Xia et al. (2025) Quantification of Critical Thresholds in Soil Moisture and the Leaf Area Index Regulating Aeolian Dust Events: A Sensitivity Analysis of the Response of Aeolian Dust Events to Wind Velocity Variations

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Identification

• Journal: Journal of Geophysical Research Atmospheres
• Year: 2025
• Date: 2025-09-10
• Authors: Zhi Xia, Xuesong Wang, Chunlai Zhang
• DOI: 10.1029/2025jd044005

Research Groups

Not specified in abstract.

Short Summary

This study develops an empirical methodology using long-term satellite observations to assess the global sensitivity of aeolian dust events to wind velocity variations. It quantifies this sensitivity and identifies critical soil moisture and leaf area index thresholds that constrain dust emissions, projecting future changes in constrained dust events under various climate scenarios.

Objective

• To elucidate the global sensitivity of aeolian dust events to wind velocity variations using observational constraints.
• To quantitatively analyze the relationships between this sensitivity and key influential factors: soil moisture (SM) content and leaf area index (LAI).
• To project future patterns of constrained dust events under different shared socioeconomic pathways (SSPs).

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: Global land area.
• Temporal Scale: 2003–2017 for observational analysis; future projections based on Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSPs).

Methodology and Data

• Models used: Empirical methodology developed in this study.
• Data sources: Long-term satellite observations (2003–2017).

Main Results

• The global mean sensitivity of aeolian dust events to wind velocity variations is 0.06 s m⁻¹, indicating that dust optical depth changes by 0.06 s m⁻¹ for a one unit change in wind velocity.
• Dust events exhibit negligible sensitivity to wind velocity variations when soil moisture exceeds 0.17 m³ m⁻³ or leaf area index exceeds 0.45 m² m⁻².
• Under four Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSP126, SSP245, SSP370, and SSP585), areas experiencing an increase in constrained dust days account for approximately 10.6%–12.5% of the global land area, while areas experiencing a decrease account for 9.3%–10.3%.

Contributions

• Proposes a novel empirical methodology to assess the global sensitivity of aeolian dust events to wind velocity using satellite observations.
• Provides global observational constraints on dust emission sensitivity, identifying critical thresholds for soil moisture and leaf area index that effectively constrain dust events.
• Offers quantitative projections of future changes in areas with constrained dust events under different climate change scenarios (SSPs).

Funding

Not specified in abstract.

Citation

@article{Xia2025Quantification,
  author = {Xia, Zhi and Wang, Xuesong and Zhang, Chunlai},
  title = {Quantification of Critical Thresholds in Soil Moisture and the Leaf Area Index Regulating Aeolian Dust Events: A Sensitivity Analysis of the Response of Aeolian Dust Events to Wind Velocity Variations},
  journal = {Journal of Geophysical Research Atmospheres},
  year = {2025},
  doi = {10.1029/2025jd044005},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1029/2025jd044005}
}