Long-Range Transport of Mineral Dust to the Northeast Indian Ocean: Regional versus Remote Sources and the Implications

Banerjee, Priyanka and Satheesh, SK and Moorthy, Krishna K and Nanjundiah, Ravi S and Nair, Vijayakumar S (2019) Long-Range Transport of Mineral Dust to the Northeast Indian Ocean: Regional versus Remote Sources and the Implications. In: JOURNAL OF CLIMATE, 32 (5). pp. 1525-1549.

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Abstract

Synergizing satellite remote sensing data with vertical profiles of atmospheric thermodynamics and regional climate model simulations, we investigate the relative importance, transport pathways, and seasonality of contribution of dust from regional (Thar Desert and adjoining arid regions) and remote (southwest Asia and northeast Africa) sources over the northeast Indian Ocean i.e., the Bay of Bengal (BOB)]. We show that while over the northern BOB dust from the regional sources contribute more than 50% to the total dust load during the southwest monsoon period (June-September), interestingly; the remote dust sources dominate rest of the year. On the other hand, over the southern BOB, dust transported from the remote-source regions dominate throughout the year. During June, the dry elevated layer (at altitudes between 850 and 700 hPa) of dust, transported across the Indo-Gangetic Plain to the northern BOB, arises primarily from the Thar Desert. Dust from remote sources in the far west reaches the southern BOB after traversing over and around the southern Indian Peninsula. Since dust from these distinct source regions have different mineral composition (hence optical properties) and undergo distinct changes during atmospheric transport, it is important to understand source-specific dust contribution and transport pathways to address dust-climate feedback.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Publication:	JOURNAL OF CLIMATE
Publisher:	AMER METEOROLOGICAL SOC
Additional Information:	Copyright of this article belongs to AMER METEOROLOGICAL SOC
Keywords:	Dust or dust storms; Regional models
Department/Centre:	Division of Mechanical Sciences > Divecha Centre for Climate Change Division of Mechanical Sciences > Centre for Atmospheric & Oceanic Sciences
Date Deposited:	18 Feb 2019 08:46
Last Modified:	18 Feb 2019 08:46
URI:	http://eprints.iisc.ac.in/id/eprint/61745

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