Production and Long-Range Transport of Desert Dust in the Mediterranean Region: ETA Model Simulations

Saharan dust storms are the main source of the atmospheric dust in the Mediterranean region. Once injected to the atmosphere, dust may pass long distances under favourable meteorological conditions before it deposits to the ground or sea surfaces. Typically, several hundreds millions of tonnes of dust is transported away from sources annually (D’Almeida, 1986). Continuous presence of dust in the atmosphere causes diverse climatic and environmental effects. For example, dust modifies radiation properties of the air through absorption and scattering of the solar energy on dust particles (e. g. Chen et al., 1995). Recent estimate of Tegen and Fung (1994) shows that mineral dust may decrease the net radiation for about 1 Wm−2, revealing thus the fact that it could be a significant climate forcing factor. Another environmental effect of the dust process is dust deposition on the sea surface, which may significantly change the marine biochemical properties (e. g. Martin and Fitzwater, 1988; Kubilay and Saydam, 1995). Also, the atmospheric dust may significantly influence human activities: for example, it reduces the visibility, causing thus problems in the air and ground traffic; during dust storms, increased number of eye and respiratory organs infections is recorded, too.