Aerosol extinction in a remote continental region of the Iberian Peninsula during summer

Abstract

Summer in Évora (38°34′N, 7°54′W), Portugal, is described in terms of aerosol properties of extinction of the solar radiation. We create a data set composed of (1) cloud‐screened half‐day averaged values of aerosol optical thickness (AOT) measured at 7 wavelengths by both a CIMEL Sun/sky‐photometer and a YES shadowband radiometer and (2) half day averaged values of aerosol scattering coefficient (ASC) measured at the surface level at two wavelengths by a TSI nephelometer. Spectral dependence of both AOT and ASC gives the column and the surface Ångström exponents, αC and αS, respectively. Measurements are acquired in both 2002 and 2003 summers. Back trajectories are computed. A statistical study of the data set provides thresholds in AOT and αC for a classification of the days. The classification is applied with success to the case study of the 2003 summer heat wave episode and is generalized to the whole data set. In 23% of the cases, the turbidity in Évora is very low, with AOT441 < 0.12 and AOT873 < 0.04. The air mass origin is the North Atlantic Ocean at 700 and 970 hPa. In 31% of the cases, the turbidity is high. Increase of AOT is due to forest fire emissions, originating in the Iberian Peninsula, with 0.30 < AOT441 < 1.10 and αC > 1.2, and to desert dust plumes transported from North Africa within 72 to 120 hours at 700 hPa, with 0.10 < AOT873 < 1.10 and 0.1 < αC < 1.0. The vertical profile is highly variable, and several cases of aerosol mixing in the column are identified. The duration of the aerosol episode during the 2003 summer heat wave is 16 days, which is exceptionally long.