North African dust emissions and transport

Engelstaedter, Sebastian; Tegen, Ina; Washington, Richard

doi:10.1016/j.earscirev.2006.06.004

Cited by 607 publications

(480 citation statements)

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“…Winds from the nine principal desert sources transport large amounts of dust around the world (Prospero et al 2002;Tanaka and Chiba 2006). Overall, studies estimate that the global dust emission varies by a factor of slightly more than two, although extreme values from 1,018 Tg year −1 (Miller et al 2004) to 3,000 Tg year −1 (Tegen and Fung 1994) have been established over the last two decades (Engelstaedter et al 2006). Estimates of the contribution of the different source areas also vary by study and are more difficult to make, especially as each source area follows a distinct seasonal cycle (Engelstaedter and Washington 2007).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Ginoux et al 2004;Washington et al 2003). Regions of the world in the path of dust-laden wind record increased ambient air dust concentrations that are temporally associated with deteriorations in air quality and the strong possibility of negative impacts on human health (Engelstaedter et al 2006;Kellogg et al 2004;Ozer et al 2005). Generally speaking, a distinction is made between particles smaller than 10 μm in diameter (PM 10 , thoracic particles that can penetrate into the lower respiratory system), particles smaller than 2.5 μm (PM 2.5 , respirable particles that can penetrate into the gas-exchange region of the lung), and ultrafine particles smaller than 100 nm that contribute little to particle mass but that are most abundant in terms of numbers and offer a very large surface area, with increasing degrees of lung penetration (Brunekreef and Holgate 2002).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The ultimate aim was to investigate the need to undertake such studies in West Africa, near the Sahara, the most important global dust source (e.g. Engelstaedter et al 2006;Washington et al 2003). Due to the large quantity of PM emanating from this source (more than 50 % of the total emitted into the atmosphere), the potential risk to health is higher for populations in West Africa.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Desert dust impacts on human health: an alarming worldwide reality and a need for studies in West Africa

et al. 2012

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High desert dust concentrations raise concerns about adverse health effects on human populations. Based on a systematic literature review, this paper aims to learn more about the relationship between desert dust and human health in the world and to analyse the place of West Africa as a study area of interest. Papers focussing on the potential relationship between dust and health and showing quantitative analyses, published between January 1999 and September 2011, were identified using the ISI Web of Knowledge database (N050). A number of adverse health effects, including respiratory, cardiovascular and cardiopulmonary diseases, are associated with dust. This survey highlights obvious dust impacts on human health independently of the study area, health outcomes and method. Moreover, it reveals an imbalance between the areas most exposed to dust and the areas most studied in terms of health effects. None of these studies has been conducted in West Africa, despite the proximity of the Sahara, which produces about half of the yearly global mineral dust. In view of the alarming results in many parts of the world (Asia, Europe, America), this paper concludes by stressing the importance of carrying out impact studies of Saharan dust in West Africa, where dust events are more frequent and intense than anywhere else.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Desert dust impacts on human health: an alarming worldwide reality and a need for studies in West Africa

et al. 2012

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“…These are initially determined by the terrestrial sources from which the soil sediments are entrained, although these parameters are subjected to change during dust transport (Mahowald et al, 2005). Dust aerosols strongly affect visibility, atmospheric dynamics and weather, perturb the radiation balance of the earth-atmosphere system and might have a noticeable effect on ecosystems and even human health (Goudie and Middleton, 2001;Engelstaedter et al, 2006;Kaskaoutis et al, 2010).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Temporal changes of particulate concentration in the ambient air over the city of Zahedan, Iran

Rashki

Rautenbach

Eriksson

et al. 2011

Air Qual Atmos Health

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Air pollution in developing countries has recently become a serious environmental problem which needs more active air quality monitoring and analyses. To assess air quality characteristics over the city of Zahedan, southeast Iran, airborne Particulate Matter (PM) concentrations with aerodynamic diameters of < 10 µm, < 2.5 µm and < 1.0 µm were measured during the period July 2008 to March 2010 using an Environmental Dust Monitor (EDM-180). The data were analyzed on daily, monthly and seasonal basis. The highest monthly mean PM 10 levels (172 gm -3 ) were recorded during the summer period (JuneAugust), presumably due to frequent dust storms from the nearby Sistan desert located to the north, while less PM 10 concentrations are recorded in winter (December-February) (101 gm -3 ). Linear regression analysis between the PM 2.5 and PM 10 time series reveals high correlation coefficients (r>0.82) for all seasons, implying that PM 10 and PM 2.5 may have the same source regions, or that they are influenced by the same local conditions. In contrast, neutral correlation is found between PM 10 and PM 1.0 in autumn and winter. Taking into account that the annual variation of PM 1.0 exhibits a clear pattern of peaking in winter and dropping in summer (in contrast to PM 10 ), it is suspected that PM 1.0 is of different origin than PM 10 and mainly influenced by local anthropogenic emissions. The daily PM 10 variation is strongly seasonally defined. The maximum PM 10 concentrations occur in the morning hours during winter, autumn (September-November) and early spring (March), while in summer PM 10 concentrations increase significantly in the afternoon closely associated with the intense northerly winds blowing from the desert. As far as the Air Quality Index (AQI) is concerned, its highest monthly values occur in summer, while they are reduced in winter. Desert dust 2 aerosols are found to be the major component in determining the AQI in Zahedan. The analysis shows that 15.3 % of the days are unhealthy for sensitive people, while 2 % are considered as hazardous.

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“…The lake basins probably act as temporary sediment sinks during humid periods and then release sediment as the lakes dry out. At the present day, dry lake beds in the Sahara appear to be major sources of atmospheric mineral dust (Prospero et al 2002, Engelstaedter et al 2006) and in the case of the Bodélé Depression in Chad, which is the single largest source of atmospheric mineral dust on Earth (Washington et al 2003), wind erosion appears to have scoured out a deep basin (Washington et al 2006) providing a source of sand as well as dust.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dune ages in the sand deserts of the southern Sahara and Sahel

Bristow

Armitage

2016

Quaternary International

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In this paper we aim to document the history of aeolian processes within the southern Sahara as part of the INQUA Dune Atlas. We review available luminescence ages for sand dunes across the southern Sahara to develop an improved understanding of the dune chronology on a regional basis and attempt to correlate periods of sand accumulation. This was achieved by analysing dune age by country, as well as by latitude and longitude. The results show a very patchy spatial distribution of dune ages with large gaps that encompass some of the largest sand seas. Despite these gaps, some related patterns in dune morphology and stratigraphy appear to be consistent between northern Nigeria and southern Mali where older linear dunes are distinct from younger Late Holocene transverse and barchanoid dunes. Elsewhere in Mauretania linear dunes with different orientations appear to have accumulated at different times, most likely in response to changes in atmospheric circulation. Regional climatic changes are identified where dunes are transgressed by lake deposits within endorehic basins. We identify four locations where dune accumulation is terminated by lacustrine transgressions, two of which, in Lake Chad and the Bodélé Depression, occur shortly after the last glacial maximum (LGM). The third example at Gobiero in Niger occurred later, in the early Holocene, around 8.4 ka and a fourth marks a later transgression of Palaeolake MegaChad after 4.7 ka. Larger-scale latitudinal and longitudinal distributions in dune ages across the southern Sahara do not show any consistent patterns, though this may be due to the small sample size relative to the study area. In addition, local variations in external controls such as wind regime, rainfall, vegetation and sand supply need to be considered, sometimes on a site by site basis. Limiting the analysis to dune ages determined using the single-aliquot regenerative-dose (SAR) protocol indicates a lack of dune preservation during the LGM and the Younger Dryas, times associated with increased dust input to the oceans which is assumed to indicate increased aeolian activity. The SAR dune dates suggest that preservation of dunes at the onset of succeeding humid intervals is an important component of the dune record. The most striking examples of this phenomenon occur where dunes are preserved within endorehic basins by lacustrine transgressions.

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North African dust emissions and transport

Cited by 607 publications

References 142 publications

Desert dust impacts on human health: an alarming worldwide reality and a need for studies in West Africa

Desert dust impacts on human health: an alarming worldwide reality and a need for studies in West Africa

Temporal changes of particulate concentration in the ambient air over the city of Zahedan, Iran

Dune ages in the sand deserts of the southern Sahara and Sahel

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