Publication Abstracts
Li et al. 2026
Li, L., N.M. Mahowald, X. Liu, M. Gonçalves Ageitos, Z. Ke, D.M. Leung, C. Pérez García-Pando, , V. Obiso, P. Ginoux, J.F. Kok, P. Formenti, C. Di Biagio, P.G. Brodrick, D.R. Thompson, R.N. Clark, G.S. Okin, R.O. Green, B. Zhou, S. Albani, and A.A. Adebiyi, 2026: Modeling large dust aerosols in the Community Earth System Model Version 2 (CESM2). J. Adv. Model. Earth Syst., 18, no. 4, e2025MS005420, doi:10.1029/2025MS005420.
Dust aerosols have a wide size distribution from less than 0.1 to over 100 µm and dominate Earth's atmospheric aerosol mass. However, most Earth system models (ESMs) inadequately represent dust aerosols larger than 10 µm in diameter, limiting the accuracy of the simulated dust cycle and climate impacts. Here, we introduce a new modeling framework that captures the full observed size distribution of dust aerosols, incorporating recent advances into a mineral-resolved version of the Community ESM, while addressing known issues in previous versions. Comprehensive evaluation against diverse observations of bulk dust and component minerals demonstrates that the model reproduces the observed dust cycle across particle sizes. Incorporating the previously unrepresented large-dust fractions substantially alters dust budget estimates, highlighting potential changes in simulated climate impacts and underscoring the importance of comprehensive size-resolved dust modeling. Despite these advancements, uncertainties persist. Our results indicate that a size-dependent reduction in settling velocity is required to reproduce the observed dust size distribution downwind of source regions. Specifically, in the new model, the gravitational settling velocity of dust particles larger than 10 µm in diameter must be reduced by as much as 85% to achieve agreement with observations. This empirical reduction serves as a constraint on physics-based models of dust settling. Future developments should address misrepresented physical processes that hinder accurate modeling of the large dust aerosol transport. Expanding observational data sets covering the full-size distribution is also essential to better constrain the dust cycle and improve the representation of dust optical properties and climate effects.
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BibTeX Citation
@article{li08510c,
author={Li, L. and Mahowald, N. M. and Liu, X. and Gonçalves Ageitos, M. and Ke, Z. and Leung, D. M. and Pérez García-Pando, C. and Miller, R. L. and Obiso, V. and Ginoux, P. and Kok, J. F. and Formenti, P. and Di Biagio, C. and Brodrick, P. G. and Thompson, D. R. and Clark, R. N. and Okin, G. S. and Green, R. O. and Zhou, B. and Albani, S. and Adebiyi, A. A.},
title={Modeling large dust aerosols in the Community Earth System Model Version 2 (CESM2)},
year={2026},
journal={Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems},
volume={18},
number={4},
pages={e2025MS005420},
doi={10.1029/2025MS005420},
}
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RIS Citation
TY - JOUR ID - li08510c AU - Li, L. AU - Mahowald, N. M. AU - Liu, X. AU - Gonçalves Ageitos, M. AU - Ke, Z. AU - Leung, D. M. AU - Pérez García-Pando, C. AU - Miller, R. L. AU - Obiso, V. AU - Ginoux, P. AU - Kok, J. F. AU - Formenti, P. AU - Di Biagio, C. AU - Brodrick, P. G. AU - Thompson, D. R. AU - Clark, R. N. AU - Okin, G. S. AU - Green, R. O. AU - Zhou, B. AU - Albani, S. AU - Adebiyi, A. A. PY - 2026 TI - Modeling large dust aerosols in the Community Earth System Model Version 2 (CESM2) JA - J. Adv. Model. Earth Syst. JO - Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems VL - 18 IS - 4 SP - e2025MS005420 DO - 10.1029/2025MS005420 ER -
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