0000000000377037

AUTHOR

Carmen Emmel

Electron microscopy of particles collected at Praia, Cape Verde, during the Saharan Mineral Dust Experiment: particle chemistry, shape, mixing state and complex refractive index

A large field experiment of the Saharan Mineral Dust Experiment (SAMUM) was performed in Praia, Cape Verde, in January and February 2008. The aerosol at Praia is a superposition of mineral dust, sea-salt, sulphates and soot. Particles smaller than 500 nm are mainly mineral dust, mineral dust–sulphate mixtures, sulphates and soot–sulphate mixtures. Particles larger then 2.5 μm consist of mineral dust, sea-salt and few mineral dust–sulphate mixtures. A transition range exists in between. The major internal mixtures are mineral dust–sulphate and soot–sulphate. Mineral dust–sea-salt mixtures occur occasionally, mineral dust–soot mixtures were not observed. The aspect ratio was 1.3–1.4 for dry p…

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Ground-based off-line aerosol measurements at Praia, Cape Verde, during the Saharan Mineral Dust Experiment: microphysical properties and mineralogy

A large field experiment of the Saharan Mineral Dust Experiment (SAMUM) was performed in Praia, Cape Verde, in January and February 2008. This work reports on the aerosol mass concentrations, size distributions and mineralogical composition of the aerosol arriving at Praia. Three dust periods were recorded during the measurements, divided by transitional periods and embedded in maritime-influenced situations. The total suspended particle mass/PM 10 /PM 2.5 were 250/180/74 μg/m 3 on average for the first dust period (17–21 January) and 250/230/83 μg/m 3 for the second (24–26 January). The third period (28 January to 2 February) was the most intensive with 410/340/130 μg/m 3 . Four modes were…

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Particle chemical properties in the vertical column based on aircraft observations in the vicinity of Cape Verde Islands

During the second Saharan Mineral Dust Experiment (SAMUM-2) field campaign, particles with geometric diameters (d) between ∼0.1 and 25 μm were collected on board of the Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt (German Aerospace Center, DLR) Falcon aircraft. Size, chemical composition and mixing state of aerosols sampled (spatially and vertically resolved) along the West African coastline and in the Cape Verde Islands region were determined by electron microscopy. A pronounced layer structure of biomass-burning aerosol and desert dust was present for all days during the sampling period from 23 January to 6 February. The aerosol composition of the small particles (d < 0.5 μm) was highly v…

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Climatology of convective density currents in the southern foothills of the Atlas Mountains

Density currents fed by evaporationally cooled air are an important dust storm generating feature and can constitute a source of moisture in arid regions. Recently, the existence of such systems has been demonstrated for the area between the High Atlas Mountains and the Sahara desert in southern Morocco on the basis of case studies. Here, a climatological analysis is presented that uses data from the dense climate station network of the IMPETUS project (An Integrated Approach to the Efficient Management of Scarce Water Resources in West Africa) for the 5 year period 20022006. Objective criteria mainly based upon abrupt changes in wind and dew point temperature are defined to identify possib…

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