Wet and dry African dust episodes over eastern Spain

Escudero, Miguel; Castillo, Sonia; Querol, Xavier; Àvila, Anna; Alarcón, Marta; Viana, Mar; Alastuey, Andrés; Cuevas, E.; Rodrı́guez, Sergio

doi:10.1029/2004jd004731

Cited by 231 publications

(222 citation statements)

References 58 publications

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“…Backward trajectories analyses suggest three clusters over Saharan desert, which are the main contributors to dust intrusions over Barcelona and Granada, similarly to the scenarios described by Escudero et al (2005) and Valenzuela et al (2012). Our clustering analysis reveals a pathway from south to north, mainly in emission areas in Morocco and west of Algeria (cluster A), a pathway from west via an Atlantic arch with emission areas over West Sahara, Mauritania, south of Algeria and north of Mali (cluster B) and a pathway from east across the Mediterranean sea with emission areas over the remaining part of Algeria and Tunisia (cluster C).…”

Section: Dust Intrusion Scenarios Over Barcelona and Granada Sites; Omentioning

confidence: 72%

Origin and pathways of the mineral dust transport to two Spanish EARLINET sites: Effect on the observed columnar and range-resolved dust optical properties

Mandija

Sicard

Comerón

et al. 2017

Atmospheric Research

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In this paper, is presented a method for estimation of the effect of the transport process to aerosol optical properties. Aerosol optical data retrieved by lidars and sun-photometer measurements, are applied to Saharan dust events observed simultaneously at the two EARLINET/AERONET sites of Barcelona and Granada during the periods of June-September of 2012 and 2013. For this purpose, elastic lidar profiles and sun-photometer columnar retrievals are analyzed together with satellite observations and dust forecast models. Granada presents more than twice Saharan dust outbreaks compared to Barcelona. The scenarios favoring the Saharan dust outbreaks are identified in both places. The mineral dust originating in the Sahara region and arriving at both stations is usually transport wither over the Atlas Mountains or through an Atlantic pathway. Analyses of dust events affecting both stations reveal how differences in the transport process lead to differences in the aerosol optical properties measured at each station. Mean dustrelated Ångström exponent is 1.8 times higher in Barcelona than in Granada. This difference is a result of the additional contribution of anthropogenic aerosol, mainly in the aerosol fine mode, during the transport of the mineral dust plume over the Iberian Peninsula.© <2017>. This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ DOI Highlights  Coincidence Saharan dust events over the Granada and Barcelona stations are studied.  Column integrated and the vertical resolved from AERONET and EARLINET are used.  Cluster analysis of Hysplit trajectories was involved in this study.  Key scenarios of Saharan dust intrusions over Iberian Peninsula are identified.  Variations of the optical properties, during the transport process are determined. *Highlights (for review)Origin and pathways of the mineral dust transport to two Spanish EARLINET sites: effect on the observed columnar and range-resolved dust optical properties

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Section: Dust Intrusion Scenarios Over Barcelona and Granada Sites; Omentioning

confidence: 72%

Origin and pathways of the mineral dust transport to two Spanish EARLINET sites: Effect on the observed columnar and range-resolved dust optical properties

Mandija

Sicard

Comerón

et al. 2017

Atmospheric Research

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“…These studies showed that over the eastern Mediterranean, most of the African dust affecting ground-based measurements was transported at surface levels. However, the transport of Sahara dust towards the western Mediterranean mostly occurs at relatively high atmospheric levels (Escudero et al 2005).…”

Section: Origin and Transport Of Saharan Dust Eventsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ambient Particulate Matter Concentration Levels and their Origin During Dust Event Episodes in the Eastern Mediterranean

et al. 2018

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The eastern Mediterranean region is strongly influenced by long-range transported particulate matter such as desert dust from northern Africa. To investigate the dynamics of Saharan dust events and their origin, satellite images from the MODIS spectroradiometer of NASA's satellites Terra and Aqua, and back trajectories analysis of the HYSPLIT model were combined together with continuous ground-based field data. Field PM 10 and PM 2.5 measurements were performed in the period 2003-2013 at the Akrotiri monitoring station on the island of Crete (Greece). Furthermore, the mineralogical composition of a small number of samples was determined by X-ray powder diffraction, whereas elemental particle composition analysis was performed on the dust samples collected using the ICP-MS technique for a series of elements. The annual average percentage of days with Sahara dust outbreaks in the region of western Crete (Akrotiri station) was 9.3% for the period 2003-2013. Excluding the PM 10 exceedances caused by Sahara dust events, the average PM 10 monthly concentrations are decreased by 20.5% during the 8-month period November-June, with higher PM 10 concentration reduction (29.9%) in the period February-April. Mineralogical analysis showed that illite was the most abundant mineral identified in all samples, followed by quartz and calcite. Gypsum was detected only in the dry sample. Moreover, the elemental particle composition analysis showed that collected dust originated from Africa deserts.

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“…This methodology, which was further developed and used by e.g. Escudero et al (2005) and Querol et al (2009), has been recently included in the guidelines for demonstration and subtraction of exceedances attributable to natural sources under the Directive 2008/50/EC on ambient air quality and cleaner air for Europe (EC, 2011). In particular, the PM 10 time series of concentrations at the AMA network stations were examined, high PM 10 levels (peaks) at each station were highlighted and a list of coincident peaks was created.…”

Section: Identification Of Desert Dust Intrusion Events Coinciding Wimentioning

confidence: 99%

Identification of the Influence of African Dust on PM10 Concentrations at the Athens Air Quality Monitoring Network during the Period 2001-2010

Aleksandropoulou

Lazaridis

2013

Aerosol Air Qual. Res.

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The objective of this work was to identify Sahara dust intrusions and quantify their contribution to annual and daily PM 10 concentrations over the Athens Metropolitan Area (AMA) during the period 2001-2010. Additionally, extreme PM 10 values attributed to large forest fires and volcanic emissions or the synergy of the above with African dust intrusions have been identified. It was found that the concentrations of PM 10 during the period studied exceeded the European Union's Air Quality Standard (EU AQS) value at most of the traffic urban (TU) stations. Most of the extreme values were attributed to dust events or large forest fires. The contribution from African dust to PM 10 concentrations on days with events and exceedances of the EU AQS was approximately 50% at TU stations and 72% at the background suburban stations (BS). Most of the African dust events contributed about 5 μg/m 3 to 34 μg/m 3 to the daily PM 10 concentrations, whereas the average contribution to annual PM 10 concentrations was approximately 8.6 ± 1.8 μg/m 3 i.e., 22.2 ± 7.5%. During the decade, no clear interannual relationship was observed between the African dust contribution and the frequency and intensity of events. The more frequent and severe episodes occurred during spring, while less frequent and less severe episodes occurred during summer. After the extraction of the African dust load the annual and daily AQS was exceeded in 2010 at only one TU station. The average annual contribution of African dust to the exceedances was approximately 36% at TU stations and 58% at BS stations.

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Wet and dry African dust episodes over eastern Spain

Cited by 231 publications

References 58 publications

Origin and pathways of the mineral dust transport to two Spanish EARLINET sites: Effect on the observed columnar and range-resolved dust optical properties

Origin and pathways of the mineral dust transport to two Spanish EARLINET sites: Effect on the observed columnar and range-resolved dust optical properties

Ambient Particulate Matter Concentration Levels and their Origin During Dust Event Episodes in the Eastern Mediterranean

Identification of the Influence of African Dust on PM10 Concentrations at the Athens Air Quality Monitoring Network during the Period 2001-2010

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