Transport and Impacts of African Dust on Weather and Climate - Part 1

Explore a comprehensive conference session from the 2012 AGU Fall Meeting focusing on the transport and impacts of African dust on weather and climate. Delve into presentations covering topics such as the Saharan Air Layer's influence on tropical cyclones, the potential role of Saharan dust in Amazon Basin clay deposits, measurements of African dust as ice nuclei, trends in dust transport to the Caribbean, aerosol radiative forcing effects on the hydrologic cycle, heterogeneous ice nucleation of desert dust, and interactions between Saharan dust and tropical convection. Gain insights from invited talks and research presentations, examining various aspects of dust transport, its climatic effects, and its role in atmospheric processes across different regions.

Intro
What is the origin of the Belterra Clay formation, one of the most abundant surface materials of the Amazon Basin?
Dust transport from Africa to Amazonia
Sampling sites
Major element composition: Bodélé vs. Belterra
Rare earth patterns differ strongly between Belterra and Bodélé
No overlap between Pb isotope sienatures of African dust and Belterra
Neodymium isotopes
Belterra isotopes inconsistent with rivers from Andes
Isotope systems can also elucidate source regions of dusts that do reach the western Atlantic and South America...
Conclusions
Measurements of African dust aerosol properties as ice nuclei in the laboratory and atmosphere
Overview of Presentation
Dust data during ICE-T stand out in comparison to global IN parameterization of size dependence
CFDC field and lab data are consistent for both African and Asian mineral dusts
ICE-TRF4 profile through African dust layer and Ke nuclei parameterizations
ICE-T RF6 ice nuclei concentration versus T
Aside: Seaspray IN (lab-red pts) ICE-T (blue pes) and historical marine IN data comparison
Acknowledgments
Does Precipitation Follow the Surface Forcing?