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ASIAN DUST STORM APPROACHING CALIFORNIA COAST

March 27, 2002 — A large dust storm that blew out of Asia on March 22 is approaching the California coast and is expected to reach landfall on March 27 or 28, according to NOAA. The dust was intense as it passed over Korea and Japan but is expected to be considerably reduced in concentration by the time it reaches the U.S. (Click NOAA satellite image for larger view of dust storm over Korea, the Yellow Sea and Sea of Japan taken March 25, 2002. Please credit "NOAA.")

Remote sensing Lidars, which shoot laser beams vertically, from sites on the California coast will measure the altitude and density of the dust and air pollution layer as it moves
inland.

NOAA will release balloon-borne ozonesondes from Trinidad Head, Calif., to measure the production of ozone in the plume and will collect samples of the polluted air in glass flasks at ground level.

Russ Schnell, a scientist with NOAA's Climate Monitoring and Diagnostics Laboratory in Boulder, Colo., said, "Should the plume reach Colorado, as did a similar dust storm in April 2001, light aircraft will sample the plume to measure for air pollution gases and
another Lidar, or laser radar, will probe the plume."

NOAA will be studying the air chemistry of similar Asian outflows that cross the Pacific in the Intercontinental Transport and Chemical Transformation (ITCT) program beginning in late April from a newly established NOAA/CMDL baseline station site at Trinidad Head, Calif., and with a NOAA WP-3D research aircraft flying out of Monterey, Calif., beginning around April 16.

Relevant Web Sites
NOAA's Climate Monitoring and Diagnostics Laboratory

ACE-Asia — Asian Pacific Regional Aerosol Characterization Experiments

NOAA Current Satellite Imagery

Media Contact:
Barbara McGehan, NOAA Research, Boulder, Colo., at (303) 497-6288

 

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