Enhanced water vapor in Asian dust layer: Entrainment processes and implication for aerosol optical properties

The entrainment process of water vapor into the dust layer during Asian dust events and the effect of water vapor associated with the Asian dust layer (ADL) on aerosol hygroscopic properties are investigated. The entrainment processes of water vapor into the ADL is examined by using a PSU/NCAR MM5 together with the backward trajectory model, radiosonde data, and remotely sensed aerosol vertical distribution data. Two dust events in the spring of 1998 and 2001 are examined in detail. The results reveal that the water vapor mixing ratio (WVMR) derived by the MM5 fits in well with the WVMR observed by radiosonde, and is well coincident with the aerosol extinction coefficient (sigma(ep)) measured by the micropulse lidar. The temporal evolution of the vertical distributions of WVMR and sigma(ep) exhibited similar features. On the basis of a well simulation of the enhanced water vapor within the dust layer by the MM5, we trace the dust storms to examine the entraimnent mechanism. The enhancement of WVMR within the ADL was initiated over the mountainous areas. The relatively moist air mass in the well-developed mixing layer over the mountainous areas is advected upward from the boundary layer by an ascending motion. However, a large portion of the water vapor within the ADL is enhanced over the edge of a highland and the plains in China. This is well supported by the simulated WVMR and the wind vectors. Aircraft-based in situ measurements of the chemical and optical properties of aerosol enable a quantitative estimation of the effect of the enhanced WVMR on the aerosol hygroscopic properties. The submicron aerosol accompanied by the dust storm caused an increase of aerosol scattering through water uptakes during the transport. This increase could be explained by the chemical fact that water-soluble submicron pollution aerosols are enriched in the ADL. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.