Emission, transport, deposition, chemical and radiative impacts of mineral dust during severe dust storm periods in March 2021 over East Asia

A Regional Air Quality Model System (named RAQMS) coupled with a developed dust model driven by WRF was applied to synthetically investigate the emission, transport, deposition, budget, and chemical and radiative effects of mineral dust during the severe dust storm periods of 10-31 March 2021. Model results were validated against a variety of ground, vertical and satellite observations, which demonstrated a generally good model ability in reproducing meteorological variables, particulate matter and compositions, and aerosol optical properties. The first dust storm (DS1), which was the severest one since 2010 was originated from the Gobi Desert in southern Mongolia on 14 March, with the dust emission flux reaching 2785 μg m-2 s-1 and the maximum dust concentration exceeding 18,000 μg m-3 in the dust deflation region. This dust storm resulted in remarkably high hourly PM10 observations up to 7506 μg m-3, 1887 μg m-3, and 2704 μg m-3 in Beijing, Tianjin, and Shijiazhuang on 15 March, respectively, and led to a maximum decrease in surface shortwave radiation up to 313.4 W m-2 (72 %) in Beijing. The second dust storm (DS2) broke out in the deserts of eastern Mongolia, with lower dust emission than the first one. The extinction of shortwave radiation by dust aerosols led to a reduction in photolysis rate and consequently decreases in O3 and secondary aerosol concentrations over the North China Plain (NCP), whereas total sulfate and nitrate concentrations consistently increased due to heterogeneous reactions on dust surfaces over the middle reaches of the Yellow River and the NCP region during DS1. Sulfate and nitrate formation through heterogeneous reactions were enhanced in the dust backflow on 16-17 March by approximately 18 % and 24 % on average in the NCP. Heterogeneous reactions and photolysis rate reduction by mineral dust jointly led to average changes in sulfate, nitrate, ammonium, and secondary organic aerosol (SOA) concentrations by 13.0 %, 13.5 %, -12.3 %, and -4.4 %, respectively, in the NCP region during DS1, larger than the changes in the Yangtze River Delta (YRD). The maximum dry deposition settled in the 7-11 μm size range in downwind land and ocean areas, while wet deposition peaked in the 4.7-7 μm size range in the entire domain. Wet deposition was approximately twice the dry deposition over mainland China except for dust source regions. During 10-31 March, the total dust emission, dry and wet depositions were estimated to be 31.4 Tg, 13.78 Tg and 4.75 Tg, respectively, with remaining 12.87 Tg of dust aerosols (41 % of the dust emission) suspending in the atmosphere or transporting to other continents and oceans.