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Titel |
Temporal variability of mineral dust in southern Tunisia: analysis of 2 years of PM10 concentration, aerosol optical depth, and meteorology monitoring |
VerfasserIn |
Christel Bouet, Mohamed Taieb Labiadh, Gilles Bergametti, Jean Louis Rajot, Béatrice Marticorena, Saâd Sekrafi, Mohsen Ltifi, Anaïs Féron, Thierry Henry des Tureaux |
Konferenz |
EGU General Assembly 2016
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Medientyp |
Artikel
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Sprache |
en
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Digitales Dokument |
PDF |
Erschienen |
In: GRA - Volume 18 (2016) |
Datensatznummer |
250123658
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Publikation (Nr.) |
EGU/EGU2016-2950.pdf |
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Zusammenfassung |
The south of Tunisia is a region very prone to wind erosion. During the last decades, changes
in soil management have led to an increase in wind erosion. In February 2013, a
ground-based station dedicated to the monitoring of mineral dust (that can be seen in this
region as a proxy of the erosion of soils by wind) was installed at the Institut des Régions
Arides (IRA) of Médenine (Tunisia) to document the temporal variability of mineral dust
concentrations. This station allows continuous measurements of surface PM10 concentration
(TEOM™), aerosol optical depth (CIMEL sunphotometer), and total atmospheric
deposition of insoluble dust (CARAGA automatic sampler). The simultaneous
monitoring of meteorological parameters (wind speed and direction, relative humidity, air
temperature, atmospheric pressure, and precipitations) allows to analyse the factors
controlling the variations of mineral dust concentration from the sub-daily to the annual
scale.
The results from the two first years of measurements of PM10 concentration are
presented and discussed. In average on year 2014, PM10 concentration is 56 μg m−3.
However, mineral dust concentration highly varies throughout the year: very high PM10
concentrations (up to 1,000 μg m−3 in daily mean) are frequently observed during
wintertime and springtime, hardly ever in summer. These episodes of high PM10
concentration (when daily average PM10 concentration is higher than 240 μg m−3)
sometimes last several days. By combining local meteorological data, air-masses
trajectories, sunphotometer measurements, and satellite imagery, the part of the high
PM10concentration due to local emissions and those linked to an advection of dusty air
masses by medium and long range transport from the Sahara desert is quantified. |
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