Saharan dust outbreaks and iberulite episodes

Abstract

AbstractMineral dust aerosols coming from the arid and semiarid regions of the world can aggregate and form microspherulites under special atmospheric conditions. This is the case for iberulites, formed in the atmosphere from Saharan dust intrusions into the southern Iberian Peninsula during the summer, prompting a noteworthy case of dust accretion unique in the world. This study consists of a long‐term monitoring of Saharan dust outbreaks producing haze that reaches the southern Iberian Peninsula. Aerosol concentration, relative humidity, and temperature time series available at the ground stations in this area indicate sharp variations of these atmospheric variables during the iberulite‐forming events. Most of these events occurred during the summer (60%), with 65 episodes for the period 2005–2013, in which 107 plumes reached the Iberian Peninsula. Iberulite episodes lasted 5 days on average, during which an initial increase of particulate matter (PM) levels and temperature, accompanied by a decrease in relative humidity, was registered until the third day. These trends reversed when the plume began to abate. Our data also indicate that iberulites form during dusty episodes when a minimum threshold in the content of large aerosol particles (PM10) reached concentrations above 15 µg × m−3. Surface evaporation due to the sharply rising air temperatures give rise to clouds associated with the plume, where the water droplets that formed from condensation capture large amounts of aerosols as they fall. In this sense, muddy raindrop impacts with variable water:dust ratios recorded during red‐rain episodes are interpreted as the precursor of the iberulites. A singular process of dust aggregation is here proposed for the formation of iberulites.