Aerosol Distributions and Transport over Southern Morocco from Ground-Based and Satellite Observations (2004–2020)
The present study investigates the optical properties of aerosols on daily and seasonal scales with the use of the aerosol optical depth (AOD) and Angström exponent (AE) data retrieved from AErosol RObotic NETwork (AERONET) and collected at four stations in Southern Morocco—Saada (31.63° N; 8.16° W)...
Published in: | Atmosphere |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , |
Format: | Text |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute
2022
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos13060923 |
id |
ftmdpi:oai:mdpi.com:/2073-4433/13/6/923/ |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftmdpi:oai:mdpi.com:/2073-4433/13/6/923/ 2023-08-20T03:59:12+02:00 Aerosol Distributions and Transport over Southern Morocco from Ground-Based and Satellite Observations (2004–2020) Tristan Millet Hassan Bencherif Aziza Bounhir Nelson Bègue Kévin Lamy Marion Ranaivombola Zouhair Benkhaldoun Thierry Portafaix Valentin Duflot agris 2022-06-06 application/pdf https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos13060923 EN eng Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute Aerosols https://dx.doi.org/10.3390/atmos13060923 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Atmosphere; Volume 13; Issue 6; Pages: 923 aerosol optical depth Angström exponent aerosol volumetric size distribution AERONET MODIS MERRA-2 CAMS HYSPLIT dust desert Morocco Text 2022 ftmdpi https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos13060923 2023-08-01T05:17:43Z The present study investigates the optical properties of aerosols on daily and seasonal scales with the use of the aerosol optical depth (AOD) and Angström exponent (AE) data retrieved from AErosol RObotic NETwork (AERONET) and collected at four stations in Southern Morocco—Saada (31.63° N; 8.16° W), Ouarzazate (30.93° N; 6.91° W), Oukaïmeden (31.21° N; 7.86° W) and Ras-El-Aïn (31.67° N; 7.60° W). An evaluation of the aerosol volumetric size distribution (AVSD) is also obtained for Saada and Ouarzazate. An AOD inter-comparison is performed between AERONET data and satellite sensors (MODerate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer—MODIS), as well as assimilation products (Modern-Era Retrospective analysis for Research and Applications, version 2 (MERRA-2) and Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS)), by the means of a linear regression. Regardless of site location and elevation, the results show the prevalence of the annual cycle of AOD, with a maximum in summer and a minimum in winter. In association with this seasonal variation, the variations in AE and AVSD showed an increase in coarse mode over Ouarzazate and Saada during summer (July to August), underlining that Southern Morocco is prone to the regular transport of desert dust on a seasonal basis. The inter-comparison reveals that the MERRA-2 dataset is slightly more appropriate for the study region, since it shows correlation coefficients (r) ranging from 0.758 to 0.844 and intercepts ranging from 0.021 to 0.070, depending on the study site. The statistical analysis of the back-trajectories simulated by the HYbrid Single Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory (HYSPLIT) model were consistent with the observations and confirmed the dominance of desert dust aerosols during the summer over the study region. On the other hand, the winter season reveals a predominance of anthropogenic and oceanic aerosols originating from the north and the west of the study site. Text Aerosol Robotic Network MDPI Open Access Publishing Merra ENVELOPE(12.615,12.615,65.816,65.816) Atmosphere 13 6 923 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
MDPI Open Access Publishing |
op_collection_id |
ftmdpi |
language |
English |
topic |
aerosol optical depth Angström exponent aerosol volumetric size distribution AERONET MODIS MERRA-2 CAMS HYSPLIT dust desert Morocco |
spellingShingle |
aerosol optical depth Angström exponent aerosol volumetric size distribution AERONET MODIS MERRA-2 CAMS HYSPLIT dust desert Morocco Tristan Millet Hassan Bencherif Aziza Bounhir Nelson Bègue Kévin Lamy Marion Ranaivombola Zouhair Benkhaldoun Thierry Portafaix Valentin Duflot Aerosol Distributions and Transport over Southern Morocco from Ground-Based and Satellite Observations (2004–2020) |
topic_facet |
aerosol optical depth Angström exponent aerosol volumetric size distribution AERONET MODIS MERRA-2 CAMS HYSPLIT dust desert Morocco |
description |
The present study investigates the optical properties of aerosols on daily and seasonal scales with the use of the aerosol optical depth (AOD) and Angström exponent (AE) data retrieved from AErosol RObotic NETwork (AERONET) and collected at four stations in Southern Morocco—Saada (31.63° N; 8.16° W), Ouarzazate (30.93° N; 6.91° W), Oukaïmeden (31.21° N; 7.86° W) and Ras-El-Aïn (31.67° N; 7.60° W). An evaluation of the aerosol volumetric size distribution (AVSD) is also obtained for Saada and Ouarzazate. An AOD inter-comparison is performed between AERONET data and satellite sensors (MODerate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer—MODIS), as well as assimilation products (Modern-Era Retrospective analysis for Research and Applications, version 2 (MERRA-2) and Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS)), by the means of a linear regression. Regardless of site location and elevation, the results show the prevalence of the annual cycle of AOD, with a maximum in summer and a minimum in winter. In association with this seasonal variation, the variations in AE and AVSD showed an increase in coarse mode over Ouarzazate and Saada during summer (July to August), underlining that Southern Morocco is prone to the regular transport of desert dust on a seasonal basis. The inter-comparison reveals that the MERRA-2 dataset is slightly more appropriate for the study region, since it shows correlation coefficients (r) ranging from 0.758 to 0.844 and intercepts ranging from 0.021 to 0.070, depending on the study site. The statistical analysis of the back-trajectories simulated by the HYbrid Single Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory (HYSPLIT) model were consistent with the observations and confirmed the dominance of desert dust aerosols during the summer over the study region. On the other hand, the winter season reveals a predominance of anthropogenic and oceanic aerosols originating from the north and the west of the study site. |
format |
Text |
author |
Tristan Millet Hassan Bencherif Aziza Bounhir Nelson Bègue Kévin Lamy Marion Ranaivombola Zouhair Benkhaldoun Thierry Portafaix Valentin Duflot |
author_facet |
Tristan Millet Hassan Bencherif Aziza Bounhir Nelson Bègue Kévin Lamy Marion Ranaivombola Zouhair Benkhaldoun Thierry Portafaix Valentin Duflot |
author_sort |
Tristan Millet |
title |
Aerosol Distributions and Transport over Southern Morocco from Ground-Based and Satellite Observations (2004–2020) |
title_short |
Aerosol Distributions and Transport over Southern Morocco from Ground-Based and Satellite Observations (2004–2020) |
title_full |
Aerosol Distributions and Transport over Southern Morocco from Ground-Based and Satellite Observations (2004–2020) |
title_fullStr |
Aerosol Distributions and Transport over Southern Morocco from Ground-Based and Satellite Observations (2004–2020) |
title_full_unstemmed |
Aerosol Distributions and Transport over Southern Morocco from Ground-Based and Satellite Observations (2004–2020) |
title_sort |
aerosol distributions and transport over southern morocco from ground-based and satellite observations (2004–2020) |
publisher |
Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos13060923 |
op_coverage |
agris |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(12.615,12.615,65.816,65.816) |
geographic |
Merra |
geographic_facet |
Merra |
genre |
Aerosol Robotic Network |
genre_facet |
Aerosol Robotic Network |
op_source |
Atmosphere; Volume 13; Issue 6; Pages: 923 |
op_relation |
Aerosols https://dx.doi.org/10.3390/atmos13060923 |
op_rights |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos13060923 |
container_title |
Atmosphere |
container_volume |
13 |
container_issue |
6 |
container_start_page |
923 |
_version_ |
1774721622216802304 |