Characterizing the Role of Wind and Dust in Traffic Accidents in California

Bhattachan, Abinash; Okin, Gregory S.; Zhang, Junzhe; Vimal, Solomon; Lettenmaier, Dennis P.

doi:10.1029/2019gh000212

Cited by 51 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…Simulations with the atmospheric model WRF-Chem 3.6.1 and the implementation of Lagrangian trajectories applying the The results found here show that under the extreme conditions of October 2007, a considerable amount of dust traveled above the Gulf of California, and an important part is deposited. This kind of event causes an extreme erosion in northwestern Mexico and the soil loss under winds of this magnitude to represent a robust environmental impact over the coasts as an air quality and visibility reducer [65,66], and as a pathogen transport [67]. Despite the negative effect, this critical quantity of dust contributes directly to the mineralization of the Gulf of California and could be of importance to biological processes as it has been observed in the Gulf of California and other parts of the world.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dust Deposition on the Gulf of California Caused by Santa Ana Winds

et al. 2020

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Numerical simulations revealed a profound interaction between the severe dust storm of 2007 caused by Santa Ana winds and the Gulf of California. The weather research and forecasting model coupled with a chemistry module (WRF-CHEM) and the hybrid single-particle Lagrangian integrated trajectory model (HYSPLIT) allowed for the estimation of the meteorological and dynamic aspects of the event and the dust deposition on the surface waters of the Gulf of California caused by the erosion and entrainment of dust particles from the surrounding desert regions. The dust emission rates from three chosen areas (Altar desert, Sonora coast, and a region between these two zones) and their contribution to dust deposition over the Gulf of California were analyzed. The Altar Desert had the highest dust emission rates and the highest contribution to dust deposition over the Gulf of California, i.e., it has the most critical influence with 96,879 tons of emission and 43,539 tons of dust deposition in the gulf. An increase of chlorophyll-a concentrations is observed coinciding with areas of high dust deposition in the northern and western coast of the gulf. This kind of event could have a significant positive influence over the mineralization and productivity processes in the Gulf of California, despite the soil loss in the eroded regions.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dust Deposition on the Gulf of California Caused by Santa Ana Winds

et al. 2020

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“…According to the World Health Organization ( 2018 ), traffic crashes are the ninth leading cause of death worldwide. In the United States, on average, the annual death toll from motor vehicle crashes due to weather related visibility and vision hazards such as fog, smoke, dust, and blowing sand, exceeds the number of fatalities caused by other weather-related hazards including tornados, floods, tropical cyclones, and lightning (Ashley et al 2015 ; Bhattachan et al 2019 ). Due to the arid climate of the Chihuahuan Desert, fog, the most common weather phenomenon affecting highway visibility (Ashley et al 2015 ) is rare in the Lordsburg basin.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dust emission source characterization for visibility hazard assessment on Lordsburg Playa in Southwestern New Mexico, USA

Pelt

Tatarko

Gill

et al. 2020

Geoenviron Disasters

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In drylands around the world, ephemeral lakes (playas) are common. Dry, wind-erodible playa sediments are potent local and regional sources of dust and PM10 (airborne particles with diameters less than 10 μm). Dust clouds often cause sudden and/or prolonged loss of visibility to travelers on downwind roadways. Lordsburg Playa, in southwestern New Mexico, USA is bisected by Interstate Highway 10. Dust storms emanating from the playa have been responsible for numerous visibility-related road closures (including 39 road closures between 2012 and 2019) causing major economic losses, in addition to well over a hundred dust-related vehicle crashes causing at least 41 lost lives in the last 53 years. In order to improve understanding of the surfaces responsible for the dust emissions, we investigated the critical wind friction velocity thresholds and the dust emissivities of surfaces representing areas typical of Lordsburg Playa’s stream deltas, shorelines, and ephemerally flooded lakebed using a Portable In-Situ Wind ERosion Laboratory (PI-SWERL). Mean threshold friction velocities for PM10 entrainment ranged from less than 0.30 m s− 1 for areas in the delta and shoreline to greater than 0.55 m s− 1 for ephemerally flooded areas of the lakebed. Similarly, we quantified mean PM10 vertical flux rates ranging from less than 500 μg m− 2 s− 1 for ephemerally flooded areas of lakebed to nearly 25,000 μg m− 2 s− 1 for disturbed delta surfaces. The unlimited PM10 supply of the relatively coarse sediments along the western shoreline is problematic and indicates that this may be the source area for longer-term visibility reducing dust events and should be a focus area for dust mitigation efforts.

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“…According to the World Health Organization (2018), traffic crashes are the ninth leading cause of death worldwide. In the United States, on average, the annual death toll from motor vehicle crashes due to weather related visibility and vision hazards such as fog, smoke, dust, and blowing sand, exceeds the number of fatalities caused by other weather-related hazards including tornados, floods, tropical cyclones, and lightning (Ashley et al, 2015;Bhattachan et al, 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dust Emission Source Characterization for Visibility Hazard Assessment on Lordsburg Playa in Southwestern New Mexico, USA

Pelt

Tatarko

Gill

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Ephemeral lakes (playas) at the termination of drainages are a common feature of drylands. When dry, playa sediments can be highly wind-erodible, becoming potent local and regional sources of dust and PM 10 , airborne particles with diameters less than 10 µm, causing potentially sudden loss of visibility to travelers on downwind roadways. Lordsburg Playa, in southwestern New Mexico, USA is bisected by Interstate Highway 10. Dust storms emanating from the playa have been responsible for numerous visibility-related road closures (including 39 road closures between 2012- 2019) causing major economic losses, as well as hundreds of dust-related vehicle crashes, causing 41 lost lives in the last 53 years. We investigated the critical wind friction velocity thresholds and the dust emissivities of surfaces representing areas typical of Lordsburg Playa’s stream deltas, shorelines, and ephemerally flooded lakebed using a Portable In-Situ Wind ERosion Laboratory (PI-SWERL). Mean threshold friction velocities for PM 10 entrainment ranged from less than 0.30 m s -1 for areas in the delta and shoreline to greater than 0.55 m s -1 for ephemerally flooded areas of the lakebed. Similarly, we quantified mean PM 10 vertical flux rates ranging from less than 500 µ g m -2 s -1 for ephemerally flooded areas of lakebed to nearly 25,000 µg m -2 s -1 for disturbed delta surfaces. The apparently unlimited PM 10 supply of the relatively coarse sediments along the western shoreline however is problematic and indicates that this may be the source area for longer-term visibility limiting dust events and should be a focus area for dust mitigation efforts.

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Characterizing the Role of Wind and Dust in Traffic Accidents in California

Cited by 51 publications

References 38 publications

Dust Deposition on the Gulf of California Caused by Santa Ana Winds

Dust Deposition on the Gulf of California Caused by Santa Ana Winds

Dust emission source characterization for visibility hazard assessment on Lordsburg Playa in Southwestern New Mexico, USA

Dust Emission Source Characterization for Visibility Hazard Assessment on Lordsburg Playa in Southwestern New Mexico, USA

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