[1] An important item to distinguish in estimations of cloud forcing is the characteristics of the ‘‘clear sky.’’ In this study we investigate the influence of the composition of the clear sky in calculations of shortwave cloud forcing based on two case studies from the Monterey Area Ship Track Experiment (MAST). The forcing is calculated with respect to a clear sky devoid of aerosol particles ...

In order to detect the scope and the intensity quantificationally, the spectrum characteristic of sand and dust storm was analyzed in detail by using several MODIS data; bands that can distinguish sand and dust from cloud and surface were detected; two indices for determining the scope and intensity of sand and dust storm were found out, and were tested in several storms. Our study result shows...

introduction atmosphere health is an important environmental issue and air pollution is not a local problem in a given area of the world. particles produced by either humans or the nature enter the atmosphere and return the earth’s surface at local, regional, or global scales after physico-chemical interactions. according to the reports by who, each year 2.4 million people lose their lives worl...

Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) data when combined with ancillary data on free–free, synchrotron and dust allow an improved understanding of the spectrum of emission from each of these components. Here, we examine the sky variation at intermediate latitudes using a cross-correlation technique. In particular, we compare the observed emission in 15 selected sky regions to three ‘stand...

As hyperspectral instruments can provide the detailed spectral information, a new spectral similarity method for detecting and differentiating dust from non-dust scenes using the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) observations has been developed. The detection is based on a pre-defined Dust Spectral Similarity Index (DSSI), which was calculated from the accumulated brightness temperature diffe...

introduction dust storms, one type of dust event, are in most cases the result of turbulent winds, including convective haboobs, which raise large quantities of dust from desert surfaces and reduce visibility to less than 1 km. this dust reaches concentrations in excess of 6000 mg m3 in severe events. the major dust source regions are areas of arid and hyper-arid, with mean annual rainfalls of ...

A dust cloud trapped in a plasma often contains a dust-free region ("void") near the plasma center. This void has important effects [1, 2]: it induces a spatial inhomogeneity of the dust particle distribution and is at the origin of many intricate unstable phenomena. One of this behavior is the heartbeat instability consisting of successive contractions and expansions of the void [3]. This inst...