Influence of sea-breeze winds on aerosol particle concentration and size distribution for up to 50-km overland distances in the Middle East

Abstract

Various experiments have been carried out recently in Middle East (Israel) environments for prediction of aerosol particle concentration and size distribution versus sea-breeze wind speeds and overland ranges. During these experiments aerosol particle concentrations for different overland distances were measured and analyzed. This work proposes a new model for aerosol size distribution prediction up to 50-km distance away from the Mediterranean coast based on an extensive series of measurements. The model introduces coefficients and characteristics of processes of absorption and scattering by aerosol particles in the northern Negev desert areas. Effects of sea breeze wind over different ranges are described by the model proposed in this work using parameters obtained empirically.

Middle East desert aerosol size distribution measurements and modeling in urban, coastal, and continental regions

“…1). In previous works 20, [34][35] we confirmed the relevance of the western Mediterranean coastal aerosol model 21 The Negev is a barren desert area between the Mediterranean, Red, and Dead Seas. The north Negev region located on the north to northwestern portion of the Negev Mountains includes areas from the Mediterranean coast to Beer Sheva.…”

“…2 and 3 is an example of the transition from marine to continental aerosols when the air mass is advected over the land, similar to observations in other coastal locations [19][20][21][34][35] . For short fetches [34][35] , the land-origin particles prevail in the submicron range and their concentrations increase with decreasing wind speeds due to accumulation effects caused by slower dispersion. The influence of fetch on the marine aerosol concentrations for coastal zones is well described 3,19 , where the concentrations of aerosols in the atmosphere vary with wind speed 4 :…”

“…3. In fact, based on our previous works 20, [34][35] , it was found that the concentration of coarse particles (larger than 1 µm), which at longer fetch consisted mainly of sea-salt particles, increases with increasing fetch. In addition, the concentration of coarse particles increases with wind speed because of increasing wind-derived sea salt droplets at the surface.…”

“…Large intercept values of the concentration/wind speed regression show the pure coastal area effect when the land-origin particles prevail, resulting in larger concentration at low wind speed (less removal/dispersion) [19][20][21][34][35] .…”

Aerosol size distribution measurements and modeling in urban environments for rainy atmospheric conditions

“…During the past decade experiments were carried out for aerosol concentration and aerosol distribution measurements in different environments [19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35] . Researchers collected and investigated marine origin aerosol data [28][29][30][31] and its implications for the marine aerosol model, developed a coastal aerosol mass concentration model 27 involving landand sea-breeze circulation, and a coastal aerosol transport model 32 based on effects of surf-produced aerosols, or used the aerosol size distribution model with height dependence 33 for considering the aerosol distribution at different heights above ground 26 .…”