An evaluation of the wind erosion module in DUSTRAN

The comparisons have provided both encouragement as to the practical value of the wind erosion module in DUSTRAN and examples of occasions when the simulations and observations diverge. In general, the maximum dust concentrations from the simulations and the observations for each dust event agreed closely. Because of the lack of soil moisture information, the model was run in a “dry” mode. However, certain discrepancies between the measured and simulated values relative to the timing of observed precipitation events suggest that soil moisture should be accounted for where possible. For low dust concentrations, DUSTRAN tends to overestimate PM10 levels. This may be a weakness in the form of the dust flux parameterization at low wind speeds. Overall, however, we have shown DUSTRAN to be an effective tool for simulating dust events due to wind erosion.