Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Impacts of a Mesoscale Dust Storm on Aerosols Characteristics, Optical and Radiative Properties Over a Semiarid Region, Western India

  • Research Article
  • Published:
Journal of the Indian Society of Remote Sensing Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This paper investigates the impacts on aerosol characteristics, optical and radiative properties due to a mesoscale dust storm which originated from the Arabian, Iran/Pakistan region and observed to pass in vicinity over the semiarid region of Western India in April, 2017. The extent and long-distance transport of dust along with varying aerosol optical depth (AOD) were studied with high spatial and temporal resolution space-based observations. In situ measurements of particulate matter (PM) indicated high dust loading with PM10 and PM2.5 concentrations as high as 223 and 253 µg/m3 and 142.6 and 160 µg/m3, respectively. High concentrations of Inhalable, thoracic and alveolic PM aerosols (~ 290, 200 and 100 µg/m3, respectively) are also observed due to high dust load in the atmosphere, that is hazardous to human health, particularly for people suffering from respiratory ailments. The fine-mode fraction and Angstrom exponent have also been analyzed using satellite data. Satellite-derived AOD and in situ meteorological data were used as model inputs to estimate the radiative forcing impact of dust aerosols using a coupled radiative transfer model. The radiative transfer model simulations results indicate a reduction in the total downward surface flux by 6.5%, 6.7%, 5.0%, 10.1%, 7.1%, 8.9%, 3.7% and 5.3% as height decreases from 5 to 0 km (surface) during pre- to post-dust storm event period, respectively. The aerosols vertical profiles obtained from spaceborne CALIPSO LiDAR validated the predominant presence of “dust” aerosols during this event. The study provides important quantitative insights into extreme variabilities in aerosol properties resulting to a “cooling effect” during a severe mesoscale dust storm event over a semiarid region.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Ångström, A. (1961). Techniques of determining the turbidity of the atmosphere. Tellus, 13, 214–223. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.2153-3490.1961.tb00078.x.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bi, J., Shi, J., Xie, Y., et al. (2014). Dust aerosol characteristics and shortwave radiative impact at a Gobi desert of Northwest China during the Spring of 2012. Journal of the Meteorological Society of Japan, 92A(A03), 33–56. https://doi.org/10.2151/jmsj.2014-A03.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chhabra, A., Turakhia, T., Sharma, S., Saha, S., Iyer, R., & Chauhan, P. (2020). Environmental impacts of fireworks on aerosol characteristics and radiative properties over a mega city, India. City and Environment Interactions, 7, 100049. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cacint.2020.100049.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dhar, P., Banik, T., De Kumar, B., Gogoi, M. M., Suresh Babu, S., & Guha, A. (2018). Study of aerosol types and seasonal sources using wavelength dependent Ångström exponent over North-East India: Ground based measurement and satellite remote sensing. Advances in Space Research. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.asr.2018.06.017.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Díaz, J., Tobías, A., & Linares, C. (2012). Saharan dust and association between particulate matter and case-specific mortality: A case-crossover analysis in Madrid (Spain). Environmental Health, 11(1), 11.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Eck, T. F., Holben, B. N., Reid, J. S., Dubovik, O., Smirnov, A., O’Neill, N. T., et al. (1999). Wavelength dependence of the optical depth of biomass burning, urban, and desert dust aerosols. Journal of Geophysical Research, 104(D24), 31333–31349. https://doi.org/10.1029/1999JD900923.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jehuda, N., & Ariel, C. (1972). Climate effects of aerosol layers in relation to solar radiation. Journal of Applied Meteorology, 11, 651–657.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jin, Z. H., Charlock, T. P., Rutledge, K., Stamnes, K., & Wang, Y. J. (2006). Analytical solution of radiative transfer in the coupled atmosphere ocean system with a rough surface. Applied Optics, 45(28), 7443–7455.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jin, Z. H., & Stamnes, K. (1994). Radiative transfer in non-uniformly refracting layered media: Atmosphere-ocean system. Applied Optics, 33(3), 431–442.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kai, K., Tsunematsu, N., Goto, M., Matsumoto, T., Zhou, H., Hu, S., Abo, M., Nagai, T. & Matsumura, T. (2004). Vertical structure of the dust layer and middle-level clouds over the Taklamakan Desert by LIDAR. The 85th AMS Annual Meeting, San Diego, Calif., 10–14 Jan, 2004.

  • Miller, R. L., & Tegen, I. (1998). Climate response to soil dust aerosols. Journal of Climate, 11(12), 3247–3267.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mishra, M. K., Chauhan, P., & Sahay, A. (2015). Detection of Asian dust storms from geostationary satellite observations of the INSAT-3D imager. International Journal of Remote Sensing, 36(18), 4668–4682. https://doi.org/10.1080/01431161.2015.1084432.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mulcahy, J. P., Walters, D. N., Bellouin, N., & Milton, S. F. (2014). Impacts of increasing the aerosol complexity in the Met Office global numerical weather prediction model. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 14(9), 4749–4778.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Myhre, G., Shindell, D., Bréon, F. M., Collins, W., Fuglestvedt, J., Huang, J., et al. (2013). Anthropogenic and natural radiative forcing. In T. F. Stocker, D. Qin, G.-K. Plattner, M. Tignor, S. K. Allen, J. Boschung, et al. (Eds.), Climate change 2013: The physical science basis contribution of working group i to the fifth assessment report of the intergovernmental panel on climate change. Cambridge, New York, NY, USA: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pandithurai, J. G., Dipu, S., Dani, K. K., Tiwari, S., Bisht, D. S., Devara, P. C. S., & Pinker, R. T. (2008). Aerosol radiative forcing during dust events over New Delhi, India. Journal of Geophysical Research, 113, D13209. https://doi.org/10.1029/2008JD009804.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Patel, P. N., Dumka, U. C., Kaskaoutis, D. G., Babu, K. B., & Mathur, A. K. (2016). Optical and radiative properties of aerosols over Desalpar, a remote site in western India: Source identification, modification processes and aerosol type discrimination. Science of the Total Environment. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2016.09.023.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Patel, P. N., & Kumar, R. (2015). Estimation of aerosol characteristics and radiative forcing during dust events over Dehradun. Aerosol and Air Quality Research, 15, 2082–2093.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Prospero, J. M., Collard, F. X., Molinié, J., & Jeannot, A. (2014). Characterizing the annual cycle of African dust transport to the Caribbean Basin and South America and its impact on the environment and air quality. Global Biogeochemical Cycles, 28(7), 757–773.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reid, J. S., Eck, T. F., Christopher, S. A., Hobbs, P. V., & Holben, B. (1999). Use of the Ångström exponent to estimate the variability of optical and physical properties of aging smoke particles in Brazil. Journal of Geophysical Research, 104(D22), 27473–27489. https://doi.org/10.1029/1999JD900833.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sanwlani, N., Chauhan, P., & Navalgund, R. R. (2011). Dust storm detection and monitoring using multi-temporal INSAT-3A-CCD data. International Journal of Remote Sensing, 32(19), 5527–5539.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Satheesh, S. K., Dutt, C. B. S., Srinivasan, J., & Rao, U. (2007). Atmospheric warming due to dust absorption over Afro-Asian regions. Geophysical Research Letters, 34, L04805. https://doi.org/10.1029/2006GL028623,200.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sharma, D., Singh, D., & Kaskaoutis, D. G. (2012). Impact of two intense dust storms on aerosol characteristics and radiative forcing over Patiala Northwestern India. Advances in Meteorology, 2012, 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1155/2012/956814.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Singh, C., Singh, S. K., Chauhan, P., & Budakoti, S. (2021). Simulation of an extreme dust episode using WRF-CHEM based on optimal ensemble approach. Atmospheric Research, 249, 105296. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosres.2020.105296.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yoshioka, M., Mahowald, N. M., Conley, A. J., et al. (2007). Impact of desert dust radiative forcing on Sahel precipitation: Relative importance of dust compared to sea surface temperature variations, vegetation changes, and greenhouse gas warming. Journal of Climate, 20(8), 1445–1467.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This study is a part of ‘Urban Air Quality Assessment using Remote Sensing and GIS’ project supported under the Earth Observations and Applications Mission (EOAM) program of ISRO. Abha Chhabra is thankful to Director SAC, and Deputy Director, EPSA/SAC for their support and encouragement during the course of the study. Authors gratefully acknowledge Dr. Zhonghai Jin, NASA and his team for the availability of online COART model and NOAA Air Resources Laboratory (ARL) for the provision of the HYSPLIT transport and dispersion model and/or READY website (https://www.ready.noaa.gov) used in this publication. Authors also thankfully acknowledge the editorial team and anonymous reviewers for their comments and suggestions towards improving the manuscript. Authors are thankful to Dr. Rajesh Iyer, St. Xavier’s College, Ahmedabad for his support towards field measurements required for the study.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Space Applications Centre, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), Ahmedabad, 380015, India

    Abha Chhabra

  2. Department of Physics and Electronics, St. Xavier’s College, Ahmedabad, 380009, India

    Tejas Turakhia

  3. Indian Institute of Remote Sensing, ISRO, Dehradun, 248001, India

    Prakash Chauhan

Authors
  1. Abha Chhabra
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Tejas Turakhia
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Prakash Chauhan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Abha Chhabra.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Chhabra, A., Turakhia, T. & Chauhan, P. Impacts of a Mesoscale Dust Storm on Aerosols Characteristics, Optical and Radiative Properties Over a Semiarid Region, Western India. J Indian Soc Remote Sens 49, 2133–2141 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12524-021-01313-w

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12524-021-01313-w

Keywords

Search

Navigation