Development of a unified dust emission scheme

• Applicant: Dr. Martina Klose
• Subject Area: Atmospheric Science
• Term: from 2015 to 2017
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 277512444

Mineral dust is an important player in the Earth system. Wind erosion and dust emission have significant regional and global impacts on climate, ecosystem services, agricultural production, and human health. Accurate representation of regional and global dust patterns is critical to quantify these impacts using models. Although numerous parameterization schemes have been developed to quantify dust emission, available schemes do not account for the different mechanisms of dust emission. Furthermore, the dust emission schemes have not undergone rigorous field testing due to limitations in the available field data. Current estimates of dust in the atmosphere and of its impacts downwind are thus highly uncertain. This research project seeks to directly address wind erosion model uncertainty by developing the foundations for a unified and field-tested scheme that explicitly represents all mechanisms of dust emission. Data on dust emission and its controlling factors will be collected in different environmental settings, following standardized methods to ensure comparability of the data. These data will be used to investigate the variability and relative importance of the different dust emission processes for a range of atmospheric and land-surface conditions. The data will serve as a benchmark for dust model calibration and testing. State-of-the-art dust emission schemes will be evaluated on their capability to represent the different emission mechanisms. Strengths and weaknesses will be identified and potential improvements will be proposed. The results will be synthesized in a framework for a unified dust emission scheme.

• DFG Programme: Research Fellowships
• International Connection: USA
• Host: Dr. Kris Havstad