Trajectories for Saharan dust transported to Barbados using Stoke's law to describe gravitational settling

Isentropic trajectories, which depict motion on hypothetical surfaces of constant potential temperature, have been used as part of the Atmosphere/Ocean Chemistry Experiment to understand the sources of aerosols and gases sampled over the North Atlantic Ocean. However, isentropic trajectories typical...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of Applied Meteorology
Main Authors: Ellis, W. G., Merrill, J. T.
Format: Text
Language:unknown
Published: DigitalCommons@URI 1995
Subjects:
Online Access:https://digitalcommons.uri.edu/gsofacpubs/1936
https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0450-34.7.1716
Description
Summary:Isentropic trajectories, which depict motion on hypothetical surfaces of constant potential temperature, have been used as part of the Atmosphere/Ocean Chemistry Experiment to understand the sources of aerosols and gases sampled over the North Atlantic Ocean. However, isentropic trajectories typically do not adequately describe the transport of mineral aerosol, for example, from the Sahara Desert to Barbados. Stokes's law was used in the calculation of nonisentropic trajectories that incorporated the gravitational settling of aerosol particles. These trajectories, which began in the boundary layer, were calculated from a combination of lower-level and upper-level wind fields, and more accurately represented the wind fields that transported Saharan dust to Barbados. -from Authors