Effects of Saharan Dust on the Linear Dynamics of African Easterly Waves

The direct radiative effects of Saharan mineral dust aerosols on the linear dynamics of African easterly waves (AEWs) are examined analytically and numerically. The analytical analysis combines the thermodynamic equation with a dust continuity equation to form an expression for the dust-modified generation of eddy available potential energy GE. The dust-modified GE is a function of the transmissivity and spatial gradients of the dust, which are modulated by the Doppler-shifted frequency. The expression for GE predicts that for a fixed dust distribution, the wave response will be largest in regions where the dust gradients are maximized and the Doppler-shifted frequency vanishes. The numerical analysis uses the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) Model coupled to an online dust model to calculate the linear dynamics of AEWs. Zonally averaged basic states for wind, temperature, and dust are chosen consistent with summertime conditions over North Africa. For the fastest-growing AEW, the dust increases the growth rate from 15% to 90% for aerosol optical depths ranging from tau = 1.0 to tau = 2.5. A local energetics analysis shows that for tau = 1.0, the dust increases the maximum barotropic and baroclinic energy conversions by similar to 50% and similar to 100%, respectively. The maxima in the generation and conversions of energy are collocated and occur where the meridional dust gradient is maximized near the critical surface-that is, where the Doppler-shifted frequency is small, in agreement with the prediction from the analytical analysis.