Radiative properties of aerosols in Saharan dust outbreaks using ground‐based and satellite data: Applications to radiative forcing

Dı́az, J. P.; Expósito, Francisco J.; Garcı́a, Carlos; Herrera, F.; Prospero, Joseph M.; Romero, María Cristina

doi:10.1029/2001jd900020

Cited by 51 publications

(42 citation statements)

References 51 publications

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“…Pinatubo eruption in June 1991. The continuation of the mid-latitude anomaly into 1994 is likely also a result of documented large Saharan dust outbreaks during that year (Díaz et al, 2001). We further note that smaller positive and negative mid-latitude albedo anomalies between 1982-1990 appear to correlate with measurements of tradewind aerosols at Barbados, directly downstream of the Saharan dust plume (Prospero and Lamb, 2003), although retrieval variance over, e.g.…”

Section: Atmosmentioning

confidence: 76%

CLARA-SAL: a global 28 yr timeseries of Earth's black-sky surface albedo

et al. 2013

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We present a novel 28 yr dataset of Earth's black-sky surface albedo, derived from AVHRR instruments. The dataset is created using algorithms to separately derive the surface albedo for different land use areas globally. Snow, sea ice, open water and vegetation are all treated independently. The product features corrections for the atmospheric effect in satellite-observed surface radiances, a BRDF correction for the anisotropic reflectance properties of natural surfaces, and a novel topography correction of geolocation and radiometric accuracy of surface reflectance observations over mountainous areas. The dataset is based on a homogenized AVHRR radiance timeseries. The product is validated against quality-controlled in situ observations of clear-sky surface albedo at various BSRN sites around the world. Snow and ice albedo retrieval validation is given particular attention using BSRN sites over Antarctica, Greenland Climate Network stations on the Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS), as well as sea ice albedo data from the SHEBA and Tara expeditions. The product quality is found to be comparable to other previous long-term surface albedo datasets from AVHRR

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Section: Atmosmentioning

confidence: 76%

CLARA-SAL: a global 28 yr timeseries of Earth's black-sky surface albedo

et al. 2013

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“…Outbreaks of desert dust plumes, similar to those observed over the Iberian Peninsula, have been analysed over the Mediterranean Sea (Prospero, 1996;Guerzoni et al, 1997;Moulin et al, 1997a), The Canary Islands (Bergametti et al, 1989;Smirnov et al, 1998;Díaz et al, 2001) and the Atlantic Ocean (Prospero, 1999;Moulin et al, 1997b). has also analyzed a strong outbreak which occurred between the end of January and the beginning of February 2000 over the western sub-Sahel, which has many similarities with our first case study presented in this paper.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 74%

Study of desert dust events over the southwestern Iberian Peninsula in year 2000: two case studies

et al. 2006

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Abstract. Strong desert dust events occurring in 2000 over the southwestern Atlantic coast of the Iberian Peninsula are detected and evaluated by means of the TOMS Aerosol Index (A.I.) at three different sites, Funchal (Madeira Island, Portugal), Lisboa (Portugal) and El Arenosillo (Huelva, Spain). At the El Arenosillo station, measurements from an AERONET Cimel sunphotometer allow a more precise retrieval of the spectral AOD and the derived alphaÅngström coefficient. After using different threshold values of these parameters, we conclude that it is difficult to establish reliable and robust criteria for an automatic estimation of the number of dust episodes and the total number of dusty days per year. As a result, additional information, such as airmass trajectories, were used to improve the estimation, from which reasonable results were obtained (although some manual editting was still needed). A detailed characterization of two selected desert dust episodes, a strong event in winter and another of less intensity in summer, was carried out using AOD derived from Brewer spectrometer measurements. Size distribution parameters and radiative properties, such as arefractive index and the aerosol single scattering albedo derived from Cimel data, were analyzed in detail for one of these two case studies. Although specific to this dust episode, the retrieved range of values of these parameters clearly reflect the characteristics of desert aerosols. Back-trajectory analysis, synoptic weather maps and satellite images were also considered together, as supporting data to assess the aerosol desert characterization in this region of study.

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“…2.2.4 in terms of spatial and quantitative characteristics. The dust AOD was found to be similar to the total AOD (dust AOD/total AOD > 0.9 in the area), something that was depicted in the temporal (not shown) and spatial extent of the dust plume, demonstrating the effectiveness of the CAMS and the fact that, during dust outbreaks, the concentration of dust is tens of times greater than other aerosol species (Diaz et al, 2001). Figure 10 presents the RTM simulations using the CAMS AOD, as well as a direct comparison between the MODIS derived and simulated results with the CAMS 1-day forecasts.…”

Section: Rtm Simulationsmentioning

confidence: 83%

Dust impact on surface solar irradiance assessed with model simulations, satellite observations and ground-based measurements

et al. 2017

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Abstract. This study assesses the impact of dust on surface solar radiation focussing on an extreme dust event. For this purpose, we exploited the synergy of AERONET measurements and passive and active satellite remote sensing (MODIS and CALIPSO) observations, in conjunction with radiative transfer model (RTM) and chemical transport model (CTM) simulations and the 1-day forecasts from the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS). The area of interest is the eastern Mediterranean where anomalously high aerosol loads were recorded between 30 January and 3 February 2015. The intensity of the event was extremely high, with aerosol optical depth (AOD) reaching 3.5, and optical/microphysical properties suggesting aged dust. RTM and CTM simulations were able to quantify the extent of dust impact on surface irradiances and reveal substantial reduction in solar energy exploitation capacity of PV and CSP installations under this high aerosol load. We found that such an extreme dust event can result in Global Horizontal Irradiance (GHI) attenuation by as much as 40-50 % and a much stronger Direct Normal Irradiance (DNI) decrease (80-90 %), while spectrally this attenuation is distributed to 37 % in the UV region, 33 % in the visible and around 30 % in the infrared. CAMS forecasts provided a reliable available energy assessment (accuracy within 10 % of that obtained from MODIS). Spatially, the dust plume resulted in a zonally averaged reduction of GHI and DNI of the order of 150 W m −2 in southern Greece, and a mean increase of 20 W m −2 in the northern Greece as a result of lower AOD values combined with local atmospheric processes. This analysis of a real-world scenario contributes to the understanding and quantification of the impact range of high aerosol loads on solar energy and the potential for forecasting power generation failures at sunshine-privileged locations where solar power plants exist, are under construction or are being planned.

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Radiative properties of aerosols in Saharan dust outbreaks using ground‐based and satellite data: Applications to radiative forcing

Cited by 51 publications

References 51 publications

CLARA-SAL: a global 28 yr timeseries of Earth's black-sky surface albedo

CLARA-SAL: a global 28 yr timeseries of Earth's black-sky surface albedo

Study of desert dust events over the southwestern Iberian Peninsula in year 2000: two case studies

Dust impact on surface solar irradiance assessed with model simulations, satellite observations and ground-based measurements

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