Geological Society of America

T226 Aeolian Processes in Time and Space: Evidence from Landforms and Sediments

Tuesday, 27 September 2016
1:30 PM - 5:30 PM
Room 407

THE GLOBAL ATMOSPHERIC LOADING OF MINERAL DUST AEROSOLS

Paper number: T226-11
Program: Technical Sessions
Time: 4:30 PM – 4:45 PM

Authors

Jasper F. Kok Presenting Author
University of California - Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA
David A. Ridley
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston, MA
Qing Zhou
University of California - Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA
Chun Zhao
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA
Ron L. Miller
NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, New York, NY
Colette L. Heald
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston, MA
Karsten Haustein
University of Oxford, Oxford

Abstract

Mineral dust is one of the most ubiquitous aerosols in the atmosphere, with important effects on human health, the climate system, and loess formation. But despite its importance, the global atmospheric loading of dust has remained uncertain, with model results spanning about a factor of five. Here we constrain the particle size-resolved atmospheric dust loading and global emission rate, using a novel theoretical framework that uses experimental constraints on the optical properties and size distribution of dust to eliminate climate model errors due to assumed dust properties. We find that dust is by far the dominant atmospheric particle by mass, and that many climate models underestimate the global atmospheric loading and emission rate of dust aerosols.

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. Vol. 48, No. 7

doi: 10.1130/abs/2016AM-277557

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