Observation and modeling of the historic “Godzilla” African dust intrusion into the Caribbean Basin and the southern US in June 2020

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dc.contributor.authorYu, Hongbin
dc.contributor.authorTan, Qian
dc.contributor.authorZhou, Lillian
dc.contributor.authorZhou, Yaping
dc.contributor.authorBian, Huisheng
dc.contributor.authorChin, Mian
dc.contributor.authorRyder, Claire L.
dc.contributor.authorPradhan, Yaswant
dc.contributor.authorShi, Yingxi
dc.contributor.authorSong, Qianqian
dc.contributor.authorZhang, Zhibo
dc.contributor.authorColarco, Peter R.
dc.contributor.authorKim, Dongchul
dc.contributor.authorRemer, Lorraine
dc.contributor.authorYuan, Tianle\
dc.contributor.authorMayol-Bracero, Olga
dc.contributor.authorBrent N. Holben, Brent N.
dc.date.accessioned2022-02-16T15:40:35Z
dc.date.available2022-02-16T15:40:35Z
dc.date.issued2021-08-18
dc.description.abstractThis study characterizes a massive African dust intrusion into the Caribbean Basin and southern US in June 2020, which is nicknamed the “Godzilla” dust plume, using a comprehensive set of satellite and ground-based observations (including MODIS, CALIOP, SEVIRI, AERONET, and EPA Air Quality network) and the NASA GEOS global aerosol transport model. The MODIS data record registered this massive dust intrusion event as the most intense episode over the past 2 decades. During this event, the aerosol optical depth (AOD) observed by AERONET and MODIS peaked at 3.5 off the coast of West Africa and 1.8 in the Caribbean Basin. CALIOP observations show that the top of the dust plume reached altitudes of 6–8 km in West Africa and descended to about 4 km altitude over the Caribbean Basin and 2 km over the US Gulf of Mexico coast. The dust intrusion event degraded the air quality in Puerto Rico to a hazardous level, with maximum daily PM10 concentration of 453 µg m−3 recorded on 23 June. The dust intrusion into the US raised the PM2.5 concentration on 27 June to a level exceeding the EPA air quality standard in about 40 % of the stations in the southern US. Satellite observations reveal that dust emissions from convection-generated haboobs and other sources in West Africa were large albeit not extreme on a daily basis. However, the anomalous strength and northern shift of the North Atlantic Subtropical High (NASH) together with the Azores low formed a closed circulation pattern that allowed for accumulation of the dust near the African coast for about 4 d. When the NASH was weakened and wandered back to the south, the dust outflow region was dominated by a strong African easterly jet that rapidly transported the accumulated dust from the coastal region toward the Caribbean Basin, resulting in the record-breaking African dust intrusion. In comparison to satellite observations, the GEOS model reproduced the MODIS observed tracks of the meandering dust plume well as it was carried by the wind systems. However, the model substantially underestimated dust emissions from haboobs and did not lift up enough dust to the middle troposphere for ensuing long-range transport. Consequently, the model largely missed the satellite-observed elevated dust plume along the cross-ocean track and underestimated the dust intrusion into the Caribbean Basin by a factor of more than 4. Modeling improvements need to focus on developing more realistic representations of moist convection, haboobs, and the vertical transport of dust.en_US
dc.description.sponsorshipThis work was supported by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Radiation Sciences Program and the CALIPSO/CloudSat mission administered by Hal Maring and David Considine, respectively. Olga Mayol-Bracero acknowledges support from NASA ROSES no. 80NSSC19K0194. We thank the NASA Center for Climate Simulation for their support of the GEOS model simulation. The AERONET project at NASA GSFC is supported by the Earth Observing System Project Science Office cal–val, Radiation Sciences Program at NASA headquarters, and various field campaigns. We are grateful to two reviewers for their insightful comments and helpful discussionen_US
dc.description.urihttps://acp.copernicus.org/articles/21/12359/2021/acp-21-12359-2021.htmlen_US
dc.format.extent25 pagesen_US
dc.genrejournal articlesen_US
dc.identifierdoi:10.13016/m2itvj-g0sl
dc.identifier.citation"Yu, Hongbin et al. Observation and modeling of the historic “Godzilla” African dust intrusion into the Caribbean Basin and the southern US in June 2020. Atmostpheric Chemistry and Physics 21 (2021) 12359–12383. https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-12359-2021"en_US
dc.identifier.urihhttps://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-12359-2021
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11603/24277
dc.language.isoen_USen_US
dc.publisherEGIen_US
dc.relation.isAvailableAtThe University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC)
dc.relation.ispartofUMBC Joint Center for Earth Systems Technology
dc.relation.ispartofUMBC Faculty Collection
dc.relation.ispartofUMBC Physics Collection
dc.rightsThis work was written as part of one of the author's official duties as an Employee of the United States Government and is therefore a work of the United States Government. In accordance with 17 U.S.C. 105, no copyright protection is available for such works under U.S. Law.en_US
dc.rightsPublic Domain Mark 1.0*
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/*
dc.titleObservation and modeling of the historic “Godzilla” African dust intrusion into the Caribbean Basin and the southern US in June 2020en_US
dc.typeTexten_US
dcterms.creatorhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-7812-851Xen_US
dcterms.creatorhttps://orcid.org/0000-0001-9491-1654en_US
dcterms.creatorhttps://orcid.org/0000-0003-4333-533Xen_US
dcterms.creatorhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-2187-3017en_US

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