Characterizing the annual cycle of African dust transport to the Caribbean Basin and South America and its impact on the environment and air quality

Prospero, Joseph M.; Collard, François–Xavier; Molinié, Jack; Jeannot, A.

doi:10.1002/2013gb004802

Cited by 239 publications

(250 citation statements)

References 145 publications

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“…NIM is located at the southern edge of the Saharan desert. Dust transport to CPR is predominantly from the African Sahel region (Prospero et al, 2014). Although ARN experiences Saharan dust events (Toledano et al, 2007), these events are not frequent enough to substantially influence the median in situ aerosol optical properties.…”

Section: Application and Assessment Of Previous Aerosol Typing Schemesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Classifying aerosol type using in situ surface spectral aerosol optical properties

et al. 2017

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Abstract. Knowledge of aerosol size and composition is important for determining radiative forcing effects of aerosols, identifying aerosol sources and improving aerosol satellite retrieval algorithms. The ability to extrapolate aerosol size and composition, or type, from intensive aerosol optical properties can help expand the current knowledge of spatiotemporal variability in aerosol type globally, particularly where chemical composition measurements do not exist concurrently with optical property measurements. This study uses medians of the scattering Ångström exponent (SAE), absorption Ångström exponent (AAE) and single scattering albedo (SSA) from 24 stations within the NOAA/ESRL Federated Aerosol Monitoring Network to infer aerosol type using previously published aerosol classification schemes.Three methods are implemented to obtain a best estimate of dominant aerosol type at each station using aerosol optical properties. The first method plots station medians into an AAE vs. SAE plot space, so that a unique combination of intensive properties corresponds with an aerosol type. The second typing method expands on the first by introducing a multivariate cluster analysis, which aims to group stations with similar optical characteristics and thus similar dominantPublished by Copernicus Publications on behalf of the European Geosciences Union. L. Schmeisser et al.: Classifying aerosols with optical propertiesaerosol type. The third and final classification method pairs 3-day backward air mass trajectories with median aerosol optical properties to explore the relationship between trajectory origin (proxy for likely aerosol type) and aerosol intensive parameters, while allowing for multiple dominant aerosol types at each station.The three aerosol classification methods have some common, and thus robust, results. In general, estimating dominant aerosol type using optical properties is best suited for site locations with a stable and homogenous aerosol population, particularly continental polluted (carbonaceous aerosol), marine polluted (carbonaceous aerosol mixed with sea salt) and continental dust/biomass sites (dust and carbonaceous aerosol); however, current classification schemes perform poorly when predicting dominant aerosol type at remote marine and Arctic sites and at stations with more complex locations and topography where variable aerosol populations are not well represented by median optical properties. Although the aerosol classification methods presented here provide new ways to reduce ambiguity in typing schemes, there is more work needed to find aerosol typing methods that are useful for a larger range of geographic locations and aerosol populations.

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Section: Application and Assessment Of Previous Aerosol Typing Schemesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Classifying aerosol type using in situ surface spectral aerosol optical properties

et al. 2017

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“…The sampling period ranged from 19 March to 25 April 2015, which is within the typical season when dust transport to the Amazon Basin has been reported before Swap et al, 1992;Prospero et al, 2014;Yu et al, 2015). Total particulate matter (TPM) was sampled above the canopy at 60 m height above ground level (a.g.l.)…”

Section: Aerosol Samplingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Soluble iron nutrients in Saharan dust over the central Amazon rainforest

et al. 2017

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The intercontinental transport of aerosols from the Sahara desert plays a significant role in nutrient cycles in the Amazon rainforest, since it carries many types of minerals to these otherwise low-fertility lands. Iron is one of the micronutrients essential for plant growth, and its long-range transport might be an important source for the iron-limited Amazon rainforest. This study assesses the bioavailability of iron Fe(II) and Fe(III) in the particulate matter over the Amazon forest, which was transported from the Sahara desert (for the sake of our discussion, this term also includes the Sahel region). The sampling campaign was carried out above and below the forest canopy at the ATTO site (Amazon Tall Tower Observatory), a near-pristine area in the central Amazon Basin, from March to April 2015. Measurements reached peak concentrations for soluble Fe(III) (48 ng m−3), Fe(II) (16 ng m−3), Na (470 ng m−3), Ca (194 ng m−3), K (65 ng m−3), and Mg (89 ng m−3) during a time period of dust transport from the Sahara, as confirmed by ground-based and satellite remote sensing data and air mass backward trajectories. Dust sampled above the Amazon canopy included primary biological aerosols and other coarse particles up to 12 µm in diameter. Atmospheric transport of weathered Saharan dust, followed by surface deposition, resulted in substantial iron bioavailability across the rainforest canopy. The seasonal deposition of dust, rich in soluble iron, and other minerals is likely to assist both bacteria and fungi within the topsoil and on canopy surfaces, and especially benefit highly bioabsorbent species. In this scenario, Saharan dust can provide essential macronutrients and micronutrients to plant roots, and also directly to plant leaves. The influence of this input on the ecology of the forest canopy and topsoil is discussed, and we argue that this influence would likely be different from that of nutrients from the weathered Amazon bedrock, which otherwise provides the main source of soluble mineral nutrients

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“…The distinct underestimation close to gulf of Guinea highlighted in Figure 1 prevail over winter and spring while DOD is overestimated over Eastern Sahara all year long. During winter and especially spring, the Atlantic dust plume moves southward (Yu et al, 2015) closer to the equator, but most of the global/regional climate models cannot accurately simulate that change (Prospero et al, 2014). Although RegCM4 shows a slight southward transfer in winter-spring across the Atlantic compare to summer-autumn, it is not enough to accurately simulate the observed spatial pattern of LIVAS.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%