Effects of Saharan Dust on African Easterly Waves and Tropical Cyclones

该研究项目的主要目标是加深对撒哈拉矿物尘埃对非洲东风急流、非洲东风波和热带气旋影响的了解。一个统一的工作计划，结合理论，数值试验，资料同化，模式验证。将使用标准的分析、数值和诊断方法来执行该计划。将开发一个新的理论框架，其目标是阐明撒哈拉沙漠的灰尘，非洲东风急流，非洲东风波之间的因果关系。该理论框架将作为解释从天气研究和预报模型获得的结果的工具，该模型将用于进行涉及灰尘-辐射-微物理相互作用的全面模拟。这项研究的学术价值包括促进了解撒哈拉矿物尘埃如何在天气尺度环境到热带气旋尺度上影响热带气旋的路径和强度。 这项研究将评估灰尘-辐射和灰尘-微物理相互作用对热带气旋活动的相对重要性，这将导致改进对TC的预测。这项研究的更广泛影响包括使用各种数据集进行模型验证的结果，这对评估模型性能和预测至关重要。 该奖项将对沙尘对热带气旋的影响有新的认识，可用于帮助改进现有的热带气旋预报诊断和统计工具。 此外，该奖项将为本科生和研究生提供研究培训。

The primary objective of this research project is to advance understanding of the effects of Saharan mineral dust on the African easterly Jet, African easterly waves, and tropical cyclones. A unified work plan is designed that combines theory, numerical experiments, data assimilation, and model verification. Standard analytical, numerical, and diagnostic methods will be used to execute the plan. A new theoretical framework will be developed whose goal is to illuminate causal relationships between Saharan dust, the African easterly jet, and African easterly waves. The theoretical framework will serve as a tool for interpreting results obtained from the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model, which will be used to carry out comprehensive simulations involving dust-radiative-microphysical interactions. The intellectual merit of the research includes advancing understanding of how Saharan mineral dust operates over the synoptic scale environment to the tropical cyclone scale to affect the path and intensification of tropical cyclones. This research will assess the relative importance dust-radiation and dust-microphysical interactions on tropical cyclone activity, which will lead to improved prediction of TCs.The broader impacts of the research include model validation results with various data sets, which is critical to assessing model performance and forecasts. This award will develop a new understanding of the effects of dust on tropical cyclones, which can be used to help improve existing diagnostic and statistical tools for tropical cyclone forecasts. Additionally, this award will provide research training for both undergraduate and graduate students.