Document Type

Article

Publication Date

June 2019

Publication Title

Atmosphere

Volume

10

Issue Number

6

First Page

313

DOI

10.3390/atmos10060313

ISSN

2073-4433

Keywords

atmospheric rivers, Asian long-range transport, aerosols

Disciplines

Atmospheric Sciences | Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology

Abstract

The study investigates the effect of aerosol long-range transport on precipitation over Northern California during atmospheric river (AR) events in the 2017 cold season (January–April). ARs in 2017 were one of the strongest to date, and the intense precipitation associated with the ARs resulted in flooding, destruction of property, and contamination of water supplies. The Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data shows Asian dust traveling across the Northern Pacific Ocean along with AR events. Aerosol measurements in California, provided by the Interagency Monitoring of Protected Visual Environments (IMPROVE), show that more Asian dust tends to be observed over the coast, while non-Asian/localized dust is observed inland. A mixture of Asian and localized dust is observed over the mountains, although higher amounts of both are observed in the spring (March–April). Back trajectory analysis confirms that Asian aerosols are transported along the air parcels, and each AR event has its own transport pattern in terms of horizontal advection and vertical lifting. Correlation between precipitation and aerosols is low. This suggests that aerosols contribute little to the decrease of local precipitation during the 2017 AR events.

Comments

SJSU users: Use the following link to login and access the article via SJSU databases.This article was published in Atmosphere, volume 10, issue 6, 2019, and can also be found online here.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

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