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| Titel |
Assimilation of MODIS AOD measurements during the Sahara dust episode in April 2016 |
| VerfasserIn |
Barbara Scherllin-Pirscher, Marcus Hirtl, Claudia Flandorfer, Mariusz Pagowski |
| Konferenz |
EGU General Assembly 2017
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| Medientyp |
Artikel
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| Sprache |
en
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| Digitales Dokument |
PDF |
| Erschienen |
In: GRA - Volume 19 (2017) |
| Datensatznummer |
250147953
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| Publikation (Nr.) |
 EGU/EGU2017-12175.pdf |
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| Zusammenfassung |
| In April 2016, an air pollution event with highly elevated surface concentrations of particulate
matter (PM) has been observed in Europe. At the Sonnblick observatory (an atmospheric
monitoring platform at 3100 m in the Alps in Austria), PM10 surface concentrations were
considerably elevated (>100 μg/m3) on April 5, 2016. This event was caused by a Sahara
dust storm.
In this study we use the WRF-Chem (Weather Research and Forecasting model coupled
with Chemistry) model to predict the transport of Sahara dust from northern Africa towards
Europe. Simulations were performed from April 1, 2016 to April 8, 2016 using the GOCART
(Goddard Chemistry Aerosol Radiation and Transport) aerosol scheme. The GOCART model
simulates tropospheric aerosols such as dust and sea salt (both with different size bins),
organic carbon (OC), black carbon (BC), and sulfate, enabling the computation of PM2.5 and
PM10. Gridpoint statistical interpolation (GSI) is then used to assimilate data of the
Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) total aerosol optical
depth (AOD) retrieval products at a wavelength of 550 nm from the Terra and Aqua
satellites. Data assimilation is performed at 12 UTC with an assimilation window of
±3 hours.
PM10 analyses are evaluated against PM10 surface measurements provided by EEA
(European Environment Agency) and the Austrian Environmental Agency. First results
indicate that WRF-Chem underestimates surface concentration of PM10 during the Sahara
dust event in April 2016 over Europe but the assimilation of MODIS AOD substantially
improves PM10 analyses. |
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