A Source-Based Model for Describing Dust Concentrations during Wind Erosion Events

H.J.Butler, W.L.Hogarth and G.H.McTainsh

Wind erosion is a broad--scale process in inland Australia. When conditions are conducive to wind erosion, dust storms can entrain fine sediment over large areas of the continent, however, closer examination indicates that dust source areas are often spatially discrete. The fine sediment entrained from these sources, is transported as dust plumes, which may coalesce at some point downwind. Current mathematical models used in Australia, lack the ability to describe spatial variations in concentration, within the plume and can't describe the effect different land types have on the resulting plume (ie they are unable to describe the effects that changes in local environmental conditions have on the dust plume). DUSTRAN, the model described here, attempts to overcome these issues.