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Elvia H. Thompson
Headquarters, Washington         May 15, 2003
(Phone: 202/358-1696)

Rob Gutro
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
(Phone: 301/286-4044)

RELEASE: 03-171

SCIENTISTS DUST OFF DESERT SANDS FROM THE FRENCH ALPS

     NASA funded scientists, using an atmospheric computer 
model, proved for the first time dust from China's 
TaklaMakan desert traveled more than 12,400 miles (20,000 
kilometers) over two weeks and landed on the French Alps. 
Chinese dust plumes have reached North America and 
Greenland, but had not been reported in Europe.

The findings are highlighted in a paper authored by Francis 
E. Grousset of the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of 
Columbia University (LDEOCU), Palisades, N.Y., and 
Universite Bordeaux, France; Aloys Bory and Pierre E. 
Biscaye, also of LDEOCU; and Paul Ginoux, University of 
Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) and NASA's Goddard Space 
Flight Center (GSFC), Greenbelt, Md. The study appeared in a 
recent issue of the American Geophysical Union's Geophysical 
Research Letters.

This study looked at dust that traveled from February 25 to 
March 7, 1990. "The dust particles traveled around the world 
in about two weeks, and along their journey, crossed China, 
the North Pacific, North America and the North Atlantic 
Ocean," Ginoux said.  

Research conducted in 1994 showed, over the 20 years prior, 
a score of red dust events coated the snow cover in the 
French Alps and Pyrenees mountains. The red dust topping 
these European mountain ranges was sampled and stored in 
bags for comparison with dust from other parts of the world. 
Scientists analyze the minerals and compositions of certain 
distinctive elements (isotopes) of the dust to identify its 
origin. Information about the origins and final locations of 
dust are important to help determine any effects from heavy 
metal, fungal, bacterial and viral distribution that may be 
associated with it. 

Ginoux and his colleagues used NASA technology and support 
in their research. Meteorological information, such as wind 
speed and direction, precipitation, air pressure, and 
temperature, were put into a computer model. The model 
recreated how the atmosphere moved as the dust traveled from 
China to the Alps. The meteorological information was from 
GSFC's Earth Observing System Data Assimilation System. 

Several computer models, simulating the movement of dust in 
the atmosphere, were used to track its journey in this 
study. The Global Ozone Chemistry Aerosol Radiation 
Transport computer model, largely funded by NASA, uses the 
winds, soil moisture, and surface characteristics to 
simulate dust generation and transport. The National Oceanic 
and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Air Resources 
Laboratory (ARL), provided models showing the paths of air 
masses, as they moved around the world, from the time the 
dust was swept into the atmosphere to when it settled on the 
Alps.

ARL can project where air pollution will move based on 
meteorological conditions. NOAA's National Weather Service 
National Center for Environmental Prediction re-analyzed 
global meteorological conditions and plotted the dust 
movement to verify the computer models.

This research was funded by France's National Center for 
Scientific Research, NASA's Earth Science Enterprise (ESE), 
and the National Science Foundation. NASA's ESE is dedicated 
to understanding the Earth as an integrated system and 
applying Earth System Science to improve prediction of 
climate, weather and natural hazards using the unique 
vantage point of space.

For more information about the research and images on the 
Internet, visit:
http://www.gsfc.nasa.gov/topstory/2003/0427sandalps.html

For information about NASA's Earth Science Enterprise on the 
Internet, visit:
http://www.earth.nasa.gov/

For the Global Ozone Chemistry Aerosol Radiation Transport 
computer model, visit:
http://code916.gsfc.nasa.gov/People/Chin/aot.html

For NOAA's Air Resources Laboratory, visit:
www.arl.noaa.gov/ready/

For the National Center for Scientific Research, visit:
http://www.cnrs.fr/

For the National Weather Service's National Center for 
Environmental Prediction, visit:
http://wwwt.ncep.noaa.gov/

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