JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH, VOL. 106, NO.

D16, PAGES 18,075-18,084,AUGUST 27, 2001

Modeling mineral aerosolproduction by wind erosion:Emission

intensities and aerosol size distributions in source areas

StdphaneC. Alfaro and LaurentGomes

Laboratoire
Intemniversitaire
desSystbmes
Atmosphdriques,
Universit6de Pads,France

Abstract. A dustproductionmodel(DPM) is obtainedby combiningpreexistingmodelsof

saltationand sandblasting, the two processes that leadto mineralaerosolreleasein arid areas.From
a descriptionof the soilcharacteristics andwind conditions,the DPM allowscomputationof the
amountsof aerosolreleasedandof their sizedistributions.Semiquantitative comparisons of the
modeloutputswith the few field dataavailablein the litteraturevalidateits mainimplications.The
first oneis that the aptitudeof a soilto releaseparticlessmallerthan20 lamdependson (15 the dry
sizedistributionof aggregates constituting its loosefraction,(2) its roughness
length,and(35 the
wind velocity.The secondimplicationis that the sizedistributionof aerosolsreleasedin source
areasalsostronglydependson theseparameters.

1. Introduction mostopticall
5'activein thevisibleandinfraredspectra
donotexist
in arid soils in a free state l Chatenet et al., 19961. They are
Mineralaerosol
production by winderosionin aridareasreleased
fromsoilaggregates whentheyimpact onthesoilat the
accounts
for abouthalf the globalaerosolyearlyproductiondownwindendof theirsaltation
trajectories
(sandblasting
process)
[Andrea<19951.
By absorbing andscattering
boththeoncoming[Gillette,1977]andareimmediately entrained
intoan upward
solarradiations
andtheinfrared outgoing
radiations,
theyprobablyverticalmassflux (F0. For lack of a physicaldescription
of
havea significant
directeffectonclimate.
Forclimate modelingsandblasting
andstarting fromGillette's
fieldobservations
[19791.
purposes,computing
thesignandmagnitude of themineral
aerosolMarticorenaetal. [19971assumedthatt,•,wasproportional
toFh.
radiative
forcing
atregionalscaleisnecessary..
Thedifficulty
liesin Thisprovided
a firstestimation
of dustsource emission
intensities
thespace
andtimevariability
ofmineral aerosol
optical
properties.
butgavenoinformationontheinitialaerosol
sizedistributions.
Fundamentally,
thisxariabilits.
• results
fromthehighdegreeof Thenextstepin dustproduction
modeling wastakenwhenwind
heterogcneity
of theemissionsandfromtheshortresidence
time tunnel
experiments
carried
outwithdifferent
natural
soilsshoxved
(usuallylessthana week)of mineralparticlesin thetroposphere. A thatcontrars.• to whatwas assumeduntil then,the sizedistributions
promisingapproachconsistsin modelingsuccessively (15 dust of aerosolsreleasedby sandblasting from a given soil dependon
productionprocesses,(2) transportof particles.and (3) aerosol wind conditions.The physically explicit sandblastingmodel
optical propertiesthat conditiontheir impact on atmospheric (hereinafter referredto as SA985 thatwasthenproposed[Alfitroet
radiativetransfer.In fact,dustproduction modelingis theweaklink al., 1997. 19981allowscomputation of thesesizedistributions.
The
in this chainof models.To this day, indeed,no dust production aim of this paper is to detail how MB95 and SA98 can be
modelexiststhat can provideat the sametime all the key input combinedto form a dustproductionmodel(DPM) from whichthe
parameters,suchas sourcelocations,emissionintensities,aerosol sourcesandblasting massefficiency(ct)definedasthe ratioof tq,to
sizedistributions andsizeresolvedcompositions, necessaryfor the b)• [Gillette, 1979], andthe initial aerosolsizedistributioncan be
next two models[Balkanskq et al., 1996• Tegenand Lacis, 1996: computed. The sensitivityof the DPM to realisticvariationsof its
Sokolikand Ibon, 1999' Claquinet al., 19991.A first steptoward inputparameters is thenexanfined
accuratedustproductionmodelingwas taken whenMarticorena
and Bergametti [1995] proposeda dust productionsubmodel
(hereinafterknox• as MB95) describing the mobilizationof loose 2. Aerosol Production Model
soil aggregatesby wind. Under usual wind conditions,these
aggregates aretoohead• to be efficientlyupliftedby turbulence and 2.1. PhysicalBasesof Model
theirmovementis essentially horizontal(saltationprocess).From a
The stressexertedby windon a soil surfacecanbe measuredby
relativelysimpledescription of the soil characteristics
andof wind
conditions,MB95 allows determinationof the sourcelocationsbut
the meansof the so-calledwind friction velocity (u*). A soil
also,for the first time,computation of the sizeresolvedhorizontal aggregate of givensize.Dp and massdensity,pp, can be set into
saltationflux (_/4),)of soil aggregates [Marticorenaet al., 1997].
motion (saltation) when the aerodynamicforcesto which it is
Particles
small
enough (smaller
than20[tm)tobetransportedsubmitted
becomelarge
enough
tocounterbalance
theeffect
ofits
several
hundreds,
oreventhoustands,
ofkilometers
fromthesourceweight
andofinterparticular
forces
thattend
tomaintain
it onthe
areas
[e.g.
Lietal.,1996'
Prospero,
1999]
andthatalso
arethe ground.
Thecorresponding
"threshold
friction
velocits,',"
li*t.not
onlydepends
on Dv andPv [e.g.,Iversenand White,1982]but also
on the presence of nonerodible elements (pebbles. rocks,
Copyright
2001
bythe
American
Geophysical
Union. vegetation)
over
thesoilsurface.
Indeed,
byabsorbing
afraction
of
the wind stressthat is then no longer available for aggregate
Paper
number
2000JD900339. deflation,
thevleadto a raisein u* [Gilletteand Stockton,1989'
0148-0227/01/2000JD900339509.00 Marticorena and Bergametti, 1995' Alj'bro and Gomes, 1995].

18,075
 18,076 ALFARO AND GOMES: MODELING OF MINERAL DUST PRODUCTION

Table 1. GeometricMean Mass Diameters(d), Geometric In thefollowingsection

we shalldetailhowtwo majoraerosol
StandardDeviations(•), and BindingEnergies(e) for the production
characteristics,
sandblasting
massefficiencies
(ct),and
ThreeAerosolParticlePopulationsThat Can Be Released aerosolsize distributionscan be derivedfrom this sandblasting
From Arid Soils theory.
At thesametime,thiswill allowidentification
of thesoil
Mode 1 Mode 2 Mode 3 characteristics
thatalongwithu* rolemineralaerosol production
d (pm) 1.5 6.7 14.2 by winderosion.
• 1.7 1.6 1.5
e(t•cm2
s'2) 3.61 3.52 3.46 2.2. Model Computations
AfterAlfaro et al. [ 1998].
At a givenfrictionvelocityabovesaltation
threshold,
the size
distribution of the horizontal saltation flux for a natural soil
The saltationflux Fh, definedas the massof aggregates crossing
eachseconda verticalsurfaceperpendicular to the flow andto the generally
encompasses a widerangeof soilaggregate sizes,Dr.
ground,of unit width and infinite height,is generallyusedto Aerosol production
bythecomplete soilis thestunof productions
measurethe importanceof saltation(notethat the unit for Fh is by everyindividualsizeclassthat canbe distinguished in Fh.
massperunitlengthpertimeandthatfor thesakeof homogeneity Consequently,
it seems interesting
at f•rst to examine the
withpublished datawe shalluseg cm'l s'l forFh).Fora given characteristicsof aerosolproduction
by a particularsoil aggregate
friction velocityand a given soil, F•, as well as its masssize sizeclassbeforeintegrating theseresults
overthewholerangeof
distribution,canbe determined by MB95. The inputdatarequired diameterscoveredby the saltationflux. For the sake of
by this saltationmodel are (1) the size distributionof the soil simplification all the characteristics(X) of dust production
erodiblefraction(amplitudeA, massmediandiametermmd, and computed for a particularsoilaggregatesizeclasswill be noted
geometricstandarddeviationcr of each lognormallydistributed X(Dv),eventhough theymightalsodepend on otherDPM input
aggregatemode), (2) the soil aggregatedensity,(3) the overall parameters (u*, Z0,...). Forexample, thep• thatdepend onDp,
surfaceroughness lengthZowhichis relatedto the sizeanddensity u*, pvandthee,values willnonethelessbenotedp,(Dv).
of thenonerodible elements,and(4) thewindfrictionvelocity. 2.2.1. Aerosol productionby a particular size class of
In thesandblasting process the indMdualkineticenergyecof the saltatingaggregates. The kineticenergyflux dFk•(Dp)of
aggregatesis usedto releasevery free particleseither from the saltatingaggregates withdiameters betweenDv andDv + dDpis
saltatingaggregates themselves or from the surfaceon whichthey proportionalto thecorresponding horizontal
saltation
fluxdFh(Dv)
impact.This individualkineticenergyof an assumedly spherical [GilletteandStockton,1986;Alfaroet al., 1997]:
aggregate is a functionof itsmassdensity(pp),itsdiameterDp,and dFkin(Dp)
= [•dFh(Dp) (2)
of thewindfrictionvelocity(u*):
with13= 16300cms'2.
ec= pp•/12(Dp)3(20u*)
2 By definitionof thep,(Dv),the fractionof dFk•(D
v) that is
The wind tunnelexperiments carriedout with two naturalsoils available to release particles fromthe itn aerosol modeis
differingcompletelyin textureas well as in mineralcomposition pi(Dp)[•dFn(Dv).Consequently, the number flux, dN,(Dv) andfor
[Alfaroet al., 1998] haveshownthat the aerosolparticlesreleased assumedly spherical
particles the mass
flux dF•o•,i(Dv),of particles
by sandblasting from the saltatingaggregates can be sortedinto oftheithaerosol modereleased bytheimpacts of soilaggregates of
threelognormallydistributedmodes.The massmediandiameters sizeDp are
(d,), geometricstandarddeviations (•), andbindingenergies (e,) of dN,(Dp)= 13dFffDp)p,(Dp)/ e, , (3)
thesethree aerosolmodes(Table 1) are identicalfor both soils,
whichtendsto indicatethat theseparameters can,at leastin first
approximation,be consideredas independentof the soil
dFa•ro,.,(Dv)
= (=/6)pp[3dFn(Dp) (p,(Dv)d,3/e,). (4)
characteristics. This is what we shall provisionallyassume
heremailer.It hasalsobeenshownthat the relativeimportance of As a result,thesandblasting efficiencyratiofor thisaggregatesize
thesemodesin the aerosolsizedistributions depends on the wind classwhich,bydefinition, is thengivenby
frictionvelocity.Thegistof thetheoryunderlying thisis asfollows: 3
the bindingenergy'of an aerosolparticle within the soil is a
decreasingfunctionof its size. Consequently, when the kinetic c•(Dp
)=(Z dF,,•o•.
i=1
,(Dp))/
dF•(Dp) (5)
energyof an individualsaltatingaggregate of givensize increases
due to an increasein u*, sandblasting will first becomeable to can be written as
releaseparticlesfromthelargeraerosolmode,thenfromthemiddle
3
and the smallestmodes,successively. A schemeprovidingthe
proportions,p,, of e• usedto releaseparticlesfrom eachof these c•(Dp
)=(•/6)
pp13
Z p,(Dp)
dr3/e,.
i=1
(6)
modeswasalsoproposed (Table2).

Table2. Fractions
(p•)of theKineticEnergy(e•)of Individual
Saltating
Aggregates
Usedto Release
Particles
FromEachof the
ThreePossibleAerosolModesof BindingEnergies
e,
pl P2 P3

e•< e3< e2< el 0 0 0

e3< e•< e2< e• 0 0 1
e3< e2< e• < el 0 (e•-e2)/(e•-e3) 1-i02
e3< e2< el < e• (e•-el)/(e•-e3) (1-pl)[(e•-e2)/(e•-e3)] 1-p2-p•
AfterAlfaro et al. [ 1997].
 ALFARO AND GOMES: MODELING OF MINERAL DUST PRODUCTION 18,077

The assumption we havemadethatthecharacteristics (d,, oi, e,) of the samereasons,the aerosolnumber(or mass)size distribution
the aerosolparticlemodesare fixed impliesthat for a givensize thatcanbederivedfrom(10) (or (11)), theoretically
depends
on the
classof saltatingsoil aggregates,
the sandblasting efficiencyonly same parameters.
depends onpi(Dp),i.e., on pp,Dp,andu* (throughec),andnot on
Zo. This emphasizes the fact that still for a given size of soil 3. Results and Comments
aggregates, nonerodibleelementsonly influenceaerosolmass
productionindirectly,
by limitingsaltation. 3.1. Choiceof Input Parametersfor DPM
Therelativeamplitudes ni(Dp)of eachof thethreeaerosolmodes
in the aerosolnumbersize distribution, We haveseenthatthesandblasting efficiency,
andtheaerosolsize
distributions cantheoretically
be computed by theDPM for anyset
of inputparameter values(pp, u*, Zo, mmd,gsd,A, d,, o,, e,).
i=1
(7) Because nothingis •knownon their possiblevariationssomeof
theseparameters havebeenfixedto theiruniqueavailablevalues
canbe deducedfrom (3): (d,, c•,,e,). As for the otherparameters, certainvaluesare more
representative of naturalconditions
thanothers.Forexample,mass
3
densities of mineralspresentin add soilsaregenerallyall closeto
n,(Dp)
=(p,(Dp)/e,)
/ (Z p,(Dp)/e,). (8) 2.65g/cm
3[Deeretal., 1992],andthisvaluewillbeadopted
in all
i=1 thefollowingcomputations. Sincefieldmeasurements showthatu*
onlyexceptionallyreaches 100cm/sonEarth,thiswill betheupper
Similar expressionsare obtained from (4) for the relative limitfor ourcomputations. Furthermore, thelooseerodiblefraction
amplitudesm,(Dp) of each mode in the aerosol mass size of aridsoilscangenerally beconsidered asa mixtureof onlytwoor
distributions
three, among four, well-definedlognormallydistributedsoil
3 aggregatepopulations: aluminosilicated silts (ASS); fine sands
(FS); saltysands(SS): andcoarsesands(CS) [Chatenetet al.,
m,,(Op)
=(p,(Op)
d,3/
e,)/ (E p,(Op)
d•3/
e,).
i=1
(9)19961.The parameters(mmd, gsd) of thesefour populations,
hereinafteralsoreferredto as "arid soil components" are givenin
As it wasalreadythe casefor the sandblasting
efficiency,dFh(Dv) Table 3. For thesefour soil components, testsmadewith MB95
doesnot appearin theseequations, whichshowsthat the shapeof indicatethat at averageu* values(around50 cm/s),saltationis
the aerosolsizedistributionproducedby a givensize classis not blockedwhen Z0 reachesabout 0.1 cm. This is coherentwith field
affected by the presenceof nonerodibleelementson the soil measurements by Nicklingand Gilhes[ 1989],xYhofound0.1 cm
surface. to betheuppermost of theroughness lengths measured overa x¾ide
2.2.2.Aerosolproductionby soils.Integrating(3) and (4) over varietyof erodiblesoilsin the southuestem part of the United
thesoilsizedistribution
easilyprovidestheglobalnumber(N,) and States.Consequently. Z0 will remainunder0.1 cm in the DPM
mass(b;......) fluxesof eachaerosolmode: computations.
To obtaina bettergripof aerosolproduction by naturalsoils•we
shall first studythe part playedby individualsoil aggregates of
differentsizes.Then, the caseof four monodisperse soils having
characteristicscloseto thatof the four "soil components," defined
above,xvillbe examined.The sensitivityof the DPM to variations
b;eros,,
= (rrppd,3/6)
N, (11) of its input parameterswill be studied by allowing these
characteristicsto vary.

The overallsandblasting efficiency,definedas the ratio of the 3.2. Sandblasting Efficiencyand AerosolSizeDistributionfor a
globalaerosolfluxto theglobalhorizontalflux, is thengivenby Particular Soil AggregateSizeClass
3 oo
Variationsof the sandblasting
efficiencv
with u* (Figure1) have
(12)
beencomputed forD•,valuesequalto thefourmedian diametersof
i=1 Dp=0 the foursoilcomponents identifiedby Cratenetet al. [1996].Let
us first focusour attentionon the 210 gm aggregates.Thoughthe
thresholdfrictionvelocitycomputed by MB95 for thissizeis 25.6
or from (5),
cm/s,{x(D•,)remainsequalto zero until u* reaches37.5 cm/s.
Bet•veen25.6 and 37.5 cm/s, saltationoccurswithoutleadingto
(13) anyaerosol
release.
Indeed,not until37.5 cm/sdoesthe kinetic
Dp=0 Dp=0
Table 3. GeometricMean Mass Diameters(mmd) and Geometric
This lastequationshowsthatthe overallsandblasting efficiencyis StandardDeviations(gsd) of Four LognormallyDistributed
a meanof theefficiencies
of eachsoilaggregate sizeclassweighted AggregatePopulationsThat GenerallyConstitutethe Erodible
by itsrelativeimportance
in thesaltationflux. ContraD'to •x(Dp),•x Fraction of Add Soils
dependson all the factorsthat controlthe size distributionof ASS FS SS CS
F•,(Dv).Namely,for a givenwind speed,massmediandiameters
(mmd),geometric standarddeviations(gsd),relativeamplitudes(A) mmd (•tm) 125 210 520 690
of the varioussoil aggregatemodesconstitutingthe soil erodible gsd 1.6 1.8 1.6 1.6
fraction, and Z0 that takes nonerodibleelementsinto account.For After Chatenetet al. [ 1996].
 18,078 ALFARO AND GOMES:MODELING OF MINERAL DUST PRODUCTION

1 .E-04

1 .E-05

1 .E-06

1 .E-07

1 .E-08
20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110

u* (cmls)

Figure1. Sandblasting
efficiencies
computed
forfoursoil-aggregate
sizes:
125tam(dashed
line),210tam(solid
curve),520 tam(triangles),
and690 tam(crosses).

energyof the 210 tamaggregates reache3, the smallestof the lessimportant forthecoarsestaggregates.Indeed, becauseof their
aerosolparticles bindingenergies. In otherwords,a sandblastinglargemass, theirkineticenergyis muchlargerthanthestrongest
threshold,u*t.8=a(D•,),
canbedefinedfor anyaggregate sizeasthe aerosol particlebindingenergy, evenat frictionvelocities just
frictionvelocityfor whichecreaches e3.In thecaseof the 125 tam abovesaltationthreshold.Thep,(Dp)expressions (Table3) show
aggregates thissandblastingthreshold (u*t,•a(125)= 81.6cm/s)is thatp] consequently tendstoward1,whilep2andp3tendtoward
muchlargerthan the saltationthreshold(22.0 cm/s). On the zero.In otherwords,mostof the kineticenergyof the 520 tam
contrary,theheaviest 520 and690 tamaggregates havethex)reticalaggregatesis usedto release aerosol particles fromthe finest
sandblasting thresholds (9.6 and 6.3 cm/s,respectively) smaller aerosol
mode,evenat lowestfrictionspeeds. Thelimitot• toward
than their respectivesaltationfrictionvelocities(36.4 and 43.9 which(z tendsin thiscasecanbe derivedfrom (6):
cm/s).This meansthat they are efficientfor dustproductionas
soon as entrained into saltation. (z• = (•/6) p•,[3d13/e]. (15)
For all four sizes,•t is a decreasingfuncronof u* abovethe Asalready
seen
for•t0,•t©(=2.1x10
-gcm
4) isindependent
of
sandblastingthreshold velocities.
Thiscanbe explained asfollows: FigureI showsthatintherangeof u* values commonlyobserved
immediately aboveu*t,•a(D•,),ecis largerthanej but still smaller onthefield(upto about100cm/s)thislimitis almost
immediately
thane2,onlyaerosolparticlesfromthecoarsest mode(mode3) are reachedbythe520 and,690tamsizeclasses butneverbythe125
released(p3= 1), andthethex)retical
initial(z(D•,)value,ot0,canbe and210 tamaggregates.
derivedfrom (6): In summary, on the one hand,variations with u* of the
sandblasting efficiencyfor a fixed aggregate size classare
•t0 = (•/6) pp[3d33/e3. (14)
intimatelyconnected to variationsin aerosolsizedistribution.
On
Thismaximum initialvalue( = 1.9x10 'scm']),independent
of the theotherhand,if u* is fixed,thesmallest(zvaluesareobtained for
sizes,is observed(Figure1) for the 125 and 210 tam thecoarsest
aggregate soilaggregates,buttheaerosols the)'release
arericher
aggregates.
Then,whenu* increases, largerproportions
of e• are in veryfree particles
(particlesfrommode1).
progressively'
usedto flee smallerparticlesfrommodes2 then 1.
From a massproductionpoint of view, replacingheavyparticles 3.3. Sandblastingby Individual"Arid SoilComponents"
frommode3 by lighteronesfrommodes2 and 1, is tantamount to
a decreasein sandblastingefficiency. Table 4 illustratesthe At this stagethe DPM is appliedto monodisperse soilsand
changeswith u* in aerosolsize distributions (obtainedfrom except whenexplicitly mentioned,
soilsareassumed to besmooth,
equation(8)) for De = 210 and 520 tam Thesechangesare much i.e.,deprivedof nonerodible
elements.
In thiscase,a goodestimate

Table 4. NumberProportions
(%) of EachParticleModesin SizeDistributions
of Aerosol
Produced
at DifferentWindFrictionVelocities
by 210 and520 tamAggregate
SizeClasses

Dp(•m) 210pm 520•m

u* Mode 1 Mode 2 Mode 3 Mode 1 Mode 2 Mode 3

(1.5}am) (6.7•tm) (14.21am)

38 0 0 100 •100 0 0
40 68 26 6 •100 0 0
50 94 6 0 100 0 0
70 98 2 0 100 0 0
 ALFAROAND GOMES:MODELINGOF MINERAL DUST PRODUCTION 18,079

of theoverallsoilroughness
is provided
byZ0= mmd/30[Greeley conditioned
by u* but alsoby the availabilityof soil aggregates
of
andlversen,1985]. differentsizesin soil surface.At highgsdvalues,widerangesof
3.3.1. Sandblasting
efficiency.The sandblasting efficiencyis soilaggregate sizesarepresentin thesoil,andu* remainstheonly
firstdetermined
asa functionof u* for foursoilaggregate modes significant limitingfactorfor the saltationflux. As a consequence,
having the mass median diameters(mmd) of the arid soil thetx valueis little affectedby an increase in gsdabove1.6. This
components andgeometricstandarddeviations(gsd)all setequalto impliesthat in the caseof naturalsoils,for whichgsdis generally
the samevalue(1.6). This allowsdetermination of the influenceof largerthan 1.6, anyfixed gsdvalueabove1.6 canbe adoptedin tx
mmdaloneona. In a second andthirdstep,theinfluence of gsd computations. In the followingdevelopments, gsdvaluesfor each
and of Z0 will be tested. aggregate modewill bethoseindicatedin Table3.
3.3.1.1. Influence of mmd: Let us examine in detail the results 3.3.1.3. Influence of Z0' Here sandblasting efficienciesfor a
computedfor the 210 ism soil (Figure2a). This soil contains monomodal soil(mmd= 210 ism,gsd= 1.8) arecomputed for Z0 =
aggregates with diameters rangingfromabout50 to morethan500 mrnd/30(baresoil) andfor Z0 = 0.1 cm (Figure2c). The saltation
ism.Thesoilthreshold frictionvelocity(20.5 cm/s)is equalto the thresholdfrictionvelocitycomputed for thesoilis 20.5 cm/sfor the
threshold velocityof themorereadilyentrained of theseaggregatesbare case and reaches 32.7 cm/s in the second one. The main effect
( thoseof Dp= 75 ism).Whenu* increases fromthisvalue,larger of the increasein Z0 is a shift in sandblastingthresholdvelocities
andlargeraggregates entersaltation butnotuntilthesandblastingfrom 27 cm/s (at which it has been seenthat e• reachesej for the
threshold, U*t,sana
-- 27.8 cm/s,doesthe kineticener•,• of the 263 ismsoilaggregates) to 40 cmds(whenthekineticenergyof 200
heaviestsaltatingaggregates (of sizeDv - 263 ism)become equal ism aggregatesreachese3). Once sandblastingis initiated, its
to e3.At thatmoment, sandblasting begins,
butitsmassefficiency efficiencyascomputedby the DPM is practicallyunaffectedby the
is very low because mostof the saltatingaggregates are still presenceof nonerodibleelements.
inefficientfor aerosolproduction. Aboveu*t,•a, severalopposite 3.3.2. Size distributions. We have seen above that variations in
effectsarein competition: (1) thesandblastingefficiencyof already sandblastingefficiencyandin aerosolsizedistributions aredeeply
productive aggregates decreases becausetheyrelease finerandfiner connected. The influenceof soil and aerodsaamic parameters on
aerosolparticles,(2) a largeramountof coarsesoilaggregates of aerosolsize distributions can be studiedexactlyin the sameway
poor sandblasting efficiencyenter saltation,and (3) smaller theirinfluenceon sandblasting efficiencyhasbeen:soilscan again
aggregates,already saltating but previouslyinefficient for be assumedto be smoothand limited to one single"arid soil
sandblasting,becomeprogressively productive. Althoughthis component, '• then u*, mmd, gs& and Z0 are allowed to vary
complex competitionresultsin oscillations ratherhardto analyze separately. For example,the influence.of u* alonecanbe examined
individually,
onemaydistinguish a firstu* range(between U*•d by fixing mmdandgsd(e.g.210 ismand 1.8 corresponding to the
andabout40 cm/s),in whichc•globallyincreases because thethird fine sand (FS) values). assunfingsmoothnessof the soil, and
effectis dominant,and a secondone.above40 cm/s,wherec• computingthenumbersizedistributions of aerosolfluxesat several
decreasesbecausethe first two effects take over. The limit bet•een u* valueschosenbetweensandblasting thresholdand 100 cm/s
the two behaviorsis found around38 cm/s, i.e.. around the (Fig. 3). The corresponding number,andmass,relativeamplitudes
sandblasting thresholdvelocityfor aggregates of 210 ism for the threeaerosolparticlepopulationsare reportedin Table 5.
diameters. Reasonsfor the changesin relativesize distributionswith u* have
Weretheplot for the soilof 125 ismmmdcontinued at u* values alreadybeen detailedwhen commentingon the variationsof c•
largerthan 100 cm/s, a similar observationcould be made:an c• (Fig.2a)with u* for the same"arid soilcomponent." The influence.
maximum is reached
around80 cm/s.Forthetwosoilsof highest of mmd on aerosol sizedistribution can also be seen in Table 5. For
mindvalues, themaximashould theoretically
befoundat u* values a givenu*, the proportionof particlesfrom mode1 increaseswith
lowerthanthesoilsaltation
thresholds.
Thisexplainswhyc•almost rmnd in the vertical flux.
decreases
fromthestartfor thesesoilsand,as expected, rapidly As for the influenceof gsdandZ0,it hasalreads.' beenshownthat
tendstowardthealreadymentionedlimitc•. Theimportantc•value realisticvariationsof gsdhave very little influenceon c• and that
obtainedimmediately
abovethreshold
for the t•'o coarsest
soilsis the main effect of Z0 is to increase the saltation and the
dueto thefactthatcontrary to whathappenedfor thefinersoils, sandblasting thresholds.The discussion developed aboveaboutthe
mostof theaggregates thataretheneffectively
saltatingarelarge correlationbetweenparallel variationsof c• and of aerosolsize
enough tobealready efficient
forsandblasting.
Consequently, when distributionssuggeststhat gsd,andto a lesserextentZ0, will have
computing the c• ratiofrom(12), the globalsaltationflux is not little impact on these aerosolrelative size distributions.This is
enhanced by a largefraction of unproductive
aggregates,andc• is indeedconfirmedby thecomputations (Table6).
initiallyhigher
thanforfine(125or210ism)soils.Onthecontrary,
finer soilsbecomemoreefficient than coarseonesfor u*>40 cm/s.
4. Discussion
3.3.1.2.Influenceof gsd:Thisinfluence
of gsdonc•is examined
by allowing
thegeometric
standard
deviation
of the210 ismsoil For lack of a physicallyexplicit sandblasting,
model factors
component
to takefourdifferentvalues(Figure2b). The first one controllingdustproductionhave long remainedunclearand, for a
(gsd= 1) is unrealistic
for a naturalsoilbut corresponds
to the given soil, sandblasting
efficienciesand aerosolsize distributions
theoretical
casein whichthe soilwouldbe madeof aggregateshave been thoughtto be disconnected. This explainswhy the
havingall exactlythe samesize(210 ism).Resultsfor this case sandblasting massefficiencyand size distributionmeasurements
havealready beenpresented
in Fig. 1.Thesecond gsdvalue(= 1.3) haveneverbeenperformedat the sametime on the field andwhy
is stillfairlylowfora naturalsoil.butthelasttwovalues(1.6 and completesetsof DPM inputparameters thatwouldbe necessary for
1.9),beingcloserto the one(l.8) indicated by Chatenetet al. model runs are never providedin the literature.This, of course,
[ 1995]forthismode,aremorerealistic. We noticetheprogressivepreventsdirect confrontationsof the DPM predictionsto field
departure from the idealcasewhengsdincreases. However,the measurements, but semiquantitativecomparisons are still possible.
most importantresultis that somesort of saturating effect is For example,Gillette [1979] andNicklingand Gillies [1989] have
achieved abovegsd= 1.6. This canbe explainedas follows:the measuredc• valuesas a functionof u* over7 and 10 (respectively)
width of the size distributionof the saltationflux is not only arid soilsrepresentative
of the differenterodiblesurfacesthat can
18,080 ALFARO AND GOMES: MODELING OF MINERAL DUST PRODUCTION

1 .E-05

1 .E-06

1 .E-07

1 .E-08 i I i i

10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

u* (cmls)
1 .E-04

1 .E-05

E 1E-06
• ß

1 .E-07

1 .E-08
10 2O 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

1 .E-05

1 .E-06

I
1 .E-07

1 .E-08
lO 2o 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
u* (cmls)

Figure 2. Individualinfluences of monodisperse soilcharacteristics

on sandblastingefficiencies.
(a) Influenceof
Dp,,•:Zo= Dp,,J30,o•1.6, andDp,,•is allowedto takefourdifferentvalues(125•tm,plot 1; 210 •tm,plot 2; 520
•tm,plot 3; and690 •tm,plot4); (b) influence ofox:Zo= Dp,,J30, De.x= 210 •tm,andOxtakesfourdifferentvalues
(1.0, short-dashed line;1.3, thin solidline; 1.6, thick solidline; and 1.9, long-dashed
line); (c) influenceof Z0:
D•,.x= 210 •tm,Ox= 1.6,andZo= De,x/30(solidline)or 0.lcm (dottedline).In eachcase,thesaltation (verticalsolid
line) andsandblasting
(verticaldottedline)thresholds
havebeenreported.
 ALFARO AND GOMES: MODELING OF MINERAL DUST PRODUCTION 18,081

1 .E+03 -_

8O
_

1 .E+02 - 55
_

_.

40
1.E+01 -_

_
35
_

1 .E+00

0.01 0.1 1 10 100

diameter (pm)
Figure 3. Size distributionsof the numberaerosolfluxes releasedby smoothFS soils at 4 dift•rent friction
velocities(35, 40, 55, and80 cm/s).

be foundin thesouthwesternpartof theUnitedStates.In spiteof a measurement site (D.A. Gillette. personalcommunication.1999).

largescatter,
thegeneraltrendfollowedby theexperimental results For mostsoilsan increasein c• o[' almost2 ordersof magnitudeis
(Figure4) andtheirorderof magnitude are coherentwith the ones observedbelow40 cm/s,while c• tendsto becomeapproximately
predictedby theDPM for ASS andFS soilcomponents: it hasto independent
of u*, andcloseto 10-6cm-], above
thisvalue.This
be notedthatexperimentalresultsobtainedby Gillettefor soils6 couldindicate(1) that the aerosolbindingenergies(e,) originally
and7 havenotbeenplottedbecause of an artificialenhancementof deducedfrom ,•ind tunnelexperimentsand provisionallyusedin
c• valuesdue to advectionof dust producedupwind of the the DPM computations are, at least in the first approximation,

Table 5. Number (n) and mass(m) Proportionsof Three AerosolParticleModes in AerosolsReleasedat Different Wind
Speedsby FourArid Soil Components

Mode I Mode 2 Mode 3

u* (,cm/s) SoilType n m n m n m
35 ASS 77 ¸ 9 5 14 95
35 FS 84 1 7 6 9 93
35 SS 93 2 4 11 3 87
35 CS 95 3 3 14 2 83
40 ASS 81 0 8 6 11 94
40 FS 88 1 6 7 6 92
40 SS 97 5 2 14 1 81
40 CS 98 10 2 18 0 72
55 ASS 89 2 9 27 2 71
55 FS 94 5 5 30 1 65
55 SS 99 36 1 33 0 30
55 CS 100 59 0 27 0 14
80 ASS 89 1 5 7 5 92
80 FS 96 3 3 10 2 86
80 SS 100 56 0 17 0 27
80 CS 100 83 0 11 0 6
See text for details.
 18,082 ALFARO AND GOMES: MODELING OF MINERAL DUST PRODUCTION

Table 6. Influenceof gsdandof Z0on SizeDistributions

of AerosolsReleased
at Differentu*
Mode 1 Mode 2 Mode 3

Z0 mmd/30 0.1 cm mmd/30 0.1 cm mmd/30 0.1 cm

qO R? R? - - 16 1• - - • q - -
40 88 89 - - 6 5 - - 6 5 - -
50 92 93 86 86 6 5 9 9 3 2 5 5
60 93 94 92 92 4 3 5 4 3 3 4 4
70 9• 9• 94 94 3 3 3 3 2 2 3 3
Numberpropoaions of thethreeaerosolpaaiclemodeshavebeencomputed for a smooth(Z0=mmd/30)anda rough(Z0= 0.1 cm) soilmadeof
210 pm aggregates.
In eachease,thegeometricstandarddeviationof thesoilaggregatepopulatbnwasallowedto taketwo differentvalues:• = 1.6,
and •2 = 1.9.

representative of field conditions;(2) that the ASS and/orFS soil and the numberconcentration measuredat a given height,size-
components arequitecommonin the erodiblefractionof arid soils resolvedconcentrations can be computed from the DPM vertical
in the U.S. southwest;and (3) that thesecomponents dominate flux sizedistributions
accordingto equation(16) andcompared to
dustproduction. The factthataridsoilsfrequentlycontaineitheran sizedistributions
measured
by d'Almeida:
ASS or FS componenthad akeadybeennotedby Marticorena et
dc 1 dN
al. [1997] in their typologyof Saharansoils. The dominanceof
(16)
ASS or FS in dustproduction processes canbe explainedby noting
that (1) at friction velocitiesjust above sandblasting threshold,
dlogd
=(0.12udlogd
'
thesesmallsizecomponents controlthe saltationflux becausethey In the "dust storm" conditions the size distribution determined bv
are moreeasilyentrainedinto saltationthan SS or CS, and (2) at thismethodis morelikelyto be representative of localproduction
higher wind speedstheir efficienciesare at least 1 order of than in the othertwo casesfor whichmineralparticlesadvected
magnitude higherthanthatof thetwo coarsest modes(Fig. 2a). fromdistantsources canbepredominant. Consequently, theaerosol
As it was akeady the case for or, direct comparisonof size- sizedistributions computed for a typicalaridsoilcomponent (FS,
resolvedaerosolfluxescomputedby the DPM with field resultsis for example) at extremeu* values(e.g.,30 and90 cm/s)should
impossiblebecauseof the lack of suchmeasurements encompass
in source this"duststorm"case.Figure5 showsthatthisis the
regions.Nonetheless, numbersizedistributions expressed casewithinthe 0.3-20 [tm diameterrange.Discrepancies
in terms between
of number concentrations,c, have been measuredin different theDPM predictions andfieldmeasurements above20 [tincanbe
African sourceregionsand in variouswind conditions[d'AlmeMa explained by statingthat in "duststormconditions" the wind
and Schatz, 1983]. After averaging several measurements,turbulence is strongenoughfor saltatingparticleslargerthan20
d 5ilmeMa[ 1986] providedthreesize distributions correspondinggm to becometemporarilysuspended, which enhancesthe
to "background,""wind canying dust," and "dust storm" concentrations measuredin the corresponding size classes.Field
conditions.By assuming,afterNickling and Gillies 11989],that measurements [Gomeset al., 1990]alsorevealthe existence of a
to bothu* veI3•f'me(mindaround0.1 [tm) particlepopulation
the verticalaerosolflux in a size classis proportional thatwastoo

1 .E-05

+ t -- --

4- "' •

•, td I] o n [] fl n []
1.E-06 i + A a a• ..__ _ _•__•

,•O i • x
x
',= 4' •

1.E-08
" i •/ =Glendaleo
ß Maricopa
Yuma ag
ß Sta Cruz Riv
a Tucson
• Ajo
• ,
•
I
+ + Casa Grande Hayden + soil 1
• - soil 2 ß soil 3 ß soil 4
• I
a soil5 ß soil9
1.E-09 ' , ...... ', I .... I .... I .... I .... I .... I .... I ....
10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
U* (cmls)

Figure4. Semiquantitative comparison

of sandblastingefficiencies
computedfor smoothASS (dots)andFS (solid
line) soilswith fieldmeasurements
by Gillette[ 1979](numbered soils)andby N•cklmgand Grilles[ 1989](other
soils).
 ALFARO AND GOMES: MODEL1NG OF MINERAL DUST PRODUCTION 18,083

1 .E+04

9O
1 .E+03 -

"?, 1.E+02-
E x /x
52 x
•o 1.E+01-. x

o
1 .E+00 --

1 .E-01 -

0.01 o.1 1 lOO

Diameter (pro)

Figure5. Comparison of the(concentration)

sizedistributions
of theaerosols
released
bya smoothFSsoilatthree
different
u* (30, 52, and90 cm/s)withfieldmeasurementsin 'background'(crosses)
and'duststorm'(circles)
conditions
[afterd •tlmefda,1986].

smallto be detectedby the instrumentsusedby Alfaro et al.'s velocityandis not directlyconditionedby the soil contentin clay
[1997] wind runnelexperiments and that consequentlyis not particles.This ratio which is a measureof the soil aptitudeto
accountedfor in the DPM. Thoughparticlesin this modeare releasesmallparticles,largelydepends on thewindfrictionvelocity
expectedto be lessopticallyactivethanthosein mode1, field especiallyin the rangeof u* mostfrequentlyencountered on the
experimentsin sourceregionsare presentlybeingplannedto field.As for the sizedisthbutions of aerosols emittedfrom a given
addressthisproblem. soil,theirvariationsandthoseof the sandblasting massefficiency
It canalsobe noted(Fig.5) thatthesizedistribution
of theaerosol havebeenshownto be fundamentally linked.This impliesthatthey
produced bya smooth FSsoilat 52 cm/sis quitecloseto the"dust alsodependonbothciD'soilcharacteristics andu*. For a givensoil
storm"sizedistribution measured byd'Almei'da.This,of course,is it has been shownthat the proportionof finest particlesin the
nota validationof theDPM: it onlyshowsthatfieldresultscanbe aerosolverticalflux generallyincreases with u*.
correctlyreproduced over a wide particlesize rangewhenan Until today, the radiativeforcingof mineral aerosolhas been
appropriate'plausible'choiceof inputparametersismade. computedby assuminginitial size distributionsand sandblasting
massefficienciesindependent of the aerosolgenerationconditions
[Tegenand Lacis, 1996; Claquinet al., 1999]. The uncertainties
5. Conclusions
linked to these assumptions are probablyimportant,especially
closeto sourceregionswherethe radiativeforcingis largest.In
Thedustproduction model(DPM) whichhasbeenobtained by
orderto quantifythe improvements, as comparedto formersource
combininga sandblasting model [Aljbro et al., 1997] to a
previously developed saltation model [Marticorena and models, brought by the new model on radiative forcing
Bergan,eta', 1995] allowscomputation of the amountsand size computations, the DPM is presentlybeing implementedin a
mesoscaleatmosphericmodel(RAMS). Field measurements
meant
distributions
of aerosols releasedby a givensoil in givenwind
to checktheaccuracyof thefuturecomputations arealsoplannedin
conditions.In termsof inputparameters, namelysoil roughness
sourceregionsin the frame of national(Niger) or international
length,drysizedistributionof theaggregates constituting
thesoil
(ACE-Asia)experiments.
erodiblefraction,andwindfrictionvelocity,theDPM is notmore
demanding thanits saltation
submodel. Fieldexperimentsin which
Acknowledgments. The authorswould like to thankDale Gillette for his
the DPM inputs(soilcharacteristics,meteorological parameters) helpfulcommentson this paper.This work was supportedby the EC
and outputs(saltationand vertical mass fluxes, aerosolsize EnvironmentandClimateResearchProgram(WELSONS proj•t, ENV 4-
distributions)
havebeencardedoutquiterecentlyin northeasternCT95-0182; ClimatologyandNaturalHazards),
SpainandNiger,buttheirresults, whichshouldhelpvalidatethe
DPM atsmallscale, havenotyetbeenprocessed. Whilewaitingfor
theseresults,semiquantitative
comparisons of DPM outputs with References
publisheddatahavebeenmade.They showthat the main model
In termsof source Alfaro, S.C., and L. Cremes,Improvingthe large-scalemodelingof the
implicationsarecoherentwith field observations.
saltationflux of soil particlesin presenceof nonerodible
elements,J.
strength
theratioof theverticalmassflux of particles
smallerthan Geophys.Res, 100, 16,357-16,366,1995.
20[tmto thesoilaggregatehorizontalfluxis not,contrary
to what Alfaro, S.C., A.Gaudichet,L. Gomes,and M. Mail16,Modelingthe size
hasbeenassumed
recently
forlackof anappropriate
sandblasting distributionof a soil aerosolproducedby sandblasting,
J. Geophys.
model[Marticorena
et al., 1997],independent
of the windfriction Res, 102, 11,239-11,249, 1997.
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