Source-dependent optical and mineral signatures of dust outbreaks over the Mediterranean
Journal
Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics
ISSN
1680-7324
Date Issued
September 1, 2026
Author(s)
Herrero Del Barrio Celia
Universidad de Valladolid, University of Valladolid
Aslanoğlu, S. Yeşer
Chadoulis, Rizos-Theodoros
Herrero-Anta, Sara
Kouklaki, Dimitra
Mytilinaios, Michail
Spyrou, Christos
Vandenbussche, Sophie
Abstract
Dust events frequently affect the Mediterranean Basin, however, the evolution of their optical and microphysical properties during transport remains poorly characterized. This study examines four major dust outbreaks in 2021–2022 affecting the Mediterranean, originating from the Eastern, Western, and Central Sahara and the Middle East. Combining ground-based AERONET sun photometers (24 stations), satellite (IASI, MODIS MIDAS) dust optical depth (DOD) data, and HYSPLIT back-trajectories, we track these events across Mediterranean sites. Results reveal regional differences in dust optical properties, including aerosol optical depth, single scattering albedo, and asymmetry factor, arising from source regions and transport processes. The Saharan events examined were dominated by coarse, scattering mineral dust, while the event originating from the Middle East featured finer, more absorbing particles, likely influenced by anthropogenic sources. MIDAS DOD-to-AOD ratios indicate that only one East-Central Saharan event maintained high dust fractions (DOD-to-AOD >0.8), suggesting relatively pure dust, while other events exhibited stronger spatial variability, with the Middle East event showing the lowest ratios, reflecting enhanced mixing with anthropogenic or marine aerosols. A regional case study in Cyprus using in situ elemental and absorption measurements shows that Middle Eastern dust event, despite lower mass concentrations, exhibited stronger absorption than the Saharan dust events observed in Cyprus. METAL-WRF mineralogical simulations indicate broadly similar mineral fractions across events, which alone could not explain the optical variability that observed across events. UAV-based composition data provide a first case-specific evaluation of modeled variability, although discrepancies in aluminum and magnesium highlight limitations in current dust representations.
Affiliation
Funding
This research has been supported by the European Cooperation in Science and Technology, EU-CardioRNA (grant no. CA21119), the NextGenerationEU (PRTR), the European Space Agency (grant no. 4000147847/25/I/AG), the EU Horizon 2020 Framework Programme, H2020 European Institute of Innovation and Technology (grant nos. 856612 and 857510), and the EU HORIZON EUROPEWidening Participation and Strengthening the European Research Area (grant no. 101160258). This work was also supported by the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion (MICINN), with the grant nos. PID2021-127588OB-I00 and TED2021-131211B-I00375 funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033.
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