Articles | Volume 25, issue 21
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-15453-2025
© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-15453-2025
© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
12 Nov 2025
Research article |
| 12 Nov 2025
| 12 Nov 2025
Saharan dust transport event characterization in the Mediterranean atmosphere using 21 years of in-situ observations
Institute of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate (ISAC), National Research Council (CNR), Bologna, Italy
Davide Putero
Institute of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate (ISAC), National Research Council (CNR), Turin, Italy
Paolo Bonasoni
Institute of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate (ISAC), National Research Council (CNR), Bologna, Italy
Paolo Cristofanelli
Institute of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate (ISAC), National Research Council (CNR), Bologna, Italy
Marco Zanatta
Institute of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate (ISAC), National Research Council (CNR), Bologna, Italy
Angela Marinoni
Institute of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate (ISAC), National Research Council (CNR), Bologna, Italy
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Hannah Meyer, Konrad Kandler, Sylvain Dupont, Jerónimo Escribano, Jessica Girdwood, George Nikolich, Andrés Alastuey, Vicken Etyemezian, Cristina González Flórez, Adolfo González-Romero, Tareq Hussein, Mark Irvine, Peter Knippertz, Ottmar Möhler, Xavier Querol, Chris Stopford, Franziska Vogel, Frederik Weis, Andreas Wieser, Carlos Pérez García-Pando, and Martina Klose
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Kunfeng Gao, Franziska Vogel, Romanos Foskinis, Stergios Vratolis, Maria I. Gini, Konstantinos Granakis, Anne-Claire Billault-Roux, Paraskevi Georgakaki, Olga Zografou, Prodromos Fetfatzis, Alexis Berne, Alexandros Papayannis, Konstantinos Eleftheridadis, Ottmar Möhler, and Athanasios Nenes
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Black carbon (BC) particles influence the Arctic radiative balance. Vertical measurements of black carbon were conducted during the ACLOUD campaign in the European Arctic to study the interaction of BC with clouds. This study shows that clouds influence the vertical variability of BC properties across the inversion layer and that multiple activation and transformation mechanisms of BC may occur in the presence of low-level, persistent, mixed-phase clouds.
Zoé Brasseur, Dimitri Castarède, Erik S. Thomson, Michael P. Adams, Saskia Drossaart van Dusseldorp, Paavo Heikkilä, Kimmo Korhonen, Janne Lampilahti, Mikhail Paramonov, Julia Schneider, Franziska Vogel, Yusheng Wu, Jonathan P. D. Abbatt, Nina S. Atanasova, Dennis H. Bamford, Barbara Bertozzi, Matthew Boyer, David Brus, Martin I. Daily, Romy Fösig, Ellen Gute, Alexander D. Harrison, Paula Hietala, Kristina Höhler, Zamin A. Kanji, Jorma Keskinen, Larissa Lacher, Markus Lampimäki, Janne Levula, Antti Manninen, Jens Nadolny, Maija Peltola, Grace C. E. Porter, Pyry Poutanen, Ulrike Proske, Tobias Schorr, Nsikanabasi Silas Umo, János Stenszky, Annele Virtanen, Dmitri Moisseev, Markku Kulmala, Benjamin J. Murray, Tuukka Petäjä, Ottmar Möhler, and Jonathan Duplissy
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 5117–5145, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-5117-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-5117-2022, 2022
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The present measurement report introduces the ice nucleation campaign organized in Hyytiälä, Finland, in 2018 (HyICE-2018). We provide an overview of the campaign settings, and we describe the measurement infrastructure and operating procedures used. In addition, we use results from ice nucleation instrument inter-comparison to show that the suite of these instruments deployed during the campaign reports consistent results.
Laura Tositti, Erika Brattich, Claudio Cassardo, Pietro Morozzi, Alessandro Bracci, Angela Marinoni, Silvana Di Sabatino, Federico Porcù, and Alessandro Zappi
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We present a thorough investigation of an anomalous transport of mineral dust over a region renowned for excess airborne particulate matter, the Italian Po Valley, which occurred in late March 2021. Both the origin of this dust outbreak, which was localized in central Asia (i.e., the so-called Aralkum Desert), and the upstream synoptic conditions, investigated here in extreme detail using multiple integrated observations including in situ measurements and remote sensing, were atypical.
Clémence Rose, Martine Collaud Coen, Elisabeth Andrews, Yong Lin, Isaline Bossert, Cathrine Lund Myhre, Thomas Tuch, Alfred Wiedensohler, Markus Fiebig, Pasi Aalto, Andrés Alastuey, Elisabeth Alonso-Blanco, Marcos Andrade, Begoña Artíñano, Todor Arsov, Urs Baltensperger, Susanne Bastian, Olaf Bath, Johan Paul Beukes, Benjamin T. Brem, Nicolas Bukowiecki, Juan Andrés Casquero-Vera, Sébastien Conil, Konstantinos Eleftheriadis, Olivier Favez, Harald Flentje, Maria I. Gini, Francisco Javier Gómez-Moreno, Martin Gysel-Beer, Anna Gannet Hallar, Ivo Kalapov, Nikos Kalivitis, Anne Kasper-Giebl, Melita Keywood, Jeong Eun Kim, Sang-Woo Kim, Adam Kristensson, Markku Kulmala, Heikki Lihavainen, Neng-Huei Lin, Hassan Lyamani, Angela Marinoni, Sebastiao Martins Dos Santos, Olga L. Mayol-Bracero, Frank Meinhardt, Maik Merkel, Jean-Marc Metzger, Nikolaos Mihalopoulos, Jakub Ondracek, Marco Pandolfi, Noemi Pérez, Tuukka Petäjä, Jean-Eudes Petit, David Picard, Jean-Marc Pichon, Veronique Pont, Jean-Philippe Putaud, Fabienne Reisen, Karine Sellegri, Sangeeta Sharma, Gerhard Schauer, Patrick Sheridan, James Patrick Sherman, Andreas Schwerin, Ralf Sohmer, Mar Sorribas, Junying Sun, Pierre Tulet, Ville Vakkari, Pieter Gideon van Zyl, Fernando Velarde, Paolo Villani, Stergios Vratolis, Zdenek Wagner, Sheng-Hsiang Wang, Kay Weinhold, Rolf Weller, Margarita Yela, Vladimir Zdimal, and Paolo Laj
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 17185–17223, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-17185-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-17185-2021, 2021
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Aerosol particles are a complex component of the atmospheric system the effects of which are among the most uncertain in climate change projections. Using data collected at 62 stations, this study provides the most up-to-date picture of the spatial distribution of particle number concentration and size distribution worldwide, with the aim of contributing to better representation of aerosols and their interactions with clouds in models and, therefore, better evaluation of their impact on climate.
Naruki Hiranuma, Brent W. Auvermann, Franco Belosi, Jack Bush, Kimberly M. Cory, Dimitrios G. Georgakopoulos, Kristina Höhler, Yidi Hou, Larissa Lacher, Harald Saathoff, Gianni Santachiara, Xiaoli Shen, Isabelle Steinke, Romy Ullrich, Nsikanabasi S. Umo, Hemanth S. K. Vepuri, Franziska Vogel, and Ottmar Möhler
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 14215–14234, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-14215-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-14215-2021, 2021
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We present laboratory and field studies showing that an open-lot livestock facility is a substantial source of atmospheric ice-nucleating particles (INPs). The ambient concentration of INPs from livestock facilities in Texas is very high. It is up to several thousand INPs per liter below –20 °C and may impact regional aerosol–cloud interactions. About 50% of feedlot INPs were supermicron in diameter. No notable amount of known ice-nucleating microorganisms was found in our feedlot samples.
Federico Dallo, Daniele Zannoni, Jacopo Gabrieli, Paolo Cristofanelli, Francescopiero Calzolari, Fabrizio de Blasi, Andrea Spolaor, Dario Battistel, Rachele Lodi, Warren Raymond Lee Cairns, Ann Mari Fjæraa, Paolo Bonasoni, and Carlo Barbante
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 6005–6021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-6005-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-6005-2021, 2021
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Our work showed how the adoption of low-cost technology could be useful in environmental research and monitoring. We focused our work on tropospheric ozone, but we also showed how to make a general purpose low-cost sensing system which may be adapted and optimised to be used in many other case studies. Given the importance of providing quality data, we put a lot of effort in the sensor's calibration, and we believe that our results show how to exploit the potential of the low-cost technology.
Marco Zanatta, Andreas Herber, Zsófia Jurányi, Oliver Eppers, Johannes Schneider, and Joshua P. Schwarz
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 9329–9342, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-9329-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-9329-2021, 2021
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Saline snow samples were collected from the sea ice in the Fram Strait. Laboratory experiments revealed that sea salt can bias the quantification of black carbon with a laser-induced incandescence technique. The maximum underestimation was quantified to reach values of 80 %–90 %. This salt-induced interference is reported here for the first time and should be considered in future studies aiming to quantify black carbon in snow in marine environments.
Andrea Cuesta-Mosquera, Griša Močnik, Luka Drinovec, Thomas Müller, Sascha Pfeifer, María Cruz Minguillón, Björn Briel, Paul Buckley, Vadimas Dudoitis, Javier Fernández-García, María Fernández-Amado, Joel Ferreira De Brito, Veronique Riffault, Harald Flentje, Eimear Heffernan, Nikolaos Kalivitis, Athina-Cerise Kalogridis, Hannes Keernik, Luminita Marmureanu, Krista Luoma, Angela Marinoni, Michael Pikridas, Gerhard Schauer, Norbert Serfozo, Henri Servomaa, Gloria Titos, Jesús Yus-Díez, Natalia Zioła, and Alfred Wiedensohler
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 3195–3216, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-3195-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-3195-2021, 2021
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Measurements of black carbon must be conducted with instruments operating in quality-checked and assured conditions to generate reliable and comparable data. Here, 23 Aethalometers monitoring black carbon mass concentrations in European networks were characterized and intercompared. The influence of different aerosol sources, maintenance activities, and the filter material on the instrumental variabilities were investigated. Good agreement and in general low deviations were seen.
Julia Schneider, Kristina Höhler, Paavo Heikkilä, Jorma Keskinen, Barbara Bertozzi, Pia Bogert, Tobias Schorr, Nsikanabasi Silas Umo, Franziska Vogel, Zoé Brasseur, Yusheng Wu, Simo Hakala, Jonathan Duplissy, Dmitri Moisseev, Markku Kulmala, Michael P. Adams, Benjamin J. Murray, Kimmo Korhonen, Liqing Hao, Erik S. Thomson, Dimitri Castarède, Thomas Leisner, Tuukka Petäjä, and Ottmar Möhler
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 3899–3918, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-3899-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-3899-2021, 2021
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By triggering the formation of ice crystals, ice-nucleating particles (INP) strongly influence cloud formation. Continuous, long-term measurements are needed to characterize the atmospheric INP variability. Here, a first long-term time series of INP spectra measured in the boreal forest for more than 1 year is presented, showing a clear seasonal cycle. It is shown that the seasonal dependency of INP concentrations and prevalent INP types is driven by the abundance of biogenic aerosol.
Rosaria E. Pileci, Robin L. Modini, Michele Bertò, Jinfeng Yuan, Joel C. Corbin, Angela Marinoni, Bas Henzing, Marcel M. Moerman, Jean P. Putaud, Gerald Spindler, Birgit Wehner, Thomas Müller, Thomas Tuch, Arianna Trentini, Marco Zanatta, Urs Baltensperger, and Martin Gysel-Beer
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 1379–1403, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-1379-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-1379-2021, 2021
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Black carbon (BC), which is an important constituent of atmospheric aerosols, remains difficult to quantify due to various limitations of available methods. This study provides an extensive comparison of co-located field measurements, applying two methods based on different principles. It was shown that both methods indeed quantify the same aerosol property – BC mass concentration. The level of agreement that can be expected was quantified, and some reasons for discrepancy were identified.
Nikolaos Evangeliou, Stephen M. Platt, Sabine Eckhardt, Cathrine Lund Myhre, Paolo Laj, Lucas Alados-Arboledas, John Backman, Benjamin T. Brem, Markus Fiebig, Harald Flentje, Angela Marinoni, Marco Pandolfi, Jesus Yus-Dìez, Natalia Prats, Jean P. Putaud, Karine Sellegri, Mar Sorribas, Konstantinos Eleftheriadis, Stergios Vratolis, Alfred Wiedensohler, and Andreas Stohl
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 2675–2692, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-2675-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-2675-2021, 2021
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Following the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 to Europe, social distancing rules were introduced to prevent further spread. We investigate the impacts of the European lockdowns on black carbon (BC) emissions by means of in situ observations and inverse modelling. BC emissions declined by 23 kt in Europe during the lockdowns as compared with previous years and by 11 % as compared to the period prior to lockdowns. Residential combustion prevailed in Eastern Europe, as confirmed by remote sensing data.
Ottmar Möhler, Michael Adams, Larissa Lacher, Franziska Vogel, Jens Nadolny, Romy Ullrich, Cristian Boffo, Tatjana Pfeuffer, Achim Hobl, Maximilian Weiß, Hemanth S. K. Vepuri, Naruki Hiranuma, and Benjamin J. Murray
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 1143–1166, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-1143-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-1143-2021, 2021
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The Earth's climate is influenced by clouds, which are impacted by ice-nucleating particles (INPs), a minor fraction of atmospheric aerosols. INPs induce ice formation in clouds and thus often initiate precipitation formation. The Portable Ice Nucleation Experiment (PINE) is the first fully automated instrument to study cloud ice formation and to obtain long-term records of INPs. This is a timely development, and the capabilities it offers for research and atmospheric monitoring are significant.
Evelyn Jäkel, Tim Carlsen, André Ehrlich, Manfred Wendisch, Michael Schäfer, Sophie Rosenburg, Konstantina Nakoudi, Marco Zanatta, Gerit Birnbaum, Veit Helm, Andreas Herber, Larysa Istomina, Linlu Mei, and Anika Rohde
The Cryosphere Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2021-14, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2021-14, 2021
Preprint withdrawn
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Different approaches to retrieve the optical-equivalent snow grain size using satellite, airborne, and ground-based observations were evaluated and compared to modeled data. The study is focused on low Sun and partly rough surface conditions encountered North of Greenland in March/April 2018. We proposed an adjusted airborne retrieval method to reduce the retrieval uncertainty.
Jinfeng Yuan, Robin Lewis Modini, Marco Zanatta, Andreas B. Herber, Thomas Müller, Birgit Wehner, Laurent Poulain, Thomas Tuch, Urs Baltensperger, and Martin Gysel-Beer
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 635–655, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-635-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-635-2021, 2021
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Black carbon (BC) aerosols contribute substantially to climate warming due to their unique light absorption capabilities. We performed field measurements at a central European background site in winter and found that variability in the absorption efficiency of BC particles is driven mainly by their internal mixing state. Our results suggest that, at this site, knowing the BC mixing state is sufficient to describe BC light absorption enhancements due to the lensing effect in good approximation.
Camille Yver-Kwok, Carole Philippon, Peter Bergamaschi, Tobias Biermann, Francescopiero Calzolari, Huilin Chen, Sebastien Conil, Paolo Cristofanelli, Marc Delmotte, Juha Hatakka, Michal Heliasz, Ove Hermansen, Kateřina Komínková, Dagmar Kubistin, Nicolas Kumps, Olivier Laurent, Tuomas Laurila, Irene Lehner, Janne Levula, Matthias Lindauer, Morgan Lopez, Ivan Mammarella, Giovanni Manca, Per Marklund, Jean-Marc Metzger, Meelis Mölder, Stephen M. Platt, Michel Ramonet, Leonard Rivier, Bert Scheeren, Mahesh Kumar Sha, Paul Smith, Martin Steinbacher, Gabriela Vítková, and Simon Wyss
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 89–116, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-89-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-89-2021, 2021
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The Integrated Carbon Observation System (ICOS) is a pan-European research infrastructure which provides harmonized and high-precision scientific data on the carbon cycle and the greenhouse gas (GHG) budget. All stations have to undergo a rigorous assessment before being labeled, i.e., receiving approval to join the network. In this paper, we present the labeling process for the ICOS atmospheric network through the 23 stations that were labeled between November 2017 and November 2019.
Minghu Ding, Biao Tian, Michael C. B. Ashley, Davide Putero, Zhenxi Zhu, Lifan Wang, Shihai Yang, Chuanjin Li, and Cunde Xiao
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 12, 3529–3544, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-12-3529-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-12-3529-2020, 2020
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Dome A, is one of the harshest environments on Earth.To evaluate the characteristics of near-surface O3, continuous observations were carried out in 2016. The results showed different patterns between coastal and inland Antarctic areas that were characterized by high concentrations in cold seasons and at night. Short-range transport accounted for the O3 enhancement events (OEEs) during summer at DA, rather than efficient local production, which is consistent with previous studies.
Cited articles
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Collaud Coen, M., Weingartner, E., Schaub, D., Hueglin, C., Corrigan, C., Henning, S., Schwikowski, M., and Baltensperger, U.: Saharan dust events at the Jungfraujoch: detection by wavelength dependence of the single scattering albedo and first climatology analysis, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 4, 2465–2480, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-4-2465-2004, 2004. a, b
Collaud Coen, M., Andrews, E., Bigi, A., Martucci, G., Romanens, G., Vogt, F. P. A., and Vuilleumier, L.: Effects of the prewhitening method, the time granularity, and the time segmentation on the Mann–Kendall trend detection and the associated Sen's slope, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 6945–6964, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-6945-2020, 2020. a
Conte, M., Merico, E., Cesari, D., Dinoi, A., Grasso, F., Donateo, A., Guascito, M., and Contini, D.: Long-term characterisation of African dust advection in south-eastern Italy: Influence on fine and coarse particle concentrations, size distributions, and carbon content, Atmospheric Research, 233, 104690, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosres.2019.104690, 2020. a
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Cristofanelli, P., Gutiérrez, I., Adame, J., Bonasoni, P., Busetto, M., Calzolari, F., Putero, D., and Roccato, F.: Interannual and seasonal variability of NOx observed at the Mt. Cimone GAW/WMO global station (2165 m a.s.l., Italy), Atmospheric Environment, 249, 118245, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2021.118245, 2021. a
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Di Antonio, L., Di Biagio, C., Foret, G., Formenti, P., Siour, G., Doussin, J.-F., and Beekmann, M.: Aerosol optical depth climatology from the high-resolution MAIAC product over Europe: differences between major European cities and their surrounding environments, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 12455–12475, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-12455-2023, 2023. a
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Froyd, K., Yu, P., Schill, G., Brock, C., Kupc, A., Williamson, C., Jensen, E., Ray, E., Rosenlof, K., Bian, H., Darmenov, A., Colarco, P., Diskin, G., Bui, T. P., and Murphy, D.: Dominant role of mineral dust in cirrus cloud formation revealed by global-scale measurements, Nat. Geosci., 15, 177–183, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-022-00901-w, 2022. a
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Ginoux, P., Chin, M., Tegen, I., Prospero, J. M., Holben, B., Dubovik, O., and Lin, S.-J.: Sources and distributions of dust aerosols simulated with the GOCART model, Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 106, 20255–20273, https://doi.org/10.1029/2000JD000053, 2001. a, b
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Gobbi, G., Barnaba, F., Di Liberto, L., Bolignano, A., Lucarelli, F., Nava, S., Perrino, C., Pietrodangelo, A., Basart, S., Costabile, F., Dionisi, D., Rizza, U., Canepari, S., Sozzi, R., Morelli, M., Manigrasso, M., Drewnick, F., Struckmeier, C., Poenitz, K., and Wille, H.: An inclusive view of Saharan dust advections to Italy and the Central Mediterranean, Atmospheric Environment, 201, 242–256, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2019.01.002, 2019. a, b
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Marenco, F., Bonasoni, P., Calzolari, F., Ceriani, M., Chiari, M., Cristofanelli, P., D'Alessandro, A., Fermo, P., Lucarelli, F., Mazzei, F., Nava, S., Piazzalunga, A., Prati, P., Valli, G., and Vecchi, R.: Characterization of atmospheric aerosols at Monte Cimone, Italy, during summer 2004: Source apportionment and transport mechanisms, Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 111, https://doi.org/10.1029/2006JD007145, 2006. a
Marinoni, A., Cristofanelli, P., Calzolari, F., Roccato, F., Bonafè, U., and Bonasoni, P.: Continuous measurements of aerosol physical parameters at the Mt. Cimone GAW Station (2165 m a.s.l., Italy), Science of The Total Environment, 391, 241–251, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2007.10.004, 2008. a
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Short summary
Dust is in terms of mass the most abundant aerosol in the atmosphere. It can have a significant influence on e.g. the scattering and absorption of light, cloud formation, and solar energy production. We present 21 years of optical particle size distribution measurements at a mountain station in Italy, from which we assess Saharan dust transport events. A peak in the number of events was observed in summer and autumn, while a trend in the number of events over the 21 years was not detected.
Dust is in terms of mass the most abundant aerosol in the atmosphere. It can have a significant...
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