A GENERAL-CIRCULATION MODEL STUDY ON THE INTERANNUAL VARIABILITY OF SOIL DUST AEROSOL

To assess interannual soil dust aerosol variability, we computed dust as a tracer in the Goddard Institute for Space Studies general circula tion model. I Comparisons of dust model results with results from an o ff-line tracer model, satellite retrievals, and ground observations sh ow mostly good agreement, but also reveal problems with the model resu lts and difficulties with such comparisons. Two 15-year runs with pres cribed sea surface temperatures were carried out, one with identical d ust sources for each year and one with varying dust sources in order t o investigate the-contribution of dust sources and transport to the va riability of dust concentrations in different regions. Specifically;fo r the North Atlantic and the Mediterranean region, 70-90% of the dust variability is attributable to transport variability. Correlation coef ficients between dust concentrations with precipitation and surface wi nds were calculated to find controlling factors for dust concentration for different regions of the world.