Ceilometer observation of a dust event in the Gobi Desert on 29-30 April 2015: Sudden arrival of a developed dust storm and trapping of dust within an inversion layer

Abstract

Asian dust is transported over a long range via the mid-latitude westerlies when dust is lifted to the free troposphere over the source regions, whereas dust remaining in the atmospheric boundary layer is not transported far. In the Gobi Desert, a major source region of Asian dust, a ceilometer (compact lidar) monitors the vertical distribution of dust at Dalanzadgad, Mongolia. On 29-30 April 2015, the ceilometer observed a developed dust storm over the ground, followed by a dust layer within a height of 1.2-1.8 km. The dust storm had already developed in the upwind region before reaching Dalanzadgad. This feature was also shown in the ceilometer observation data. The dust layer remained at almost the same height for 12 h, because the dust became trapped within an inversion layer at a height of 1.2-1.5 km over cold air. This result suggests that the inversion layer prevented the dust from reaching the free troposphere, thereby restraining the long-range transport of the dust via the westerlies. This is the first paper that reports this type of vertical distribution of dust in the source region based on observation data.