Version 1
: Received: 8 June 2021 / Approved: 10 June 2021 / Online: 10 June 2021 (09:05:00 CEST)
How to cite:
Asutosh, A.; Pandey, S.K.; Vinoj, V. Assessment of Recent Changes in Dust over South Asia Using RegCM. Preprints2021, 2021060282. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202106.0282.v1
Asutosh, A.; Pandey, S.K.; Vinoj, V. Assessment of Recent Changes in Dust over South Asia Using RegCM. Preprints 2021, 2021060282. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202106.0282.v1
Asutosh, A.; Pandey, S.K.; Vinoj, V. Assessment of Recent Changes in Dust over South Asia Using RegCM. Preprints2021, 2021060282. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202106.0282.v1
APA Style
Asutosh, A., Pandey, S.K., & Vinoj, V. (2021). Assessment of Recent Changes in Dust over South Asia Using RegCM. Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202106.0282.v1
Chicago/Turabian Style
Asutosh, A., S. K Pandey and V Vinoj. 2021 "Assessment of Recent Changes in Dust over South Asia Using RegCM" Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202106.0282.v1
Abstract
Pre-monsoon dust aerosols over Indian regions are closely linked to the monsoon dynamics and Indian summer monsoon rainfall. Past observational studies have shown a decline in dust loading over the Indian landmass potentially caused by changing rainfall patterns over the desert regions. Such changes are expected to have far reaching impact on regional energy balance and monsoon rainfall. Using a regional climate-chemistry model, RegCM4.5 with an updated land module, we have simulated the long-term (2001-2015) changes in dust over the arid and semi-arid dust source regions of the North-Western part of the sub-continent. It is found that the area-averaged dust aerosol optical depth (AOD) over the arid and semi-arid desert regions has declined by 17% since the start of this millennium. The rainfall over these regions exhibits a positive trend of 0.1 mm day-1year-1 and a net increase of > 50%. The wet deposition is found to be dominant and ~5 fold larger in magnitude over dry deposition and exhibits total changes of ~ 79 % and 48% in the trends in atmospheric dust. As a response, significant change in the surface (11%), top of the atmosphere radiative forcing (7%), and widespread atmospheric cooling are observed in short wave domain of radiation spectrum, over the Northern part of the Indian landmass. Such quantification and long term change studies are necessary for understanding the regional climate change and the water cycle.
Environmental and Earth Sciences, Atmospheric Science and Meteorology
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
