Stratospheric impacts on dust transport and air pollution in West Africa and the Eastern Mediterranean
Saharan dust intrusions strongly impact Atlantic and Mediterranean coastal regions. Today, most operational dust forecasts extend only 2–5 days. Here we show that on timescales of weeks to months, North African dust emission and transport are impacted by sudden stratospheric warmings (SSWs), which e...
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ftethz:oai:www.research-collection.ethz.ch:20.500.11850/589183 2023-09-26T15:21:00+02:00 Stratospheric impacts on dust transport and air pollution in West Africa and the Eastern Mediterranean Dai, Ying Hitchcock, Peter Mahowald, Natalie M. Domeisen, Daniela id_orcid:0 000-0002-1463-929X Hamilton, Douglas S. Li, Longlei Marticorena, Beatrice Kanakidou, Maria Mihalopoulos, Nikolaos Aboagye-Okyere, Adwoa 2022-12-14 application/application/pdf https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11850/589183 https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000589183 en eng Nature info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1038/s41467-022-35403-1 info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/wos/001044229500001 info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/SNF/SNF-Förderungsprofessuren Stufe 2/170523 info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/SNF/SNF-Förderungsprofessuren: Fortsetzungsgesuche/198896 http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11850/589183 doi:10.3929/ethz-b-000589183 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Nature Communications, 13 (1) info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion 2022 ftethz https://doi.org/20.500.11850/58918310.3929/ethz-b-00058918310.1038/s41467-022-35403-1 2023-08-27T23:48:57Z Saharan dust intrusions strongly impact Atlantic and Mediterranean coastal regions. Today, most operational dust forecasts extend only 2–5 days. Here we show that on timescales of weeks to months, North African dust emission and transport are impacted by sudden stratospheric warmings (SSWs), which establish a negative North Atlantic Oscillation-like surface signal. Chemical transport models show a large-scale dipolar dust response to SSWs, with the burden in the Eastern Mediterranean enhanced up to 30% and a corresponding reduction in West Africa. Observations of inhalable particulate (PM10) concentrations and aerosol optical depth confirm this dipole. On average, a single SSW causes 680–2460 additional premature deaths in the Eastern Mediterranean and prevents 1180–2040 premature deaths in West Africa from exposure to dust-source fine particulate (PM2.5). Currently, SSWs are predictable 1–2 weeks in advance. Altogether, the stratosphere represents an important source of subseasonal predictability for air quality over West Africa and the Eastern Mediterranean. ISSN:2041-1723 Article in Journal/Newspaper North Atlantic North Atlantic oscillation ETH Zürich Research Collection |
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Open Polar |
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ETH Zürich Research Collection |
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language |
English |
description |
Saharan dust intrusions strongly impact Atlantic and Mediterranean coastal regions. Today, most operational dust forecasts extend only 2–5 days. Here we show that on timescales of weeks to months, North African dust emission and transport are impacted by sudden stratospheric warmings (SSWs), which establish a negative North Atlantic Oscillation-like surface signal. Chemical transport models show a large-scale dipolar dust response to SSWs, with the burden in the Eastern Mediterranean enhanced up to 30% and a corresponding reduction in West Africa. Observations of inhalable particulate (PM10) concentrations and aerosol optical depth confirm this dipole. On average, a single SSW causes 680–2460 additional premature deaths in the Eastern Mediterranean and prevents 1180–2040 premature deaths in West Africa from exposure to dust-source fine particulate (PM2.5). Currently, SSWs are predictable 1–2 weeks in advance. Altogether, the stratosphere represents an important source of subseasonal predictability for air quality over West Africa and the Eastern Mediterranean. ISSN:2041-1723 |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Dai, Ying Hitchcock, Peter Mahowald, Natalie M. Domeisen, Daniela id_orcid:0 000-0002-1463-929X Hamilton, Douglas S. Li, Longlei Marticorena, Beatrice Kanakidou, Maria Mihalopoulos, Nikolaos Aboagye-Okyere, Adwoa |
spellingShingle |
Dai, Ying Hitchcock, Peter Mahowald, Natalie M. Domeisen, Daniela id_orcid:0 000-0002-1463-929X Hamilton, Douglas S. Li, Longlei Marticorena, Beatrice Kanakidou, Maria Mihalopoulos, Nikolaos Aboagye-Okyere, Adwoa Stratospheric impacts on dust transport and air pollution in West Africa and the Eastern Mediterranean |
author_facet |
Dai, Ying Hitchcock, Peter Mahowald, Natalie M. Domeisen, Daniela id_orcid:0 000-0002-1463-929X Hamilton, Douglas S. Li, Longlei Marticorena, Beatrice Kanakidou, Maria Mihalopoulos, Nikolaos Aboagye-Okyere, Adwoa |
author_sort |
Dai, Ying |
title |
Stratospheric impacts on dust transport and air pollution in West Africa and the Eastern Mediterranean |
title_short |
Stratospheric impacts on dust transport and air pollution in West Africa and the Eastern Mediterranean |
title_full |
Stratospheric impacts on dust transport and air pollution in West Africa and the Eastern Mediterranean |
title_fullStr |
Stratospheric impacts on dust transport and air pollution in West Africa and the Eastern Mediterranean |
title_full_unstemmed |
Stratospheric impacts on dust transport and air pollution in West Africa and the Eastern Mediterranean |
title_sort |
stratospheric impacts on dust transport and air pollution in west africa and the eastern mediterranean |
publisher |
Nature |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11850/589183 https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000589183 |
genre |
North Atlantic North Atlantic oscillation |
genre_facet |
North Atlantic North Atlantic oscillation |
op_source |
Nature Communications, 13 (1) |
op_relation |
info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1038/s41467-022-35403-1 info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/wos/001044229500001 info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/SNF/SNF-Förderungsprofessuren Stufe 2/170523 info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/SNF/SNF-Förderungsprofessuren: Fortsetzungsgesuche/198896 http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11850/589183 doi:10.3929/ethz-b-000589183 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/20.500.11850/58918310.3929/ethz-b-00058918310.1038/s41467-022-35403-1 |
_version_ |
1778145362093015040 |