Observations and Modeling of Asian and Northern Pacific Dust Sources and Transports

Dust is a globally predominant aerosol type that affects cloud formation, radiative flux, climate, human health, and vegetation. Although dust distribution and long-range transport over North Africa and the Northern Atlantic Ocean has been studied extensively, dust over Asia and the North Pacific Ocean is more challenging for both models and observations, as the region is more influenced by air pollution, cloud, and a generally weaker dust signal. This presentation will provide estimates Asian dust source strength and subsequent Northern Pacific transport, based on the combined analysis of satellite and ground-based remote sensing observations with a number of global aerosol models participating in the AeroCom inter-comparison.