Aerosol events in the broader Mediterranean basin based on 7-year (2000-2007) MODIS C005 data

Abstract. Aerosol events (their frequency and intensity) in the broader Mediterranean basin were studied using 7-year (2000–2007) aerosol data of optical depth (AOD at 550 nm) from the MODerate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Terra. The complete spatial coverage of data revealed a significant spatial variability of aerosol events which is also dependent on their intensity. Strong events occur more often in the western and central Mediterranean basin (up to 14 events/year) whereas extreme events (AOD up to 5.0) are systematically observed in the eastern Mediterranean basin throughout the year. There is also a significant seasonal variability with strong aerosol events occurring most frequently in the western part of the basin in summer and extreme episodes in the eastern part during spring. The events were also analyzed separately over land and sea revealing differences that are due to the different natural and anthropogenic processes, like dust transport (producing maximum frequencies of extreme episodes in spring over both land and sea) or forest fires (producing maximum frequencies in strong episodes in summer over land). The inter-annual variability shows a gradual decrease in the frequency of all aerosol episodes over land and sea areas of the Mediterranean during the period 2000–2007, associated with an increase in their intensity (increased AOD values). The strong spatiotemporal variability of aerosol events indicates the need for monitoring them at the highest spatial and temporal coverage and resolution.

[1]  Victoria E. Cachorro,et al.  Inventory of African desert dust events over the southwestern Iberian Peninsula in 2000-2005 with an AERONET Cimel Sun photometer , 2007 .

[2]  Yoram J. Kaufman,et al.  Aerosol direct radiative effect at the top of the atmosphere over cloud free ocean derived from four years of MODIS data , 2006 .

[3]  B. Holben,et al.  Validation of MODIS aerosol optical depth retrieval over land , 2002 .

[4]  J. Hurrell.  Decadal Trends in the North Atlantic Oscillation: Regional Temperatures and Precipitation , 1995, Science.

[5]  Christos Zerefos,et al.  Measurements of Saharan dust aerosols over the Eastern Mediterranean using elastic backscatter-Raman lidar, spectrophotometric and satellite observations in the frame of the EARLINET project , 2005 .

[6]  E. Vermote,et al.  The MODIS Aerosol Algorithm, Products, and Validation , 2005 .

[7]  C. O'Dowd,et al.  Flood or Drought: How Do Aerosols Affect Precipitation? , 2008, Science.

[8]  Larry L. Stowe,et al.  Characterization of tropospheric aerosols over the oceans with the NOAA advanced very high resolution radiometer optical thickness operational product , 1997 .

[9]  Aristides Bartzokas,et al.  Pressure covariability over the Atlantic, Europe and N. Africa. application: Centers of action for temperature, winter precipitation and summer winds in Athens, Greece , 1994 .

[10]  B. Holben,et al.  Validation of MODIS aerosol retrieval over ocean , 2002 .

[11]  G. Gobbi,et al.  Aerosol seasonal variability over the Mediterranean region and relative impact of maritime, continental and Saharan dust particles over the basin from MODIS data in the year 2001 , 2004 .

[12]  Xavier Querol,et al.  Spatial and temporal variability in aerosol properties over the Mediterranean basin based on 6-year (2000-2006) MODIS data , 2008 .

[13]  E. Vermote,et al.  Operational remote sensing of tropospheric aerosol over land from EOS moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer , 1997 .

[14]  F. Marenco,et al.  Aerosol advection and sea salt events in Genoa, Italy, during the second half of 2005. , 2007, The Science of the total environment.

[15]  C. Schwierz,et al.  The transport history of two Saharan dust events archived in an Alpine ice core , 2019 .

[16]  M. Harrison,et al.  The dust event of 17 April 2005 over Athens, Greece , 2006 .

[17]  B. Holben,et al.  A spatio‐temporal approach for global validation and analysis of MODIS aerosol products , 2002 .

[18]  Xavier Querol,et al.  Comparative PM10-PM2.5 source contribution study at rural, urban and industrial sites during PM episodes in Eastern Spain. , 2004, The Science of the total environment.

[19]  K. Lau,et al.  Asian summer monsoon anomalies induced by aerosol direct forcing : the role of the Tibetan Plateau , 2006 .

[20]  B. Holben,et al.  Baseline maritime aerosol: Methodology to Derive the optical thickness and scattering properties , 2001 .

[21]  J. Randerson,et al.  Interannual variability in global biomass burning emissions from 1997 to 2004 , 2006 .

[22]  V. Cachorro,et al.  Study of desert dust events over the southwestern Iberian Peninsula in year 2000: two case studies , 2006 .

[23]  J. Klett,et al.  Microphysics of Clouds and Precipitation , 1978, Nature.

[24]  M. Jacobson.  Global direct radiative forcing due to multicomponent anthropogenic and natural aerosols , 2001 .

[25]  K. Lau,et al.  Asian summer monsoon anomalies induced by aerosol direct forcing: the role of the Tibetan Plateau , 2006 .

[26]  B. N. Meisner,et al.  The Relationship between Large-Scale Convective Rainfall and Cold Cloud over the Western Hemisphere during 1982-84 , 1987 .

[27]  I. Jankowiak,et al.  Long‐term daily monitoring of Saharan dust load over ocean using Meteosat ISCCP‐B2 data: 2. Accuracy of the method and validation using Sun photometer measurements , 1997 .

[28]  V. Ramanathan,et al.  Aerosols, Climate, and the Hydrological Cycle , 2001, Science.

[29]  V. Cachorro,et al.  A long Saharan dust event over the western Mediterranean: Lidar, Sun photometer observations, and regional dust modeling , 2006 .

[30]  I. Vardavas,et al.  Assessment of the MODIS Collections C005 and C004 aerosol optical depth products over the Mediterranean basin , 2008 .

[31]  P. Koepke,et al.  The direct effect of aerosols on solar radiation based on satellite observations, reanalysis datasets, and spectral aerosol optical properties from Global Aerosol Data Set (GADS) , 2007 .

[32]  Vincent R. Gray.  Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis Summary for Policymakers , 2007 .

[33]  Mark Z. Jacobson,et al.  H. R. Pruppacher and J. D. Klett, Microphysics of Clouds and Precipitation, Second Revised and Enlarged Edition with an Introduction to Cloud Chemistry and Cloud Electricity , 1998 .

[34]  Sensitivity analysis of aerosol direct radiative forcing in ultraviolet—visible wavelengths and consequences for the heat budget , 2004 .

[35]  C. Hueglin,et al.  Saharan dust events at the Jungfraujoch: detection by wavelength dependence of the single scattering albedo and first climatology analysis , 2004 .

[36]  Robert Frouin,et al.  Asian Dust Events of April 1998 , 2001 .

[37]  F. Monteleone,et al.  Seasonal transport patterns of intense Saharan dust events at the Mediterranean island of Lampedusa , 2008 .

[38]  G. Gutman,et al.  Dust Intrusion Events into the Mediterranean Basin. , 1991 .

[39]  V. Masson,et al.  Satellite climatology of African dust transport in the Mediterranean atmosphere , 1998 .

[40]  Yoram J. Kaufman,et al.  Evaluation of the Moderate‐Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) retrievals of dust aerosol over the ocean during PRIDE , 2003 .

[41]  Olivier Favez,et al.  Long-term measurements of carbonaceous aerosols in the Eastern Mediterranean: evidence of long-range transport of biomass burning , 2008 .

[42]  O. Boucher,et al.  A satellite view of aerosols in the climate system , 2002, Nature.

[43]  Numerical study of a very intensive eastern Mediterranean dust storm, 13–16 March 1998 , 2002 .

[44]  O. Llinâs,et al.  Saharan dust storms over the Canary islands during winter 1998 as depicted from the advanced very high-resolution radiometer , 2002 .

[45]  Xavier Querol,et al.  Origin of high summer PM10 and TSP concentrations at rural sites in Eastern Spain , 2002 .

[46]  Daniela Meloni,et al.  Forest fire aerosol over the Mediterranean basin during summer 2003 , 2005 .

[47]  Oleg Dubovik,et al.  Global aerosol optical properties and application to Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer aerosol retrieval over land , 2007 .

[48]  J. Janowiak,et al.  The Version 2 Global Precipitation Climatology Project (GPCP) Monthly Precipitation Analysis (1979-Present) , 2003 .

[49]  M. Kulmala,et al.  Characterization of aerosol particle episodes in Finland caused by wildfires in , 2005 .

[50]  T. Cokacar,et al.  Optical properties of mineral dust outbreaks over the northeastern Mediterranean , 2003 .

[51]  Peng Zhang,et al.  Identification and physical retrieval of dust storm using three MODIS thermal IR channels , 2006 .

[52]  Lucas Alados-Arboledas,et al.  Saharan dust outbreak over southeastern Spain as detected by sun photometer , 2005 .

[53]  Christos Zerefos,et al.  Four‐year aerosol observations with a Raman lidar at Thessaloniki, Greece, in the framework of European Aerosol Research Lidar Network (EARLINET) , 2005 .

[54]  J. Kukkonen,et al.  Analysis and evaluation of selected local-scale PM10 air pollution episodes in four European cities: Helsinki, London, Milan and Oslo , 2005 .

[55]  George Kallos,et al.  Photooxidant dynamics in the Mediterranean basin in summer: Results from European research projects , 1997 .

[56]  D. Tanré,et al.  Remote sensing of aerosol properties over oceans using the MODIS/EOS spectral radiances , 1997 .

[57]  X. Querol,et al.  A combined analysis of backward trajectories and aerosol chemistry to characterise long-range transport episodes of particulate matter: the Madrid air basin, a case study. , 2008, The Science of the total environment.

[58]  C. Zerefos,et al.  Raman lidar and sunphotometric measurements of aerosol optical properties over Thessaloniki, Greece during a biomass burning episode , 2003 .

[59]  Mihalis Vrekoussis,et al.  Dust transport over the eastern Mediterranean derived from Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer, Aerosol Robotic Network, and surface measurements , 2007 .