Long-term variability in Saharan dust transport and its link to North Atlantic sea surface temperature

• Published in: Geophysical Research Letters
• Other Authors: Wong, Sun (author), Dressler, Andrew (author), Mahowald, Natalie (author), Colarco, Peter (author), da Silva, Arlindo (author)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: American Geophysical Union 2008
• Subjects: Saharan dust transport; North Atlantic sea surface temperature; Tropical cyclone development; North Atlantic
• Online Access: http://nldr.library.ucar.edu/repository/collections/OSGC-000-000-002-473; https://doi.org/10.1029/2007GL032297

An understanding of the atmospheric distribution of Saharan dust is crucial for understanding many Earth-system processes. We demonstrate here a model simulation indicating that the August-September dust amount in the Tropical Atlantic is linked to the basin-wide North Atlantic sea surface temperature (SST). The increasing SSTs from 1979 to 2005 are associated with a strengthening cyclonic anomaly at 700 hPa in the tropical East Atlantic, reducing Saharan dust outflow into the Tropical Atlantic at latitudes between 10°-20°N. A decreasing dust amount over the same region is also observed by the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer. Given the previously observed anti-correlation between dust and tropical cyclone (TC) activity, the long-term variation of North Atlantic SST can then directly influence TC activity by changing a TC's maximum potential intensity and indirectly by modulating the transport of the dust-laden Saharan Air Layer.