The Influence of Dust-radiation-microphysics Processes on Tropical Cyclone Development

Saharan dust can modify the Saharan Air Layer (SAL) and its environment by changing the energy budget through direct and indirect radiative forcing. Scattering and absorption of radiation by suspended dust directly modifies the energy budget in the atmosphere and at the surface. Smaller dust particles can remain suspended in the air for prolonged periods and propagate over the Atlantic Ocean along with SAL. These fine particles can reach an altitude of 8-9 km, where they nucleate ice crystals and transform cloud microphysical properties, indirectly changing the energy budget. Thus, the dust within the air mass is likely to affect the evolution of hurricane properties, life cycles, and the corresponding cloud systems through the dust-cloud-radiation interactions.

A tracer model based on the Weather Research and Forecasting model (named WRFT) was developed to study the influence of dust-radiation-microphysics effects on hurricane activities. The dust-radiation effects and a two-moment microphysics scheme with dust particles acting as ice nuclei were implemented into WRFT. In this work, two easterly waves, which were precursors of Tropical Storm Debby and Hurricane Ernesto, during 18-25 August 2006 were studied. Four high-resolution numerical experiments were conducted with the combinations of activating/deactivating dust-radiation and/or dust-microphysics processes. Results from these four experiments are compared to investigate the influence of dust-radiation-microphysics processes on these two storm developments.