Toward resolution-independent dust emissions in global models: Impacts on the seasonal and spatial distribution of dust
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Heald_Toward resolution.pdf
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Author(s)
Pierce, J. R.
Evans, M. J.
Ridley, David Andrew
Heald, Colette L.
Date Issued
June 2013
Journal
Geophysical Research Letters
Publisher
American Geophysical Union (AGU)
Citation
Ridley, D. A., C. L. Heald, J. R. Pierce, and M. J. Evans. “Toward Resolution-Independent Dust Emissions in Global Models: Impacts on the Seasonal and Spatial Distribution of Dust.” Geophys. Res. Lett. 40, no. 11 (June 15, 2013): 2873–2877. © 2013 American Geophysical Union
Version
Final published version
Abstract
Simulating the emission of mineral dust and sea-salt aerosol is nonlinear with surface winds and therefore requires accurate representation of surface winds. Consequently, the resolution of a simulation affects emission and is often corrected with nonphysical scaling in coarse resolution global models. We examine the resolution dependence of emissions in the GEOS-Chem model and find that globally, annual emissions at 4° × 5° resolution are 59% of those simulated at 2° × 2.5° and only 33% of emissions at 0.25° × 0.3125°. The spatial and seasonal distribution of dust emissions vary substantially, indicating that applying a uniform scaling is inappropriate. We demonstrate the benefit of characterizing the subgrid surface wind as a Weibull probability distribution, reconciling much of the difference in emissions between resolutions for dust. Such a representation is shown to have little impact on sea-salt emissions.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
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Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use.
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1002/grl.50409
