Atmospheric aerosol impacts on sea surface temperatures and medium range forecast.

Abstract:

This work proposes a series of experiments to analyze the impact of dust aerosols on numerical weather prediction (NWP) and the global data assimilation system. We strive to accomplish this by the application of the NOAA Environmental Modeling System/Global Forecasting System (NEMS/GFS) aerosol component (NGAC), which corresponds to the first global interactive atmosphere-aerosol forecast system ever implemented at NOAA’s National Center for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) and which has been operational since September 2012. Specifically, our approach will include the implementation of an improved satellite sea surface temperature (SST) retrieval methodology, that allows for better representation of the atmospheric state under dust-laden conditions. Specifically, the new algorithm will be included within the NGAC aerosol product to improve the accuracy of the SST analysis and examine the impact on NWP, particularly in tropical cyclone genesis regions in the eastern Atlantic.  The results of these corrections are validated against observed measurements from the eastern Atlantic Ocean, which is dominated by Saharan dust throughout most of the year and that is also a genesis region for Atlantic tropical cyclones. These observations are obtained from the NOAA Aerosols and Ocean Science Expeditions (AEROSE) and PIRATA Northeast Extension (PNE) buoys network. We believe that the improved physical SST methodology has the potential to allow for improved representation of the geophysical state under dust-laden conditions