Decreasing Dust Over the Middle East Partly Caused by Irrigation Expansion
Abstract The importance of the effects of anthropogenic activities on modulating the global dust cycle has been increasingly recognized. Over the Middle East, we find in observations that there has been a significant decrease in dust optical depth from 2007 to 2019 during which global irrigated area...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Wiley
2022-01-01
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| Series: | Earth's Future |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1029/2021EF002252 |
| _version_ | 1828368789898526720 |
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| author | Wenwen Xia Yong Wang Bin Wang |
| author_facet | Wenwen Xia Yong Wang Bin Wang |
| author_sort | Wenwen Xia |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract The importance of the effects of anthropogenic activities on modulating the global dust cycle has been increasingly recognized. Over the Middle East, we find in observations that there has been a significant decrease in dust optical depth from 2007 to 2019 during which global irrigated areas especially in the Middle East and South Asia have rapidly expanded. Whether irrigation expansion contributes to the decrease of dust in the Middle East is investigated based on observations/reanalyses and global climate model simulations with and without irrigation. Results show that irrigation over the northeast Middle East and Pakistan supplements water to the soil. By increasing local evaporation and moisture advection, irrigation enhances precipitation over the whole Middle East and the northwest Indian subcontinent. As a result, dust wet deposition by precipitation is elevated. Owing to irrigation‐induced land surface cooling, surface wind speed decreases as the planetary boundary layer becomes stable. Along with increased soil moisture, reduced surface wind speed suppresses local dust emissions. Enhanced dust wet deposition and suppressed dust emissions cause atmospheric dust reduction over the Middle East. Vegetation greening in the Middle East as the climate warms has no contribution because there is no obvious trend found in observations. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-14T06:15:19Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-c5a0c5a9125d41dd9a4136361d7e85be |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2328-4277 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-14T06:15:19Z |
| publishDate | 2022-01-01 |
| publisher | Wiley |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Earth's Future |
| spelling | doaj.art-c5a0c5a9125d41dd9a4136361d7e85be2022-12-22T02:08:13ZengWileyEarth's Future2328-42772022-01-01101n/an/a10.1029/2021EF002252Decreasing Dust Over the Middle East Partly Caused by Irrigation ExpansionWenwen Xia0Yong Wang1Bin Wang2Department of Earth System Science, Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Earth System Modeling, Institute for Global Change Studies Tsinghua University Beijing ChinaDepartment of Earth System Science, Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Earth System Modeling, Institute for Global Change Studies Tsinghua University Beijing ChinaDepartment of Earth System Science, Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Earth System Modeling, Institute for Global Change Studies Tsinghua University Beijing ChinaAbstract The importance of the effects of anthropogenic activities on modulating the global dust cycle has been increasingly recognized. Over the Middle East, we find in observations that there has been a significant decrease in dust optical depth from 2007 to 2019 during which global irrigated areas especially in the Middle East and South Asia have rapidly expanded. Whether irrigation expansion contributes to the decrease of dust in the Middle East is investigated based on observations/reanalyses and global climate model simulations with and without irrigation. Results show that irrigation over the northeast Middle East and Pakistan supplements water to the soil. By increasing local evaporation and moisture advection, irrigation enhances precipitation over the whole Middle East and the northwest Indian subcontinent. As a result, dust wet deposition by precipitation is elevated. Owing to irrigation‐induced land surface cooling, surface wind speed decreases as the planetary boundary layer becomes stable. Along with increased soil moisture, reduced surface wind speed suppresses local dust emissions. Enhanced dust wet deposition and suppressed dust emissions cause atmospheric dust reduction over the Middle East. Vegetation greening in the Middle East as the climate warms has no contribution because there is no obvious trend found in observations.https://doi.org/10.1029/2021EF002252dustirrigationthe Middle Eastclimate models |
| spellingShingle | Wenwen Xia Yong Wang Bin Wang Decreasing Dust Over the Middle East Partly Caused by Irrigation Expansion Earth's Future dust irrigation the Middle East climate models |
| title | Decreasing Dust Over the Middle East Partly Caused by Irrigation Expansion |
| title_full | Decreasing Dust Over the Middle East Partly Caused by Irrigation Expansion |
| title_fullStr | Decreasing Dust Over the Middle East Partly Caused by Irrigation Expansion |
| title_full_unstemmed | Decreasing Dust Over the Middle East Partly Caused by Irrigation Expansion |
| title_short | Decreasing Dust Over the Middle East Partly Caused by Irrigation Expansion |
| title_sort | decreasing dust over the middle east partly caused by irrigation expansion |
| topic | dust irrigation the Middle East climate models |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1029/2021EF002252 |
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