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Parameterization for the Emission of Super Coarse Desert Dust
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  • Jun MENG,
  • Yue Huang,
  • Danny M. Leung,
  • Longlei Li,
  • Adeyemi A Adebiyi,
  • Claire L Ryder,
  • Natalie M Mahowald,
  • Jasper F. Kok
Jun MENG
University of California, Los Angeles

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Yue Huang
Columbia University
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Danny M. Leung
University of California, Los Angeles
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Longlei Li
Cornell University
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Adeyemi A Adebiyi
University of California Los Angeles
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Claire L Ryder
University of Reading
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Natalie M Mahowald
Cornell University
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Jasper F. Kok
Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences University of California, Los Angeles
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Abstract

Aircraft measurement campaigns have revealed that super coarse dust (diameter > 10 um) surprisingly accounts for approximately a quarter of aerosols by mass in the atmosphere. However, most global aerosol models either underestimate or do not include super coarse dust abundance. To address this problem, we use brittle fragmentation theory to develop a parameterization for the emitted dust size distribution that includes emission of super coarse dust. We implement this parameterization in the Community Earth System Model (CESM) and find that it brings the model in good agreement with measurements of super coarse dust close to dust source regions. However, the model still underestimates super coarse dust in dust outflow regions. Thus, we conclude that model underestimation of super coarse atmospheric dust is in part due to the underestimation of super coarse dust emission and likely in part due to errors in deposition processes.