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- ItemDust mobilization and aerosol transport from West Africa to Cape Verde - a meteorological overview of SAMUM-2(Milton Park : Taylor & Francis, 2017) Knippertz, Peter; Tesche, Matthias; Heinold, Bernd; Kandler, Konrad; Toledano, Carlos; Esselborn, MichaelThe second field campaign of the SAharan Mineral dUst experiMent (SAMUM-2) was performed between 15 January and 14 February 2008 at the airport of Praia, Cape Verde, and provided valuable information to study the westward transport of Saharan dust and the mixing with biomass-burning smoke and sea-salt aerosol. Here lidar, meteorological, and particle measurements at Praia, together with operational analyses, trajectories, and satellite and synoptic station data are used to give an overview of the meteorological conditions and to place other SAMUM-2 measurements into a large-scale context. It is demonstrated that wintertime dust conditions at Cape Verde are closely related to the movement and intensification of mid-latitude high-pressure systems and the associated pressure gradients at their southern flanks. These cause dust emission over Mauritania, Mali, and Niger, and subsequent westward transport to Cape Verde within about 1–5 d. Dust emissions often peak around midday, suggesting a relation to daytime mixing of momentum from nocturnal low-level jets to the surface. The dust layer over Cape Verde is usually restricted to the lowest 1.5 km of the atmosphere. During periods with near-surface wind speeds about 5.5 ms−1, a maritime aerosol layer develops which often mixes with dust from above. On most days, the middle levels up to about 5 km additionally contain smoke that can be traced back to sources in southernWest Africa. Above this layer, clean air masses are transported to Cape Verde with the westerly flow at the southern side of the subtropical jet. The penetration of extra-tropical disturbances to low latitudes can bring troposphere-deep westerly flow and unusually clean conditions to the region.
- ItemRegional modelling of Saharan dust and biomass-burning smoke, Part I: Model description and evaluation(Milton Park : Taylor & Francis, 2017) Heinold, Bernd; Tegen, Ina; Schepanski, Kerstin; Tesche, Matthias; Esselborn, Michael; Freudenthaler, Volker; Gross, Silke; Kandler, Konrad; Knippertz, Peter; Müller, Detlef; Schladitz, Alexander; Toledano, Carlos; Weinzierl, Bernadett; Ansmann, Albert; Althausen, Dietrich; Müller, Thomas; Petzold, Andreas; Wiedensohler, AlfredThe spatio-temporal evolution of the Saharan dust and biomass-burning plume during the SAMUM-2 field campaign in January and February 2008 is simulated at 28 km horizontal resolution with the regional model-system COSMOMUSCAT. The model performance is thoroughly tested using routine ground-based and space-borne remote sensing and local field measurements. Good agreement with the observations is found in many cases regarding transport patterns, aerosol optical thicknesses and the ratio of dust to smoke aerosol. The model also captures major features of the complex aerosol layering. Nevertheless, discrepancies in the modelled aerosol distribution occur, which are analysed in detail. The dry synoptic dynamics controlling dust uplift and transport during the dry season are well described by the model, but surface wind peaks associated with the breakdown of nocturnal low-level jets are not always reproduced. Thus, a strong dust outbreak is underestimated. While dust emission modelling is a priori more challenging, since strength and placement of dust sources depend on on-line computed winds, considerable inaccuracies also arise in observation-based estimates of biomass-burning emissions. They are caused by cloud and spatial errors of satellite fire products and uncertainties in fire emission parameters, and can lead to unrealistic model results of smoke transport.
- ItemCharacterization of Saharan dust, marine aerosols and mixtures of biomass-burning aerosols and dust by means of multi-wavelength depolarization and Raman lidar measurements during SAMUM 2(Milton Park : Taylor & Francis, 2017) Groß, Silke; Tesche, Matthias; Freudenthaler, Volker; Toledano, Carlos; Wiegner, Matthias; Ansmann, Albert; Althausen, Dietrich; Seefeldner, MeinhardThe particle linear depolarization ratio δp of Saharan dust, marine aerosols and mixtures of biomass-burning aerosols from southern West Africa and Saharan dust was determined at three wavelengths with three lidar systems during the SAharan Mineral dUst experiMent 2 at the airport of Praia, Cape Verde, between 22 January and 9 February 2008. The lidar ratio Sp of these major types of tropospheric aerosols was analysed at two wavelengths. For Saharan dust, we find wavelength dependent mean particle linear depolarization ratios δp of 0.24–0.27 at 355 nm, 0.29–0.31 at 532 nm and 0.36–0.40 at 710 nm, and wavelength independent mean lidar ratios Sp of 48–70 sr. Mixtures of biomass-burning aerosols and dust show wavelength independent values of δp and Sp between 0.12–0.23 and 57–98 sr, respectively. The mean values of marine aerosols range independent of wavelength for δp from 0.01 to 0.03 and for Sp from 14 to 24 sr.