Inventory of African desert dust events in the north-central Iberian Peninsula in 2003–2014 based on sun-photometer–AERONET and particulate-mass–EMEP data
A reliable identification of desert dust (DD) episodes over north-central Spain is carried out based on the AErosol RObotic NETwork (AERONET) columnar aerosol sun photometer (aerosol optical depth, AOD, and Ångström exponent, α) and European Monitoring and Evaluation Programme (EMEP) surface particu...
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2016
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article Verlagsveröffentlichung Cachorro, Victoria E. Burgos, Maria A. Mateos, David Toledano, Carlos Bennouna, Yasmine Torres, Benjamín de Frutos, Ángel M. Herguedas, Álvaro Inventory of African desert dust events in the north-central Iberian Peninsula in 2003–2014 based on sun-photometer–AERONET and particulate-mass–EMEP data |
topic_facet |
article Verlagsveröffentlichung |
description |
A reliable identification of desert dust (DD) episodes over north-central Spain is carried out based on the AErosol RObotic NETwork (AERONET) columnar aerosol sun photometer (aerosol optical depth, AOD, and Ångström exponent, α) and European Monitoring and Evaluation Programme (EMEP) surface particulate-mass concentration (PMx, x = 10, 2.5, and 2.5–10 µm) as the main core data. The impact of DD on background aerosol conditions is detectable by means of aerosol load thresholds and complementary information provided by HYSPLIT (Hybrid Single Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory Model) air mass back trajectories, MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) images, forecast aerosol models, and synoptic maps, which have been carefully reviewed by a human observer for each day included in the DD inventory. This identification method allows the detection of low and moderate DD intrusions and also of mixtures of mineral dust with other aerosol types by means of the analysis of α. During the period studied (2003–2014), a total of 152 DD episodes composed of 418 days are identified. Overall, this means ∼ 13 episodes and ∼ 35 days per year with DD intrusion, representing 9.5 % days year−1. During the identified DD intrusions, 19 daily exceedances over 50 µg m−3 are reported at the surface. The occurrence of DD event days during the year peaks in March and June, with a marked minimum in April and lowest occurrence in winter. A large interannual variability is observed showing a statistically significant temporal decreasing trend of ∼ 3 days year−1. The DD impact on the aerosol climatology is addressed by evaluating the DD contribution in magnitude and percent (in brackets) for AOD, PM10, PM2.5, and PM2.5 − 10, obtaining mean values of 0.015 (11.5 %), 1.3 µg m−3 (11.8 %), 0.55 µg m−3 (8.5 %) and 0.79 µg m−3 (16.1 %), respectively. Annual cycles of the DD contribution for AOD and PM10 present two maxima – one in summer (0.03 and 2.4 µg m−3 for AOD in June and PM10 in August) and another in March (0.02 for AOD and 2.2 µg m−3 for PM10) – both displaying a similar evolution with exceptions in July and September. The seasonal cycle of the DD contribution to AOD does not follow the pattern of the total AOD (close to a bell shape), whereas both PM10 cycles (total and DD contribution) are more similar to each other in shape, with an exception in September. The interannual evolution of the DD contribution to AOD and PM10 has evidenced a progressive decrease. This decline in the levels of mineral dust aerosols can explain up to 30 % of the total aerosol load decrease observed in the study area during the period 2003–2014. The relationship between columnar and surface DD contribution shows a correlation coefficient of 0.81 for the interannual averages. Finally, synoptic conditions during DD events are also analysed, observing that the north African thermal low causes most of the events ( ∼ 53 %). The results presented in this study highlight the relevance of the area studied since it can be considered representative of the clean background in the western Mediterranean Basin where DD events have a high impact on aerosol load levels. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Cachorro, Victoria E. Burgos, Maria A. Mateos, David Toledano, Carlos Bennouna, Yasmine Torres, Benjamín de Frutos, Ángel M. Herguedas, Álvaro |
author_facet |
Cachorro, Victoria E. Burgos, Maria A. Mateos, David Toledano, Carlos Bennouna, Yasmine Torres, Benjamín de Frutos, Ángel M. Herguedas, Álvaro |
author_sort |
Cachorro, Victoria E. |
title |
Inventory of African desert dust events in the north-central Iberian Peninsula in 2003–2014 based on sun-photometer–AERONET and particulate-mass–EMEP data |
title_short |
Inventory of African desert dust events in the north-central Iberian Peninsula in 2003–2014 based on sun-photometer–AERONET and particulate-mass–EMEP data |
title_full |
Inventory of African desert dust events in the north-central Iberian Peninsula in 2003–2014 based on sun-photometer–AERONET and particulate-mass–EMEP data |
title_fullStr |
Inventory of African desert dust events in the north-central Iberian Peninsula in 2003–2014 based on sun-photometer–AERONET and particulate-mass–EMEP data |
title_full_unstemmed |
Inventory of African desert dust events in the north-central Iberian Peninsula in 2003–2014 based on sun-photometer–AERONET and particulate-mass–EMEP data |
title_sort |
inventory of african desert dust events in the north-central iberian peninsula in 2003–2014 based on sun-photometer–aeronet and particulate-mass–emep data |
publisher |
Copernicus Publications |
publishDate |
2016 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-8227-2016 https://noa.gwlb.de/receive/cop_mods_00043480 https://noa.gwlb.de/servlets/MCRFileNodeServlet/cop_derivate_00043100/acp-16-8227-2016.pdf https://acp.copernicus.org/articles/16/8227/2016/acp-16-8227-2016.pdf |
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Aerosol Robotic Network |
genre_facet |
Aerosol Robotic Network |
op_relation |
Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics -- http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/volumes_and_issues.html -- http://www.bibliothek.uni-regensburg.de/ezeit/?2069847 -- 1680-7324 https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-8227-2016 https://noa.gwlb.de/receive/cop_mods_00043480 https://noa.gwlb.de/servlets/MCRFileNodeServlet/cop_derivate_00043100/acp-16-8227-2016.pdf https://acp.copernicus.org/articles/16/8227/2016/acp-16-8227-2016.pdf |
op_rights |
uneingeschränkt info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-8227-2016 |
container_title |
Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics |
container_volume |
16 |
container_issue |
13 |
container_start_page |
8227 |
op_container_end_page |
8248 |
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1766046205564944384 |
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ftnonlinearchiv:oai:noa.gwlb.de:cop_mods_00043480 2023-05-15T13:07:18+02:00 Inventory of African desert dust events in the north-central Iberian Peninsula in 2003–2014 based on sun-photometer–AERONET and particulate-mass–EMEP data Cachorro, Victoria E. Burgos, Maria A. Mateos, David Toledano, Carlos Bennouna, Yasmine Torres, Benjamín de Frutos, Ángel M. Herguedas, Álvaro 2016-07 electronic https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-8227-2016 https://noa.gwlb.de/receive/cop_mods_00043480 https://noa.gwlb.de/servlets/MCRFileNodeServlet/cop_derivate_00043100/acp-16-8227-2016.pdf https://acp.copernicus.org/articles/16/8227/2016/acp-16-8227-2016.pdf eng eng Copernicus Publications Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics -- http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/volumes_and_issues.html -- http://www.bibliothek.uni-regensburg.de/ezeit/?2069847 -- 1680-7324 https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-8227-2016 https://noa.gwlb.de/receive/cop_mods_00043480 https://noa.gwlb.de/servlets/MCRFileNodeServlet/cop_derivate_00043100/acp-16-8227-2016.pdf https://acp.copernicus.org/articles/16/8227/2016/acp-16-8227-2016.pdf uneingeschränkt info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess article Verlagsveröffentlichung article Text doc-type:article 2016 ftnonlinearchiv https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-8227-2016 2022-02-08T22:40:33Z A reliable identification of desert dust (DD) episodes over north-central Spain is carried out based on the AErosol RObotic NETwork (AERONET) columnar aerosol sun photometer (aerosol optical depth, AOD, and Ångström exponent, α) and European Monitoring and Evaluation Programme (EMEP) surface particulate-mass concentration (PMx, x = 10, 2.5, and 2.5–10 µm) as the main core data. The impact of DD on background aerosol conditions is detectable by means of aerosol load thresholds and complementary information provided by HYSPLIT (Hybrid Single Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory Model) air mass back trajectories, MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) images, forecast aerosol models, and synoptic maps, which have been carefully reviewed by a human observer for each day included in the DD inventory. This identification method allows the detection of low and moderate DD intrusions and also of mixtures of mineral dust with other aerosol types by means of the analysis of α. During the period studied (2003–2014), a total of 152 DD episodes composed of 418 days are identified. Overall, this means ∼ 13 episodes and ∼ 35 days per year with DD intrusion, representing 9.5 % days year−1. During the identified DD intrusions, 19 daily exceedances over 50 µg m−3 are reported at the surface. The occurrence of DD event days during the year peaks in March and June, with a marked minimum in April and lowest occurrence in winter. A large interannual variability is observed showing a statistically significant temporal decreasing trend of ∼ 3 days year−1. The DD impact on the aerosol climatology is addressed by evaluating the DD contribution in magnitude and percent (in brackets) for AOD, PM10, PM2.5, and PM2.5 − 10, obtaining mean values of 0.015 (11.5 %), 1.3 µg m−3 (11.8 %), 0.55 µg m−3 (8.5 %) and 0.79 µg m−3 (16.1 %), respectively. Annual cycles of the DD contribution for AOD and PM10 present two maxima – one in summer (0.03 and 2.4 µg m−3 for AOD in June and PM10 in August) and another in March (0.02 for AOD and 2.2 µg m−3 for PM10) – both displaying a similar evolution with exceptions in July and September. The seasonal cycle of the DD contribution to AOD does not follow the pattern of the total AOD (close to a bell shape), whereas both PM10 cycles (total and DD contribution) are more similar to each other in shape, with an exception in September. The interannual evolution of the DD contribution to AOD and PM10 has evidenced a progressive decrease. This decline in the levels of mineral dust aerosols can explain up to 30 % of the total aerosol load decrease observed in the study area during the period 2003–2014. The relationship between columnar and surface DD contribution shows a correlation coefficient of 0.81 for the interannual averages. Finally, synoptic conditions during DD events are also analysed, observing that the north African thermal low causes most of the events ( ∼ 53 %). The results presented in this study highlight the relevance of the area studied since it can be considered representative of the clean background in the western Mediterranean Basin where DD events have a high impact on aerosol load levels. Article in Journal/Newspaper Aerosol Robotic Network Niedersächsisches Online-Archiv NOA Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics 16 13 8227 8248 |