AAAR 31st Annual Conference
October 8-12, 2012
Hyatt Regency Minneapolis
Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
Abstract View
Analyses and Forecasts of Long Range Transport of Particulates to North America
DOUGLAS WESTPHAL, Rudolf Husar, Shawn McClure, James Campbell, Edward Hyer, Walter Sessions, Wynn Eberhard, Jianglong Zhang, US Naval Research Laboratory
Abstract Number: 535 Working Group: Aerosols, Clouds, and Climate
Abstract The Naval Research Laboratory has developed the Navy Aerosol Analysis and Prediction System (NAAPS) which, since 1999, has produced global analyses and 6-day forecasts of sulfate, smoke, dust and sea salt aerosols and visibility. The analysis used for initialization is produced by the NRL Atmospheric Variational Data Assimilation System for aerosol optical depth (NAVDAS-AOD), the only operational aerosol data assimilation system. Together, NAAPS and NAVDAS-AOD provide an efficient method for assimilating satellite data (MODIS, MISR, and CALIPSO) to produce consistent 3-D analyses with significant value to scientists and Air Quality (AQ) decision-makers. The global coverage directly provides quantitative information on the impact of international aerosol particles on the Americas. NASA has funded a new capability for providing NAAPS analyses to the community via the Federated Data System (DataFed) and the Visibility Information Exchange Web System (VIEWS). Example applications include the interpretation of observations of Saharan dust over N. America and the impact of dust on SST retrievals.