PM10 Emission, Sandblasting Efficiency and Vertical Entrainment During SuccessiveWind-Erosion Events: A Wind-Tunnel Approach

JUAN E. PANEBIANCO; MENDEZ MARIANO JAVIER; BUSCHIAZZO DANIEL EDUARDO

BOUNDARY-LAYER METEOROLOGY

SPRINGER

Lugar: Berlin; Año: 2016 vol. 161 p. 335 - 353

0006-8314

Awind-tunnel experiment was carried out to measure saltation and PM10 (particulatematter with a mean aerodynamic diameter less than 10 μm) emission during three successivewind-erosion events on three different surfaces: an unpaved road and two differenttextured agricultural soils: a sandy loam and a loamy sand. The total horizontalmass transport (Q) and the PM10 emissions (E), were measured at two frictionvelocities: 0.2 and 0.3 m s−1. Results indicated that Q decreased rapidly intime over all surfaces, as the 6 Q values were only 13?17 % of the amountregistered during the first event. Similar trends  were detected at both wind speeds. However, Evalues showed a lower relative decrease in the second wind-erosion event at thelower wind speed (25?51 % of the initial amounts) tan at the higher wind speed(19?28 % of the initial amounts) over all surfaces. After the secondwind-erosion event, both Q and E values remained constant except for theunpaved road, where both values decreased by 50 % in relation to the secondevent. Emission from the agricultural soils was sustained over successivewind-erosion events even when saltation was low. The sandblasting efficiencyfor PM10 emission was found to be higher for agricultural soils than for theunpaved road, and increased over wind-erosion events particularly in agriculturalsoils, and this was also reflected in the PM10 vertical entrainment. Resultssuggest that sandblasting efficiency and PM10 vertical distribution can changeamong wind-erosion events even for the same surface. The saltation fraction toPM10 content ratio can be a simple indicator of the general behaviour of anemitting surface during successive wind-erosion events.