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Potential climate effect of mineral aerosols over West Africa. Part I: model validation and contemporary climate evaluation

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Abstract

Mineral dusts present in the atmosphere can play an important role in climate over West Africa and surrounding regions. However, current understanding regarding how dust aerosols influence climate of West Africa is very limited. In this study, a regional climate model is used to investigate the potential climatic impacts of dust aerosols. Two sets of simulations driven by reanalysis and Earth System Model boundary conditions are performed with and without the representation of dust processes. The model, regardless of the boundary forcing, captures the spatial and temporal variability of the aerosol optical depth and surface concentration. The shortwave radiative forcing of dust is negative at the surface and positive in the atmosphere, with greater changes in the spring and summer. The presence of mineral dusts causes surface cooling and lower troposphere heating, resulting in a stabilization effect and reduction in precipitation in the northern portion of the monsoon close to the dust emissions region. This results in an enhancement of precipitation to the south. While dusts cause the lower troposphere to stabilize, upper tropospheric cooling makes the region more prone to intense deep convection as is evident by a simulated increase in extreme precipitation. In a companion paper, the impacts of dust emissions on future West African climate are investigated.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by funding from NSF (AGS-1049017, AGS-1049186, AGS-1063986, and AGS-1064008) and the Academy of Finland (Decision number 268170). Computing support was provided by NCAR through HPC resources on Yellowstone.

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  1. Department of Civil Engineering and Environmental Science, Frank R. Seaver College of Science and Engineering, Loyola Marymount University, 1 LMU Drive, Los Angeles, 90045, CA, USA

    Zhenming Ji & Jeremy S. Pal

  2. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Connecticut, 261 Glenbrook Road, Storrs Mansfield, 06269, CT, USA

    Zhenming Ji, Guiling Wang & Miao Yu

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  1. Zhenming Ji
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Ji, Z., Wang, G., Pal, J.S. et al. Potential climate effect of mineral aerosols over West Africa. Part I: model validation and contemporary climate evaluation. Clim Dyn 46, 1223–1239 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-015-2641-y

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