DUSt, Climate and Carbone Cycle

Informazioni relative al progetto

DUSC3

ID dell’accordo di sovvenzione: 708119

DOI

10.3030/708119

Progetto chiuso

Data della firma CE 9 Marzo 2016

Data di avvio 1 Dicembre 2016

Data di completamento 30 Novembre 2018

Finanziato da

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Costo totale

€ 173 076,00

Contributo UE

€ 173 076,00

Coordinato da

UNIVERSITE DE VERSAILLES SAINT-QUENTIN EN YVELINES
France

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - DUSC3 (DUSt, Climate and Carbone Cycle)

Periodo di rendicontazione: 2016-12-01 al 2018-11-30

Sintesi del contesto e degli obiettivi generali del progetto

Mineral (desert) dust is the most abundant aerosol by mass in present day atmosphere, and contributes to about one quarter of the total extinction of sunlight by aerosols, including anthropogenic aerosols. Dust is emitted from sparsely vegetated lands by the action of wind erosion. Changing climatic conditions, as well as land cover and land use changes, have altered dust emissions in the past as much as by a factor five over vast areas of the globe, and may cause significant changes in dust emissions in the future. Because of dust impacts on economical activities, air quality and climate it is important that we are able to understand and predict changes in the global dust cycle. DUSC3 produces an updated view of the global dust cycle, by integrating a collection and re-interpretation of paleodust archives with novel simulations with the IPSL Earth system model, which is used to estimate impacts of dust on climate.

Lavoro eseguito dall’inizio del progetto fino alla fine del periodo coperto dalla relazione e principali risultati finora ottenuti

A collection and re-interpretation of paleodust archives organized in an innovative and coherent way provides a constraint on the variability of the dust cycle since the last interglacial period (~130,000 years ago). Novel simulations with the IPSL Earth system model are carried out after several improvements in the representation of the key aspects in the model, such as dust emissions, particle size distributions and optical properties. An overview of the state of the art on aerosol interactions with climate during glacial climates is already published in Current Climate Change Reports. Several preliminary results linked to manuscripts in preparation have been presented at six international conferences and workshops.

Progressi oltre lo stato dell’arte e potenziale impatto previsto (incluso l’impatto socioeconomico e le implicazioni sociali più ampie del progetto fino ad ora)

The paleodust database constitutes a synthesis effort with benefits for the broader community well beyond the scopes of this project. It allows evaluating the state of the art in reconstructing the global dust cycle and highlighting current limitations and pitfalls, pointing directions for further research. It is of relevance for informing the IPCC AR6 on the state of this component of the climate system. The model improvements and inclusion of new processes contributes to the development of the IPSL-ESM, which is one of the major contributors to the CMIP experiments.

Image from Albani et al. Curr Clim Change Rep (2018) https://doi.org/10.1007/s40641-018-0100-7