African dust outbreaks over the Mediterranean Basin during 2001-2011: PM10 concentrations, phenomenology and trends, and its relation with synoptic and mesoscale meteorology

Abstract

The occurrence of African dust outbreaks over the whole Mediterranean Basin has been studied on an 11-yr period (2001-2011). In order to evaluate the impact of such mineral dust outbreaks on ambient concentrations of particulate matter, PM10 data from regional and suburban background sites across the Mediterranean area were compiled. After identifying the daily influence of African dust, a methodology for the estimation of the natural dust contributions on daily PM10 concentrations was applied. Our findings point out that African dust outbreaks are sensibly more frequent in southern sites across the Mediterranean, from 30 to 37% of the annual days, whereas they occur less. © Author(s) 2013.