Atmospheric Dynamics of a Saharan Dust Outbreak over Mindelo, Cape Verde Islands: Multi-scale Observational Analyses and Simulations

The Extreme North African Haboob in October 2008: High‐Resolution Simulation of Organized Moist Convection in the Lee of the Atlas, Dust Recirculation and Poleward Transport

“…Every year large amounts of desert‐dust particles are mobilized by strong winds driven by cold pools from organized moist convection over North Africa (Knippertz et al., 2007; Emmel et al., 2010), the world's largest mineral dust source (Prospero et al., 2002; Washington et al., 2003). Dust aerosols impact humans through the degradation of air quality, visibility, and flight safety (e.g., Cabello et al., 2012; Solomos et al., 2017; Dhital, 2021) as well as affecting the weather, climate, and hydrological cycle (Knippertz & Todd, 2012; Skiles et al., 2015; Adhikari & Mejia, 2021), yet dust simulations remain uncertain (e.g., Evan et al., 2014; Zhao et al., 2022). As such it is important to understand the multiscale organizational mechanisms of dust storms for improving model simulations, for example, for a better accuracy of dust forecasts and reliable warnings.…”

“…Haboobs contribute nearly 50% of the total dust emission in the Sahel region during the West African monsoon season (Heinold et al., 2013). Depending on the intensity and the longevity of a dust episode, lifted dust can be transported out of Africa to Europe (e.g., Dhital, 2021; Dhital et al., 2021; Solomos et al., 2017; Orza et al., 2020) or toward the tropical Atlantic Ocean (e.g., Dhital et al., 2020; Fiedler, 2018). However, the dynamics of haboobs in Northwest Africa outside of the monsoon season, like in October 2008 and the subsequent dust transport to Europe are not well understood.…”