Case Study of the Saharan Dust Effects on PM10 and PM2.5 Concentrations in Budapest in March 2022

Abstract

The Earth's climatic system is greatly dependent on atmospheric mineral dust. Dust particles are regarded as one of the less well-known contributors to recent climatic changes, much like other aerosol constituents. Fifty to seventy percent of the world's budget for mineral dust comes from the Sahara Desert areas. These sources can produce dust-loaded air masses that can travel great distances and affect many parts of the world including Europe, the Middle East, North and South America. In March 2022 Europe faced two Saharan Dust storms (14-19 and 28-31), that affected many countries including Hungary. We used registered measurements of PM10 and PM2.5 concentrations from urban background air quality station in Budapest and MONARCH model to assess the effects of the two Saharan Dust storms on Budapest. As measured by daily average concentrations, PM10 and PM2.5 concentrations rose by 12 µg/m3 and 10 µg/m3 respectively during the first Saharan Dust event (SDE1), and by 14 µg/m3 and 5 µg/m3 during the Second Saharan Dust event (SDE2). While the effects of both SDEs on PM10 were nearly identical, SDE1 had a greater impact on PM2.5 concentrations than SDE2. Moreover, the dust load arriving to Budapest as estimated by the MONARCH model was higher in the SDE1 (1.26 g/m3), and that was associated with high values of dust surface concentration and Dust optical depth (243.1 µg/m3 and 0.71).