Gkikas A., Houssos E.E., Papadimas C.D., Fotiadi A., Hatzianastassiou N., and Vardavas I. (2014)
In the proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Meteorology, Climatology and Atmospheric Physics, Heraclion, Crete, Greece, May 2014
Abstract
The Mediterranean basin is a crossroad where different aerosol types converge (e.g. anthropogenic, maritime and mineral dust). Dust particles mainly originating from North Africa deserts are transported according to prevailing synoptic conditions, resulting thus in a distinct seasonality. Eastern Mediterranean, including the broader Greek area undergoes dust intrusions frequently in spring resulting in high atmospheric dust loads in the region. However, during spring 2013 dust transport over Greece seems to have exhibited a clear persistence with dust episodes being frequent. In this work, in order to investigate whether the spring of 2013 was exceptional in this aspect or not, data of aerosol optical properties such as Aerosol Optical Depth at 870 nm (AOD870), Ångström parameter (α440-870) from FORTH- and NOA-AERONET (Aerosol Robotic Network) stations in Crete and Athens respectively, are used. The estimated values for the study season are compared with the available data of previous years, namely 2003-2012 for Crete and 2008-2012 for Athens. Complementary, daily values of AOD550 and α550-865 derived from MODIS (MODerate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) database are also considered. Finally, the associated synoptic conditions over Mediterranean are analyzed to examine the persistence of dust flow.