Columnar and surface aerosol load over the Iberian Peninsula establishing annual cycles, trends, and relationships in five geographical sectors

Mateos, David; Cachorro, Victoria E.; Toledano, Carlos; Burgos, M.A.; Bennouna, Yasmine; Torres, Benjamín; Fuertes, David; González, Ramiro; Guirado-Fuentes, Carmen; Calle, A.; Baraja, Angel Máximo de Frutos

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2015.03.002

Cited by 17 publications

(24 citation statements)

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“…The limit of α ≤ 1 for identifying coarse particles has been established by previous studies in different worldwide areas (e.g. Eck et al, 1999Eck et al, , 2010Dubovik et al, 2002;Meloni et al, 2007;Boselli et al, 2012), making this threshold suitable for our study area. It is important to emphasize here that the α parameter allows a more accurate identification of desert dust events.…”

Section: Detection Of Desert Dust Episodesmentioning

confidence: 92%

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Inventory of African desert dust events in the north-central Iberian Peninsula in 2003–2014 based on sun-photometer–AERONET and particulate-mass–EMEP data

et al. 2016

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Abstract. A reliable identification of desert dust (DD) episodes over north-central Spain is carried out based on the AErosol RObotic NETwork (AERONET) columnar aerosol sun photometer (aerosol optical depth, AOD, and Ångström exponent, α) and European Monitoring and Evaluation Programme (EMEP) surface particulate-mass concentration (PMx, x = 10, 2.5, and 2.5–10 µm) as the main core data. The impact of DD on background aerosol conditions is detectable by means of aerosol load thresholds and complementary information provided by HYSPLIT (Hybrid Single Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory Model) air mass back trajectories, MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) images, forecast aerosol models, and synoptic maps, which have been carefully reviewed by a human observer for each day included in the DD inventory. This identification method allows the detection of low and moderate DD intrusions and also of mixtures of mineral dust with other aerosol types by means of the analysis of α. During the period studied (2003–2014), a total of 152 DD episodes composed of 418 days are identified. Overall, this means ∼ 13 episodes and ∼ 35 days per year with DD intrusion, representing 9.5 % days year−1. During the identified DD intrusions, 19 daily exceedances over 50 µg m−3 are reported at the surface. The occurrence of DD event days during the year peaks in March and June, with a marked minimum in April and lowest occurrence in winter. A large interannual variability is observed showing a statistically significant temporal decreasing trend of ∼ 3 days year−1. The DD impact on the aerosol climatology is addressed by evaluating the DD contribution in magnitude and percent (in brackets) for AOD, PM10, PM2.5, and PM2.5 − 10, obtaining mean values of 0.015 (11.5 %), 1.3 µg m−3 (11.8 %), 0.55 µg m−3 (8.5 %) and 0.79 µg m−3 (16.1 %), respectively. Annual cycles of the DD contribution for AOD and PM10 present two maxima – one in summer (0.03 and 2.4 µg m−3 for AOD in June and PM10 in August) and another in March (0.02 for AOD and 2.2 µg m−3 for PM10) – both displaying a similar evolution with exceptions in July and September. The seasonal cycle of the DD contribution to AOD does not follow the pattern of the total AOD (close to a bell shape), whereas both PM10 cycles (total and DD contribution) are more similar to each other in shape, with an exception in September. The interannual evolution of the DD contribution to AOD and PM10 has evidenced a progressive decrease. This decline in the levels of mineral dust aerosols can explain up to 30 % of the total aerosol load decrease observed in the study area during the period 2003–2014. The relationship between columnar and surface DD contribution shows a correlation coefficient of 0.81 for the interannual averages. Finally, synoptic conditions during DD events are also analysed, observing that the north African thermal low causes most of the events ( ∼  53 %). The results presented in this study highlight the relevance of the area studied since it can be considered representative of the clean background in the western Mediterranean Basin where DD events have a high impact on aerosol load levels.

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Section: Detection Of Desert Dust Episodesmentioning

confidence: 92%

“…in Italy (e.g. Meloni et al, 2007;di Sarra et al, 2011;Bègue et al, 2012), Greece (e.g. Kaskaoutis et al, 2008), or the Iberian Peninsula (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Inventory of African desert dust events in the north-central Iberian Peninsula in 2003–2014 based on sun-photometer–AERONET and particulate-mass–EMEP data

et al. 2016

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“…Although several studies on the characterization of columnar aerosol properties have been conducted over the Western Mediterranean, especially over the Iberian Peninsula, the majority of these studies focused their analysis at only one site (e.g., Obregón et al, 2015, Bennouna et al, 2011) and many of them were of relatively short duration (e.g., Elias et al, 2006;Lyamani et al, 2006aLyamani et al, , 2006bPrats et al, 2008). The use of AERONET measurements has served as a long-term analysis of the optical and microphysical properties of aerosols in the Iberian Peninsula and the most robust statistical analysis was presented by Mateos et al (2015), who analysed more than 10 years of data obtained at all AERONET Iberian Peninsula stations. This study complements the first studies of a decade ago performed individually for certain regions of the Iberian Peninsula (e.g., Alados-Arboledas et al, (2003) for the southeast region, Toledano et al (2007) for the southwest region, Estellés et al (2007) for the Mediterranean region, Bennouna et al (2013) for the north-central region and Silva et al (2002) for the eastern region).…”

Section: Accepted Manuscriptmentioning

confidence: 99%

Contribution to column-integrated aerosol typing based on Sun-photometry using different criteria

Foyo-Moreno

Alados

Guerrero-Rascado

et al. 2019

Atmospheric Research

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“…It is a dense network of ground-based sun photometers providing a continuous database of remotely sensed aerosol measurements at more than 400 sites around the globe (Holben et al, 1998). Such networks constitute a valuable source of information for the establishment of local and regional aerosol characterization and climatology (Holben et al, 2001; Dubovik et al, 2002;Toledano et al, 2007a;Bennouna et al, 2011;2013;Mateos et al, 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Long-term comparative study of columnar and surface mass concentration aerosol properties in a background environment

Bennouna

Cachorro

Mateos

et al. 2016

Atmospheric Environment

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The relationship between columnar and surface aerosol properties is not a straightforward problem. The Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD), Ångström exponent (AE), and ground-level Particulate Matter (PM X , x=10 or 2.5 µm) data have been studied from a climatological point of view. Despite the different meanings of AOD and PMx both are key and complementary quantities that quantify aerosol load in the atmosphere and many studies intend to find specific relationships between them. Related parameters such as AE and PM ratio (PR=PM 2.5 / PM 10), giving information about the predominant particle size, are included in this study on the relationships between columnar and surface aerosol parameters. This study is based on long measurement records (2003-2014) obtained at two nearby background sites from the AERONET and EMEP networks in the north-central area of Spain. The climatological annual cycle of PMx shows two maxima along the year (one in latewinter/early-spring and another in summer), but this cycle is not followed by the AOD which shows only a summer maximum and a nearly bell shape. However, the annual means of both data sets show strong correlation (R=0.89) and similar decreasing trends of 40% (PM 10) and 38% (AOD) for the 12-year record. PM 10 and AOD daily data are moderately correlated (R=0.58), whereas correlation increases for monthly (R=0.74) and yearly (R=0.89) means. Scatter plots of AE vs. AOD and PR vs. PM 10 have been used to characterize aerosols over the region. The PR vs. AE scatterplot of daily data shows no correlation due to the prevalence of intermediate-sized particles. As day-today correlation is low (especially for high turbidity events), a binned analysis was also carried out to establish consistent relationships between columnar and surface quantities, which is considered to be an appropriate approach for environmental and climate studies. In this way the link between surface concentrations and columnar remote sensing data is shown to provide useful information for aerosol characterization from a climatological context, despite some limitations. supporting this research about atmospheric aerosols as well as Consejería de Educación for supporting the project VA100U14. Furthermore, the research leading to these results has received funding from the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement Nr. 654109 [ACTRIS 2].

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Columnar and surface aerosol load over the Iberian Peninsula establishing annual cycles, trends, and relationships in five geographical sectors

Cited by 17 publications

References 50 publications

Inventory of African desert dust events in the north-central Iberian Peninsula in 2003–2014 based on sun-photometer–AERONET and particulate-mass–EMEP data

Inventory of African desert dust events in the north-central Iberian Peninsula in 2003–2014 based on sun-photometer–AERONET and particulate-mass–EMEP data

Contribution to column-integrated aerosol typing based on Sun-photometry using different criteria

Long-term comparative study of columnar and surface mass concentration aerosol properties in a background environment

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