Soil Moisture Modulations of Dust Emissions Introduce Non‐Negligible Impacts on the Dust Direct Radiative Effect Across the Contiguous U.S.

Abstract Soil moisture increases the cohesive forces of soil particles, making it more difficult to lift the particles by the wind. As a result, the soil moisture modulates the airborne dust abundance, which in turn modulates the Earth's radiative balance. The importance of these soil moisture...

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Main Authors: Pedro A. Jiménez y Muñoz, Rajesh Kumar, Cenlin He, Jared A. Lee
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2025-07-01
Series:Geophysical Research Letters
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1029/2025GL115836
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author Pedro A. Jiménez y Muñoz
Rajesh Kumar
Cenlin He
Jared A. Lee
author_facet Pedro A. Jiménez y Muñoz
Rajesh Kumar
Cenlin He
Jared A. Lee
author_sort Pedro A. Jiménez y Muñoz
collection DOAJ
description Abstract Soil moisture increases the cohesive forces of soil particles, making it more difficult to lift the particles by the wind. As a result, the soil moisture modulates the airborne dust abundance, which in turn modulates the Earth's radiative balance. The importance of these soil moisture modulations on the radiative balance is unknown, however. Herein we use WRF‐Chem simulations to quantify the role of soil moisture modulations on the dust direct radiative effect. We focus on the contiguous U.S. due to the presence of important dust sources and good observational networks. Our results, based on the year of 2015, used a range of dust emissions and positive/negative soil moisture anomalies of ±25% and reveal a non‐negligible impact of around 15% in the net radiation at the top of the atmosphere and surface, with a smaller impact in the atmosphere.
format Article
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institution DOAJ
issn 0094-8276
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language English
publishDate 2025-07-01
publisher Wiley
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series Geophysical Research Letters
spelling doaj-art-0bcce6ff405b4010ae3e490dab198b4d2025-08-20T02:56:24ZengWileyGeophysical Research Letters0094-82761944-80072025-07-015213n/an/a10.1029/2025GL115836Soil Moisture Modulations of Dust Emissions Introduce Non‐Negligible Impacts on the Dust Direct Radiative Effect Across the Contiguous U.S.Pedro A. Jiménez y Muñoz0Rajesh Kumar1Cenlin He2Jared A. Lee3Research Applications Laboratory NSF National Center for Atmospheric Research Boulder CO USAResearch Applications Laboratory NSF National Center for Atmospheric Research Boulder CO USAResearch Applications Laboratory NSF National Center for Atmospheric Research Boulder CO USAResearch Applications Laboratory NSF National Center for Atmospheric Research Boulder CO USAAbstract Soil moisture increases the cohesive forces of soil particles, making it more difficult to lift the particles by the wind. As a result, the soil moisture modulates the airborne dust abundance, which in turn modulates the Earth's radiative balance. The importance of these soil moisture modulations on the radiative balance is unknown, however. Herein we use WRF‐Chem simulations to quantify the role of soil moisture modulations on the dust direct radiative effect. We focus on the contiguous U.S. due to the presence of important dust sources and good observational networks. Our results, based on the year of 2015, used a range of dust emissions and positive/negative soil moisture anomalies of ±25% and reveal a non‐negligible impact of around 15% in the net radiation at the top of the atmosphere and surface, with a smaller impact in the atmosphere.https://doi.org/10.1029/2025GL115836
spellingShingle Pedro A. Jiménez y Muñoz
Rajesh Kumar
Cenlin He
Jared A. Lee
Soil Moisture Modulations of Dust Emissions Introduce Non‐Negligible Impacts on the Dust Direct Radiative Effect Across the Contiguous U.S.
Geophysical Research Letters
title Soil Moisture Modulations of Dust Emissions Introduce Non‐Negligible Impacts on the Dust Direct Radiative Effect Across the Contiguous U.S.
title_full Soil Moisture Modulations of Dust Emissions Introduce Non‐Negligible Impacts on the Dust Direct Radiative Effect Across the Contiguous U.S.
title_fullStr Soil Moisture Modulations of Dust Emissions Introduce Non‐Negligible Impacts on the Dust Direct Radiative Effect Across the Contiguous U.S.
title_full_unstemmed Soil Moisture Modulations of Dust Emissions Introduce Non‐Negligible Impacts on the Dust Direct Radiative Effect Across the Contiguous U.S.
title_short Soil Moisture Modulations of Dust Emissions Introduce Non‐Negligible Impacts on the Dust Direct Radiative Effect Across the Contiguous U.S.
title_sort soil moisture modulations of dust emissions introduce non negligible impacts on the dust direct radiative effect across the contiguous u s
url https://doi.org/10.1029/2025GL115836
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AT cenlinhe soilmoisturemodulationsofdustemissionsintroducenonnegligibleimpactsonthedustdirectradiativeeffectacrossthecontiguousus
AT jaredalee soilmoisturemodulationsofdustemissionsintroducenonnegligibleimpactsonthedustdirectradiativeeffectacrossthecontiguousus