Mineral Dust

Overview: 

A large amount of mineral dust is mobilized over arid regions and injected into the atmosphere under favourable weather conditions. Estimates of global dust input based on ground based and satellite observations, and modelling studies range from several hundred to thousands megatons per year. The impact of mineral dust upon climate, ecosystems and air quality (and consequently on economic activities and human health) represents a major scientific and societal issue.

 
 
 
Desert dust models are essential to complement dust-related observations, understand the dust processes and predict the impact of dust on surface level particulate matter concentrations. The updated BSC-DREAM8b and the new NMMB/BSC-DUST are the models developed in the Earth Sciences Dept. to simulate and/or predict the atmospheric cycle of mineral dust at BSC-CNS.
 
Objectives: 

The primary aim of this research line is to develop, improve, evaluate and implement dust models for short-term prediction of mineral dust events worldwide and regional climate modelling. This will be achieved through the implementation state-of-the-art numerical modelling methods and addition of new parameterizations for the following physical processes: dust emission and ddeposition, particle size physics, radiative effects and cloud microphysics. 

The Earth Sciences Department at BSC-CNS conducts modelling research and developments for short-term prediction as well maintains dust forecast operations with BSC-DREAM8b and the new NMMB/BSC-DUST. The new model developments are validated against surface and remote-sensing observations in collaboration with other research groups.
Projects/Areas: 
  • Regional BSC-DREAM8b forecasts 
  • Global and regional NMMB/BSC-DUST forecasts
  • WMO SDS-WAS RC
  • Improvement of the Dust Regional Atmospheric Model (DREAM) for prediction of Saharan dust events in the Mediterranean and the Canary Islands [CICYT CGL2006-11879]
  • Coupling of a fully online multi-component aerosol module within the atmospheric global-regional NMMB model [CICYT CGL2010-19652]
  • Supercomputación y e-Ciencia [Consolider CSD00C-06-08924]

PEOPLE