AGS-PRF: Estimating the Dust Climate Feedback by Developing and Using an Improved Parameterization of Dust Aerosol Emission

该奖项为PI提供为期2年的博士后研究奖学金，PI将在康奈尔大学Natalie Mahowald教授的指导下工作。 在博士后研究奖学金期间，PI将开发和评估主要来自沙漠和半干旱地区的粉尘排放的物理参数化。参数化是基于一个正式的跃移过程之间的等效性，通过该过程，尘埃气溶胶从表面喷出的结果与弹跳的沙粒，和易碎材料，如玻璃的碎片的影响。 该项目有三个主要任务：1）开发一个改进的粉尘排放参数化，严格考虑由侵蚀土壤排放的粉尘通量对风速，土壤性质和植被的依赖性; 2）将沙尘排放参数化纳入NCAR社区地球系统模式（CESM），并利用对当今尘埃循环的模拟，根据广泛的地面和卫星测量结果进一步评估参数化;（3）利用沙尘模块量化从工业化前到现在的气候转变过程中的沙尘气候反馈，以及从现在到未来的气候转变过程中的沙尘气候反馈，在未来的气候中，二氧化碳浓度将上升到工业化前的两倍。这项工作将在实践和科学上产生更广泛的影响，因为沙尘在建立地球气候方面起着重要作用，而沙尘的辐射效应可能构成气候变化的重要反馈。 因此，在气候和天气模型中更好地代表沙尘排放可能会导致更好的气候和天气预测。 此外，沙尘排放在云的形成、干旱物理学和大气化学中起着重要作用，通过在大气模式中更好地代表沙尘排放，将加强所有这些领域的研究。 最后，博士后研究奖学金，在一位知名科学家的指导下，将有助于建立PI的职业生涯，从而为这一科学学科的未来劳动力提供支持。

This award provides funds for a 2-year Postdoctoral Research Fellowship for the PI, who will work under the mentorship of Professor Natalie Mahowald at Cornell University. During the Postdoctoral Research Fellowship the PI will develop and evaluate a physically-based parameterization of the emission of dust, primarily from deserts and semi-arid regions. The parameterization is based on a formal equivalence between the saltation process, through which dust aerosols are ejected from the surface as a result of impacts with bouncing sand grains, and the fragmentation of brittle materials such as glass. The project has three broad tasks: 1) Developing an improved dust emission parameterization that rigorously accounts for the dependence of the dust flux emitted by an eroding soil on wind speed, soil properties, and vegetation; 2) Implementing the dust emission parameterization into the NCAR Community Earth System Model (CESM), and using simulations of the present day dust cycle to further evaluate the parameterization against a wide range of ground-based and satellite measurements; and 3) Using the dust module to quantify the dust climate feedback in transitions from the preindustrial to the present day climate, and from the present day to a future climate in which carbon dioxide concentrations rise to twice their pre-industrial values.The work will have broader impacts both practically and scientifically, as dust plays an important role in establishing the earth's climate, and the radiative effects of dust may constitute an important feedback for climate change. Thus, better representation of dust emission in climate and weather models may lead to better climate and weather predictions. In addition, dust emission plays an important role in cloud formation, drought physics, and atmospheric chemistry, and research in all these fields would be enhanced by better representation of dust emission in atmospheric models. Finally, the postdoctoral research fellowship, under the mentorship of an established scientist, will help to build the career of the PI, thereby providing support for the future workforce in this scientific discipline.