INQUA
'Dust and Climate' WORKING GROUP (Project No. 1212):
Leader:
Prof. B A Maher, Lancaster
Environment Centre, University of Lancaster, Farrer Avenue, Lancaster, LA1 4YQ,
U.K., b.maher@lancaster.ac.uk;
fax:(0044) 1524 510269 (S, terrestrial and marine dust records).
Co-Leaders:
Dr Diego Gaiero, Universidad Nacional
de C—rdoba, Argentina, dgaiero@efn.uncor.edu
(ECS, dust provenance, isotope tracing).
Dr Natalie Mahowald, 2140 Snee Hall,
Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14850, USA, Mahowald@cornell.edu,
Phone: 607-255-5166 (S, modeler).
Quick
Links
Rationale
International
participation (country, person, affiliation, role)
Main
objectives
Specific
goals
Methods/approach
Planned
workshops/meetings
Anticipated
results
Links
to other INQUA or non-INQUA Projects
DIRTMAP
3 Recently
Updated,
Please see new web link under section (2) below
Co-sponsorship/additional
funding
The influence of dust on climate,
through changes in the radiative properties of the atmosphere and/or the CO2
content of the oceans and atmosphere (through iron fertilisation of high
nutrient, low chlorophyll, HNLC, regions of the world's oceans), remains a
poorly quantified and actively changing element of the Earth's climate system.
Dust-cycle models presently employ a relatively simple representation of dust
properties; these simplifications may severely limit the realism of simulations
of the impact of changes in dust loading on either or both radiative forcing
and biogeochemical cycling. Further, whilst state-of-the-art models achieve
reasonable estimates of dust deposition in the far-field (i.e. at ocean
locations), they under-estimate - by an order of magnitude- levels of dust
deposition over the continents, unless glacigenic dust production is explicitly
and spatially represented. This 'DIRTMAP3' working group aims to address these
problems directly, through a series of explicitly interacting contributions
from the modelling and palaeo-data communities (see Objectives list below).
International
participation (country, person, affiliation, role)
UK, Achterberg,
Eric, National Oceanography Centre Southampton, SS (marine biologist).
Italy, Albani,
Samuel, Universitˆ degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca, PhD
US, Anderson,
Robert, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, S (geologist)
France, Yves
Balkanski, LSCE/IPSL, Laboratoire CEA-CNRS-UVSQ, S (modeler)
US, Ballantyne, Ashley,
University of Colorado at Boulder, SS (geologist)
USA, Jim Beget,
University of Alaska, SS (terrestrial palaeo-dust records)
USA, Art Bettis, University of Iowa, SS (terrestrial
palaeo-dust records)
France, Bory, Aloys, UniversitŽ
des Sciences et Technologies de Lille, S (geosystems)
UK, Joanna Bullard, Loughborough University, SS
(geomorphology, dust emissions)**
Germany, Peter Croot, GEOMAR, ECR (dust and ocean
biogeochemistry)
US, Crusius, John, USGS, Woods
Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center, SS
Australia, De Deckker, Patrick, The
Australian National University, SS (dust)
US, DeMenocal, Peter,
Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, SS (geoscientist)
Italy, Barbara Delmonte, University of Milan, ECR
(dust provenance, isotope tracing)
UK, Adam Durant, Cambridge University, ECR (modeler)
Switzerland, Hubertus Fischer, SS (dust in ice
cores)
USA, Santiago Gasso, NASA, ECR (remote sensing
of dust)
Israel, Hezi Gildor, Weizmann Institute, SS
(modeler)
US. Ginoux, Paul, National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, SS (modeler)
Australia, Paul Hesse, Macquarie University, SS
(terrestrial and marine palaeo-dust records)
Canada, Karen Kohfeld, Simon Fraser University, SS
(data synthesis)
Korea, Jeong, Gi,
Earth & Environmental Sciences, Korea, SS (mineralogy)
US, Koffman, Bess, University of Maine, ECR (dust in
ice cores)
Israel, Ilan Koren, Weizmann Institute, SS (modeler, clouds)
New Zealand, Doug Mackie, University of Otago, ECR
(dust and ocean biogeochemistry)
Switzerland, Martinez-G, Alfredo, ETH ZŸrich, ECR
(geoscientist, dust and climate)
US, Mason, Joseph,
University of Wisconsin-Madison, SS (
US, McGee, David, Lamont-Doherty
Earth Observatory, ECR (dust in sediments)
US, Measures, Christopher,
University of Hawai`i at Manoa, SS (geochemistry)
Germany, Merkel, Ute, University of Bremen, ECR
(Geosystem Modelling)
US, Miller, Ron, NASA Godd Inst SS (modeler)
US, Moy, Christopher, Woods Hole
Coastal & Marine Science Center, SS (coastal geochemistry)
US, Mukhopadhyay,
Sujoy, Harvard University ECR (Geochemistry)
US, Murray, Rick, Boston University SS (
Spain, Rosell-Mele, Antoni, Autonomous University of
Barcelona, SS (
France, Jean-Robert Petit, LGGE-CNRS UniversitŽ Joseph Fourier-Grenoble,
SS (ice cores)
USA, Joe Prospero, University of Miami, SS
(terrestrial and marine dust fluxes and records)
UK, Helen Roberts, University of Wales, Aberysytwyth,
ECR (luminescence dating)
France, Dennis Rousseau, Laboratoire de mŽtŽorologie
dynamique, SS (loess records)
Germany, Kirsten
Schepanski, Liepzig, ECR (modeler)**
Germany, Jan-Berend
Stuut, University of Bremen, S (marine dust records)
China, Youbin Sun,
Chinese Academy of Sciences, ECR (loess records)
UK, Dr Martin Todd,
University College London, ECR (modeller) **
Italy, Paul
Vallelonga, University of Venice, ECR (dust provenance, isotope tracing)
USA, Gisela
Winckler, Lamont Doherty, New York, SS (dust fluxes, provenance).
Associate members:
Germany, Anna Wegner, AWI, PhD
USA, Jason Addison, Alaska, PhD
USA, Jeff Benowitz, Alaska, PhD
France, Maxime Debret, UJF-Grenoble, PhD
USA, Sebastian Engelstaedter, Cornell, PD
Note: PhD = PhD student, PD =
postdoctoral researcher, ECS = Early Career Scientist, S = scientist
Main
objectives
(1) DIRTMAP
('Dust Indicators and Records of Terrestrial and Marine Palaeoenvironments') database
Recent international evaluation of
the current DIRTMAP database indicates that a considerable amount of new data
(spatial, temporal) exists which need to be incorporated to improve our ability
to evaluate dust-cycle models. DIRTMAP3 will be enhanced with: new data from
e.g. South America, Eurasia and the Middle East, and from the Southern
Hemisphere in the marine realm; with dust fluxes from time slices beyond the
LGM and from higher resolution sediment sequences (e.g. at Dansgaard/Oeschger
cycle resolution); with information regarding possible source, mineralogy
(especially iron oxides, with regard both to radiative properties and
bioavailability of iron), and clastic grain size.
(2)
Protocols will be developed to enable quality-control evaluation of the
DIRTMAP3 data, via addition of key metadata (e.g. site stratigraphy and quality
control information including age control, in situ disturbance, aeolian vs
non-aeolian contributions etc). This requires inputs from the original and new
DIRTMAP contributors, solicited and compiled through our international network
of palaeo-data researchers. NEW:
THE DIRTMAP DATABASE HAS NOW BEEN INSTALLED AS A USER-FRIENDLY WEB-BASED SITE:
http://www.lancaster.ac.uk/lec/sites/dirtmap/hw.html
Please note that new site works best
with Chrome or Firefox. Please use the feedback form on the site for any
comments, corrections, queries, new data etc.
(3)
There is a clear need for new field studies to gain information now required
for development of improved dust-cycle models, and contribute to the new
questions regarding radiative and biogechemical dust-climate interactions. The Dust
and Climate working group will seek to frame a prioritization of future studies
around key science questions and hypothesis- testing.
(4)
Geomorphic studies indicate that the modelling approach to defining
preferential dust-source areas is both simplistic and incomplete. DIRTMAP4
palaeo-data and modelling researchers will combine to identify how dust source
variability could be parameterized in a modeling context, and identify key
regions requiring significantly improved source area characterization.
(5)
State-of-the-art dust-cycle models need to incorporate better characterization
of dust properties (including size distribution, mineralogy – especially
with regard to iron oxides, and particle shape). The Dust and Climate WG group,
with its internationally-distributed regional experts, can make a large
contribution to both collating present data and driving new data collection.
(6)
Currently, no standards exist for 'benchmarking' of dust-cycle models. This
requires definition of protocols for the datasets used, for comparison methods
and for dealing with uncertainties both in the observations and in the models.
The WG group will work to establish such these required protocols on an
international, and explicitly combined data/model basis.
(7)
Many palaeo-questions require new types of dust-cycle model simulations,
notably, transient simulations with fully-coupled climate-dust models, and also
meso-scale modeling, for example, in order to simulate patterns of dust
transport and deposition over the continents. Interactions between the WG
palaeo-researchers, biogeochemists and the modellers will frame the new
experiments and evaluate their outcomes.
Specific
goals
Atmospheric dust fluxes to the oceans
estimated by Duce et al. (1991)
(1)
Provide the means for 'benchmarking' of dust cycle model simulations by
producing an updated version of the DIRTMAP database ('DIRTMAP4'),
incorporating (a) records and age models newly available since ~ 2001, (b)
longer records, and especially high-resolution records, that will target time
windows also focused on by other international research programs (e.g. DO8/9,
MIS5), (c) metadata to allow quality-control issues to be dealt with
objectively, (d) information on mineralogy and isotopes relevant to provenancing,
radiative forcing and iron bioavailability, and (e) enhanced characterisation
of the aeolian component of existing records. This update will be coordinated
with work (led by Karen Kohfeld) to expand the DIRTMAP database to incorporate
information on marine productivity and improved sedimentation rate estimation
techniques. It will also build upon a recently-developed dust model evaluation
tool for current climate (e.g. Miller et al. 2006) to enable application of
this and other evaluative models to palaeoclimate simulations.
(2)
Lead international liaison between groups working on characterisation of the
land surface, and assess the feasibility of producing a global map of
source-area characteristics which could be used as a basis for devising a new
model parameterisation of preferential dust sources.
(3)
Address, through carefully designed experiments, the impact of changing dust
loads on radiative forcing during the Late Quaternary and through careful
evaluation of these experiments assess the level of confidence that can be
placed in the predictions of the impact of future changes in dust loading.
(4)
Address the major issue of iron bioavailability in dust, and iron fertilisation
of high nutrient, low chlorophyll ocean regions, by direct interaction with
other international groups, e.g. within SOLAS and iLEAPS, to ensure maximum
data-transfer/sharing and synergies with these groups.
from Winckler et al., 2008, Science,
320, 93-96
Methods/approach
¤
Website-based data
collation and research communication.
¤
Exchange visits by
young scientists within the working group. We will encourage and facilitate younger
scientists within the working group to make short (one to two week) visits to
other members.
¤
Annual workshops,
co-organised by young scientists (see details below), focused on specific
issues. Each workshop will produce one joint-authored synthesis paper for
publication in an INQUA-sponsored journal.
¤
Joint publications,
initiated at the workshops and spearheaded by individual members of the working
group
¤
Workshop: 'Dust-source characterization and modelling',
Villefranche-sur-Mer, October 2008. Workshop
organized by Adam Durant (Bristol)
á
Workshop: 'DUSTSPEC: Dust
records for a warming world'. Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory. Organizers: Gisela Winckler, Natalie Mahowald, Barbara Maher,
24-26 May 2010. Co-sponsored by the NOAA-funded Abrupt Climate Change in
a Warming World (ACCWW) program at L-DEO and INQUA (Winckler et al.,2010;
http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2010/06/17/dust-and-its-impact-on-earth%E2%80%99s-climate-system/).
¤
Dust-cycle session
at INQUA Congress, Bern 2011
¤ Workshop: 'Dust
emission factors and parameterization, African sources' Loughborough University, June 2013,
organizer: Prof J Bullard.
New/upcoming activities
Inter-laboratory visits by early-career staff (May 2014
onwards, funding to be announced shortly)
Dome C ICE CORE, Gaspari et al.
(2006), Geophysical Research Letters, 33, (L03704) 2006.
Anticipated
results
¤
Synthesis of newly
available data documenting changes in dust sources, fluxes and properties
during the Late Quaternary
¤
Improved modelling
tools to address questions about the dust cycle
¤
Better
understanding of the role of dust in past climate changes
¤
Quantification of
the magnitude of dust forcing, and resulting changes in climate, in the past
and in the future
Background
information on DIRTMAP3
Citation: to reference the DIRTMAP'4'
database, please use the following convention: " Maher, BA, Kohfeld, K.
and Leedal, DT, 2014, 'DIRTMAP' Version 4, LGM and late Holocene Aeolian Fluxes
from Ice Cores, Marine Sediment Traps, Marine Sediments and Loess Deposits.
http://www.lec.lancs.ac.uk/dirtmap3 "
To
participate in the project, or for additional information please contact:
Professor
Barbara A Maher
Centre for Environmental Magnetism & Palaeomagnetism
Lancaster Environment Centre
University of Lancaster
Farrer Avenue
Lancaster
LA1 4YQ
UK
Email:
b.maher@lancaster.ac.uk
Tel: +44 (0)1524 510268
Fax: +44 (0)1524 510269
Links
to other INQUA or non-INQUA Projects
Sand
seas and dune fields of the world: a digital Quaternary atlas
Leader: Nicholas Lancaster, Desert Research Institute, United States
INQUA Project 0704.
Some Working Group Publications (published
and in press):
J. Crusius, A.W. Schroth; S. Gass—; C.M. Moy, R.C. Levy,
M. Gatica (2011) Glacial flour dust storms in the Gulf of Alaska: Hydrologic
and meteorological controls and their importance as a source of bioavailable
iron. GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS,
VOL. 38, L06602, 5 PP., 2011 doi:10.1029/2010GL046573
A. Mart’nez-Garcia, A. Rosell-MelŽ, S. L. Jaccard, W. Geibert, D. M.
Sigman and G. H. Haug (2011). Southern Ocean dust-climate coupling over the
past 4 million years. Nature. 476,
312–315, doi:10.1038/nature10310 [http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v476/n7360/full/nature10310.html#/contrib-auth]
Maher, B.A. (2011) A review of magnetic properties of Quaternary aeolian
dusts and sediments and their Quaternary palaeoclimatic significance. Aeolian Research, 3, 87-144. doi.org/10.1016/j.aeolia.2011.01.005
Okin GS; Bullard JE; Reynolds RL; Ballantine JAC;
Schepanski K; Todd MC; Belnap J; Baddock MC; Gill TE; Miller ME (2011),
"Dust: Small-scale processes with global consequences", EOS Transactions of the AGU, p. 241-242,
vol. 92.
Youbin Sun, Steven C. Clemens,
Carrie Morrill, Xiaopei Lin, XulongWang and Zhisheng An (in press). Influence of
Atlantic meridional overturning circulation on the East Asian winter monsoon. Nature Geoscience.
Joanna E. Bullard, Sandy P. Harrison, Matthew C. Baddock,
Nick Drake,Thomas E. Gill, Grant McTainsh, and Youbin Sun (2011) Preferential dust sources: A
geomorphological classification designed for use in global dust-cycle models. JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH, VOL.
116, F04034, doi:10.1029/2011JF002061
Gass—,
S., Stein, A., Marino, F., Castellano, E., Udisti, R., and Ceratto, J.
(2010). A combined observational
and modeling approach to study modern dust transport from the Patagonia desert
to East Antarctica, Atmos. Chem. Phys.,
10, 8287-8303, doi:10.5194/acp-10-8287-2010, 2010.
Winckler, G., Mahowald, N. &
Maher, B.A. (2010), Toward New
Frontiers in Understanding the Link Between Dust and Climate, Eos Trans. AGU, 91 (40), p. 360.
Maher, B.A., Prospero, J., Mackie, D., Gaiero, D.M., Hesse,
P.P. & Balkanski, Y. (2010). Global connections between aeolian dust,
climate and ocean biogeochemistry at the present day and at the last glacial
maximum. Earth-Science Reviews. 99, 61-97. doi:org/10.1016/j.earscirev.2009.12.001
Maher, B.A. & Harrison, S.P. (2009), 'Mineral Dust and Climate', EOS, TRANSACTIONS AMERICAN
GEOPHYSICAL UNION, VOL. 90, NO. 16, doi:10.1029/2009EO160003.
Durant, A.,
Harrison, S.P., Maher, B.A. & Balkanski, Y. (2008). The QUEST working group on dust
and the future of dust-cycle research.
CLIVAR Exchanges.
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