Asian aerosols in North America: Frequency and concentration of fine dust

Abstract

Using an elemental signature for Asian dust derived from events in April 1998, we probed a long-term set of routine aerosol samples to develop the first empirical assessment of the frequency and intensity of dust transport from Asia to midlatitude North America. Our data reveal a pattern of consistent, frequent transport that contradicts the episodic characterization derived from short-term studies and anecdotal reports. We find that fine (<2.5 μm) Asian dust is a regular component of the troposphere over the eastern Pacific and western North America and is common, at least in spring, across North America. Typical Asian fine dust concentrations (24-hour average) are between 0.2 and 1 μg/m 3 and only very rarely exceed 5 μg/m 3. Our data also indicate that Asian dust is concentrated in an altitude zone ranging from about 500 to 3000 m MSL, consistent with isentropic transport processes previously observed in the western Pacific. Copyright 2002 by the American Geophysical Union.