Yuxiang Ren Meteorology · forecast verification
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2023–2026 · First-author paper · WRF, FLEXPART-WRF, CALIOP

Where the dust came from: the March 2023 East Asian dust storm

A source-attribution study of one of the strongest East Asian dust storms in a decade, published in Atmosphere (2026) after a three-reviewer major revision.

// In short

  • Two source regions dominate the PM₁₀ that reached the downstream cities, and their shares change over the event.
  • Simulated and observed hourly PM₁₀ agree at r = 0.81 and r = 0.74 at the two cities.
  • CALIOP overpasses show the model lofts Taklimakan dust about 0.9 km too low.

Method

I drove FLEXPART-WRF with nudged WRF-ARW meteorology and released particles every hour from objectively delineated source regions: the Tarim Basin, the Hexi Corridor and the Mongolian Gobi. Emitted dust mass was calibrated by least-squares fitting of the simulated hourly series to observed PM₁₀ at two downstream cities, including Beijing.

Checks

  • Dust-layer heights were compared with CALIOP overpasses rather than assumed from the model.
  • The revision added trajectory-ensemble frequency analysis, PSCF/CWT receptor statistics, PM₁₀ validation statistics and terrain diagnostics.

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