The CalWater field campaign, funded by the California Energy Commission and led by UC San Diego and NOAA, could help western states better understand the future of their water supply and hydropower generation as climate change influences how much and how often dust travels around the world and alters precipitation far from its point of origin.
"UC San Diego is a leader in addressing complex, multi-disciplinary global challenges, such as water shortages and environmental concerns," said UCSD Chancellor Pradeep K. Khosla. "Our researchers work collaboratively to investigate and produce meaningful and impactful research that will further our understanding of our planet and environment, so we can improve human life and our world."
Jessie Creamean, a postdoctoral associate at NOAA's Earth System Research Laboratory in Boulder, Colo., co-authored the paper appearing in the journal Science with Kaitlyn Suski, a graduate student in the laboratory of Distinguished Chair in Atmospheric Chemistry Prof. Kimberly Prather, who holds appointments at Scripps Institution of Oceanography and the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at UCSD.
"We were able to show dust and biological aerosols that made it from as far as the Sahara were incorporated into the clouds to form ice, then influenced the formation of the precipitation in California," said Creamean, who conducted the fieldwork as a UCSD graduate student under Prather, the study leader. "To our knowledge, no one has been able to directly determine the origin of the critical aerosols seeding mid-level clouds which ultimately produce periods with extensive precipitation typically in the form of snow at the ground."...
From NASA: Saharan sand blowing off the coasts of Mauritania and Senegal
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