Characterizing the annual cycle of African dust transport to the Caribbean Basin and South America and its impact on the environment and air quality

Decades of aerosol measurements on Barbados have yielded a detailed picture of African mineral dust transport to the Caribbean Basin that shows a strong seasonal cycle with a maximum in boreal summer and a minimum in winter. Satellite aerosol products suggest that in spring, there is a comparable tr...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Global biogeochemical cycles Vol. 28; no. 7; pp. 757 - 773
Main Authors:	Prospero, Joseph M., Collard, François-Xavier, Molinié, Jack, Jeannot, Alexis
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Washington Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01-07-2014
Subjects:	Aerosols African dust Air pollution Air quality Air quality programs Air quality standards Airborne particulates climate Climate change Climate variability Dust Emissions Environmental impact health Optical analysis Particulate matter PM10 Spring Summer USA AW, Atlantic South America, Amazonia ASW, Caribbean Sea, Lesser Antilles, Barbados Africa ASE, Africa South America, Amazon R ASW, French Guiana ASW, Caribbean Sea ASW, Caribbean Sea, Lesser Antilles, Guadeloupe
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Summary:	Decades of aerosol measurements on Barbados have yielded a detailed picture of African mineral dust transport to the Caribbean Basin that shows a strong seasonal cycle with a maximum in boreal summer and a minimum in winter. Satellite aerosol products suggest that in spring, there is a comparable transport to northeastern South America. Here we characterize the complete annual cycle of dust transport to the western Atlantic by linking the Barbados record to multiyear records of airborne particulate matter less than 10 µm diameter (PM10) measured in air quality programs at Cayenne (French Guiana) and Guadeloupe. Comparisons of PM10 at these sites with concurrent dust measurements at Barbados demonstrate that high PM10 levels are almost entirely due to dust. Cayenne PM10 peaks in spring in a cycle which is consistent with satellite aerosol optical depth and suggests that the Sahel is the dominant source. The persistent transport of dust during much of the year could impact a wide range of environmental processes over a broad region that extends from the southern United States to the Amazon Basin. Finally, the average 24 h PM10 concentrations at Cayenne and Guadeloupe frequently exceed the World Health Organization air quality guideline. Thus soil dust PM10 could be a significant, but generally unrecognized, health factor at western Atlantic sites and also in other relatively remote regions affected by long‐range dust from Africa. Because dust emissions and transport are highly sensitive to climate variability, climate change in coming decades could greatly affect a wide range of biogeochemical processes and human health in this region. Key Points Spring dust transport to South America comparable to Caribbean in summerAfrican dust events at Cayenne and Amazonia linked to emissions from SahelWHO PM10 air quality standard is frequently exceeded because of African dust
Bibliography:	ArticleID:GBC20170 ReadmeFigure S1Figure S2Figure S3 NASA - No. NNX12AP45G istex:EA87C20DBAC751D34DC26AB78D517B6A1C06A477 NSF - No. AGS-0962256 ark:/67375/WNG-Q675X2SK-T ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23
ISSN:	0886-6236 1944-9224
DOI:	10.1002/2013GB004802