Abstract
The Sahara and Sahel regions of Africa are important sources of dust particles into the atmosphere. Dust particles from these regions are transported over the Atlantic Ocean to the Eastern American Coasts. This transportation shows temporal and spatial variability and often reaches its peak during the boreal summer (June-July-August). The regional climate model (RegCM 4.0), containing a module of dust emission, transport, and deposition processes, is used in this study. Saharan and Sahelian dusts emissions, transports, and climatic impact on precipitations during the spring (March-April-May) and summer (June-July-August) were studied using this model. The results showed that the simulation were coherent with observations made by the MISR satellite and the AERONET ground stations, within the domain of Africa (Banizoumba, Cinzana, and M’Bour) and Ragged-point (Barbados Islands). The transport of dust particles was predominantly from North-East to South-West over the studied period (2005–2010). The seasonality of dust plumes’ trajectories was influenced by the altitudes reached by dusts in the troposphere. The impact of dusts on climate consisted of a cooling effect both during the boreal summer and spring over West Africa (except Southern-Guinea and Northern-Liberia), Central Africa, South-America, and Caribbean where increased precipitations were observed.
Highlights
Numerous studies have been focused on Sahelian climate variability contrary to the tropical humid African areas for which reliable data do not exist
The trajectory of dust plumes were analyzed for the months March, April, and May 2010 using the same model and other observations
The analysis revealed a seasonality of trajectories associated with the seasonality of altitudes reached by dusts plumes
Summary
Numerous studies have been focused on Sahelian climate variability contrary to the tropical humid African areas for which reliable data do not exist. Servat et al [1] showed that the tropical humid belt has been affected by series of climatic episodes in comparison with those observed in the Sahelian zone This region has been subjected to significant environmental changes due to the increase of populations and strong exploitation of natural resources such as deforestation [2]. Satellite observations and direct measurements have shown that the dust plume transportation over the Arabic Peninsula, NearEast, and Middle East, is essentially responsible for the dust plume coming from Eastern Sahara (Libya, Egypt, and Sudan) [19]. This transportation is significant during three periods in the year [17], namely, the spring (March to May), the summer (July to August), and autumn (September to November)
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