Collaborative Research: Using Measurements from the Columbia Plateau Eolian System to Improve Global-Scale Models of Mineral-Dust Aerosols

该奖项是为了研究哥伦比亚高原上成对的砂-粉砂风成系统，以便更好地了解矿物粉尘气溶胶排放对植被、土壤湿度和地形变化的敏感性。 这些资料将用于改进大气环流模式中的全球尘埃模式例行程序，将进行实地工作，以确定矿物-气溶胶来源的历史和变异性以及自末次盛冰期以来哥伦比亚高原沙丘和黄土形成的年代学。 将获得关于植被面积和类型、土壤质地、土壤湿度和导致观察到的顺风堆积的地形特征的信息。 模拟将用于提高地球气候系统大气环流模式中使用的全球传输模式的灵敏度，人们日益认识到大气矿物气溶胶在气候的辐射和地球化学强迫中发挥着重要作用。更广泛的影响，这个拟议中的研究中心记录一个重要的风成序列的演变在一个约束良好的年表框架，以更好地了解负责的过程和影响矿物气溶胶排放的因素。

This award is to study a paired sand-silt eolian system on the Columbia Plateau, in order to better understand the sensitivity of mineral-dust aerosol emissions to changes in vegetation, soil moisture and topography. This information will be used to improve global dust model routines in general circulation models (GCM).Field work will be undertaken to characterize the history and variability of mineral-aerosol sources and chronology of dune and loess formation for the Columbia Plateau since the last glacial maximum (LGM). Information will be obtained on vegetation area and type, soil texture, soil moisture and topographic features that resulted in the observed downwind accumulations. Modeling will be used to improve the sensitivity of a global transport model used in general circulation models (GCM) of the Earth climate system.Atmospheric mineral aerosols are increasingly recognized as playing an important role in radiative and biogeochemical forcing of climate. The broader impacts of this proposed research center on documenting the evolution of an important eolian sequence within a well-constrained chronologic framework to better understand the processes responsible for and factors that effect mineral-aerosol emissions.