Saharan dust and giant quartz particle transport towards Iceland

György Varga,Pavla Dagsson-Waldhauserová,Agusta Helgadottir,Fruzsina Gresina

doi:10.1038/s41598-021-91481-z

Abstract

Mineral dust emissions from Saharan sources have an impact on the atmospheric environment and sedimentary units in distant regions. Here, we present the first systematic observations of long-range Saharan dust transport towards Iceland. Fifteen Saharan dust episodes were identified to have occurred between 2008 and 2020 based on aerosol optical depth data, backward trajectories and numerical models. Icelandic samples from the local dust sources were compared with deposited dust from two severe Saharan dust events in terms of their granulometric and mineralogical characteristics. The episodes were associated with enhanced meridional atmospheric flow patterns driven by unusual meandering jets. Strong winds were able to carry large Saharan quartz particles (> 100 µm) towards Iceland. Our results confirm the atmospheric pathways of Saharan dust towards the Arctic, and identify new northward meridional long-ranged transport of giant dust particles from the Sahara, including the first evidence of their deposition in Iceland as previously predicted by models.

Highlights

Mineral dust emissions from Saharan sources have an impact on the atmospheric environment and sedimentary units in distant regions
A systematic combined analysis of Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aerosol optical depth (AOD) data and Hybrid Single-Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory (HYSPLIT) data resulted in the identification of nine of these fifteen dust events
We presented the first systematic observation, synoptic background, and long-range transport routes of Saharan dust storms towards Iceland

Summary

Introduction

Mineral dust emissions from Saharan sources have an impact on the atmospheric environment and sedimentary units in distant regions. Our results confirm the atmospheric pathways of Saharan dust towards the Arctic, and identify new northward meridional long-ranged transport of giant dust particles from the Sahara, including the first evidence of their deposition in Iceland as previously predicted by models. 30–40 × 106 t of mineral dust is emitted every year from Icelandic source areas into the a tmosphere[16,21]. Both local dust and dust transported from distant areas have major impacts on climatic and environmental processes in fragile high-latitude r egions[17,22,23,24]. Saharan dust sources are known to produce material contributing to fine-grained

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