Evaluation of atmospheric dust prediction models using ground-based observations

Abstract

An important step in numerical prediction of mineral dust is the model evaluation aimed lo assess its performance to forecast the atmospheric dust content and to lead to new directions in model development and improvement. This work presents the use of different ground-based observing systems for the evaluation of dust models in the Regional Center for Northern Africa, Middle East and Europe of the WMO Sand and Dust Storm Warning Advisory and Assessment System (SDS-WAS, http://sds-was.aemet.es). The dust optical depth al 550 nm forecast by different models is regularly compared with the AERONET measurements of Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) for 40 selected stations. This variable integrales the contribution of different aerosol types, but may be complemented with spectral information that enables hypotheses about the nature of the particles. Comparison is restricted lo cases with low Angstr6m exponent values in arder lo ensure that coarse mineral dust is the dominant aerosol type.