We seek answers to questions about the role of aerosols and circulation in regional climate, including links to the hydrological cycle, interactions with land processes and impacts on energy production. Natural dust aerosols contribute most to the aerosol mass on Earth, but both weather forecasts and climate models have considerable differences in simulating dust storms. We contribute to a better understanding of the dust storm dynamics, their climatology and trends. Specifically, we compile benchmark climatologies for different dust-emitting processes, e.g., nocturnal low-level jets, mobile cyclones and the post-frontal strengthening of trade winds. Such benchmarks are helpful for evaluating weather and climate models at a process level. We also perform kilometre-scale experiments for dust outbreaks, collect land- and ship-based measurements with our atmospheric observatory, apply machine learning techniques to satellite images, and develop own automated detection algorithms for process-based assessments in data. These methods allow us to gain insights into storm dynamics from the meso- to the synoptic scale and to quantify dust effects on weather, climate and impacts on photovoltaic power production.

Contributors: Franz Kanngießer, Natalia Sudarchikova, Andebo Abesha Waza, Feifei Mu