Source-dependent optical and mineral signatures of dust outbreaks over the Mediterranean

Papetta, Alkistis; Herrero del Barrio, Celia; Aslanoğlu, S. Yeşer; Chadoulis, Rizos-Theodoros; Charalampous, Georgia; Herrero-Anta, Sara; Kouklaki, Dimitra; Mytilinaios, Michail; Moustaka, Anna; Proestakis, Emmanouil; Amiridis, Vassilis; Spyrou, Christos; Gkikas, Antonis; Pikridas, Michael; Kezoudi, Maria; Marenco, Franco; Sciare, Jean; Vandenbussche, Sophie; Solomos, Stavros; Kazadzis, Stelios; Fountoulakis, Ilias

doi:10.5194/acp-26-12395-2026

Articles | Volume 26, issue 17

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-12395-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-12395-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 26, issue 17

Research article

|

01 Sep 2026

Research article |

| 01 Sep 2026

Source-dependent optical and mineral signatures of dust outbreaks over the Mediterranean

Alkistis Papetta, Celia Herrero del Barrio, S. Yeşer Aslanoğlu, Rizos-Theodoros Chadoulis, Georgia Charalampous, Sara Herrero-Anta, Dimitra Kouklaki, Michail Mytilinaios, Anna Moustaka, Emmanouil Proestakis, Vassilis Amiridis, Christos Spyrou, Antonis Gkikas, Michael Pikridas, Maria Kezoudi, Franco Marenco, Jean Sciare, Sophie Vandenbussche, Stavros Solomos, Stelios Kazadzis, and Ilias Fountoulakis

Data sets

METAL WRF Simulation results for major dust events in the Mediterranean A. Papetta et al. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20179898

UAV-based mineralogical composition during Fall Campaign 2021 A. Papetta https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20179843

ModIs Dust AeroSol (MIDAS): A global fine resolution dust optical depth dataset A. Gkikas et al. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4244106

A four-dimensional, multiyear, and near-global climate data record of the fine-mode (sub-micrometer in terms of diameter) and coarse-mode (super-micrometer in terms of diameter) components of atmospheric pure-dust. (Version Version 1) E. Proestakis https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10389741

EMEP dataset: Agia Marina Xyliatou, Cyprus M. Pikridas and A. Papetta https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20179588

Short summary

We studied four major dust events from the Sahara and the Middle East over the Mediterranean. Saharan dust events exhibited coarser and more scattering particles, while Middle Eastern dust was finer and mixed with pollution. Differences in absorption could not be explained by mineralogy and are attributed to mixing.