Abstract
A reduction of dust emission over the major dust source regions in East
Asia in the twenty-first century is diagnosed in the climate change
simulations of the Sixth Climate Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP6).
Such change is attributable to the reduction of surface wind speeds in
the dust source regions. To evaluate how the magnitude of warming
affects dust emission, we examined two model scenarios, one high-forcing
pathway and one medium-forcing pathway. We find dust optical depth over
dust source regions would decrease by 5.6% by the end of the
twenty-first century under the high-forcing pathway. Under the
medium-forcing pathway, dust optical depth would decrease by less than
2%. These results provide a quantitative understanding of how global
warming affects dust emission in the major dust source regions in East
Asia.