Open AccessModeling mineral aerosol production by wind erosion: Emission intensities and aerosol size distributions in source areas
Author(s) -
Alfaro Stéphane C.,
Gomes Laurent
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
journal of geophysical research: atmospheres
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.67
H-Index - 298
eISSN - 2156-2202
pISSN - 0148-0227
DOI - 10.1029/2000jd900339
Subject(s) - aerosol , aeolian processes , environmental science , atmospheric sciences , arid , wind speed , particle size distribution , soil science , meteorology , particle size , geology , physics , geomorphology , paleontology
A dust production model (DPM) is obtained by combining preexisting models of saltation and sandblasting, the two processes that lead to mineral aerosol release in arid areas. From a description of the soil characteristics and wind conditions, the DPM allows computation of the amounts of aerosol released and of their size distributions. Semiquantitative comparisons of the model outputs with the few field data available in the literature validate its main implications. The first one is that the aptitude of a soil to release particles smaller than 20 μm depends on (1) the dry size distribution of aggregates constituting its loose fraction, (2) its roughness length, and (3) the wind velocity. The second implication is that the size distribution of aerosols released in source areas also strongly depends on these parameters.