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Characterisation of the major dust storm that traversed over eastern Australia in September 2009; a multidisciplinary approach

De Deckker, Patrick; Munday, Christopher; Brocks, Jochen; O'Loingsigh, Tadhg; Allison, Gwen; Hope, Janet; Norman, Marc; Stuut, Jan-Berend; Tapper, Nigel; van der Kaars, Willem Alexander (Sander)

Description

In September 2009, a major dust storm passed over the southeast coast of Australia and covered the large city of Sydney that is located on the eastern coast of Australia. It was referred to as the 'Red Dawn' event. Along its course across the state of New South Wales, the dust plume passed over Canberra, the capital of Australia located some 300. km from Sydney. In this study we identified the sources of the dust and tracked the progression of the dust storm using satellite imagery. We also...[Show more]

dc.contributor.authorDe Deckker, Patrick
dc.contributor.authorMunday, Christopher
dc.contributor.authorBrocks, Jochen
dc.contributor.authorO'Loingsigh, Tadhg
dc.contributor.authorAllison, Gwen
dc.contributor.authorHope, Janet
dc.contributor.authorNorman, Marc
dc.contributor.authorStuut, Jan-Berend
dc.contributor.authorTapper, Nigel
dc.contributor.authorvan der Kaars, Willem Alexander (Sander)
dc.date.accessioned2015-12-13T22:34:43Z
dc.identifier.issn1875-9637
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1885/76254
dc.description.abstractIn September 2009, a major dust storm passed over the southeast coast of Australia and covered the large city of Sydney that is located on the eastern coast of Australia. It was referred to as the 'Red Dawn' event. Along its course across the state of New South Wales, the dust plume passed over Canberra, the capital of Australia located some 300. km from Sydney. In this study we identified the sources of the dust and tracked the progression of the dust storm using satellite imagery. We also examined the meteorological conditions that led to the formation of the dust plume. We also investigated the microbial and lipid composition, grain-size distribution, pollen content and geochemical composition of several samples of the dust that fell in Canberra (called 'Canberra dust'), with particular attention paid to the ratio of some rare earth elements as well as strontium and neodymium isotopes. This was done to identify a geochemical and palynological 'fingerprint' of this dust to determine the source of the material. Collectively, the meteorological and fingerprinting analyses identified the principal location of dust entrainment as between the large playa Lakes Gairdner and Torrens in arid South Australia, some 1600. km away from Canberra. We also determined through Sr isotope analyses and other elements measured in the dust that fell in Canberra and the township of Eden, located south of Sydney, that the dust changed composition slightly over a few hours, being the consequence of local dust entrainment along the path of the dust plume across South Australia and New South Wales. In addition, we present a scenario which explains dust transport away from the direction of the major dust plume. Those investigations carried out on the Canberra dust are compared with a previously documented event when dust was also sampled in Canberra in 2002. The origin and composition of the 2002 dust plume was clearly different from that which occurred in 2009, as demonstrated by the different chemical (organic and inorganic) composition, grain-size characteristics and palynological fingerprints, as well as microbial composition.
dc.publisherElsevier
dc.sourceAeolian Research
dc.titleCharacterisation of the major dust storm that traversed over eastern Australia in September 2009; a multidisciplinary approach
dc.typeJournal article
local.description.notesImported from ARIES
local.identifier.citationvolume15
dc.date.issued2014
local.identifier.absfor040202 - Inorganic Geochemistry
local.identifier.absfor040204 - Organic Geochemistry
local.identifier.absfor040199 - Atmospheric Sciences not elsewhere classified
local.identifier.ariespublicationU3488905xPUB5101
local.type.statusPublished Version
local.contributor.affiliationDe Deckker, Patrick, College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, ANU
local.contributor.affiliationMunday, Christopher, College of Medicine, Biology and Environment, ANU
local.contributor.affiliationBrocks, Jochen, College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, ANU
local.contributor.affiliationO'Loingsigh, Tadhg, Monash University
local.contributor.affiliationAllison, Gwen, Administrative Division, ANU
local.contributor.affiliationHope, Janet, College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, ANU
local.contributor.affiliationNorman, Marc, College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, ANU
local.contributor.affiliationStuut, Jan-Berend, NIOZ- Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research
local.contributor.affiliationTapper, Nigel, Monash University
local.contributor.affiliationvan der Kaars, Willem Alexander (Sander), Monash University
local.description.embargo2037-12-31
local.bibliographicCitation.startpage133
local.bibliographicCitation.lastpage149
local.identifier.doi10.1016/j.aeolia.2014.07.003
local.identifier.absseo960199 - Air Quality not elsewhere classified
dc.date.updated2015-12-11T09:23:43Z
local.identifier.scopusID2-s2.0-84908378298
local.identifier.thomsonID000344423300010
CollectionsANU Research Publications

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