In 2007, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) took the lead in working with international partners to implement a Sand and Dust Storm Warning Advisory and Assessment System (SDS-WAS). This initiative addressed the need for international coordination of the many countries that are impacted by sand and dust storms. The mission of SDS-WAS is to enhance the ability of countries to deliver timely and high-quality sand and dust storm forecasts, observations, information and knowledge to users through an international partnership of research and operational communities.

SDS-WAS operates as an international hub of researchers, operational centers and end-users and is organized through regional nodes. Three nodes are currently in operation- Regional Node for Asia, coordinated by a Regional Center in Beijing, China, hosted by the China Meteorological Administration; Regional Node for Northern Africa, Middle East and Europe coordinated by a Regional Center in Barcelona, Spain, hosted by the State Meteorological Agency of Spain (AEMET) and the Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC); and Regional Node for Pan-America, coordinated by a Regional Center in Bridgetown, Barbados, hosted by the Caribbean Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology.

This session seeks to increase the visibility and highlight the work of the Regional Node for Pan-America which is the youngest of the three SDS-WAS Nodes. Additionally, the Pan-American region is the home of the oldest dust observation station located at Ragged Point on the east coast of Barbados, the most easterly island in the Caribbean. This station, the Barbados Atmospheric Chemistry Observatory (BACO) is operated by the University of Miami, partnered with the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, Mainz, Germany.

Bringing together scientists from this vast geographical region unified by a common initiative is strongly aligned with the overarching theme of the 2020 Annual Meeting, specifically because of (i) the holistic and interdisciplinary nature of the sand and dust storm studies in this region, (ii) the utilization of new technology and computational methods to carry out the mission and goals of SDS-WAS, (iii) the ethnic and cultural diversity of the region’s scientists, (iv) the unique global collaboration that is the SDS-WAS and (v) the opportunities for synergy among scientists, stakeholders and policy makers presented by SDS-WAS. The scope of interests includes the impact of dust transported from Africa to the Americas and the effects of dust emitted in arid regions and from disturbed soils of the United States and South America.

Submissions will be encouraged from North America, South America, Central America and the Caribbean that are aligned with and address the mission of the SDS-WAS. The Pan-American region has numerous scientists and institutions that work in several diverse, but complementary, areas of investigating Sand and Dust Storms. These areas encompass observations, modelling, operational forecasting, basic and applied research, instrumentation, impacts (especially on public health, air quality, solar energy generation, marine and terrestrial ecosystems) and mitigation.

Variations in meteorology and climate couple with a range of source types and source activity levels to yield a wide range of regional scale air quality challenges around the globe.  This session solicits reports from both observational and modeling perspectives on air pollution in different regions within North America and around the globe. Presentations focusing on improving air quality and air quality challenges are both welcome. Relevant air quality issues include, but are not limited to, ozone, fine particles, smoke from wild and prescribed fires, visibility and regional haze, and reactive nitrogen deposition.

Over the last few years, significant advances have been made in both in situ and remote sensing technologies for measuring greenhouse gases (GHGs). The launch of global observing systems (such as GOSAT, GOSAT-2, OCO-2, OCO-3, SMAP, TanSat, TROPOMI) as well as deployment of localized surface networks and aircraft field campaigns, is starting to yield more information on natural and anthropogenic sources than ever before. While these multiple observational platforms provide a significant potential for the monitoring of GHG emissions, more and more uncertainties are coming to light regarding our understanding of the global and regional budgets of GHGs, errors due to deficiency in atmospheric transport modeling, and identification and quantification of climate feedback sensitivities. This session solicits abstracts that provide new insights on understanding GHG dynamics at various spatial (local to global) and temporal (sub-diurnal to decadal) scales. We encourage contributions on: (a) current and prospective GHG observational studies that inform both the nature and impact of errors in transport due to convection and large-scale mixing, (b) modeling studies to quantify budgets and/or uncertainties in GHG flux estimates, and (c) evaluation and benchmarking of GHG estimates from Earth System Models using contemporary observations. Submissions that quantify GHG emissions at the urban scale and their uncertainties, or explore policy issues related to GHG monitoring and regulation and how the current state of the science is informing policy decisions, are highly encouraged.

Over the last few years, significant advances have been made in both in situ and remote sensing technologies for measuring greenhouse gases (GHGs). The launch of global observing systems (such as GOSAT, GOSAT-2, OCO-2, OCO-3, SMAP, TanSat, TROPOMI) as well as deployment of localized surface networks and aircraft field campaigns, is starting to yield more information on natural and anthropogenic sources than ever before. While these multiple observational platforms provide a significant potential for the monitoring of GHG emissions, more and more uncertainties are coming to light regarding our understanding of the global and regional budgets of GHGs, errors due to deficiency in atmospheric transport modeling, and identification and quantification of climate feedback sensitivities. This session solicits abstracts that provide new insights on understanding GHG dynamics at various spatial (local to global) and temporal (sub-diurnal to decadal) scales. We encourage contributions on: (a) current and prospective GHG observational studies that inform both the nature and impact of errors in transport due to convection and large-scale mixing, (b) modeling studies to quantify budgets and/or uncertainties in GHG flux estimates, and (c) evaluation and benchmarking of GHG estimates from Earth System Models using contemporary observations. Submissions that quantify GHG emissions at the urban scale and their uncertainties, or explore policy issues related to GHG monitoring and regulation and how the current state of the science is informing policy decisions, are highly encouraged.

This session welcomes studies funded by, but not limited to, NASA’s Atmospheric Composition Modeling and Analysis Program (ACMAP). In particular, studies related to global and regional modeling, satellite and aircraft in-situ data analysis in the areas of atmospheric chemistry, air quality, and the oxidation efficiency in the troposphere; stratospheric chemistry and ozone depletion; and interactions between atmospheric chemistry, weather, and the climate are welcome. Studies of long-term trends in atmospheric composition are also of interest, where the connection between the cause and effect is elucidated using models. The session is interested in studies that integrate observations from satellites with models to address attribution and predictions. The synergistic use of satellite, suborbital datasets, in-situ and ground-based measurements is encouraged for modeling constraints and verification where applicable. This session also welcome contributions from aircraft in situ measurements made during the numerous missions over the last decades, which have led to a better understanding of the global troposphere and stratosphere, sources and types of pollution, and the evolution of greenhouse gases.

Energy talks

After more than three decades of field and theoretical studies in Amazonia, we have gained a great deal of knowledge about atmospheric boundary layer processes and biogeochemistry in one of the world’s rainiest and most ecologically diverse regions. This knowledge has been employed to improve regional and global weather and climate models. In addition, the international partnerships and collaborations forged to complete the research projects have contributed to the long-term legacy of capacity building and professional development of several cohorts of junior scholars.

Therefore, this proposal seeks to organize special conference sessions to have invited and regular speakers to report on the synthesis of research findings gained in Amazonia during the last three decades. Leading and junior scientists from Brazil, the United States, other South American countries, and Europe who have played pivotal roles in experiments and numerical studies scientists will be invited to make oral presentations. The planned conference sessions will offer an unprecedented and historical opportunity for research leaders from various Amazonia projects to gather at a single venue. Dr. Carlos Nobre, a very well know Brazilian atmospheric scientist, has been preliminary contacted about the planned conference sessions. He has expressed interest in giving a plenary presentation on the theme related to “The legacy of the Amazonian research project (LBA) and future directions for climate change issues”. Because the planned conference sessions will be part of centennial celebrations of the American Meteorological Society, it is expected numerous speakers will accept the invitation to partake in the conference sessions.

Severe air pollution can be extremely harmful to the population, thus being able to anticipate the occurrence of severe pollution episodes is useful for people to plan their like around them (e.g., avoid exercising in bad air days). Also, in countries such as Chile, France, and China, where severe air pollution episodes struck quite frequently, the government has the capability to invoke temporary measures to reduce emissions that could lower the impact of such episodes. However, these measures need to be invoked before the episode unfolds to have the desired impact; Thus there is a growing need to have accurate air quality forecasts that could predict pollution episodes a few days in advance. This session focuses on research activities related to the air quality forecasting of severe pollution episodes from various anthropogenic and natural sources. Relevant topics include but are not limited to: 1) linkage between severe pollution episodes and large-scale meteorology and climate change; 2) development of air quality forecasting tools and observational and modeling studies aimed to improve the forecasting, and 3) transition of the forecasting to operations.

Observations indicate that the magnitude and spatial distribution of ozone pre-cursor emissions have changed substantially across the globe in recent decades. However, the impacts of these changes on surface and tropospheric and ozone are not well known, and there are substantial differences in decadal-scale trends in ozone from in situ, ozone-sonde, and satellite measurements. Understanding how tropospheric ozone has responded to emissions changes is critical for quantifying the role of economic trends and regulatory policies on air quality and, in turn, their effects on human health and ecosystems. This session solicits presentations that discuss state-of-the-science approaches for quantifying changes in global ozone precursor emissions and in surface and tropospheric ozone, using both top-down and bottom-up approaches, and for understanding the relationships between them. We also solicit presentations on how changes in air quality over the past few decades have affected human and ecosystem health.

Halogen talks

Halogen talks