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

• Published in: Journal of Applied Meteorology
• Main Authors: Ellis, W. G., Merrill, J. T.
• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: DigitalCommons@URI 1995
• Subjects: North Atlantic
• Online Access: https://digitalcommons.uri.edu/gsofacpubs/1936; https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0450-34.7.1716

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