Data assimilation of dust aerosol observations for CUACE/Dust forecasting system

A data assimilation system (DAS) was developed for the Chinese Unified Atmospheric Chemistry Environment – Dust (CUACE/Dust) forecast system and applied in the operational forecasts of sand and dust storm (SDS) in spring 2006. The system is based on a three dimensional variational method (3D-Var) and uses extensively the mea5 surements of surface visibility and dust loading retrieval from the Chinese geostationary satellite FY-2C. The results show that a major improvement to the capability of CUACE/Dust in forecasting the short-term variability in the spatial distribution and intensity of dust concentrations has been achieved, especially in those areas far from the source regions. The seasonal mean Threat Score (TS) over the East Asia in spring 1