Dust Acid Uptake Analysis during Long-Lasting Dust and Pollution Episodes over East Asia Based on Synergetic Observation and Chemical Transport Model

Two heavy dust storms that occurred between 24-26 May 2014 in Mongolia and Inner Mongolia, China were responsible for long-lasting dust episodes observed from 26 May to 2 June 2014 in Fukuoka, Japan. During this period, dust and anthropogenic pollutants were transported simultaneously to Fukuoka and Korea and remained there for almost 8 days. We successfully observed fine and coarse aerosol time variations (1-hour intervals) in Fukuoka. The GEOS-Chem chemical transport model, which includes dust-acid uptake processes, successfully reproduced the aerosol variations and explained the Asian-scale dust-pollutant transport and transformation processes. Model sensitivity analyses with and without dust-acid uptake processes showed that the formation of dust-nitrate occurred over the Yellow Sea and East China Sea before arriving in Japan. The model sensitivity analysis showed that less than 5% of the coarse dust-nitrate originated from NOx emissions from Japan, and large amounts of dust-nitrate originated outside of Japan.