouds and cloud feedbacks
DE: 3319 General circulation (1223)
DE: 3339 Ocean/atmosphere interactions (0312, 4504)
DE: 3354 Precipitation (1854)
DE: 3355 Regional modeling
SC: Atmospheric Sciences [A]
MN: 2007 Joint Assembly