Role of land surface parameter change in dust emission and impacts of dust on climate in Southwest Asia

• Published in: Natural hazards (Dordrecht) Vol. 109; no. 1; pp. 111 - 132
• Main Authors: Darvishi Boloorani, Ali, Najafi, Mohammad Saeed, Mirzaie, Saham
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01.10.2021; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Aerosol optical depth; Aerosols; Air pollution; Atmospheric particulates; Barren lands; Civil Engineering; Climate; Climate models; Cloud cover; Cloud formation; Clouds; Cooling; Cooling effects; Dust; Dust emission; Dust storms; Earth and Environmental Science; Earth Sciences; Emission analysis; Emissions; Environmental Management; Geophysics/Geodesy; Geotechnical Engineering & Applied Earth Sciences; Heat flux; Heat transfer; Heating; High temperature effects; Hydrogeology; Land cover; Meteorological data; MODIS; Natural Hazards; Net Primary Productivity; Optical analysis; Optical thickness; Original Paper; Parameters; Phenology; Precipitation; Primary production; Radiative forcing; Regional climate models; Regional climates; Soil investigations; Soil moisture; Temporal variations; Vegetation; Arabian Peninsula; Southwest Asia; Iraq; Iran; Southwest Asia; RegCM; Land surface changes; WRF-Chem; Dust climate impact
• DOI: 10.1007/s11069-021-04828-0
• ISSN: 0921-030X

Spatial–temporal changes of land surface parameters (land cover change, net primary production, and vegetation phenology) affect the characteristics of atmospheric dust. This phenomenon subsequently will influence the climate parameters (radiative forcing, temperature, cloud, and precipitation). This research uses time-series data (2005–2015) from Regional Climate Model (RegCM) dust module simulation, WRF-Chem, meteorological data, aerosol optical depth, soil moisture, MODIS-based vegetation phenology, and net primary production to investigate the impacts of land surface parameter change on dust emission and the influence of dust on radiative forcing, heat fluxes, cloud formation, and the amount of precipitation over Southwest Asia. As the findings suggest, the southern regions of the Arabian Peninsula, southeastern Iraq, southwestern Iran, northern Arabian Peninsula, and southeastern Iran are subject to the most potent regional concentration of atmospheric dust. Our results revealed: ( i ) 12% of the land cover classes in southeastern Iraq and southwestern Iran were transformed into barren lands from 2005 to 2015 and subsequently these areas experienced the highest rate of dust formation, ( ii ) land surface changes and their consequences for dust formation have affected dust radiative forcing up to 10%, ( iii ) net-radiative forcing of dust always induces a state of cooling temperatures at surface, ( iv ) longwave forcing of dust causes a rise in heating impacts at top-of-atmosphere (TOA), so, dust aerosols have a cooling effect at the surface and heating effect at TOA, and ( v ) dust seems to reinforce cloud cover and cloud perceptible water, while reducing precipitation over Southwest Asia. Graphic abstract