CARMA-Dust (Community Aerosol Research Model from Ames/NASA) is a model for
the forecast of dust
storms and the prediction of dust concentration in the atmosphere. The model
makes 72 hour forecasts of dust including the effects of winds, dust
particle size and surface moisture using MM5 weather forecast data. The
model includes the effects of atmospheric stability, winds and particle size
in the forecast of dust aerosol concentrations.
The dust model was originally developed by Dr. Owen Toon and Pete Colarco at
The University of Colorado, Boulder. The model has been modified by the
Space Department at the Johns Hopkins APL to be use AFWA MM5 weather data to
make world-wide daily dust forecasts.
The model uses a newly developed dust source database developed by Dr. Paul
Ginoux at GIT/NASA GSFC. The Ginoux source model is a global dust data set
developed using TOMS satellite data.
The CARMA-Dust model uses 10 particle sizes for dust ranging in size from
0.5 µm to 10 µm.
Since larger dust particles have short airborne lifetimes on the order
of several hours, larger particles have not been included.
The model uses 72 hour MM5 forecast data, with meteorological variables
given on sigma pressure levels. Initial dust conditions are estimated in
CARMA using a 48 hour model "spin-up". The spin-up uses the preceding 2 days
of MM5 forecast data. The model then uses the initialized conditions and
continues the run cycle through the 72 hour forecast time making dust
concentration predictions every 3 hours.
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