Formation and Transport of a Saharan Dust Plume in Early Summer

Authors

  • Habib Senghor

    Agence Nationale de l’Aviation Civile et de la Météorologie, Dakar, 8184, Sénégal
  • Abdou L. Dieng

    Laboratoire de Physique de l’Atmosphère et de l’Océan Siméon-Fongang (LPAO-SF), Université Cheikh Anta Diop, Dakar, 10700, Sénégal
  • Moussa Gueye

    Département de Mathématiques et Informatiques, Université du Sine Saloum Elhadj Ibrahima Niass, Kaolack BP 55, Sénégal
  • Cheikh A. Diop

    Agence Nationale de l’Aviation Civile et de la Météorologie, Dakar, 8184, Sénégal
  • Mariane D. Kane

    Agence Nationale de l’Aviation Civile et de la Météorologie, Dakar, 8184, Sénégal
  • Amadou T. Gaye

    Laboratoire de Physique de l’Atmosphère et de l’Océan Siméon-Fongang (LPAO-SF), Université Cheikh Anta Diop, Dakar, 10700, Sénégal

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.30564/jasr.v6i2.5407
Received: 12 January 2023 | Revised: 06 April 2023 | Accepted: 10 April 2023 | Published Online: 14 April 2023

Abstract

This research studies the capability of the Weather Research and Forecasting model coupled with the Chemistry/Aerosol module (WRF-Chem) with and without parametrization to reproduce a dust storm, which was held on 27th June 2018 over Sahara region. The authors use satellite observations and ground-based measurements to evaluate the WRF-Chem simulations. The sensitivities of WRF-Chem Model are tested on the replication of haboob features with a tuned GOCART aerosol module. Comparisons of simulations with satellite and ground-based observations show that WRF-Chem is able to reproduce the Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) distribution and associated changes of haboob in the meteorological fields with temperature drops of about 9 °C and wind gust 20 m·s–1. The WRF-Chem Convection-permitting model (CPM) shows strong 10-meter winds induced a large dust emission along the leading edge of a convective cold pool (LECCP). The CPM indicates heavy dust transported over the West African coast (16°W-10°W; 6°N-21°N) which has a potential for long-distance travel on 27th June between 1100 UTC and 1500 UTC. The daily precipitation is improved in the CPM with a spatial distribution similar to the GPM-IMERG precipitation and maximum rainfall located at the right place. As well as raising a large amount of dust, the haboob caused considerable damage along its route.

Keywords:

Dust storm; WRF-Chem; Convection-permitting; Parameterization; MCS

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How to Cite

Senghor, H., Dieng, A. L., Gueye, M., Diop, C. A., Kane, M. D., & Gaye, A. T. (2023). Formation and Transport of a Saharan Dust Plume in Early Summer. Journal of Atmospheric Science Research, 6(2), 58–74. https://doi.org/10.30564/jasr.v6i2.5407

Issue

Vol. 6 , Iss. 2 (April 2023)

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Article

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Copyright © 2023 the author(s)

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This is an open access article under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) License.

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