{"type": "FeatureCollection", "features": [{"id": "10.1029/2023jd040657", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-06-24T16:18:17Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2024-06-11", "title": "Impact of Dust Source Patchiness on the Existence of a Constant Dust Flux Layer During Aeolian Erosion Events", "description": "Abstract

Dust emission fluxes during wind soil erosion are usually estimated using a dust concentration vertical gradient, by assuming a constant dust flux layer between the surface and the dust measurement levels. Here, we investigate the existence of this layer during erosion events recorded in Iceland and Jordan. Size\uffe2\uff80\uff90resolved dust fluxes were estimated at three levels between 2 and 4\uffc2\uffa0m using the eddy\uffe2\uff80\uff90covariance method. Dust fluxes were found mainly constant only between the two upper levels in Iceland, the lower dust flux being often stronger and richer in coarse particles, while dust fluxes in Jordan were nearly constant across all levels. The wind dynamics could not explain the absence of a constant dust flux layer in Iceland. We show that the presence of stationary dust source patches in Iceland, related to surface humidity, created a non\uffe2\uff80\uff90uniform dust layer near the surface, named dust roughness sublayer (DRSL), where individual plumes behind each patch interact but do not fully mix. The lowest dust measurement level was probably located within this sublayer while the upper ones were located above, such that there the emitted dust became spatially well\uffe2\uff80\uff90mixed. This explains near the surface in Iceland, the more intermittent dust concentration, its low correlation with the dust concentrations above, and the richer dust flux in coarse particles due to their lower deposition contribution. Our findings highlight the importance of estimating dust fluxes above a dust blending height whose characteristics depend on the dust source patchiness caused by surface humidity or the presence of sparse non\uffe2\uff80\uff90erosive elements.Mineral dust produced by wind erosion of arid and semiarid surfaces is a major component of atmospheric aerosol that affects climate, weather, ecosystems, and socioeconomic sectors such as human health, transportation, solar energy, and air quality. Understanding these effects and ultimately improving the resilience of affected countries requires a reliable, dense, and diverse set of dust observations, fundamental for the development and the provision of skillful dust-forecast-tailored products. The last decade has seen a notable improvement of dust observational capabilities in terms of considered parameters, geographical coverage, and delivery times, as well as of tailored products of interest to both the scientific community and the various end-users. Given this progress, here we review the current state of observational capabilities, including in situ, ground-based, and satellite remote sensing observations in northern Africa, the Middle East, and Europe for the provision of dust information considering the needs of various users. We also critically discuss observational gaps and related unresolved questions while providing suggestions for overcoming the current limitations. Our review aims to be a milestone for discussing dust observational gaps at a global level to address the needs of users, from research communities to nonscientific stakeholders.

Abstract. Monitoring and describing the spatiotemporal variability of dust aerosols is crucial to understand their multiple effects, related feedbacks and impacts within the Earth system. This study describes the development of the MIDAS (ModIs Dust AeroSol) dataset. MIDAS provides columnar daily dust optical depth (DOD at 550\u2009nm) at global scale and fine spatial resolution (0.1\u00b0\u2009\u00d7\u20090.1\u00b0) over a decade (2007\u20132016). This new dataset combines quality filtered satellite aerosol optical depth (AOD) retrievals from MODIS-Aqua at swath level (Collection 6, Level 2), along with DOD-to-AOD ratios provided by MERRA-2 reanalysis to derive DOD on the MODIS native grid. The uncertainties of MODIS AOD and MERRA-2 dust fraction with respect to AERONET and CALIOP, respectively, are taken into account for the estimation of the total DOD uncertainty (including measurement and sampling uncertainties). MERRA-2 dust fractions are in very good agreement with CALIOP column-integrated dust fractions across the dust belt, in the Tropical Atlantic Ocean and the Arabian Sea; the agreement degrades in North America and the Southern Hemisphere where dust sources are smaller. MIDAS, MERRA-2 and CALIOP DODs strongly agree when it comes to annual and seasonal spatial patterns; however, deviations of dust loads' intensity are evident and regionally dependent. Overall, MIDAS is well correlated with ground-truth AERONET-derived DODs (R\u2009=\u20090.882), only showing a small negative bias (\u22120.009 or \u22125.307\u2009%). Among the major dust areas of the planet, the highest R values (up to 0.977) are found at sites of N. Africa, Middle East and Asia. MIDAS expands, complements and upgrades existing observational capabilities of dust aerosols and it is suitable for dust climatological studies, model evaluation and data assimilation.

", "keywords": ["Dust forecast", ":Enginyeria agroaliment\u00e0ria::Ci\u00e8ncies de la terra i de la vida::Climatologia i meteorologia [\u00c0rees tem\u00e0tiques de la UPC]", "Dust particles", "TA715-787", "Environmental engineering", "TA170-171", "Tropospheric aerosols", "Satellite aerosol optical depth", "16. Peace & justice", "ModIs Dust AeroSol (MIDAS)", "01 natural sciences", "\u00c0rees tem\u00e0tiques de la UPC::Enginyeria agroaliment\u00e0ria::Ci\u00e8ncies de la terra i de la vida::Climatologia i meteorologia", "Earthwork. Foundations", "Conjunts de dades", "13. Climate action", "Stratospheric aerosols", "Dust aerosols", "Data sets", "0105 earth and related environmental sciences"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://amt.copernicus.org/articles/14/309/2021/amt-14-309-2021.pdf"}, {"href": "https://amt.copernicus.org/articles/14/309/2021/amt-14-309-2021-supplement.pdf"}, {"href": "https://doi.org/2117/345158"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/Atmospheric%20Measurement%20Techniques", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "2117/345158", "name": "item", "description": "2117/345158", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/2117/345158"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2020-06-22T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.5194/amt-2020-222", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-06-24T16:22:19Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2020-06-22", "title": "ModIs Dust AeroSol (MIDAS): A global fine resolution dust optical depth dataset", "description": "

Abstract. Monitoring and describing the spatiotemporal variability of dust aerosols is crucial to understand their multiple effects, related feedbacks and impacts within the Earth system. This study describes the development of the MIDAS (ModIs Dust AeroSol) dataset. MIDAS provides columnar daily dust optical depth (DOD at 550\u2009nm) at global scale and fine spatial resolution (0.1\u00b0\u2009\u00d7\u20090.1\u00b0) over a decade (2007\u20132016). This new dataset combines quality filtered satellite aerosol optical depth (AOD) retrievals from MODIS-Aqua at swath level (Collection 6, Level 2), along with DOD-to-AOD ratios provided by MERRA-2 reanalysis to derive DOD on the MODIS native grid. The uncertainties of MODIS AOD and MERRA-2 dust fraction with respect to AERONET and CALIOP, respectively, are taken into account for the estimation of the total DOD uncertainty (including measurement and sampling uncertainties). MERRA-2 dust fractions are in very good agreement with CALIOP column-integrated dust fractions across the dust belt, in the Tropical Atlantic Ocean and the Arabian Sea; the agreement degrades in North America and the Southern Hemisphere where dust sources are smaller. MIDAS, MERRA-2 and CALIOP DODs strongly agree when it comes to annual and seasonal spatial patterns; however, deviations of dust loads' intensity are evident and regionally dependent. Overall, MIDAS is well correlated with ground-truth AERONET-derived DODs (R\u2009=\u20090.882), only showing a small negative bias (\u22120.009 or \u22125.307\u2009%). Among the major dust areas of the planet, the highest R values (up to 0.977) are found at sites of N. Africa, Middle East and Asia. MIDAS expands, complements and upgrades existing observational capabilities of dust aerosols and it is suitable for dust climatological studies, model evaluation and data assimilation.

", "keywords": ["Dust forecast", ":Enginyeria agroaliment\u00e0ria::Ci\u00e8ncies de la terra i de la vida::Climatologia i meteorologia [\u00c0rees tem\u00e0tiques de la UPC]", "Dust particles", "CALIOP", "TA715-787", "Environmental engineering", "Dust", "TA170-171", "Tropospheric aerosols", "Satellite aerosol optical depth", "16. Peace & justice", "ModIs Dust AeroSol (MIDAS)", "01 natural sciences", "\u00c0rees tem\u00e0tiques de la UPC::Enginyeria agroaliment\u00e0ria::Ci\u00e8ncies de la terra i de la vida::Climatologia i meteorologia", "DUST-GLASS", "MODIS", "Earthwork. Foundations", "Conjunts de dades", "13. Climate action", "Stratospheric aerosols", "Dust aerosols", "Data sets", "MIDAS", "MERRA-2", "0105 earth and related environmental sciences"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://amt.copernicus.org/articles/14/309/2021/amt-14-309-2021.pdf"}, {"href": "https://amt.copernicus.org/articles/14/309/2021/amt-14-309-2021-supplement.pdf"}, {"href": "https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2020-222"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/Atmospheric%20Measurement%20Techniques", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.5194/amt-2020-222", "name": "item", "description": "10.5194/amt-2020-222", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.5194/amt-2020-222"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2020-06-22T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.5194/acp-22-3553-2022", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"license": "Open Access", "updated": "2026-06-24T16:22:18Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2022-03-17", "title": "Quantification of the dust optical depth across spatiotemporal scales with the MIDAS global dataset (2003\u20132017)", "description": "

Abstract. Quantifying the dust optical depth (DOD) and its uncertainty across spatiotemporal scales is key to understanding and constraining the dust cycle and its interactions with the Earth System. This study quantifies the DOD along with its monthly and year-to-year variability between 2003 and 2017 at global and regional levels based on the MIDAS (ModIs Dust AeroSol) dataset, which combines Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS)-Aqua retrievals and Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications, version 2 (MERRA-2), reanalysis products. We also describe the annual and seasonal geographical distributions of DOD across the main dust source regions and transport pathways. MIDAS provides columnar mid-visible (550\u2009nm) DOD at fine spatial resolution (0.1\u2218\u00d70.1\u2218), expanding the current observational capabilities for monitoring the highly variable spatiotemporal features of the dust burden. We obtain a global DOD of 0.032\u00b10.003 \u2013 approximately a quarter (23.4\u2009%\u00b12.4\u2009%) of the global aerosol optical depth (AOD) \u2013 with about 1\u00a0order of magnitude more DOD in the Northern Hemisphere (0.056\u00b10.004; 31.8\u2009%\u00b12.7\u2009%) than in the Southern Hemisphere (0.008\u00b10.001; 8.2\u2009%\u00b11.1\u2009%) and about 3.5 times more DOD over land (0.070\u00b10.005) than over ocean (0.019\u00b10.002). The Northern Hemisphere monthly DOD is highly correlated with the corresponding monthly AOD (R2=0.94) and contributes 20\u2009% to 48\u2009% of it, both indicating a dominant dust contribution. In contrast, the contribution of dust to the monthly AOD does not exceed 17\u2009% in the Southern Hemisphere, although the uncertainty in this region is larger. Among the major dust sources of the planet, the maximum DODs (\u223c1.2) are recorded in the Bod\u00e9l\u00e9 Depression of the northern Lake Chad Basin, whereas moderate-to-high intensities are encountered in the Western Sahara (boreal summer), along the eastern parts of the Middle East (boreal summer) and in the Taklamakan Desert (spring). Over oceans, major long-range dust transport is observed primarily along the tropical Atlantic (intensified during boreal summer) and secondarily in the North Pacific (intensified during boreal spring). Our calculated global and regional averages and associated uncertainties are consistent with some but not all recent observation-based studies. Our work provides a simple yet flexible method to estimate consistent uncertainties across spatiotemporal scales, which will enhance the use of the MIDAS dataset in a variety of future studies.

", "keywords": ["Mineral dusts", ":Enginyeria agroaliment\u00e0ria::Ci\u00e8ncies de la terra i de la vida::Climatologia i meteorologia [\u00c0rees tem\u00e0tiques de la UPC]", "Physics", "QC1-999", "MIDAS global dataset", "16. Peace & justice", "01 natural sciences", "Atmospheric Sciences", "Climate Action", "Chemistry", "\u00c0rees tem\u00e0tiques de la UPC::Enginyeria agroaliment\u00e0ria::Ci\u00e8ncies de la terra i de la vida::Climatologia i meteorologia", "13. Climate action", "Mineral dust particles", "Simulaci\u00f3 per ordinador", "Pols", "Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences", "Datasets", "Dust optical depth (DOD)", "Earth System", "QD1-999", "Astronomical and Space Sciences", "0105 earth and related environmental sciences"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://acp.copernicus.org/articles/22/3553/2022/acp-22-3553-2022.pdf"}, {"href": "https://escholarship.org/content/qt9v38c6qs/qt9v38c6qs.pdf"}, {"href": "https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-3553-2022"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/Atmospheric%20Chemistry%20and%20Physics", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.5194/acp-22-3553-2022", "name": "item", "description": "10.5194/acp-22-3553-2022", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.5194/acp-22-3553-2022"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2021-07-19T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.5194/acp-2021-4", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-06-24T16:22:17Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2021-01-18", "title": "Contribution of the world's main dust source regions to the global cycle of desert dust", "description": "

Abstract. Even though desert dust is the most abundant aerosol by mass in Earth's atmosphere, the relative contributions of the world\u2019s major dust source regions to the global dust cycle remain poorly constrained. This problem hinders accounting for the potentially large impact of regional differences in dust properties on clouds, the Earth's energy balance, and terrestrial and marine biogeochemical cycles. Here, we constrain the contribution of each of the world\u2019s main dust source regions to the global dust cycle. We use an analytical framework that integrates an ensemble of global model simulations with observationally informed constraints on the dust size distribution, extinction efficiency, and regional dust aerosol optical depth. We obtain a data set that constrains the relative contribution of each of nine major source regions to size-resolved dust emission, atmospheric loading, optical depth, concentration, and deposition flux. We find that the 22\u201329\u2009Tg (one standard error range) global loading of dust with geometric diameter up to 20\u2009\u03bcm is partitioned as follows: North African source regions contribute ~50\u2009% (11\u201315\u2009Tg), Asian source regions contribute ~40\u2009% (8\u201313\u2009Tg), and North American and Southern Hemisphere regions contribute ~10\u2009% (1.8\u20133.2\u2009Tg). Current models might on average be overestimating the contribution of North African sources to atmospheric dust loading at ~65\u2009%, while underestimating the contribution of Asian dust at ~30\u2009%. However, both our results and current models could be affected by unquantified biases, such as due to errors in separating dust aerosol optical depth from that produced by other aerosol species in remote sensing retrievals in poorly observed desert regions. Our results further show that each source region's dust loading peaks in local spring and summer, which is partially driven by increased dust lifetime in those seasons. We also quantify the dust deposition flux to the Amazon rainforest to be ~10\u2009Tg/year, which is a factor of 2\u20133 less than inferred from satellite data by previous work that likely overestimated dust deposition by underestimating the dust mass extinction efficiency. The data obtained in this paper can be used to obtain improved constraints on dust impacts on clouds, climate, biogeochemical cycles, and other parts of the Earth system.

", "keywords": ["Atmospheric sciences", "550", "QC1-999", "Global dust cycle", "\u00c0rees tem\u00e0tiques de la UPC::Enginyeria agroaliment\u00e0ria::Ci\u00e8ncies de la terra i de la vida", "01 natural sciences", "Atmospheric Sciences", "Atmospheric models", "Earth's atmosphere", "Simulaci\u00f3 per ordinador", "Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences", "Dust; Aerosols; Climate Models; Earth System Models;", "14. Life underwater", "[SDU.ENVI]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Continental interfaces", " environment", "Life Below Water", "QD1-999", "0105 earth and related environmental sciences", "[SDU.OCEAN]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Ocean", " Atmosphere", "[SDU.OCEAN]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Ocean", "info:eu-repo/classification/ddc/550", "Atmosphere", "Climate change science", "ddc:550", "[SDU.OCEAN] Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Ocean", " Atmosphere", "Physics", "Aerosol model simulations", "15. Life on land", "Atmosfera -- Aspectes ambientals", "[SDU.ENVI] Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Continental interfaces", " environment", "Climate Action", "Earth sciences", "Chemistry", "13. Climate action", ":Enginyeria agroaliment\u00e0ria::Ci\u00e8ncies de la terra i de la vida [\u00c0rees tem\u00e0tiques de la UPC]", "Air quality", "Earth Sciences", "Aerosols--Measurement", "Desert dust", "[SDU.ENVI]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Continental interfaces", "environment", "Astronomical and Space Sciences"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://boa.unimib.it/bitstream/10281/321610/1/Kok_2021_ACP_Dust-global.pdf"}, {"href": "https://acp.copernicus.org/articles/21/8169/2021/acp-21-8169-2021.pdf"}, {"href": "https://acp.copernicus.org/articles/21/8169/2021/acp-21-8169-2021-supplement.pdf"}, {"href": "https://escholarship.org/content/qt31s4c3tr/qt31s4c3tr.pdf"}, {"href": "https://escholarship.org/content/qt4f95b02f/qt4f95b02f.pdf"}, {"href": "https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2021-4"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/Goldschmidt2021%20abstracts", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.5194/acp-2021-4", "name": "item", "description": "10.5194/acp-2021-4", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.5194/acp-2021-4"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2021-01-01T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.5194/acp-2022-742", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-06-24T16:22:18Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2022-11-07", "title": "Insights into the single particle composition, size, mixing state and aspect ratio of freshly emitted mineral dust from field measurements in the Moroccan Sahara using electron microscopy", "description": "

Abstract. The chemical and morphological properties of mineral dust aerosols emitted by wind erosion from arid and semi-arid regions influence climate, ocean and land ecosystems, air quality, and multiple socio-economic sectors. However, there is an incomplete understanding of the emitted dust particle size distribution (PSD) in terms of its constituent minerals that typically result from the fragmentation of soil aggregates during wind erosion. The emitted dust PSD affects the duration of particle transport and thus each mineral\u2019s global distribution, along with its specific effect upon climate. This lack of understanding is largely due to the scarcity of relevant in situ measurements in dust sources. To advance our understanding of the physicochemical properties of the emitted dust PSD, we present insights into the elemental composition and morphology of individual dust particles collected during the FRontiers in dust minerAloGical coMposition and its Effects upoN climaTe (FRAGMENT) field campaign in the Moroccan Sahara in September 2019. We analyzed more than 300,000 freshly emitted individual particles by performing offline analysis in the laboratory using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) coupled with Energy-Dispersive X-ray Spectrometry (EDX). Eight major particle-type classes were identified where clay minerals make up the majority of the analyzed particles by number, with carbonates and quartz contributing to a lesser extent. We provide an exhaustive analysis of the size distribution and potential mixing state of different particle types, focusing largely on iron-rich (Fe-oxi/hydroxides) and feldspar particles, which are key to the effects of dust upon radiation and clouds. Nearly pure or externally mixed Fe-oxi/hydroxides are present only in diameters smaller than 2 \u00b5m and mainly below 1 \u00b5m. Fe-oxi/hydroxides tend to be increasingly internally mixed with other minerals, especially clays, as particle size increases, i.e., the volume fraction of Fe-oxi/hydroxides in aggregates decreases with particle size. Pure (externally-mixed) feldspar grains represented 3.7 % of all the particles, of which we estimated about a quarter to be K-feldspar. The externally-mixed total feldspar and K-feldspar abundances are relatively invariant with particle size, in contrast to the increasing abundance of feldspar-like (internally-mixed) aggregates with particle size. We also found that overall the median aspect ratio is rather constant across particle size and mineral groups, although we obtain slightly higher aspect ratios for internally-mixed particles. The detailed information on the composition of freshly emitted individual dust particles along with the quantitative analysis of their mixing state presented here can be used to constrain climate models including mineral species in their representation of the dust cycle.

", "keywords": ["Atmospheric chemistry", "550", "QC1-999", "http://metadata.un.org/sdg/3", "Mineral dust", "01 natural sciences", "Climate models", "\u00c0rees tem\u00e0tiques de la UPC::Enginyeria agroaliment\u00e0ria::Ci\u00e8ncies de la terra i de la vida::Climatologia i meteorologia", "Aerosols Measurement", "Pols minerals", "QD1-999", "Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages", "0105 earth and related environmental sciences", "mineral dust", "info:eu-repo/classification/ddc/550", "electron microscopy", "ddc:550", "Physics", "15. Life on land", "info:eu-repo/classification/udc/502.3/.7", "Pollution", "Moroccan Sahara", "Earth sciences", "Chemistry", "13. Climate action", "Mineral dust particles", "Air quality", "Desert dust"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://acp.copernicus.org/articles/23/3861/2023/acp-23-3861-2023.pdf"}, {"href": "https://acp.copernicus.org/articles/23/3861/2023/acp-23-3861-2023-supplement.pdf"}, {"href": "https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2022-742"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/Atmospheric%20Chemistry%20and%20Physics", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.5194/acp-2022-742", "name": "item", "description": "10.5194/acp-2022-742", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.5194/acp-2022-742"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2022-11-07T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.5194/acp-21-8127-2021", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-06-24T16:22:18Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2021-05-27", "title": "Improved representation of the global dust cycle using observational constraints on dust properties and abundance", "description": "

Abstract. Even though desert dust is the most abundant aerosol by mass in Earth's atmosphere, atmospheric models struggle to accurately represent its spatial and temporal distribution. These model errors are partially caused by fundamental difficulties in simulating dust emission in coarse-resolution models and in accurately representing dust microphysical properties. Here we mitigate these problems by developing a new methodology that yields an improved representation of the global dust cycle. We present an analytical framework that uses inverse modeling to integrate an ensemble of global model simulations with observational constraints on the dust size distribution, extinction efficiency, and regional dust aerosol optical depth. We then compare the inverse model results against independent measurements of dust surface concentration and deposition flux and find that errors are reduced by approximately a factor of 2\u00a0relative to current model simulations of the Northern Hemisphere dust cycle. The inverse model results show smaller improvements in the less dusty Southern Hemisphere, most likely because both the model simulations and the observational constraints used in the inverse model are less accurate. On a global basis, we find that the emission flux of dust with a geometric diameter up to 20\u2009\u00b5m (PM20) is approximately 5000\u2009Tg\u2009yr\u22121, which is greater than most models account for. This larger PM20 dust flux is needed to match observational constraints showing a large atmospheric loading of coarse dust. We obtain gridded datasets of dust emission, vertically integrated loading, dust aerosol optical depth, (surface) concentration, and wet and dry deposition fluxes that are resolved by season and particle size. As our results indicate that this dataset is more accurate than current model simulations and the MERRA-2 dust reanalysis product, it can be used to improve quantifications of dust impacts on the Earth system.

", "keywords": ["Atmospheric sciences", "550", "QC1-999", "\u00c0rees tem\u00e0tiques de la UPC::Enginyeria agroaliment\u00e0ria::Ci\u00e8ncies de la terra i de la vida", "Dust emissions", "01 natural sciences", "Earth system -- environmental sciences", "Atmospheric Sciences", "Dust; Aerosol; Climate Models; Earth System Models;", "Atmospheric models", "Simulaci\u00f3 per ordinador", "Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences", "Atmospheric model simulations", "QD1-999", "Earth system", "0105 earth and related environmental sciences", "[SDU.OCEAN]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Ocean", "info:eu-repo/classification/ddc/550", "Atmosphere", "Climate change science", "ddc:550", "[SDU.OCEAN] Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Ocean", " Atmosphere", "Physics", "Dust", "Computer simulation", "15. Life on land", "Atmosfera -- Aspectes ambientals", "520", "[SDU.ENVI] Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Continental interfaces", " environment", "Climate Action", "Earth sciences", "Chemistry", "Model simulation", "13. Climate action", ":Enginyeria agroaliment\u00e0ria::Ci\u00e8ncies de la terra i de la vida [\u00c0rees tem\u00e0tiques de la UPC]", "Earth Sciences", "\u00c0rees tem\u00e0tiques de la UPC::Desenvolupament hum\u00e0 i sostenible::Degradaci\u00f3 ambiental::Contaminaci\u00f3 atmosf\u00e8rica", "Aerosols--Measurement", "Desert dust", "[SDU.ENVI]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Continental interfaces", "environment", "Astronomical and Space Sciences", ":Desenvolupament hum\u00e0 i sostenible::Degradaci\u00f3 ambiental::Contaminaci\u00f3 atmosf\u00e8rica [\u00c0rees tem\u00e0tiques de la UPC]"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://boa.unimib.it/bitstream/10281/321612/2/10281-321612_VoR.pdf"}, {"href": "https://acp.copernicus.org/articles/21/8127/2021/acp-21-8127-2021.pdf"}, {"href": "https://acp.copernicus.org/articles/21/8127/2021/acp-21-8127-2021-supplement.pdf"}, {"href": "https://escholarship.org/content/qt5g7457v8/qt5g7457v8.pdf"}, {"href": "https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-8127-2021"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/Atmospheric%20Chemistry%20and%20Physics", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.5194/acp-21-8127-2021", "name": "item", "description": "10.5194/acp-21-8127-2021", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.5194/acp-21-8127-2021"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2020-11-23T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.5194/essd-2021-358", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-06-24T16:22:29Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2021-10-28", "title": "The MONARCH high-resolution reanalysis of desert dust aerosol over Northern Africa, the Middle East and Europe (2007\u20132016)", "description": "

Abstract. One of the challenges in studying desert dust aerosol along with its numerous interactions and impacts is the paucity of direct in-situ measurements, particularly in the areas most affected by dust storms. Satellites typically provide columnintegrated aerosol measurements, but observationally-constrained continuous 3D dust fields are needed to assess dust variability, climate effects and impacts upon a variety of socio-economic sectors. Here, we present a high resolution regional reanalysis data set of desert dust aerosols that covers Northern Africa, the Middle East and Europe along with the Mediterranean sea and parts of Central Asia, and the Atlantic and Indian Oceans between 2007 and 2016. The horizontal resolution is 0.1\u00b0 latitude\u2009\u00d7\u20090.1\u00b0 longitude, and the temporal resolution is 3 hours. The reanalysis was produced using Local Ensemble Transform Kalman Filter (LETKF) data assimilation in the Multiscale Online Non-hydrostatic AtmospheRe CHemistry model (MONARCH) developed at the Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC). The assimilated data are coarse-mode dust optical depth retrieved from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Deep Blue Level 2 products. The reanalysis data set consists of upper air (dust mass concentrations and extinction coefficient), surface (dust deposition and solar irradiance fields, among them) and total column (e.g., dust optical depth and load) variables. Some dust variables, such as concentrations and wet and dry deposition, are expressed for a binned size distribution that ranges from 0.2 to 20\u2009\u03bcm in particle diameter. Both analysis and first-guess (analysis-initialized simulation) fields are available for the variables that are diagnosed from the state vector. A set of ensemble statistics is archived for each output variable, namely the ensemble mean, standard deviation, maximum and median. The spatial and temporal distribution of the dust fields follows well-known dust cycle features controlled by seasonal changes in meteorology and vegetation cover. The analysis is statistically closer to the assimilated retrievals than the first-guess, which proves the consistency of the data assimilation method. Independent evaluation using AERONET dust-filtered optical depth retrievals indicates that the reanalysis data set is highly accurate (mean bias\u2009=\u2009\u22120.05, RMSE\u2009=\u20090.12, r\u2009=\u20090.81 when compared to retrievals from the spectral de-convolution algorithm on a 3-hourly basis). Verification statistics are broadly homogeneous in space and time with regional differences that can be partly attributed to model limitations (e.g., poor representation of small-scale emission processes), presence of aerosols other than dust in the observations used in the evaluation, and differences in the number of observations among seasons. Such a reliable high-resolution historical record of atmospheric desert dust will allow a better quantification of dust impacts upon key sectors of society and economy, including health, solar energy production and transportation. The reanalysis data set (Di Tomaso et al., 2021) is distributed via a Thematic Real-time Environmental Distributed Data Service (THREDDS) at BSC and freely available at http://hdl.handle.net/21.12146/c6d4a608-5de3-47f6-a004-67cb1d498d98.

", "keywords": ["Desert dust aerosol", "550", "Climate", "MINERAL-COMPOSITION", "Aerosols atmosf\u00e8rics", "01 natural sciences", "Dust emission", "[SDU] Sciences of the Universe [physics]", "LETKF", "Local ensemble transform Kalman filter", "DATA ASSIMILATION", "\u00c0rees tem\u00e0tiques de la UPC::Enginyeria agroaliment\u00e0ria::Ci\u00e8ncies de la terra i de la vida::Climatologia i meteorologia", "Pols -- Control", "SDG 3 - Good Health and Well-being", "MONARCH", "SAHARAN DUST", "SDG 13 - Climate Action", "SIZE DISTRIBUTION", "GE1-350", "Desert", "CONVECTIVE ADJUSTMENT SCHEME", "Aerosol measurements", "Multiscale Online Nonhydrostatic AtmospheRe CHemistry model", "0105 earth and related environmental sciences", "QE1-996.5", "info:eu-repo/classification/ddc/550", ":Enginyeria agroaliment\u00e0ria::Ci\u00e8ncies de la terra i de la vida::Climatologia i meteorologia [\u00c0rees tem\u00e0tiques de la UPC]", "ddc:550", "Geology", "1 MODEL DESCRIPTION", "OPTICAL-PROPERTIES", "MONARCH modeling system", "Atmospheric aerosols", "Environmental sciences", "Earth sciences", "PM10 CONCENTRATIONS", "900", "Dust aerosol", "13. Climate action", "[SDU.STU] Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences", "SINGLE-SCATTERING ALBEDO", "MEDITERRANEAN BASIN", "Dust control"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://iris.cnr.it/bitstream/20.500.14243/417480/1/prod_471097-doc_191235.pdf"}, {"href": "https://essd.copernicus.org/articles/14/2785/2022/essd-14-2785-2022.pdf"}, {"href": "https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2021-358"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/Earth%20System%20Science%20Data", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.5194/essd-2021-358", "name": "item", "description": "10.5194/essd-2021-358", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.5194/essd-2021-358"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2021-10-28T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10138/579229", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-06-24T16:25:27Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2024-06-11", "title": "Impact of Dust Source Patchiness on the Existence of a Constant Dust Flux Layer During Aeolian Erosion Events", "description": "Abstract

Dust emission fluxes during wind soil erosion are usually estimated using a dust concentration vertical gradient, by assuming a constant dust flux layer between the surface and the dust measurement levels. Here, we investigate the existence of this layer during erosion events recorded in Iceland and Jordan. Size\uffe2\uff80\uff90resolved dust fluxes were estimated at three levels between 2 and 4\uffc2\uffa0m using the eddy\uffe2\uff80\uff90covariance method. Dust fluxes were found mainly constant only between the two upper levels in Iceland, the lower dust flux being often stronger and richer in coarse particles, while dust fluxes in Jordan were nearly constant across all levels. The wind dynamics could not explain the absence of a constant dust flux layer in Iceland. We show that the presence of stationary dust source patches in Iceland, related to surface humidity, created a non\uffe2\uff80\uff90uniform dust layer near the surface, named dust roughness sublayer (DRSL), where individual plumes behind each patch interact but do not fully mix. The lowest dust measurement level was probably located within this sublayer while the upper ones were located above, such that there the emitted dust became spatially well\uffe2\uff80\uff90mixed. This explains near the surface in Iceland, the more intermittent dust concentration, its low correlation with the dust concentrations above, and the richer dust flux in coarse particles due to their lower deposition contribution. Our findings highlight the importance of estimating dust fluxes above a dust blending height whose characteristics depend on the dust source patchiness caused by surface humidity or the presence of sparse non\uffe2\uff80\uff90erosive elements.

Abstract. Even though desert dust is the most abundant aerosol by mass in Earth's atmosphere, the relative contributions of the world\u2019s major dust source regions to the global dust cycle remain poorly constrained. This problem hinders accounting for the potentially large impact of regional differences in dust properties on clouds, the Earth's energy balance, and terrestrial and marine biogeochemical cycles. Here, we constrain the contribution of each of the world\u2019s main dust source regions to the global dust cycle. We use an analytical framework that integrates an ensemble of global model simulations with observationally informed constraints on the dust size distribution, extinction efficiency, and regional dust aerosol optical depth. We obtain a data set that constrains the relative contribution of each of nine major source regions to size-resolved dust emission, atmospheric loading, optical depth, concentration, and deposition flux. We find that the 22\u201329\u2009Tg (one standard error range) global loading of dust with geometric diameter up to 20\u2009\u03bcm is partitioned as follows: North African source regions contribute ~50\u2009% (11\u201315\u2009Tg), Asian source regions contribute ~40\u2009% (8\u201313\u2009Tg), and North American and Southern Hemisphere regions contribute ~10\u2009% (1.8\u20133.2\u2009Tg). Current models might on average be overestimating the contribution of North African sources to atmospheric dust loading at ~65\u2009%, while underestimating the contribution of Asian dust at ~30\u2009%. However, both our results and current models could be affected by unquantified biases, such as due to errors in separating dust aerosol optical depth from that produced by other aerosol species in remote sensing retrievals in poorly observed desert regions. Our results further show that each source region's dust loading peaks in local spring and summer, which is partially driven by increased dust lifetime in those seasons. We also quantify the dust deposition flux to the Amazon rainforest to be ~10\u2009Tg/year, which is a factor of 2\u20133 less than inferred from satellite data by previous work that likely overestimated dust deposition by underestimating the dust mass extinction efficiency. The data obtained in this paper can be used to obtain improved constraints on dust impacts on clouds, climate, biogeochemical cycles, and other parts of the Earth system.

", "keywords": ["550", "3702 Climate change science (for-2020)", "QC1-999", "Global dust cycle", "0201 Astronomical and Space Sciences (for)", "0401 Atmospheric Sciences (for)", "\u00c0rees tem\u00e0tiques de la UPC::Enginyeria agroaliment\u00e0ria::Ci\u00e8ncies de la terra i de la vida", "3701 Atmospheric Sciences (for-2020)", "01 natural sciences", "Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences (science-metrix)", "Atmospheric Sciences", "Atmospheric models", "Earth's atmosphere", "Simulaci\u00f3 per ordinador", "14 Life Below Water (sdg)", "Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences", "Dust; Aerosols; Climate Models; Earth System Models;", "14. Life underwater", "Life Below Water", "QD1-999", "0105 earth and related environmental sciences", "[SDU.OCEAN]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Ocean", "info:eu-repo/classification/ddc/550", "3701 Atmospheric sciences (for-2020)", "Climate change science", "Atmosphere", "ddc:550", "[SDU.OCEAN] Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Ocean", " Atmosphere", "Physics", "Aerosol model simulations", "15. Life on land", "Atmosfera -- Aspectes ambientals", "[SDU.ENVI] Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Continental interfaces", " environment", "Climate Action", "Earth sciences", "Chemistry", "37 Earth Sciences (for-2020)", "13. Climate action", ":Enginyeria agroaliment\u00e0ria::Ci\u00e8ncies de la terra i de la vida [\u00c0rees tem\u00e0tiques de la UPC]", "Air quality", "Earth Sciences", "13 Climate Action (sdg)", "Aerosols--Measurement", "Desert dust", "[SDU.ENVI]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Continental interfaces", "environment", "Astronomical and Space Sciences"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://boa.unimib.it/bitstream/10281/321610/1/Kok_2021_ACP_Dust-global.pdf"}, {"href": "https://acp.copernicus.org/articles/21/8169/2021/acp-21-8169-2021.pdf"}, {"href": "https://acp.copernicus.org/articles/21/8169/2021/acp-21-8169-2021-supplement.pdf"}, {"href": "https://escholarship.org/content/qt31s4c3tr/qt31s4c3tr.pdf"}, {"href": "https://escholarship.org/content/qt4f95b02f/qt4f95b02f.pdf"}, {"href": "https://doi.org/10281/321610"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/Goldschmidt2021%20abstracts", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10281/321610", "name": "item", "description": "10281/321610", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10281/321610"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2021-01-01T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10281/321612", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-06-24T16:25:37Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2021-05-27", "title": "Improved representation of the global dust cycle using observational constraints on dust properties and abundance", "description": "

Abstract. Even though desert dust is the most abundant aerosol by mass in Earth's atmosphere, atmospheric models struggle to accurately represent its spatial and temporal distribution. These model errors are partially caused by fundamental difficulties in simulating dust emission in coarse-resolution models and in accurately representing dust microphysical properties. Here we mitigate these problems by developing a new methodology that yields an improved representation of the global dust cycle. We present an analytical framework that uses inverse modeling to integrate an ensemble of global model simulations with observational constraints on the dust size distribution, extinction efficiency, and regional dust aerosol optical depth. We then compare the inverse model results against independent measurements of dust surface concentration and deposition flux and find that errors are reduced by approximately a factor of 2\u00a0relative to current model simulations of the Northern Hemisphere dust cycle. The inverse model results show smaller improvements in the less dusty Southern Hemisphere, most likely because both the model simulations and the observational constraints used in the inverse model are less accurate. On a global basis, we find that the emission flux of dust with a geometric diameter up to 20\u2009\u00b5m (PM20) is approximately 5000\u2009Tg\u2009yr\u22121, which is greater than most models account for. This larger PM20 dust flux is needed to match observational constraints showing a large atmospheric loading of coarse dust. We obtain gridded datasets of dust emission, vertically integrated loading, dust aerosol optical depth, (surface) concentration, and wet and dry deposition fluxes that are resolved by season and particle size. As our results indicate that this dataset is more accurate than current model simulations and the MERRA-2 dust reanalysis product, it can be used to improve quantifications of dust impacts on the Earth system.

", "keywords": ["Atmospheric sciences", "550", "QC1-999", "\u00c0rees tem\u00e0tiques de la UPC::Enginyeria agroaliment\u00e0ria::Ci\u00e8ncies de la terra i de la vida", "Dust emissions", "01 natural sciences", "Earth system -- environmental sciences", "Atmospheric Sciences", "Dust; Aerosol; Climate Models; Earth System Models;", "Atmospheric models", "Simulaci\u00f3 per ordinador", "Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences", "Atmospheric model simulations", "QD1-999", "Earth system", "0105 earth and related environmental sciences", "[SDU.OCEAN]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Ocean", "info:eu-repo/classification/ddc/550", "Atmosphere", "Climate change science", "ddc:550", "[SDU.OCEAN] Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Ocean", " Atmosphere", "Physics", "Dust", "Computer simulation", "15. Life on land", "Atmosfera -- Aspectes ambientals", "520", "[SDU.ENVI] Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Continental interfaces", " environment", "Climate Action", "Earth sciences", "Chemistry", "Model simulation", "13. Climate action", ":Enginyeria agroaliment\u00e0ria::Ci\u00e8ncies de la terra i de la vida [\u00c0rees tem\u00e0tiques de la UPC]", "Earth Sciences", "\u00c0rees tem\u00e0tiques de la UPC::Desenvolupament hum\u00e0 i sostenible::Degradaci\u00f3 ambiental::Contaminaci\u00f3 atmosf\u00e8rica", "Aerosols--Measurement", "Desert dust", "[SDU.ENVI]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Continental interfaces", "environment", "Astronomical and Space Sciences", ":Desenvolupament hum\u00e0 i sostenible::Degradaci\u00f3 ambiental::Contaminaci\u00f3 atmosf\u00e8rica [\u00c0rees tem\u00e0tiques de la UPC]"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://boa.unimib.it/bitstream/10281/321612/2/10281-321612_VoR.pdf"}, {"href": "https://acp.copernicus.org/articles/21/8127/2021/acp-21-8127-2021.pdf"}, {"href": "https://acp.copernicus.org/articles/21/8127/2021/acp-21-8127-2021-supplement.pdf"}, {"href": "https://escholarship.org/content/qt5g7457v8/qt5g7457v8.pdf"}, {"href": "https://doi.org/10281/321612"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/Atmospheric%20Chemistry%20and%20Physics", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10281/321612", "name": "item", "description": "10281/321612", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10281/321612"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2020-11-23T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "11386/4857971", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-06-24T16:25:52Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2023-08-23", "title": "Observing Mineral Dust in Northern Africa, the Middle East, and Europe: Current Capabilities and Challenges ahead for the Development of Dust Services", "description": "Abstract

Mineral dust produced by wind erosion of arid and semiarid surfaces is a major component of atmospheric aerosol that affects climate, weather, ecosystems, and socioeconomic sectors such as human health, transportation, solar energy, and air quality. Understanding these effects and ultimately improving the resilience of affected countries requires a reliable, dense, and diverse set of dust observations, fundamental for the development and the provision of skillful dust-forecast-tailored products. The last decade has seen a notable improvement of dust observational capabilities in terms of considered parameters, geographical coverage, and delivery times, as well as of tailored products of interest to both the scientific community and the various end-users. Given this progress, here we review the current state of observational capabilities, including in situ, ground-based, and satellite remote sensing observations in northern Africa, the Middle East, and Europe for the provision of dust information considering the needs of various users. We also critically discuss observational gaps and related unresolved questions while providing suggestions for overcoming the current limitations. Our review aims to be a milestone for discussing dust observational gaps at a global level to address the needs of users, from research communities to nonscientific stakeholders.

Abstract. The chemical and morphological properties of mineral dust aerosols emitted by wind erosion from arid and semi-arid regions influence climate, ocean and land ecosystems, air quality, and multiple socio-economic sectors. However, there is an incomplete understanding of the emitted dust particle size distribution (PSD) in terms of its constituent minerals that typically result from the fragmentation of soil aggregates during wind erosion. The emitted dust PSD affects the duration of particle transport and thus each mineral\u2019s global distribution, along with its specific effect upon climate. This lack of understanding is largely due to the scarcity of relevant in situ measurements in dust sources. To advance our understanding of the physicochemical properties of the emitted dust PSD, we present insights into the elemental composition and morphology of individual dust particles collected during the FRontiers in dust minerAloGical coMposition and its Effects upoN climaTe (FRAGMENT) field campaign in the Moroccan Sahara in September 2019. We analyzed more than 300,000 freshly emitted individual particles by performing offline analysis in the laboratory using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) coupled with Energy-Dispersive X-ray Spectrometry (EDX). Eight major particle-type classes were identified where clay minerals make up the majority of the analyzed particles by number, with carbonates and quartz contributing to a lesser extent. We provide an exhaustive analysis of the size distribution and potential mixing state of different particle types, focusing largely on iron-rich (Fe-oxi/hydroxides) and feldspar particles, which are key to the effects of dust upon radiation and clouds. Nearly pure or externally mixed Fe-oxi/hydroxides are present only in diameters smaller than 2 \u00b5m and mainly below 1 \u00b5m. Fe-oxi/hydroxides tend to be increasingly internally mixed with other minerals, especially clays, as particle size increases, i.e., the volume fraction of Fe-oxi/hydroxides in aggregates decreases with particle size. Pure (externally-mixed) feldspar grains represented 3.7 % of all the particles, of which we estimated about a quarter to be K-feldspar. The externally-mixed total feldspar and K-feldspar abundances are relatively invariant with particle size, in contrast to the increasing abundance of feldspar-like (internally-mixed) aggregates with particle size. We also found that overall the median aspect ratio is rather constant across particle size and mineral groups, although we obtain slightly higher aspect ratios for internally-mixed particles. The detailed information on the composition of freshly emitted individual dust particles along with the quantitative analysis of their mixing state presented here can be used to constrain climate models including mineral species in their representation of the dust cycle.

", "keywords": ["Atmospheric chemistry", "550", "QC1-999", "http://metadata.un.org/sdg/3", "Mineral dust", "01 natural sciences", "Climate models", "\u00c0rees tem\u00e0tiques de la UPC::Enginyeria agroaliment\u00e0ria::Ci\u00e8ncies de la terra i de la vida::Climatologia i meteorologia", "Aerosols Measurement", "Pols minerals", "QD1-999", "Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages", "0105 earth and related environmental sciences", "mineral dust", "info:eu-repo/classification/ddc/550", "electron microscopy", "ddc:550", "Physics", "15. Life on land", "info:eu-repo/classification/udc/502.3/.7", "Pollution", "Moroccan Sahara", "Earth sciences", "Chemistry", "13. Climate action", "Mineral dust particles", "Air quality", "Desert dust"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://acp.copernicus.org/articles/23/3861/2023/acp-23-3861-2023.pdf"}, {"href": "https://acp.copernicus.org/articles/23/3861/2023/acp-23-3861-2023-supplement.pdf"}, {"href": "https://doi.org/20.500.12556/RUNG-9073"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/Atmospheric%20Chemistry%20and%20Physics", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "20.500.12556/RUNG-9073", "name": "item", "description": "20.500.12556/RUNG-9073", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/20.500.12556/RUNG-9073"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2022-11-07T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "20.500.14243/417480", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-06-24T16:26:26Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2021-10-28", "title": "The MONARCH high-resolution reanalysis of desert dust aerosol over Northern Africa, the Middle East and Europe (2007\u20132016)", "description": "

Abstract. One of the challenges in studying desert dust aerosol along with its numerous interactions and impacts is the paucity of direct in-situ measurements, particularly in the areas most affected by dust storms. Satellites typically provide columnintegrated aerosol measurements, but observationally-constrained continuous 3D dust fields are needed to assess dust variability, climate effects and impacts upon a variety of socio-economic sectors. Here, we present a high resolution regional reanalysis data set of desert dust aerosols that covers Northern Africa, the Middle East and Europe along with the Mediterranean sea and parts of Central Asia, and the Atlantic and Indian Oceans between 2007 and 2016. The horizontal resolution is 0.1\u00b0 latitude\u2009\u00d7\u20090.1\u00b0 longitude, and the temporal resolution is 3 hours. The reanalysis was produced using Local Ensemble Transform Kalman Filter (LETKF) data assimilation in the Multiscale Online Non-hydrostatic AtmospheRe CHemistry model (MONARCH) developed at the Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC). The assimilated data are coarse-mode dust optical depth retrieved from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Deep Blue Level 2 products. The reanalysis data set consists of upper air (dust mass concentrations and extinction coefficient), surface (dust deposition and solar irradiance fields, among them) and total column (e.g., dust optical depth and load) variables. Some dust variables, such as concentrations and wet and dry deposition, are expressed for a binned size distribution that ranges from 0.2 to 20\u2009\u03bcm in particle diameter. Both analysis and first-guess (analysis-initialized simulation) fields are available for the variables that are diagnosed from the state vector. A set of ensemble statistics is archived for each output variable, namely the ensemble mean, standard deviation, maximum and median. The spatial and temporal distribution of the dust fields follows well-known dust cycle features controlled by seasonal changes in meteorology and vegetation cover. The analysis is statistically closer to the assimilated retrievals than the first-guess, which proves the consistency of the data assimilation method. Independent evaluation using AERONET dust-filtered optical depth retrievals indicates that the reanalysis data set is highly accurate (mean bias\u2009=\u2009\u22120.05, RMSE\u2009=\u20090.12, r\u2009=\u20090.81 when compared to retrievals from the spectral de-convolution algorithm on a 3-hourly basis). Verification statistics are broadly homogeneous in space and time with regional differences that can be partly attributed to model limitations (e.g., poor representation of small-scale emission processes), presence of aerosols other than dust in the observations used in the evaluation, and differences in the number of observations among seasons. Such a reliable high-resolution historical record of atmospheric desert dust will allow a better quantification of dust impacts upon key sectors of society and economy, including health, solar energy production and transportation. The reanalysis data set (Di Tomaso et al., 2021) is distributed via a Thematic Real-time Environmental Distributed Data Service (THREDDS) at BSC and freely available at http://hdl.handle.net/21.12146/c6d4a608-5de3-47f6-a004-67cb1d498d98.

", "keywords": ["Desert dust aerosol", "550", "Climate", "MINERAL-COMPOSITION", "Aerosols atmosf\u00e8rics", "01 natural sciences", "Dust emission", "[SDU] Sciences of the Universe [physics]", "LETKF", "Local ensemble transform Kalman filter", "DATA ASSIMILATION", "\u00c0rees tem\u00e0tiques de la UPC::Enginyeria agroaliment\u00e0ria::Ci\u00e8ncies de la terra i de la vida::Climatologia i meteorologia", "Pols -- Control", "SDG 3 - Good Health and Well-being", "MONARCH", "SAHARAN DUST", "SIZE DISTRIBUTION", "GE1-350", "Desert", "CONVECTIVE ADJUSTMENT SCHEME", "Aerosol measurements", "Multiscale Online Nonhydrostatic AtmospheRe CHemistry model", "0105 earth and related environmental sciences", "QE1-996.5", "info:eu-repo/classification/ddc/550", ":Enginyeria agroaliment\u00e0ria::Ci\u00e8ncies de la terra i de la vida::Climatologia i meteorologia [\u00c0rees tem\u00e0tiques de la UPC]", "ddc:550", "Geology", "1 MODEL DESCRIPTION", "OPTICAL-PROPERTIES", "MONARCH modeling system", "Atmospheric aerosols", "Environmental sciences", "Earth sciences", "PM10 CONCENTRATIONS", "900", "Dust aerosol", "13. Climate action", "[SDU.STU] Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences", "SINGLE-SCATTERING ALBEDO", "MEDITERRANEAN BASIN", "Dust control"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://iris.cnr.it/bitstream/20.500.14243/417480/1/prod_471097-doc_191235.pdf"}, {"href": "https://essd.copernicus.org/articles/14/2785/2022/essd-14-2785-2022.pdf"}, {"href": "https://doi.org/20.500.14243/417480"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/Earth%20System%20Science%20Data", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "20.500.14243/417480", "name": "item", "description": "20.500.14243/417480", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/20.500.14243/417480"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2021-10-28T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "2117/364526", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-06-24T16:26:33Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2022-03-17", "title": "Quantification of the dust optical depth across spatiotemporal scales with the MIDAS global dataset (2003\u20132017)", "description": "

Abstract. Quantifying the dust optical depth (DOD) and its uncertainty across spatiotemporal scales is key to understanding and constraining the dust cycle and its interactions with the Earth System. This study quantifies the DOD along with its monthly and year-to-year variability between 2003 and 2017 at global and regional levels based on the MIDAS (ModIs Dust AeroSol) dataset, which combines Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS)-Aqua retrievals and Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications, version 2 (MERRA-2), reanalysis products. We also describe the annual and seasonal geographical distributions of DOD across the main dust source regions and transport pathways. MIDAS provides columnar mid-visible (550\u2009nm) DOD at fine spatial resolution (0.1\u2218\u00d70.1\u2218), expanding the current observational capabilities for monitoring the highly variable spatiotemporal features of the dust burden. We obtain a global DOD of 0.032\u00b10.003 \u2013 approximately a quarter (23.4\u2009%\u00b12.4\u2009%) of the global aerosol optical depth (AOD) \u2013 with about 1\u00a0order of magnitude more DOD in the Northern Hemisphere (0.056\u00b10.004; 31.8\u2009%\u00b12.7\u2009%) than in the Southern Hemisphere (0.008\u00b10.001; 8.2\u2009%\u00b11.1\u2009%) and about 3.5 times more DOD over land (0.070\u00b10.005) than over ocean (0.019\u00b10.002). The Northern Hemisphere monthly DOD is highly correlated with the corresponding monthly AOD (R2=0.94) and contributes 20\u2009% to 48\u2009% of it, both indicating a dominant dust contribution. In contrast, the contribution of dust to the monthly AOD does not exceed 17\u2009% in the Southern Hemisphere, although the uncertainty in this region is larger. Among the major dust sources of the planet, the maximum DODs (\u223c1.2) are recorded in the Bod\u00e9l\u00e9 Depression of the northern Lake Chad Basin, whereas moderate-to-high intensities are encountered in the Western Sahara (boreal summer), along the eastern parts of the Middle East (boreal summer) and in the Taklamakan Desert (spring). Over oceans, major long-range dust transport is observed primarily along the tropical Atlantic (intensified during boreal summer) and secondarily in the North Pacific (intensified during boreal spring). Our calculated global and regional averages and associated uncertainties are consistent with some but not all recent observation-based studies. Our work provides a simple yet flexible method to estimate consistent uncertainties across spatiotemporal scales, which will enhance the use of the MIDAS dataset in a variety of future studies.

", "keywords": ["Mineral dusts", "3702 Climate change science (for-2020)", "QC1-999", "0201 Astronomical and Space Sciences (for)", "0401 Atmospheric Sciences (for)", "3701 Atmospheric Sciences (for-2020)", "01 natural sciences", "Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences (science-metrix)", "Atmospheric Sciences", "\u00c0rees tem\u00e0tiques de la UPC::Enginyeria agroaliment\u00e0ria::Ci\u00e8ncies de la terra i de la vida::Climatologia i meteorologia", "Simulaci\u00f3 per ordinador", "Pols", "Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences", "Datasets", "Dust optical depth (DOD)", "Earth System", "QD1-999", "0105 earth and related environmental sciences", ":Enginyeria agroaliment\u00e0ria::Ci\u00e8ncies de la terra i de la vida::Climatologia i meteorologia [\u00c0rees tem\u00e0tiques de la UPC]", "3701 Atmospheric sciences (for-2020)", "Physics", "MIDAS global dataset", "16. Peace & justice", "Climate Action", "Chemistry", "37 Earth Sciences (for-2020)", "13. Climate action", "Mineral dust particles", "13 Climate Action (sdg)", "Astronomical and Space Sciences"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://acp.copernicus.org/articles/22/3553/2022/acp-22-3553-2022.pdf"}, {"href": "https://escholarship.org/content/qt9v38c6qs/qt9v38c6qs.pdf"}, {"href": "https://doi.org/2117/364526"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/Atmospheric%20Chemistry%20and%20Physics", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "2117/364526", "name": "item", "description": "2117/364526", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/2117/364526"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2021-07-19T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "3045418312", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-06-24T16:27:08Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2020-06-22", "title": "ModIs Dust AeroSol (MIDAS): A global fine resolution dust optical depth dataset", "description": "

Abstract. Monitoring and describing the spatiotemporal variability of dust aerosols is crucial to understand their multiple effects, related feedbacks and impacts within the Earth system. This study describes the development of the MIDAS (ModIs Dust AeroSol) dataset. MIDAS provides columnar daily dust optical depth (DOD at 550\u2009nm) at global scale and fine spatial resolution (0.1\u00b0\u2009\u00d7\u20090.1\u00b0) over a decade (2007\u20132016). This new dataset combines quality filtered satellite aerosol optical depth (AOD) retrievals from MODIS-Aqua at swath level (Collection 6, Level 2), along with DOD-to-AOD ratios provided by MERRA-2 reanalysis to derive DOD on the MODIS native grid. The uncertainties of MODIS AOD and MERRA-2 dust fraction with respect to AERONET and CALIOP, respectively, are taken into account for the estimation of the total DOD uncertainty (including measurement and sampling uncertainties). MERRA-2 dust fractions are in very good agreement with CALIOP column-integrated dust fractions across the dust belt, in the Tropical Atlantic Ocean and the Arabian Sea; the agreement degrades in North America and the Southern Hemisphere where dust sources are smaller. MIDAS, MERRA-2 and CALIOP DODs strongly agree when it comes to annual and seasonal spatial patterns; however, deviations of dust loads' intensity are evident and regionally dependent. Overall, MIDAS is well correlated with ground-truth AERONET-derived DODs (R\u2009=\u20090.882), only showing a small negative bias (\u22120.009 or \u22125.307\u2009%). Among the major dust areas of the planet, the highest R values (up to 0.977) are found at sites of N. Africa, Middle East and Asia. MIDAS expands, complements and upgrades existing observational capabilities of dust aerosols and it is suitable for dust climatological studies, model evaluation and data assimilation.

", "keywords": ["Dust forecast", ":Enginyeria agroaliment\u00e0ria::Ci\u00e8ncies de la terra i de la vida::Climatologia i meteorologia [\u00c0rees tem\u00e0tiques de la UPC]", "Dust particles", "CALIOP", "TA715-787", "Environmental engineering", "Dust", "TA170-171", "Tropospheric aerosols", "Satellite aerosol optical depth", "16. Peace & justice", "ModIs Dust AeroSol (MIDAS)", "01 natural sciences", "\u00c0rees tem\u00e0tiques de la UPC::Enginyeria agroaliment\u00e0ria::Ci\u00e8ncies de la terra i de la vida::Climatologia i meteorologia", "DUST-GLASS", "MODIS", "Earthwork. Foundations", "Conjunts de dades", "13. Climate action", "Stratospheric aerosols", "Dust aerosols", "Data sets", "MIDAS", "MERRA-2", "0105 earth and related environmental sciences"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://amt.copernicus.org/articles/14/309/2021/amt-14-309-2021.pdf"}, {"href": "https://amt.copernicus.org/articles/14/309/2021/amt-14-309-2021-supplement.pdf"}, {"href": "https://doi.org/3045418312"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/Atmospheric%20Measurement%20Techniques", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "3045418312", "name": "item", "description": "3045418312", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/3045418312"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2020-06-22T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "3185943994", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-06-24T16:27:20Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2022-03-17", "title": "Quantification of the dust optical depth across spatiotemporal scales with the MIDAS global dataset (2003\u20132017)", "description": "

Abstract. Quantifying the dust optical depth (DOD) and its uncertainty across spatiotemporal scales is key to understanding and constraining the dust cycle and its interactions with the Earth System. This study quantifies the DOD along with its monthly and year-to-year variability between 2003 and 2017 at global and regional levels based on the MIDAS (ModIs Dust AeroSol) dataset, which combines Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS)-Aqua retrievals and Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications, version 2 (MERRA-2), reanalysis products. We also describe the annual and seasonal geographical distributions of DOD across the main dust source regions and transport pathways. MIDAS provides columnar mid-visible (550\u2009nm) DOD at fine spatial resolution (0.1\u2218\u00d70.1\u2218), expanding the current observational capabilities for monitoring the highly variable spatiotemporal features of the dust burden. We obtain a global DOD of 0.032\u00b10.003 \u2013 approximately a quarter (23.4\u2009%\u00b12.4\u2009%) of the global aerosol optical depth (AOD) \u2013 with about 1\u00a0order of magnitude more DOD in the Northern Hemisphere (0.056\u00b10.004; 31.8\u2009%\u00b12.7\u2009%) than in the Southern Hemisphere (0.008\u00b10.001; 8.2\u2009%\u00b11.1\u2009%) and about 3.5 times more DOD over land (0.070\u00b10.005) than over ocean (0.019\u00b10.002). The Northern Hemisphere monthly DOD is highly correlated with the corresponding monthly AOD (R2=0.94) and contributes 20\u2009% to 48\u2009% of it, both indicating a dominant dust contribution. In contrast, the contribution of dust to the monthly AOD does not exceed 17\u2009% in the Southern Hemisphere, although the uncertainty in this region is larger. Among the major dust sources of the planet, the maximum DODs (\u223c1.2) are recorded in the Bod\u00e9l\u00e9 Depression of the northern Lake Chad Basin, whereas moderate-to-high intensities are encountered in the Western Sahara (boreal summer), along the eastern parts of the Middle East (boreal summer) and in the Taklamakan Desert (spring). Over oceans, major long-range dust transport is observed primarily along the tropical Atlantic (intensified during boreal summer) and secondarily in the North Pacific (intensified during boreal spring). Our calculated global and regional averages and associated uncertainties are consistent with some but not all recent observation-based studies. Our work provides a simple yet flexible method to estimate consistent uncertainties across spatiotemporal scales, which will enhance the use of the MIDAS dataset in a variety of future studies.

", "keywords": ["Mineral dusts", ":Enginyeria agroaliment\u00e0ria::Ci\u00e8ncies de la terra i de la vida::Climatologia i meteorologia [\u00c0rees tem\u00e0tiques de la UPC]", "Physics", "QC1-999", "MIDAS global dataset", "16. Peace & justice", "01 natural sciences", "Atmospheric Sciences", "Climate Action", "Chemistry", "\u00c0rees tem\u00e0tiques de la UPC::Enginyeria agroaliment\u00e0ria::Ci\u00e8ncies de la terra i de la vida::Climatologia i meteorologia", "13. Climate action", "Mineral dust particles", "Simulaci\u00f3 per ordinador", "Pols", "Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences", "Datasets", "Dust optical depth (DOD)", "Earth System", "QD1-999", "Astronomical and Space Sciences", "0105 earth and related environmental sciences"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://acp.copernicus.org/articles/22/3553/2022/acp-22-3553-2022.pdf"}, {"href": "https://escholarship.org/content/qt9v38c6qs/qt9v38c6qs.pdf"}, {"href": "https://doi.org/3185943994"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/Atmospheric%20Chemistry%20and%20Physics", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "3185943994", "name": "item", "description": "3185943994", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/3185943994"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2021-07-19T00:00:00Z"}}], "links": [{"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "This document as GeoJSON", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items?keywords=%C3%80rees+tem%C3%A0tiques+de+la+UPC%3A%3AEnginyeria+agroaliment%C3%A0ria%3A%3ACi%C3%A8ncies+de+la+terra+i+de+la+vida&f=json", "hreflang": "en-US"}, {"rel": "alternate", "type": "text/html", "title": "This document as HTML", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items?keywords=%C3%80rees+tem%C3%A0tiques+de+la+UPC%3A%3AEnginyeria+agroaliment%C3%A0ria%3A%3ACi%C3%A8ncies+de+la+terra+i+de+la+vida&f=html", "hreflang": "en-US"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection URL", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main", "hreflang": "en-US"}, {"type": "application/geo+json", "rel": "first", "title": "items (first)", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items?keywords=%C3%80rees+tem%C3%A0tiques+de+la+UPC%3A%3AEnginyeria+agroaliment%C3%A0ria%3A%3ACi%C3%A8ncies+de+la+terra+i+de+la+vida&", "hreflang": "en-US"}, {"rel": "last", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "items (last)", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items?keywords=%C3%80rees+tem%C3%A0tiques+de+la+UPC%3A%3AEnginyeria+agroaliment%C3%A0ria%3A%3ACi%C3%A8ncies+de+la+terra+i+de+la+vida&offset=18", "hreflang": "en-US"}], "numberMatched": 18, "numberReturned": 18, "distributedFeatures": [], "timeStamp": "2026-06-25T13:36:58.423665Z"}