Strong Saharan Dust Research Articles

Strong Saharan Dust Deposition Events Alter Microbial Diversity and Composition in Sediments of High-Mountain Lakes of Sierra Nevada (Spain)

Mediterranean high-mountain lakes are being increasingly affected by strong Saharan dust deposition events. However, the ecological impacts of these severe atmospheric episodes remain largely unknown. We examined the effects of a strong Saharan dust intrusion to the Iberian Peninsula in 2022 on the physicochemical parameters and prokaryotic communities in sediments of nine high-mountain lakes of Sierra Nevada (Spain) located above 2800 m.a.s.l and in different orientations (north vs. south). A previous year (2021), with lower Saharan dust deposition with respect to 2022, was used for interannual comparisons. The strong dust deposition to the high-mountain lakes resulted in a significant increase in sediment nutrient availability which was linked to changes in the composition of prokaryotic communities. Decreases in alpha diversity and changes in beta diversity of prokaryotic communities were mainly observed in lakes located in the south compared to the north orientation likely because the former was more affected by the atmospheric dust deposition episode. Dust intrusion to the high-mountain lakes resulted in significant changes in the relative abundance of specific genera involved in important nutrient cycling processes such as phosphate solubilization, nitrogen fixation, nitrification, and denitrification. Saharan dust deposition also increased predicted microbial functionality in all lakes. Our findings show that severe atmospheric dust inputs to remote high-mountain lakes of Sierra Nevada can have significant biogeochemical and biodiversity consequences through changes in nutrient availability and prokaryotic communities in sediments of these freshwater ecosystems. This information contributes to understanding how Mediterranean high-mountain lakes of Sierra Nevada face strong intrusions of Saharan dust and their ecological consequences.

Reliability of detrital marine sediments as proxy for continental crust composition: The effects of hydrodynamic sorting on Ti and Zr isotope systematics

The isotopic composition of the detrital sediment record harbours a valuable proxy for estimating the composition of the erodible upper crust since the Archaean. Refractory elements such as titanium (Ti) and zirconium (Zr) can display systematic variations in their isotopic composition as a result of magmatic differentiation. Hence, the isotopic composition of such elements in detrital sediments could potentially be used to infer the average composition (e.g., SiO2 content) of their source region, even when elemental systematics are obfuscated by weathering and diagenetic processes. A key premise of this approach is that the isotopic composition of sediments remains unbiased relative to their protolith. To what extent isotopic fractionation can occur during sedimentary processes, notably the hydrodynamic sorting of heavy mineral assemblages with contrasting isotopic compositions, remains poorly understood. We investigate the effects of such processes on the Ti and Zr isotope composition of a suite of detrital sediments from the Eastern Mediterranean Sea (EMS). These sediments are binary mixtures of two main provenance components, Saharan dust and Nile sediment, with strongly contrasting mineralogical and geochemical signatures.The EMS sediments display clear evidence for hydrodynamic sorting of zircon, expressed as a large variation in Zr/Al2O3 and deviation of εHf relative to the terrestrial εNd-εHf array. Our new data, however, do not show pronounced Zr isotope variation resulting from either hydrodynamic sorting of zircon or sediment provenance. Although this agrees with theoretical models that predict negligible equilibrium zircon-melt Zr isotope fractionation, it contrasts with recent observations suggesting that kinetic Zr isotope fractionation might be a common feature in igneous rocks. For the EMS sediments, the negligible shift in Zr isotope composition through hydrodynamic sorting means that fine-grained samples accurately reflect the composition of their source. The nearly overlapping Zr isotope compositions of Sahara- and Nile-derived sediment, however, mean that Zr isotopes, in this case, have insufficient resolution to be a useful provenance proxy.Titanium behaves differently. A small but resolvable, systematic difference in Ti isotope composition is observed between the Sahara and Nile provenance components. Samples with a strong Saharan dust signature show some Ti isotope evidence for hydrodynamic sorting of oxides in tandem with zircon, but a much stronger effect is inferred for Nile sediment. Regression of the EMS sediment samples shows that the Ti isotope composition of the Nile-derived component is strongly fractionated compared to its protolith, the Ethiopian flood basalts. Whereas Ti in Nile sediment is carried in essentially unmodified concentration, and by inference isotope composition, from its sources to the delta, large-scale hydrodynamic sorting of Fe-Ti oxides occurs in the littoral cell. This process causes a decrease in TiO2/Al2O3 of the residual fine-grained sediment fraction and shifts its Ti isotope composition to heavier compositions. The potential of such an “oxide effect” in detrital sediments has implications for crustal evolution models that use Ti isotopes as a proxy for the proportion of felsic crust and can account for the observed scatter in the shale record.

Interaction of sinking behaviour of Saharan dust and lithogenic and biogenic fluxes in the Canary Basin

Saharan dust events are currently the predominant source of lithogenic particles in the Canary Basin. In order to quantify this input and its relationship with the biogenic fluxes, a sediment trap was deployed in a free-drifting system at 150 m depth, 50 km off the north coast of Gran Canaria (Canary Islands). The mineralogy of the lithogenic particles included illite, calcite, hematite quartz, barite and kaolinite. The biogenic matter was composed of chitin, transparent exopolymer particles, and carbonates from foraminifera and gastropod shells. The average Saharan dust flux over the ocean surface was approximately 5±4 mg m–2 day-1. The lithogenic, carbonate and chitin fluxes were 0.8±0.6, 6.0±7.4 and 154±386 mg m–2 day-1, respectively. A fairly strong Saharan dust event during sampling was observed in the trap, with a delay of three days in the peaks of lithogenic and biogenic fluxes. The theoretical settling velocity of the lithogenic particles associated with Saharan dust events at 150 m depth was vStokes=275 m day-1, and the experimental settling was about 50 m day-1. The associated sinking behaviour of particulate organic carbon and biogenic and lithogenic fluxes observed in this study may contribute to a more realistic prediction of these fluxes in carbon biological pump models.

Evaluation of ECMWF-IFS (version 41R1) operational model forecasts of aerosol transport by using ceilometer network measurements

Abstract. In this paper, we present a comparison of model simulations of aerosol profiles with measurements of the ceilometer network operated by the German Weather Service (DWD) over 1 year from September 2015 to August 2016. The aerosol forecasts are produced by the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) using the aerosol module developed within the Global and regional Earth-system Monitoring using Satellite and in-situ data (GEMS) and Monitoring Atmospheric Composition and Climate (MACC) projects and coupled into the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts Integrated Forecasting System (ECMWF-IFS). As the model output provides mass mixing ratios of different types of aerosol, whereas the ceilometers do not, it is necessary to determine a common physical quantity for the comparison. We have chosen the attenuated backscatter β∗ for this purpose. The β∗ profiles are calculated from the mass mixing ratios of the model output assuming the inherent aerosol microphysical properties. Comparison of the attenuated backscatter averaged between an altitude of 0.2 km (typical overlap range of ceilometers) and 1 km in general shows similar annual average values. However, the standard deviation of the difference between model and observation is larger than the average in 8 out of 12 sites. To investigate possible reasons for the differences, we have examined the role of the hygroscopic growth of particles and the particle shape. Our results show that using a more recent particle growth model would result in a ∼22 % reduction of particle backscatter for sea salt aerosols, corresponding to a 10 % reduction of the total backscatter signal on average. Accounting for nonspherical dust particles in the model would reduce attenuated backscatter of dust particles by ∼30 %. As the concentration of dust aerosol is in general very low in Germany, a significant effect on the total backscatter signal is restricted to dust episodes. In summary, consideration of both effects tends to improve the agreement between model and observations but without leading to a perfect consistency. In addition, a strong Saharan dust event was investigated to study the agreement of the spatiotemporal distribution of particles. It was found that the arrival time of the dust layer and its vertical extent very well agree between model and ceilometer measurements for several stations. This underlines the potential of a network of ceilometers to validate the dispersion of aerosol layers.

Impact of a Saharan dust intrusion over southern Spain on DNI estimation with sky cameras

To operate Central Tower Solar Power (CTSP) plants properly, solar collector systems must be able to work under varied weather conditions. Therefore, knowing the state of the atmosphere, and more specifically the level of incident radiation, is essential operational information to adapt the electricity production system to atmospheric conditions. In this work, we analyze the impact of a strong Saharan dust intrusion on the Direct normal irradiance (DNI) registered at two sites 35 km apart in southeastern Spain: the University of Almería (UAL) and the Plataforma Solar de Almería (PSA). DNI can be inputted into the European Solar Radiation Atlas (ESRA) clear sky procedure to derive Linke turbidity values, which proved to be extremely high at the UAL. By using the Simple Model of the Atmospheric Radiative Transfer of Sunshine (SMARTS) at the PSA site, AERONET data from PSA and assuming dust dominated aerosol, DNI estimations agreed strongly with the measured DNI values. At the UAL site, a SMARTS simulation of the DNI values also seemed to be compatible with dust dominated aerosol.

Saharan dust effects in different trophic areas off Northwest Africa

The impacts of atmospheric and deposited mineral particles of Saharan dust storms on the light field above and below the water surface were quantified using satellite measurements and model simulations. The investigations were concentrated on the photosynthetic active part of the incident solar radiation as well as the light attenuation and the euphotic depth in waters of the tropical Eastern North Atlantic. In the time period of 2003 to 2012, the Saharan dust storms were characterized by the dust aerosol optical depth derived from satellite data. Statistics of the reduction of photosynthetically active radiation by atmospheric dust were derived in areas of eutrophic, mesotrophic, and oligotrophic waters. The highest reductions of up to 45 % in the photosynthetically active radiation were observed in July and the lowest ones in the winter months between November and January. The reductions became less from on- to offshore areas due to the removal of atmospheric dust. In the 10-year data set, no systematic changes or increasing or decreasing trends could be verified in dust storms and reductions of photosynthetically active radiation. Model simulations in the water column showed that the deposited dust increased the light attenuation up to 28 % and decreased the euphotic depth up to 22 % particularly in the blue spectral range. The strongest impacts on optical water properties were found in low chlorophyll-a oligotrophic areas during strong and long-lasting Saharan dust storms with high deposition rates of small dust particles as well as long residence times and low mixed layer depths.

Strong Saharan Dust Event Detected at Lalinet LOA-UNAL Station, over Medellín, Colombia by Active and Passive Remote Sensing

Passive and active remote sensing techniques are well used for understanding optical and microphysical characteristics of aerosol layers. Lidar has the ability to resolve stratifications of the complex vertical structures in the atmosphere and determine the existence of aerosols which has been transported for long-ranges through the evaluation of the optical properties such as particle backscatter and extinction coefficients, among others. CIMEL sunphotometer data (AERONET network) give information about optical properties such as Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD), Single Scattering Albedo (SSA), and Angstrom Exponent (AE) and microphysical properties such as size distribution. The LOA-UNAL lidar station as part of the LALINET (Latin American LIdar NETwork) [1], involves an elastic coaxial system operating in zenith mode used for monitoring the atmosphere at Medellin-Colombia (6.26°N, 75.58°W, 1470 m asl). This work presents a Saharan dust even over Medellin, Colombia, 27 th June, 2014, observed simultaneously with lidar, sun-photometer and complementary global mass transport model HYSPLIT.

Spatio-temporal distribution and transport of particulate matter in the eastern tropical North Atlantic observed by Argo floats

The spatial and temporal distribution of particulate matter in the water column of the eastern tropical North Atlantic between 16.9–22.9°N and 16.6–29.3°W was investigated using optical measurements from transmissometers mounted on Argo floats. The corresponding profiles of beam attenuation coefficients measured from February 2008 to May 2009 were used to study particulate matter in different layers such as the surface nepheloid layer (SNL), subsurface nepheloid layer (SSNL), intermediate nepheloid layer (INL) and bottom nepheloid layer (BNL) as well as to investigate sinking particles (SP).The SNL were down to about 60m water depth at thicknesses between 20 and 60m. Our analyses verified high correlation between particulate matter and phytoplankton in the SNL. High offshore SNL extension of up to 750km was found in the area of Cape Blanc filaments in January 2009. Their typical widths ranged from 11 to 72km. Furthermore, float-borne observations even resolved atmospheric dust deposition into the surface water layer during a strong Saharan dust event in October 2008. The observed dust concentration in the mixed water layer was found to vary between 0.0021 and 0.0168gm−3 depending on applied assumptions.An abrupt change from a SNL to a SSNL regime over distances of only 80 to 90km was observed. The particulate matter in the SSNL showed lateral extensions from 420 to 1020km offshore. A statistically significant correlation between the depth of subsurface particle maxima and the distance to shore was found.An averaged diameter of 30km was determined for the sharply isolated patches of INL which was consistent with model simulations of other studies. The lateral transport of particulate matter in these INL features in the area of the giant Cape Blanc filaments was found to be more pronounced than reported in earlier studies. The distribution of particulate matter within the INL filaments reached up to 610km off the shelf edge. The frequency of INL decreased with increasing distance to shore. The sinking velocity of particulate matter of one long-term observed INL was approximately 1.3mday−1. Highly concentrated BNLs with beam attenuation coefficients of up to 4.530m−1 were observed in the continental slope region. INLs appeared more frequently than SP events which lead to the conclusion that the lateral transport of particulate matter in INL features in the study area was more important than their passive vertical sinking.

Longwave aerosol radiative effects during an extreme desert dust event in southeastern Spain

This paper analyzes the influence of a strong Saharan dust event on longwave (LW) irradiance recorded at Granada (Southeastern Spain) on 6 September 2007. A detailed comparison with shortwave (SW) radiative effects for the same dust event is also shown. For these goals, simultaneous measurements of LW and SW irradiance were used together with the aerosol optical depth at 675nm (AOD675) derived from a Cimel CE-318 sun-photometer. LW irradiance on 6 September (AOD675 ranged between 0.8 and 1.5) increased 8.4% on average compared to a no-dust day (4 September, AOD675 below 0.15), while the SW irradiance was notably reduced about 28.2%. The study also showed that an increase of one unit in the AOD675 led to an increase (decrease) of LW (SW) irradiance of 20 (187) W/m2. Hence, the LW contribution to offset partially the large SW decrease at surface strongly depends on the aerosol load, changing from 40% for AOD675~0.8 to 20% for AOD675~1.5. On daily average, LW radiative effect was about 39% of the SW one and, therefore, the intense decrease of SW irradiance due to dust particles was substantially offset by the increase of the LW irradiance.

Tracking the Saharan Air Layer with shipborne lidar across the tropical Atlantic

Saharan dust was observed with shipborne lidar from 60° to 20°W along 14.5°N during a 1‐month transatlantic cruise of the research vessel Meteor. About 4500 km off the coast of Africa, mean extinction and backscatter‐related Ångström exponent of 0.1, wavelength‐independent extinction‐to‐backscatter ratios (lidar ratios) of around 45 sr, and particle linear depolarization ratio of 20% were found for aged dust (transport time >10 days). In contrast, dust with a shorter atmospheric residence time of 2–3 days showed Ångström exponents of −0.5 (backscatter coefficient) and 0.1 (extinction coefficient), mean lidar ratios of 64 and 50 sr, and particle linear depolarization ratios of 22 and 26% at 355 and 532 nm wavelength, respectively. Traces of fire smoke were also detected in the observed dust layers. The lidar observations were complemented by Aerosol Robotic Network handheld Sun photometer measurements, which revealed a mean total atmospheric column aerosol optical thickness of 0.05 for pure marine conditions (in the absence of lofted aerosol layers) and roughly 0.9 during a strong Saharan dust outbreak. The achieved data set was compared with first Consortium for Small Scale Modeling‐Multi‐Scale Chemistry Aerosol Transport simulations. The simulated vertical aerosol distribution showed good agreement with the lidar observations.

Evaluation of the Lidar/Radiometer Inversion Code (LIRIC) to determine microphysical properties of volcanic and desert dust

Abstract. The Lidar/Radiometer Inversion Code (LIRIC) combines the multiwavelength lidar technique with sun/sky photometry and allows us to retrieve vertical profiles of particle optical and microphysical properties separately for fine-mode and coarse-mode particles. After a brief presentation of the theoretical background, we evaluate the potential of LIRIC to retrieve the optical and microphysical properties of irregularly shaped dust particles. The method is applied to two very different aerosol scenarios: a strong Saharan dust outbreak towards central Europe and an Eyjafjallajökull volcanic dust event. LIRIC profiles of particle mass concentrations for the coarse-mode as well as for the non-spherical particle fraction are compared with results for the non-spherical particle fraction as obtained with the polarization-lidar-based POLIPHON method. Similar comparisons for fine-mode and spherical particle fractions are presented also. Acceptable agreement between the different dust mass concentration profiles is obtained. LIRIC profiles of optical properties such as particle backscatter coefficient, lidar ratio, Ångström exponent, and particle depolarization ratio are compared with direct Raman lidar observations. Systematic deviations between the LIRIC retrieval products and the Raman lidar measurements of the desert dust lidar ratio, depolarization ratio, and spectral dependencies of particle backscatter and lidar ratio point to the applied spheroidal-particle model as main source for these uncertainties in the LIRIC results.

WITHDRAWN: Correction to “Multi‐instrumental observation of an exceptionally strong Saharan dust outbreak over Portugal”

In the paper “Multi-instrumental observation of an exceptionally strong Saharan dust outbreak over Portugal” by J. Preißler et al. (Journal of Geophysical Research, 116, D24204, doi:10.1029/2011JD016527, 2011) the first key point was printed incorrectly. The third key point should be as follows: Combination of instruments for a thorough characterization of mineral dust

Global and diffuse shortwave irradiance during a strong desert dust episode at Granada (Spain)

This paper studies the influence of a strong Saharan dust event on diffuse and global (direct+diffuse) shortwave irradiance (0.305 to 2.800μm) recorded at Granada (South Spain) during 6 September 2007. The contribution of coarse mineral dust particles to the aerosol load was evidenced from the large aerosol optical depth (AOD, between 0.8 and 1.5) and the small Angström exponent (between 0.1 and 0.25) values recorded by a sun-photometer. Global irradiance on 6 September decreased about 20% compared to low-aerosol load days, while diffuse irradiance increased 200–400% around solar noon. On that day, the diffuse component was nearly 60% of the global irradiance at 12:00UTC and therefore the direct component was substantially reduced. The aerosol forcing efficiency (radiative forcing per unit of AOD) during this strong event was higher than most of the desert dust forcing efficiencies reported in the literature; an increase of one unit in the AOD at 440nm led to a decrease in global solar irradiance at the surface of 123W/m2. Additionally, low values of the single scattering albedo at 440nm (mean value 0.90±0.2) in relation to pure desert dust episodes were indicative of absorbing anthropogenic particles from the European and Mediterranean regions.

Saharan dust event impacts on cloud formation and radiation over Western Europe

Abstract. We investigated the impact of mineral dust particles on clouds, radiation and atmospheric state during a strong Saharan dust event over Europe in May 2008, applying a comprehensive online-coupled regional model framework that explicitly treats particle microphysics and chemical composition. Sophisticated parameterizations for aerosol activation and ice nucleation, together with two-moment cloud microphysics are used to calculate the interaction of the different particles with clouds depending on their physical and chemical properties. The impact of dust on cloud droplet number concentration was found to be low, with just a slight increase in cloud droplet number concentration for both uncoated and coated dust. For temperatures lower than the level of homogeneous freezing, no significant impact of dust on the number and mass concentration of ice crystals was found, though the concentration of frozen dust particles reached up to 100 l−1 during the ice nucleation events. Mineral dust particles were found to have the largest impact on clouds in a temperature range between freezing level and the level of homogeneous freezing, where they determined the number concentration of ice crystals due to efficient heterogeneous freezing of the dust particles and modified the glaciation of mixed phase clouds. Our simulations show that during the dust events, ice crystals concentrations were increased twofold in this temperature range (compared to if dust interactions are neglected). This had a significant impact on the cloud optical properties, causing a reduction in the incoming short-wave radiation at the surface up to −75 W m−2. Including the direct interaction of dust with radiation caused an additional reduction in the incoming short-wave radiation by 40 to 80 W m−2, and the incoming long-wave radiation at the surface was increased significantly in the order of +10 W m−2. The strong radiative forcings associated with dust caused a reduction in surface temperature in the order of −0.2 to −0.5 K for most parts of France, Germany, and Italy during the dust event. The maximum difference in surface temperature was found in the East of France, the Benelux, and Western Germany with up to −1 K. This magnitude of temperature change was sufficient to explain a systematic bias in numerical weather forecasts during the period of the dust event.

Optical-microphysical properties of Saharan dust aerosols and composition relationship using a multi-wavelength Raman lidar, in situ sensors and modelling: a case study analysis

Abstract. A strong Saharan dust event that occurred over the city of Athens, Greece (37.9° N, 23.6° E) between 27 March and 3 April 2009 was followed by a synergy of three instruments: a 6-wavelength Raman lidar, a CIMEL sun-sky radiometer and the MODIS sensor. The BSC-DREAM model was used to forecast the dust event and to simulate the vertical profiles of the aerosol concentration. Due to mixture of dust particles with low clouds during most of the reported period, the dust event could be followed by the lidar only during the cloud-free day of 2 April 2009. The lidar data obtained were used to retrieve the vertical profile of the optical (extinction and backscatter coefficients) properties of aerosols in the troposphere. The aerosol optical depth (AOD) values derived from the CIMEL ranged from 0.33–0.91 (355 nm) to 0.18–0.60 (532 nm), while the lidar ratio (LR) values retrieved from the Raman lidar ranged within 75–100 sr (355 nm) and 45–75 sr (532 nm). Inside a selected dust layer region, between 1.8 and 3.5 km height, mean LR values were 83 ± 7 and 54 ± 7 sr, at 355 and 532 nm, respectively, while the Ångström-backscatter-related (ABR355/532) and Ångström-extinction-related (AER355/532) were found larger than 1 (1.17 ± 0.08 and 1.11 ± 0.02, respectively), indicating mixing of dust with other particles. Additionally, a retrieval technique representing dust as a mixture of spheres and spheroids was used to derive the mean aerosol microphysical properties (mean and effective radius, number, surface and volume density, and mean refractive index) inside the selected atmospheric layers. Thus, the mean value of the retrieved refractive index was found to be 1.49( ± 0.10) + 0.007( ± 0.007)i, and that of the effective radiuses was 0.30 ± 0.18 μm. The final data set of the aerosol optical and microphysical properties along with the water vapor profiles obtained by Raman lidar were incorporated into the ISORROPIA II model to provide a possible aerosol composition consistent with the retrieved refractive index values. Thus, the inferred chemical properties showed 12–40% of dust content, sulfate composition of 16–60%, and organic carbon content of 15–64%, indicating a possible mixing of dust with haze and smoke. PM10 concentrations levels, PM10 composition results and SEM-EDX (Scanning Electron Microscope-Energy Dispersive X-ray) analysis results on sizes and mineralogy of particles from samples during the Saharan dust transport event were used to evaluate the retrieval.

Correction to “Multi‐instrumental observation of an exceptionally strong Saharan dust outbreak over Portugal”

Correction to “Multi‐instrumental observation of an exceptionally strong Saharan dust outbreak over Portugal”

Multi-instrumental observation of an exceptionally strong Saharan dust outbreak over Portugal

[1] An exceptionally strong outbreak of Saharan dust was observed in southern Portugal from 4 to 9 April 2011. The event was monitored with a multiwavelength Raman lidar, a CIMEL Sun photometer, the Cloud Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP) and two Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS). Those instruments provided vertically resolved and columnar information about the optical properties of the mineral dust plume. Maximum aerosol optical depths in the free troposphere of 1.8 and 1.9 were observed with Raman lidar at 355 and 532 nm, respectively. The mean extinction-related Ångström exponents (355, 532 nm) from Raman lidar averaged over the whole period were 0.0 ± 0.2. Backscatter-related Ångström exponents (355, 532 nm and 532, 1064 nm) were 0.4 on average. Mean lidar ratios calculated from Raman lidar measurements were 45 ± 8 sr at 355 nm and 53 ± 7 sr at 532 nm. The mean linear particle depolarization ratio at 532 nm was 0.28 ± 0.04. Furthermore, intrusion of Saharan dust into the planetary boundary layer could be observed with different ground-based in-situ instruments. Maximum particle mass concentration values (PM10) of 162 μg m−3 were detected at ground. The daily threshold of 50 μg m−3 for PM10 was exceeded on three subsequent days during the considered period. The ratio of coarse to fine mode particle number concentration reached maximum values larger than 1, coinciding with the maximum in PM10mass concentration. A comparison of ground-based Raman lidar measurements and CALIOP Level 2 data was done for one CALIPSO overpass. A good agreement was found for backscatter coefficients.

Lidar ratio of Saharan dust over Cape Verde Islands: Assessment and error calculation

[1] Lidar ratios Sp of Saharan dust were determined at the Cape Verde Islands in the framework of the second phase of the Saharan Mineral Dust Experiment to investigate possible changes during the first few days of transport from the source regions. Lidar ratios were retrieved from vertical profiles of particle extinction coefficients and backscatter coefficients measured simultaneously at 355 and 532 nm with the two Raman lidar systems MULIS and POLIS of the Meteorological Institute of the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitat. As previous studies are lacking, one of the main foci of this paper is the elaboration of an extensive error analysis of the Sp retrieval. Only the determination of systematic errors, resulting from the uncertainties of the input parameters of the retrieval, and statistical errors of Sp due to signal noise allows one to compare measurements at different sites and to gain insight into the changes of the dust lidar ratio with time. Suitable conditions for the assessment of Sp and the error analysis were met during a strong Saharan dust outbreak from 28 to 30 January 2008, where particle extinction coefficients of the dust layer as high as 0.2–0.4 km−1 in the UV and visible spectral region were observed. We found an average lidar ratio of dust over Cape Verde Islands of 63 ± 6 sr at 355 and 532 nm.

Impact of Interactive Aerosol on the African Easterly Jet in the NASA GEOS-5 Global Forecasting System

Abstract The real-time treatment of interactive, realistically varying aerosols in a global operational forecasting system, as opposed to prescribed (fixed or climatologically varying) aerosols, is a very difficult challenge that has only recently begun to be addressed. Experiment results from a recent version of the NASA’s Goddard Earth Observing System (GEOS-5) forecasting system, inclusive of interactive-aerosol direct effects, are presented in this work. Five sets of 30 five-day forecasts are initialized from a high quality set of analyses previously produced and documented, to cover the period from 15 August to 16 September 2006, which corresponds to the NASA African Monsoon Multidisciplinary Analysis (NAMMA) observing campaign. Four forecast sets are at two different horizontal resolutions, with and without interactive-aerosol treatment. A fifth forecast set is performed with climatologically varying aerosols. The net impact of the interactive aerosol, associated with a strong Saharan dust outbreak, is a temperature increase at the dust level, and a decrease in the near-surface levels, in agreement with previous observational and modeling studies. Moreover, forecasts in which interactive aerosols are included depict an African easterly jet (AEJ) at slightly higher elevation, and slightly displaced northward, with respect to the forecasts in which aerosols are not included. The shift in the AEJ position goes in the direction of the observations and agrees with previous results.

Iron solubility in crustal and anthropogenic aerosols: The Eastern Mediterranean as a case study

We report seawater dissolution experiments for aerosol samples simultaneously collected (October 2007) across the Levantine Basin (LB, Eastern Mediterranean Sea), a marine system influenced by seasonal atmospheric inputs. Two distinct populations exhibited contrasting kinetic profiles; those representative of strong Saharan dust events which had variable iron release profiles with a maximum solubility of 0.94 ± 1.48% (1 s.d.) whereas those which had a relatively greater anthropogenic influence had consistent profiles (fast release, ≤2 h, of dissolved iron in seawater followed by removal) with a maximum solubility of 11.5 ± 9.3% (1 s.d.). First estimates of atmospheric fluxes of soluble iron are presented, ranging from 8.64 ± 10.76 mg m −2 y −1 for the Northern LB to 6.48 ± 7.78 mg m −2 y −1 for the Southern LB. Estimates of Fe fluxes to oceanic basins are important for constraining the global iron budget, and dust dissolution kinetic profiles provide information on the mechanisms involved during the release of aerosol Fe in seawater post atmospheric deposition.