Dust Mass Concentration Research Articles

Analyzing Trends in Saharan Dust Concentration and Its Relation to Sargassum Blooms in the Eastern Caribbean

This study investigates the temporal trends and correlations between Saharan dust mass concentration densities (DMCD) and Sargassum concentrations (SCT) in the tropical North Atlantic. Average DMCD data for June, July, and August from 1980 to 2022, alongside SCT data for the same months from 2012 to 2022, were analyzed using Mann–Kendall tests for trends and lagged regression models to assess whether higher Saharan dust levels correlate with Sargassum outbreaks in the region. A comprehensive analysis reveals a significant upward trend in Saharan dust quantities over the study period, with the summer months of June, July, and August exhibiting consistent increases. Notably, 2018 and 2020 recorded the highest mean DMCD levels, with June showing the most significant increasing trend, peaking in 2019. These findings are consistent with previous studies indicating a continuous elevation in Saharan dust concentrations in the tropical atmosphere of the North Atlantic. Simultaneously, Sargassum concentrations also show a notable increasing trend, particularly in 2018, which experienced both peak SCT and elevated DMCD levels. Mann–Kendall tests confirm statistically significant upward trends in both Saharan dust and Sargassum concentrations. Simple linear regression and lagged regression analyses reveal positive correlations between DMCD and SCT, highlighting a temporal component with stronger associations observed in July and the overall June–July–August (JJA) period. These results underscore the potential contribution of elevated Saharan dust concentrations to the recent surge in Sargassum outbreaks in the tropical North Atlantic. Furthermore, the results from forward stepwise regression (FSR) models indicate that DMCD and chlorophyll (CHLO) are the most critical predictors of SCT for the summer months, while sea surface temperature (SST) was not a significant predictor. These findings emphasize the importance of monitoring Saharan dust and chlorophyll trends in the Eastern Caribbean, as both factors are essential for improving Sargassum modeling and prediction in the region. This study provides valuable insights into the climatic factors influencing marine ecosystems and highlights the need for integrated environmental monitoring to manage the impacts on coastal economies.

Impact analysis of dust evolution pattern and determination of key ventilation parameters in highland highway construction tunnels

In order to study the influence of ventilation parameters on the ventilation of plateau highway construction tunnels, a highway tunnel construction section in Yunnan is taken as the research background, and Fluent software is used for simulation. The results of the study show that: under the conditions of press-in ventilation, the wind speed in the center of the vortex area in the wind flow field is smaller than the wind speed in the surrounding area, and with the diffusion of the flow field, the average wind speed in the tunnel section gradually decreases, and ultimately stabilizes at the level of 0.5 m/s. After blasting, the dust mass concentration on the return side of the tunnel is higher than that on the duct side. Dust with a particle size of 30 μm or more settled rapidly within 100 m from the boring face, while dust with a particle size of 30 μm or less gradually diffused outward under the action of the wind flow. In the vicinity of the tunnel boring face, reducing the distance from the air outlet to the boring face and increasing the air velocity can improve the dust removal effect. This conclusion can provide theoretical basis and certain guidance for the evolution of dust and dust prevention in the tunnel construction process in plateau area.

Research on explosion hazard and prevention of ultrafine aluminium powder based on orthogonal matrix analysis

This study investigated the coupled effects of multiple factors, namely dust mass concentration, dust particle size, and oxygen volume concentration, on the explosion intensity of ultrafine aluminium powder (UAP); the study determined the weight of each factor by using an orthogonal experimental design. Explosion intensity was evaluated using the maximum explosion pressure (MEP) and MEP rise rate (MEPR) of UAP. Explosion tests were performed using a 20 L standard spherical explosive device. A weight matrix for the explosion intensity was calculated. The results revealed that the MEP and MEPR increased most with the oxygen volume concentration. They also increased with the dust mass concentration to a lesser extent. The dust particle size had the smallest effect; the MEP and MEPR initially increased and then decreased as the particle size increased. The weights for oxygen volume concentration, dust mass concentration, and dust particle size were 69.191%, 18.761%, and 13.038%, respectively. The optimal factor combination for minimizing intensity was a dust mass concentration of 500 g/m3, an oxygen volume concentration of 9 vol%, and a dust particle size of 0.172 µm. On the basis of these findings, the study proposes industrial explosion-proofing countermeasures to increase the safety of production in aluminium-related enterprises.

Research and application of bag filter system for railway ballast bed coal suction vehicles: An optimization and application study.

The current bag filter system used by railway ballast bed coal suction vehicles for cleaning coal dust from railway tunnels has low operational efficiency and generates significant volumes of dust. This paper describes a simulation test unit designed to enhance the dust removal performance in railway tunnels. The flow field inside the simulation test unit is investigated under different operating conditions through numerical simulations, and the variations in air volume and working resistance, total dust collection efficiency, and optimal operating parameters of a pulse cleaning system are identified through a series of experiments. The numerical results show that the pulse cleaning system does not significantly affect the uniformity of the flow field distribution at the bottom of the filter cartridge during the process of operation. The experimental research indicates that the simulation test unit satisfies the design requirements, achieving an average total dust removal efficiency of 99.93%. A field application shows that the total dust mass concentration at the operator position can be reduced from 335.8 mg∙m-3 to 4.2 mg∙m-3, effectively improving the operating environment within the tunnel.

Numerical simulation of the dust pollution characteristics and the optimal dustproof air volume in coal washing plant screening workshop

Dust pollution generated during the working process of a screening workshop in a coal washing plant seriously threatens the occupational health of workers. To improve the working environment for workers, we investigated the effects of various airflow parameters on the diffusion of dust particles and pollutants. We established a proportional model of the screening workshop and conducted spatiotemporal analysis of the evolution laws of airflow and particulate matter. We used numerical simulation and on-site measurements to obtain the optimal dust removal air flow rate in a coal washing plant workshop. When the air flow rate is between 360 and 1260 m³/min, the overall dust concentration in the workshop and the average dust mass concentration in the breathing zone decrease significantly as the air flow rate increases. However, if the air flow rate is too high, this can cause re-entrainment of dust, which will pollute the operation area again. The optimum dust removal airflow for the inlet air was 1260 m³/min. This air flow rate decreases the dust at the height of the breathing zone in the working area, and the dust concentration at the sidewalk in the working area decreases by 58.82%. This air flow rate can act as a reference value for workshop ventilation design to provide a clean and safe production environment for coal miners. Our methodology and results are of value the formulation and development of effective dust control and clean production technologies.

The implementation of dust mineralogy in COSMO5.05-MUSCAT

Abstract. Mineral dust aerosols are composed of a complex assemblage of various minerals depending on the region in which they originated. Given the different mineral composition of desert dust aerosols, different physicochemical properties and therefore varying climate effects are expected. Despite the known regional variations in mineral composition, chemical transport models typically assume that mineral dust aerosols have uniform composition. This study adds, for the first time, mineralogical information to the mineral dust emission scheme used in the chemical transport model COSMO–MUSCAT. We provide a detailed description of the implementation of the mineralogical database, GMINER (Nickovic et al., 2012), together with a specific set of physical parameterizations in the model's mineral dust emission module, which led to a general improvement of the model performance when comparing the simulated mineral dust aerosols with measurements over the Sahara region for January–February 2022. The simulated mineral dust aerosol vertical distribution is tested by a comparison with aerosol lidar measurements from the lidar system PollyXT, located at Cape Verde. For a lofted mineral dust aerosol layer on 2 February at 05:00 UTC the lidar retrievals yield a dust mass concentration peak of 156 µg m−3, while the model calculates the mineral dust peak at 136 µg m−3. The results highlight the possibility of using the model with resolved mineral dust composition for interpretation of the lidar measurements since a higher absorption in the UV–Vis wavelengths is correlated with particles having a higher hematite content. Additionally, the comparison with in situ mineralogical measurements of dust aerosol particles shows that more of them are needed for model evaluation.

Fugitive Emission Characteristics of Fume and Dust from Short-Process Electric Furnace Tap Hole and Optimization of Dust Hood

Due to the advantages of a short cycle, low investment and low energy consumption per ton of steel, short-process electric furnace steelmaking is about to welcome a golden period of rapid development in China. During the operation of the electric furnace, a large amount of smoke and dust is generated. Most studies focus on organized emissions, and the impact of unorganized emissions in workshops on the environment cannot be ignored. This paper evaluates the thermal environment in the electric furnace steelmaking workshop based on the analytic hierarchy process and obtains the influence weight of the fugitive emission location. The mass concentration of dust at each measuring point increased by 1.17 mg/m3 on average, and the concentration of unorganized emission dust near the outlet was 23.572 mg/m3. The numerical simulation calculation model is established by the CFD method, a fixed initial jet velocity is set, the initial velocity of the ladle soot plume is changed, and the inclination angle, arrangement height and dust removal air volume of the dust hood are respectively adjusted in different tapping periods. The impact of simulation on the efficiency of dust collection for different dust removal hood configurations was investigated, considering variations in inclination angle, arrangement height and dust removal airflow. The optimal structural parameters for the dust removal hood were determined to be an inclination angle of 60° and an arrangement height of 2.4 m, and an optimal dust removal airflow was determined to be 110,000 m3/h. This study provides a theoretical foundation for engineering practice.

Long-term characteristics of dust aerosols over central China from 2010 to 2020 observed with polarization lidar

Plenty of dust aerosols are emitted into the atmosphere in East Asian regions and significantly impact the regional environment and climate. In the past decade, the frequency of dust storm outbreaks has largely declined in the sources of Asian dust. However, it is still rarely reported how the dust properties after long-range transport in the downstream regions respond to this downtrend. Here we report on the long-term characteristics of dust aerosols over central China with the observations of a polarization lidar at Wuhan (30.5°N, 114.4°E) during 2010–2020. The dust optical depths (DOD) exhibit a decrease trend with a rate of −0.011 yr−1, accounting for 22% of the decrease rate for total aerosol optical depths (AOD) in Wuhan. The mass concentration and columnar mass density of dust also decline with a rate of −2.03 μg·m−3·yr−1 and -1.97 mg·m−2·yr−1, respectively. Spring and winter are the most active seasons for dust intrusion, with seasonal mean DOD of 0.21 and 0.15, respectively. Compared with spring, dust aerosols in winter generally concentrate at lower levels below 1.0 km with a slightly smaller particle depolarization ratio of 0.11 (0.14 in spring), attributing to the weakened nonspherical shape of dust particles under wintertime high-level moisture/polluted conditions. Both the surface PM10 concentration and lidar-derived dust mass concentration at 0.3 km present a downtrend with a rate of −8.0 μg·m−3·yr−1 and -20.1 μg·m−3·yr−1, respectively. This study provides a comprehensive long-term and seasonal analysis of dust properties in central China, which can supplement our understanding of the feedback in the downstream regions to the reduction of dust emissions in the deserts of East Asia.

Measurement report: Dust and anthropogenic aerosols' vertical distributions over northern China dense aerosols gathered at the top of the mixing layer

Abstract. Over the past decades, northern China has been suffering from persistent air pollution caused by both fine and coarse atmospheric particles. Although there are plenty of theoretical and observational studies on aerosols in northern China, most of them only consider total aerosol concentrations and focus on heavy pollution episodes; the long-term vertical distributions of dust (coarse) and anthropogenic aerosols (fine) and their relationships with the mixing layer height (MLH) have not been revealed. In this study, the dust and anthropogenic aerosols' mass concentration and the MLH were retrieved by polarization Raman lidar over Beijing from May 2019 to February 2022. We found that large amounts of anthropogenic aerosols accumulate at the top of the mixing layer, which is most noticeable in summer, with monthly mean mass concentration up to 57 µg m−3. It is mainly influenced by the southward transport in the upper air, where the atmosphere is relatively stable and moist, favoring hygroscopic growth of particles. Dust mass concentration is discontinuous in the vertical direction, not only on the ground but also in lofted layers that reach up to several kilometers. The heights of these lofted dust layers exhibited apparent seasonal dependence, with the height of the main dust layer gradually ascending from 1.1 km to about 2.5 km from April to June and below 3 km from October to December. In addition, there is a significant negative correlation between bottom anthropogenic aerosols' mass concentration and the MLH, and an inverse function fit is more suitable to characterize this relationship, while the relationship between bottom dust mass concentration and the MLH is insignificant. These results will enhance our understanding of the sophisticated interactions between dust and anthropogenic aerosols, the MLH, and regional transport in northern China. It will also help to refine atmospheric chemistry models and improve surface prediction capabilities.

Justification of an Energy-Efficient Air Purification System in Subways Based on Air Dust Content Studies

It is not uncommon that subways count as densely populated areas, so air quality standards, including fine dust concentration, have been established for them. As passengers and subway staff are exposed to potentially harmful airborne particles, addressing this issue is vital to ensuring a safe and healthy environment on the subway. To reduce the dust concentration in subway systems, the authors propose installing filters to capture dust in ventilation failures between subway tunnels near metro stations. A novel aspect of the proposed method is the fact that airflow will be moved through filters by using the piston action of trains passing through the tunnels. The result of this research provides empirical evidence regarding dust content and mass concentrations of PM2.5 and PM10 in subway environments. While some existing literature discusses air quality in subways, the inclusion of specific measurements and data from the experiment strengthens the understanding of the severity of dust-related air quality issues in such environments. The data for this study were collected in the Almaty subway (Republic of Kazakhstan) at four stations: Raiymbek Batyr, Almaty, Baikonur and Alatau. Measuring points were located on passenger platforms, in the halls and at the entrances to the station. The lab scale tests determined the percentage of particles by their diameters relative to the total volume of dust, the percentage of dust particles smaller than a certain diameter, the percentage of various metal oxides and the average dust density. A preliminary energy assessment has been done on the proposed method of air purification from dust. With a frequency of 24 pairs of trains per hour, the energy savings per ventilation failure will be 240.170 kWh.

Numerical simulation of dust control technology for longwall working face with convective air curtain.

A convection-type air curtain dust control system and method were proposed to effectively control the high dust concentrations generated during the operation of coal miners and hydraulic supports and to reduce the dust concentration in the entire working space of longwall work surfaces, and the effectiveness of air curtain dust control during single process operation was investigated through numerical simulation. The results showed that when the miner was working alone, there was a significant difference in the concentration distribution inside and outside the dust-proof air curtain, with significantly lower dust concentrations in the area where the miner drivers were operating compared to both sides, with an average dust mass concentration of around 420 mg/m3. Dust concentrations increased to about 700 mg/m3, but large amounts of dust were prevented from diffusing downwind. This indicates that the dust reduction effect is more pronounced after the equipment is opened, which can improve the working environment and reduce the probability of dust combustion and explosion accidents.

Acceleration characteristics of composite flame in the initial stage of gas/coal dust explosion and analysis of disaster intensification

To clarify the strengthening mechanism of gas/coal dust coupling explosion disasters, a 20 L spherical explosion test system, high-speed schlieren, and PIV analysis were used to study the acceleration characteristics and pressure change of composite flames in the initial stage of gas/coal dust explosion, and the flow field characteristics were also analyzed. The results showed that methane concentration had the most important influence on the formation and development of composite flame. When the methane concentration was 7.5% and 9%, the composite flame propagation showed obvious acceleration characteristics and developed spherically, the flame boundary was clear and smooth, with the whole flame being continuous and bright white. Meanwhile, the Markstein length of composite flame is positive, and increased with the increase of methane concentration and dust particle size but decreased with the increase of coal dust mass concentration, the Markstein length for 9% gas concentration was 7 times larger than 6% gas concentration, indicating the increase of gas concentration can obviously inhibit the instability of composite flame, which prolonged the residence time of coal dust particles in the composite flame, resulting in the enhancement of the pyrolysis of coal dust and improvement of explosion intensity. The PIV test results of 9% gas/coal dust explosion showed that due to the high initial explosion intensity, the negative pressure in the center of the composite flame made most of the coal dust particles undergo centripetal movement, and a large number of coal dust particles gathered around the front of the flame. At the same time, a large number of large vortices in opposite directions were formed around the front of the flame, which promoted rapid contact between the coal dust surface and oxygen and intensified the combustion reaction. The research results can provide guidance for the prevention and control of gas/coal dust composite explosion disasters.

Investigation of the Vertical Distribution Characteristics and Microphysical Properties of Summer Mineral Dust Masses over the Taklimakan Desert Using an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

Investigating the vertical distribution of mineral dust masses and their microphysical properties is crucial for accurately assessing the climate effects of dust. However, there are limited studies related to relevant in situ observations over dust source areas. In this study, the near-surface vertical characteristics (within 500 m a.g.l) of dust mass concentrations in five size fractions (PMs: TSP, PM10, PM4, PM2.5, and PM1) were investigated using an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) in Tazhong (TZ) in the Taklimakan Desert (TD) in July 2021. To the best of our knowledge, the vertical profiles of particle number concentration (PNC), effective radius (Reff), and volume concentration (Cv) were obtained for the first time by UAV over the TD. Four scenarios of clear sky, floating dust, blowing sand, and dust storm were selected based on the classification criteria for PMs. The PMs, PNC, Reff, and Cv decreased with height for all scenarios. From clear-sky to dust-storm scenarios PMs, PNC, Reff, and Cv in the column gradually increased. Reff (Cv) increased from 1.15 μm (0.08 μm3/μm2) to 4.53 μm (0.74 μm3/μm2). The diurnal variations of PMs, PNC, and Reff (Cv) revealed a unimodal pattern, with the peak occurring between 13:00 and 16:00, due to the evolution of wind speed and the atmospheric boundary layer in TZ. Unexpectedly, among the three postprecipitation scenarios (P1, P2, and P3), the PNC of P2 was smaller than those of P1 and P3. The Reff (Cv) for P2 was similar to or greater than that for dust storms, which may be associated with moist dust particles on the ground surface being carried into the air by wind. These investigations add to our understanding of the mineral dust vertical characteristics over the source area, and provide a meaningful reference for colocated lidar inversion and dust simulations.

The Aerosol Optical Characteristics in Different Dust Events Based on a 532 nm and 355 nm Polarization Lidar in Beijing

Extreme weather events are happening more frequently as a result of global climate change. Dust storms broke out in the spring of 2017 in China and drastically impacted the local air quality. In this study, a variety of data, including aerosol vertical profiles, surface particle concentration, meteorological parameters, and MODIS–derived aerosol optical depth, as well as backward trajectory analysis, were employed to analyze two dust events from April to May in Beijing. The dust plumes were mainly concentrated below 0.8 km, with peak PM10 values of 1000 μg·m−3 and 300 μg·m−3 in the two cases. The aerosols showed different vertical distribution characteristics. The pure dust in case 1 from 4 to 5 May 2017 had a longer duration (2 days) and presented a larger aerosol extinction coefficient (2.27 km−1 at 355 nm and 1.25 km−1 at 532 nm) than that of the mixed dust in case 2 on 17 April 2017 (2.01 km−1 at 355 nm and 1.33 km−1 at 532 nm). The particle depolarization ratio (PDR) remained constant (0.24 ± 0.03 in case 1) from the surface to 0.8 km in height. In contrast, the PDR profile in the mixed dust (case 2) layer was split into two regions—large values exceeding 0.15 above 0.6 km and small values of 0.11 ± 0.03 below 0.6 km. The influence of meteorological information on aerosol distribution was also investigated, and wind was predominant through the observing period. The pure dust in case 1 was mainly from Mongolia, with strong northwest winds, while the near-surface mixed pollution was caused by the combination of long-transported sand and local emission. Furthermore, lidar-derived profiles of dust mass concentrations in the two cases were presented. This study reveals the vertical characteristics of dust aerosols in the production and dissipation of localized dust events and confirms the efficacy of thorough observations with multiple approaches from the ground to space to monitor dust events in real time.

Assessment of long-term trends in chlorophyll-a and sea surface temperature in the Arabian Sea and their association with aerosols using remote sensing

Aerosols over the oceanic region significantly influence Earth's energy budget and climate change. Therefore, this study examines the spatiotemporal patterns of MODIS retrieved aerosol optical depth, sea surface temperature, Chlorophyll-a, Sea-WiFS retrieved aerosol optical depth, and MERRA-2 model dust mass concentrations over the Arabian Sea (4o N–26o N to 50o E−78o E) during the period 2002–2020. The effects of dust aerosols on phytoplankton blooms using the Mann-Kendall and Theil Sen-slope are also analyzed in this study. An increase in aerosol optical depth (AOD) was observed within the latitudes of (4o N–26o N). The AOD shows an increasing trend at 13.4% per year over the Arabian Sea (AS). The highest value of Chl-a (∼7 mgm−3) was observed along the coast of Pakistan, Iran, and Oman. Moreover, a negative correlation is found between AOD and sea surface temperature (SST) along the coast of Oman and Somalia, while a strong positive correlation (∼0.99) is observed between AOD and Chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) along the coasts of Oman and Somalia.

Satellite-based prediction of surface dust mass concentration in southeastern Iran using an intelligent approach

Satellite-based prediction of surface dust mass concentration in southeastern Iran using an intelligent approach

Laser Attenuation and Ranging Correction in the Coal Dust Environment Based on Mie Theory and Phase Ranging Principle

The inadequate ventilation and complex environments in underground coal mines lead to a high concentration of dust particles. As a result, the health of the miners and the accuracy of laser rangefinder measurements are endangered. It is crucial to enhance the laser rangefinder’s efficiency to mitigate health risks and reduce labor intensity. In this study, we propose a laser power attenuation model and a ranging correction model to address the issues of laser power attenuation and inaccurate ranging in coal dust environments. The proposed models are based on theoretical analysis and practical experiments, and both are dependent on the dust particle size (<250 μm) and mass concentration. Firstly, we assessed the factors that caused laser power attenuation and demonstrated that our proposed model could accurately predict them (maximum residual of 0.06). Secondly, we obtained the connection between the attenuation coefficient and dust concentration by applying the Lambert–Beer law. Lastly, we established the ranging correction model by collecting laser wavelength information. The outcomes show that the root mean square error of the corrected values ranges between 0.27 and 0.47 mm. To summarize, our suggested model and correction technique can efficiently enhance the precision of laser rangefinder measurements, thus improving underground work in coal mines.

Characteristics of thermally modified hardwood dust in determining workers’ occupational exposure

Thermal modification of wood changes its mechanical properties, generally reducing its strength, such that it is more easily chipped during processing than untreated hardwood. This study presents specific parameters used in the determination of mass concentration of thermally modified (TM) hardwood by gravimetric and photometric methods. An optical device, the Split 2, was used in the active mode, of which the holder of the inhalable dust IOM (Institute of Occupational Medicine) filter was the input part. Side-by-side determination of the respirable and inhalable mass concentration was made using the Higgins-Dewell respirable dust cyclone and an inhalable dust IOM sampler. Side-by-side determination of inhalable and total dust mass concentration was made using an IOM and open-faced (OF) filter holder to establish an IOM / OF sampling ratio. A correction factor of 1.16 was calculated for applying the photometric method as the ratio of mass concentration determined by gravimetric and photometric methods. Minimal concentrations of respirable and inhalable wood dust (geometric mean: cr = 0.058 mg/m3; cinh = 0.882 mg/m3) and a 12.76% share of respirable dust in the inhalable concentration cr / cinh, had a significant influence on the efficiency of the photometric method. The mass concentration obtained by IOM and OF samplers did not significantly differ (p = 0.36).

Dust storm induced severe cooling in the northern Arabian Sea during winter 2022

Large-scale dust storms lifted by strong winds into the atmosphere may adversely affect local weather and climate. One such major dust storm occurred in January 2022 over the northern Arabian Sea significantly decreased the visibility in the region. In our study, we examined the potential consequences and processes of this dust storm event and their impact on sea surface temperature (SST) variability using MODIS, and satellite reanalysis model data. We observed a substantial increase in dust mass concentrations (88%) during the event date when compared to the normal days, followed by an intense cooling (6.7 °C) in the region. Furthermore, the results show an increased latent heat flux (LHF) concentrations (476 wm−2) and aerosol optical depth (1.4) over the northern Arabian Sea. Our findings also suggest a significant association between SST and LHF with wind components during the dust storm event. A numerical simulation conducted with the help of WRF-Chem validated the cooling phenomena. Taken together, our results indicate that the dust storms are a significant phenomenon that impacts the regional climate and marine ecosystem.

The impact of using assimilated Aeolus wind data on regional WRF-Chem dust simulations

Abstract. Land–atmosphere interactions govern the process of dust emission and transport. An accurate depiction of these physical processes within numerical weather prediction models allows for better estimating the spatial and temporal distribution of the dust burden and the characterisation of source and recipient areas. In the presented study, the ECMWF-IFS (European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecast – Integrated Forecasting System) outputs, produced with and without the assimilation of Aeolus quality-assured Rayleigh–clear and Mie–cloudy horizontal line-of-sight wind profiles, are used as initial or boundary conditions in the Weather Research and Forecasting model coupled with Chemistry (WRF-Chem) to simulate 2-month periods in the spring and autumn of 2020, focusing on a case study in October. The experiments have been performed over the broader eastern Mediterranean and Middle East (EMME) region, which is frequently subjected to dust transport, as it encompasses some of the most active erodible dust sources. Aerosol- and dust-related model outputs (extinction coefficient, optical depth and concentrations) are qualitatively and quantitatively evaluated against ground- and satellite-based observations. Ground-based columnar and vertically resolved aerosol optical properties are acquired through AERONET sun photometers and PollyXT lidar, while near-surface concentrations are taken from EMEP. Satellite-derived vertical dust and columnar aerosol optical properties are acquired through LIVAS (LIdar climatology of Vertical Aerosol Structure) and MIDAS (ModIs Dust AeroSol), respectively. Overall, in cases of either high or low aerosol loadings, the model predictive skill is improved when WRF-Chem simulations are initialised with the meteorological fields of Aeolus wind profiles assimilated by the IFS. The improvement varies in space and time, with the most significant impact observed during the autumn months in the study region. Comparison with observation datasets saw a remarkable improvement in columnar aerosol optical depths, vertically resolved dust mass concentrations and near-surface particulate concentrations in the assimilated run against the control run. Reductions in model biases, either positive or negative, and an increase in the correlation between simulated and observed values was achieved for October 2020.