The Role Of Atmospheric Dust Cycle In Climate System

Abstract Airborne dust particles have direct impact on radiation balance, influencing the energy and water cycle. Understanding the dust cycle requires knowledge about processes from micron to global resolutions, with precise definition of parameters that control their emission from the surface, uptake, transport, transformation and deposition, as well as interaction with the environment. Generally, the nature of the sources, composition, size and shape of the particles, and their behaviour during the transport are poorly understood and mainly based on the empirical and experimental experience. Dust cycle is recognized as an important component of the climate system, which provoke the need for its better representation in numerical models, by including atmospheric dust concentration as a prognostic component altogether with processes related to its interaction with the climate system components. Significant role of dust in cloud formation, impact on the albedo of the surface, marine biology, human health and security motivate the research community to upgrade the knowledge related to the dust transport for the purpose of improving the weather forecast models and climate change studies. In this paper are presented basics of the latest achievements in dust cycle research, with accent on its impact on weather and climate, recent developments of dust transport numerical models, and understanding the role of dust in climate change.