Description: Highlights: • North African dust emission and emission frequency from six models are examined. • There is a power law relationship between emission and emission event frequency. • The lognormal distribution of surface winds gives rise to this power law relation. • Annual North Africa dust emission is estimated via satellite retrievals of emission frequency. • We estimate that 82% of all North Africa dust emission is between 15° and 20°N. Abstract: Changes in the emission, transport and deposition of aeolian dust have profound effects on regional climate, so that characterizing the lifecycle of dust in observations and improving the representation of dust in global climate models is necessary. A fundamental aspect of characterizing the dust cycle is quantifying surface dust fluxes, yet no spatially explicit estimates of this flux exist for the World’s major source regions. Here we present a novel technique for creating a map of the annual mean emitted dust flux for North Africa based on retrievals of dust storm frequency from the Meteosat Second Generation Spinning Enhanced Visible and InfraRed Imager (SEVIRI) and the relationship between dust storm frequency and emitted mass flux derived from the output of five models that simulate dust. Our results suggest that 64 (±16)% of all dust emitted from North Africa is from the Bodélé depression, and that 13 (±3)% of the North African dust flux is from a depression lying in the lee of the Aïr and Hoggar Mountains, making this area the second most important region of emission within North Africa.

Description: The Atacama Desert is one of the driest and oldest deserts on Earth. The extreme scarcity of rainfall and hence very limited runoff, paired with endorheism, allow sediments and deposited materials to largely remain in the pedosphere for long periods of time, thereby leading to the generation of thick sediment, salt, and soil deposits. Aerosols are the main inputs of exogenous material to this system. The dominant aerosols deposited in the region are from sea spray, soil and salar playa deflation, volcanic emissions, along with secondary aerosols. The whole Atacama region receives particulate matter (minerals, salts, organic compounds, and microorganisms of variable content) from the Pacific Ocean, the coastal desert, and the Andes Cordillera and Altiplano. Some water may reach the western margin of the Atacama hyper arid core due to fog advection via the Coastal Cordillera. However, despite its aridity, large dust outbreaks from the Atacama Desert are rare. Atmospheric deposition is of great relevance for the landscape evolution of the Atacama Desert. This review summarizes current knowledge on the evolution of the landscape and the climatic conditions that led to it, and the salt and soil deposits, along with other geophysical features, in order to identify the frontier of aerosol research in the Atacama Desert.

Description: Highlights: • The dust storm led to new record-low visibility observations in Chinese cities. • Taklamakan dust emissions linked to Mongolian cyclone via NLLJs for the first time. • Gobi dust affected most cities, while Taklamakan dust influenced the West of China. Abstract: In mid-March 2021, one of the strongest dust storms of the last decade hit East Asia with adverse impacts on socio-economic activities and loss of life. The aim of this study is to assess the atmospheric dynamics involved in the temporal evolution of the Mongolian extra-tropical cyclone driving the dust event in different dust source regions in East Asia and to quantify to what extent the event was unusual for the first time. To that end, we use observation and model data from different sources. We identify that dust aerosols of the event primarily originated in the Gobi Desert. The anomalously strong dust-emitting winds were here associated with the passage of a cold front and exceeded the 99th percentile of the near-surface wind climatology for March 1992–2021 by far. Over the Loess Plateau, the dust deposition mostly exceeded the regional dust emission, indicative of the region being a net sink for dust aerosols, even during a high-impact event like in mid-March 2021. The formed dust aerosol layer of thousands of kilometers in extent led to sharp decreases in the air quality across China with record-high urban particulate matter concentrations, poor air quality, and low atmospheric visibility. Our results highlight that also the Taklamakan Desert contributed to the dust outbreak in the Western part of China. The dust emissions in the Taklamakan Desert were associated with nocturnal low-level jets that were favored by the cold air intrusion. It provides the first evidence for a link between different dust-emission mechanisms across East Asian Deserts during synoptic-scale dust outbreaks.

Description: Highlights: • New COVID-19 data to parameterize anthropogenic aerosol properties are released for use in climate studies. • First MACv2-SP estimate of anthropogenic aerosol radiative forcing for 2020 suggests a change by +0.04 Wm−2 due to the pandemic. • Recovery scenarios for 2050 have a spread in anthropogenic aerosol forcing of −0.38 to −0.68 Wm−2 relative to pre-industrial. Abstract: The pandemic in 2020 caused an abrupt change in the emission of anthropogenic aerosols and their precursors. We estimate the associated change in the aerosol radiative forcing at the top of the atmosphere and the surface. To that end, we perform new simulations with the CMIP6 global climate model EC-Earth3. The simulations use the here newly created data for the anthropogenic aerosol optical properties and an associated effect on clouds from the simple plumes parameterization (MACv2-SP), based on revised SO2 and NH3 emission scenarios. Our results highlight the small impact of the pandemic on the global aerosol radiative forcing in 2020 compared to the CMIP6 scenario SSP2-4.5 of the order of +0.04 Wm−2, which is small compared to the natural year-to-year variability in the radiation budget. Natural variability also limits the ability to detect a meaningful regional difference in the anthropogenic aerosol radiative effects. We identify the best chances to find a significant change in radiation at the surface during cloud-free conditions for regions that were strongly polluted in the past years. The post-pandemic recovery scenarios indicate a spread in the aerosol forcing of −0.68 to −0.38 Wm−2 for 2050 relative to the pre-industrial, which translates to a difference of +0.05 to −0.25 Wm−2 compared to the 2050 baseline from SSP2-4.5. This spread falls within the present-day uncertainty in aerosol radiative forcing and the CMIP6 spread in aerosol forcing at the end of the 21st century. We release the new MACv2-SP data for studies on the climate response to the pandemic and the recovery scenarios. Our 2050 forcing estimates suggest that sustained aerosol emission reductions during the post-pandemic recovery cause a stronger climate response than in 2020, i.e., there is a delayed influence of the pandemic on climate.

Description: This study investigates the seasonal variability of the cloud radiative effects (CREs) over Congo Basin (CB) using 15-year observations from Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) Energy Budget and Filled (EBAF) Ed4.1 level 3b dataset involving CERES and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instruments on board Terra and Aqua satellites. The relationships between CREs and cloud properties such as total cloud fraction (TCF), cloud top height (CTH), cloud top temperature (CTT) and cloud optical thickness (COT) are checked. An evaluation of Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP) Phase 6 in capturing the seasonal cycle of CREs as well as the magnitudes of the CREs along the seasonal cycle is also performed. This study shows a net cloud cooling effect of −8.4 W/m2 and − 43.9 W/m2 respectively at the top of the atmosphere (TOA) and at the surface, leading to a net warming effect of 35.67 W/m2 in the atmosphere. This value implies a large energy source over the Central Africa (CA) atmospheric column. The associated relationships between CREs and cloud properties show that the shortwave CRE is more sensitive to TCF and optical thickness whereas its longwave counterparts is more sensitive to CTH, CTT and COT at the TOA and in the atmosphere. All of the four CMIP6 models used in this study can capture the spatial pattern of CREs as well as their seasonal cycle but misrepresent intensity of CREs. Results also show that a better-simulated TCF considerably reduces the intensity of the annual mean underestimation in both longwave and shortwave CRE for some CMIP6 models, but not for models with overestimated shortwave CRE.

Description: Mineral-dust aerosols from deserts are ubiquitous in the atmosphere. Despite their small size, desert-dust aerosols play multiple important roles in the Earth system. These include effects on the radiation budget, hydrological and biogeochemical cycles, land and ocean ecosystems, as well as human health. This reference module gives a broad introduction to the topic. The text describes major sources, properties, and impacts of desert-dust aerosols.

Description: The analysis of three extreme African dust outbreaks over the Iberian Peninsula (IP) shows that a double Rossby wave breaking (RWB) process in the polar jet (PJ) creates the conditions for dust storm formation over subtropical deserts in North Africa and the restructuring of upper-level air flows critical for the dust transport poleward after ablation. Two consecutive anticyclonic RWBs initiate over the IP and the adjacent Atlantic, the first commencing 10 days before dust reaches the IP and the second three to five days later. The first RWB becomes quasi-stationary over the eastern Mediterranean when the second RWB develops. In turn, the first RWB blocks downstream propagation of the second, which is amplified by energy reflection poleward from the first break causing vortex intensification and equatorward propagation over the Atlas as well as a strengthening and coupling of the subtropical jet (STJ) to circulations in the ITCZ. Zonal flows are blocked and sustained low-level northeasterlies/easterlies are induced across northwest Africa. The three events present substantial differences in the location and geometry of key upper- and low-level subsynoptic features that organize the dust storms over the Sahara following the second break. Dust lifted by either the cold outflow from convective downdrafts or by orographic gravity waves interacts with terrain-induced and larger scale circulations and is transported to the IP. The location of the cyclonic large scale signal from the second RWB to the west or over the Atlas and the blocking of zonal flows are key for the poleward dust transport.

Description: This study explores simulations using the numerical Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model, with respect to the representation of the nocturnal low-level jet (LLJ) over the Sahel. Three sets of experiments are designed to investigate the sensitivity with respect to (i) the boundary-layer and surface-layer schemes including local and non-local closures, (ii) the horizontal grid spacing and the number of vertical levels within the lowest kilometre and (iii) the role of initial and boundary data. In total, 27 simulations are performed on one host domain and two nested domains for a representative LLJ case study on 9 November 2006. The ability of the individual simulations to represent the life cycle of the nocturnal LLJ is validated against observations carried out in the framework of the African Monsoon Multidisciplinary Analysis (AMMA) special observation periods: surface wind observations from Agoufou, Bamba and Banizoumbou, atmospheric wind profiles derived from Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Mobile Facility, wind radar measurements at Niamey and profiles from radiosondes launched at Niamey. All runs reproduce the general characteristics of the observed LLJs satisfactorily. In contrast to earlier studies, results are more sensitive to the choice of initial and boundary data (here GFS and ECMWF) than to the boundary-layer and surface schemes used or to model grid resolution. The sensitivity to the model grid resolution is surprisingly minor. Considerable differences between the individual stations suggest that local surface conditions such as roughness length, albedo or soil moisture may play an important role in the observed mismatch between model simulations and observations.

Description: Most air quality stations in Spain exceeded the European Union's daily PM10 limit due to the February 2016 Saharan dust outbreak, which resulted from two successive dust storms in Northwest Africa. This study identifies the meso-β/meso-γ-scale dynamical processes responsible for developing these dust storms using observations and high-resolution Weather Research and Forecasting model coupled with Chemistry simulations. The results revealed that the first dust storm was associated with a strong barrier jet (BJ). The BJ formed on the southeastern foothills of the Saharan Atlas Mountains (SAM) when an easterly-northeasterly low-level Mediterranean flow was blocked by a stably stratified layer close to the SAM. The BJ intensified just after sunrise on 20 February and the associated near-surface peak winds organized the first dust storm. The second dust storm was linked to a mesoscale gravity wave (MGW) and hydraulic jumps. A long-lived westward propagating MGW was triggered by a downslope flow interacting with the stable layer near the northeastern edge of the Tinrhert Plateau in eastern Algeria. When this MGW crossed the Tademaït Plateau, hydraulic jumps formed on its lee side. The strong winds accompanying these hydraulic jumps formed the second dust storm on 21 February. The lifted dust extended over a depth of 2–3 km in the growing daytime boundary layer and was advected poleward by the southerly/southeasterly mid-tropospheric winds. Our results underline the importance of resolving terrain-induced mesoscale processes to understand dust storm dynamics, which are difficult to represent in coarse-resolution numerical models.

Description: Highlights • Broad analysis of bias propagation with seven irradiance data sets in PV model. • We identify seasonal and regional biases in irradiance and PV power. • There is no single data set performing best in all metrics for means and variability. Abstract Model estimates of expected photovoltaic (PV) power production rely on accurate irradiance data. Reanalysis and satellite products freely provide irradiance data with a high temporal and spatial resolution including locations for which no ground-based measurements are available. We assess differences in such gridded irradiance data and quantify the subsequent bias propagation from individual radiation components to capacity factors in a contemporary PV model. PV power production is simulated based on four reanalysis (ERA5, COSMO-REA6, COSMO-REA6pp, COSMO-REA2) and three satellite products (CAMS, SARAH-2, CERES Syn1Deg). The results are compared against simulations using measurements from 30 weather stations of the German Weather Service. We compute metrics characterizing biases in seasonal and annual means, day-to-day variability and extremes in PV power. Our results highlight a bias of −1.4% (COSMO-REA6) to ＋8.2% (ERA5) in annual and spatial means of PV power production for Germany. No single data set is best in all metrics, although SARAH-2 and the postprocessed COSMO-REA6 data (COSMO-REA6pp) outperform the other products for many metrics. SARAH-2 yields good results in summer, but overestimates PV output in winter by 16% averaged across all stations. COSMO-REA6pp represents day-to-day variability in the PV power production of a simulated PV fleet best and has a particularly small bias of 0.5% in annual means. This is at least in parts due to compensating biases in local and seasonal means. Our results imply that gridded irradiance data should be used with caution for site assessments and ideally be complemented by local measurements.