Monitoring the impact of desert dust outbreaks for air quality for health studies

We review the major features of desert dust outbreaks that are relevant to the assessment of dust impacts upon human health. Our ultimate goal is to provide scientific guidance for the acquisition of relevant population exposure information for epidemiological studies tackling the short and long term health effects of desert dust. We first describe the source regions and the typical levels of dust particles in regions close and far away from the source areas, along with their size, composition, and bio-aerosol load. We then describe the processes by which dust may become mixed with anthropogenic particulate matter (PM) and/or alter its load in receptor areas. Short term health effects are found during desert dust episodes in different regions of the world, but in a number of cases the results differ when it comes to associate the effects to the bulk PM, the desert dust-PM, or non-desert dust-PM. These differences are likely due to the different monitoring strategies applied in the epidemiological studies, and to the differences on atmospheric and emission (natural and anthropogenic) patterns of desert dust around the world. We finally propose methods to allow the discrimination of health effects by PM fraction during dust outbreaks, and a strategy to implement desert dust alert and monitoring systems for health studies and air quality management.The systematic review was funded by WHO with as part of a Grant Agreement with Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Norway. Thanks are also given to the Spanish Ministry for the Ecological Transition for long term support in the last 2 decades to our projects on African dust effects on air quality over Spain; to the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities and FEDER Funds for the HOUSE project (CGL2016-78594-R), and to the Generalitat de Catalunya (AGAUR 2017 SGR41). Carlos Pérez García-Pando acknowledges long-term support from the AXA Research Fund, as well as the support received through the Ramón y Cajal program (grant RYC-2015-18690) of the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

The Northern Eurasia Earth Science Partnership: An Example of Science Applied to Societal Needs

Northern Eurasia, the largest landmass in the northern extratropics, accounts for ~20% of the global land area. However, little is known about how the biogeochemical cycles, energy and water cycles, and human activities specific to this carbon-rich, cold region interact with global climate. A major concern is that changes in the distribution of land-based life, as well as its interactions with the environment, may lead to a self-reinforcing cycle of accelerated regional and global warming. With this as its motivation, the Northern Eurasian Earth Science Partnership Initiative (NEESPI) was formed in 2004 to better understand and quantify feedbacks between northern Eurasian and global climates. The first group of NEESPI projects has mostly focused on assembling regional databases, organizing improved environmental monitoring of the region, and studying individual environmental processes. That was a starting point to addressing emerging challenges in the region related to rapidly and simultaneously changing climate, environmental, and societal systems. More recently, the NEESPI research focus has been moving toward integrative studies, including the development of modeling capabilities to project the future state of climate, environment, and societies in the NEESPI domain. This effort will require a high level of integration of observation programs, process studies, and modeling across disciplines

Asian dust storm influence on North American ambient PM levels: observational evidence and controlling factors

New observational evidence of the trans-Pacific transport of Asian dust and its contribution to the ambient particulate matter (PM) levels in North America was revealed, based on the interannual variations between Asian dust storms and the ambient PM levels in western North America from year 2000 to 2006. A high correlation was found between them with an <I>R</I><sup>2</sup> value of 0.83. From analysis of the differences in the correlation between 2005 and 2006, three factors explain the variation of trans-Pacific transport and influences of Asian dust storms on PM levels in western North America. These were identified by modeling results and the re-analysis data. They were 1) <I>Strength of frontal cyclones from Mongolia to north eastern China</I>: The frontal cyclones in East Asia not only bring strong cold air outbreaks, generating dust storms in East Asia, but also lift Asian dust into westerly winds of the free troposphere for trans-Pacific transport; 2) <I>Pattern of transport pathway over the North Pacific</I>: The circulation patterns of westerlies over the North Pacific govern the trans-Pacific transport pattern. Strong zonal airflow of the westerly jet in the free troposphere over the North Pacific favor significant trans-Pacific transport of Asian dust; 3) <I>Variation of precipitation in the North Pacific</I>: The scavenging of Asian dust particles by precipitation is a major process of dust removal on the trans-Pacific transport pathway. Therefore, variation of precipitation in the North Pacific could affect trans-Pacific transport of Asian dust

Desertification

IPCC SPECIAL REPORT ON CLIMATE CHANGE AND LAND (SRCCL) Chapter 3: Climate Change and Land: An IPCC special report on climate change, desertification, land degradation, sustainable land management, food security, and greenhouse gas fluxes in terrestrial ecosystem

Global impacts of land degradation

Study commissioned by the Scientific, Technical and Advisory Panel (STAP) of the Global Environment Facility (GEF) to support the development of the new GEF focal area of Land Degradatio

ACE-ASIA - Regional climatic and atmospheric chemical effects of Asian dust and pollution

Although continental-scale plumes of Asian dust and pollution reduce the amount of solar radiation reaching the earth's surface and perturb the chemistry of the atmosphere, our ability to quantify these effects has been limited by a lack of critical observations, particularly of layers above the surface. Comprehensive surface, airborne, shipboard, and satellite measurements of Asian aerosol chemical composition, size, optical properties, and radiative impacts were performed during the Asian Pacific Regional Aerosol Characterization Experiment (ACE-Asia) study. Measurements within a massive Chinese dust storm at numerous widely spaced sampling locations revealed the highly complex structure of the atmosphere, in which layers of dust, urban pollution, and biomass-burning smoke may be transported long distances as distinct entities or mixed together. The data allow a first-time assessment of the regional climatic and atmospheric chemical effects of a continental-scale mixture of dust and pollution. Our results show that radiative flux reductions during such episodes are sufficient to cause regional climate change

Global assessment of sand and dust storms

The specific objectives of the assessment are to: 1) Synthesise and highlight the environmental and socio-economic causes and impacts of SDS, as well as available technical measures for their mitigation, at the local, regional and global levels; 2) Show how the mitigation of SDS can yield multiple sustainable development benefits; 3) Synthesize information on current policy responses for mitigating SDS and 4) Present options for an improved strategy for mitigating SDS at the local, regional and global levels, building on existing institutions and agreements

Ice Cores from the St. Elias Mountains, Yukon, Canada: Their Significance for Climate, Atmospheric Composition and Volcanism in the North Pacific Region

A major achievement in research supported by the Kluane Lake Research Station was the recovery, in 2001 –02, of a suite of cores from the icefields of the central St. Elias Mountains, Yukon, by teams of researchers from Canada, the United States, and Japan. This project led to the development of parallel, long (103 – 104 year) ice-core records of climate and atmospheric change over an altitudinal range of more than 2 km, from the Eclipse Icefield (3017 m) to the ice-covered plateau of Mt. Logan (5340 m). These efforts built on earlier work recovering single ice cores in this region. Comparison of these records has allowed for variations in climate and atmospheric composition to be linked with changes in the vertical structure and dynamics of the North Pacific atmosphere, providing a unique perspective on these changes over the Holocene. Owing to their privileged location, cores from the St. Elias Icefields also contain a remarkably detailed record of aerosols from various sources around or across the North Pacific. In this paper we review major scientific findings from the study of St. Elias Mountain ice cores, focusing on five main themes: (1) The record of stable water isotopes (δ18O, δD), which has unique characteristics that differ from those of Greenland, other Arctic ice cores, and even among sites in the St. Elias; (2) the snow accumulation history; (3) the record of pollen, biomass burning aerosol, and desert dust deposition; (4) the record of long-range air pollutant deposition (sulphate and lead); and (5) the record of paleo-volcanism. Our discussion draws on studies published since 2000, but based on older ice cores from the St. Elias Mountains obtained in 1980 and 1996

On the Detection and Monitoring of the Transport of an Asian Dust Storm Using Multi-Sensor Satellite Remote Sensing

Dynamical and physical features of a long range transported dust event originating in China affecting Korea early March 2008 are examined using an integrative multi-sensor and multi-algorithm approach. Aerosol loadings and their size mode were analyzed over both ocean and land surfaces using the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aerosol optical depth (AOD), employing standard dark target (DT) and deep blue (DB) algorithms, and the Ångström exponent (AE). Anthropogenic absorbing aerosols and smoke were found to be significant over the Indochina Peninsula, the Philippines and southern China, while a mixture of dust and pollution were predominant over central to northern China, as identified by the AE analysis and the Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) spherecitiy and plume height. Remarkable aerosol absorptions in both the near ultraviolet (UV) and the visible were spread over central, central western and northern China, probably due to aerosol mixtures including desert dust and industrial pollution as well as smoke from biomass burning as evidenced from the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI). Long range transport is validated as dust storm reached up to 4–5 km vertically and a mixed cloud layer was identified over the Yellow Sea as disclosed by the vertical structure of dust aerosols as well as observed aerosols subtypes from Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation (CALIPSO). The real time detection and monitoring of the dust outbreak and its subsequent evolution are available through the infrared optical depth index (IODI), developed from the MTSAT-1R geostationary satellite imager

A Synoptic- and Remote Sensing-based Analysis of a Severe Dust Storm Event over Central Asia

Published by [Verlag nicht ermittelbar], Taina