Dust Aging and TransporT from Africa to the Caribbean (Dust-ATTACk)

 

The Dust Aging and TransporT from Africa to the Caribbean (Dust-ATTACk) project aimed at providing additional information on the aging of mineral dust following transport in the atmosphere. Dust-ATTACk was a ground-based field experiment conducted in the Cape San Juan Atmospheric Observatory in the Island of Puerto Rico in June–July 2012. Puerto Rico is an island territory of the United States located in the Caribbean Sea in the area bounded by 65.6–67.3W and 17.9–18.5 N.

The Dust-ATTACk field campaign took place between 20 June and 13 July 2012 at the low elevation Cape San Juan Puerto Rico Aerosol Observatory (18°23′N, 65°37′W, 66m above sea level) managed by the University of Puerto Rico. The station is a regional Global Atmosphere Watch (GAW) site and is a participant in both the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration-Earth System Research Laboratory (NOAA-ESRL, www.esrl. noaa.gov/gmd/aero/net/cpr/index.html) collaborative aerosol network and the NASA AErosol RObotic NETwork (AERONET, http://aeronet.gsfc.nasa.gov/). The Observatory is known as CPR by GAW and in NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory’s aerosol network and as Cape San Juan in NASA’s AERONET. The site is within the subtropical dry forest zone, has good exposure to the easterly trades (and hence African dust), and is free of major land masses upwind, minimizing the effects of anthropogenic aerosol sources.

Contact LISA: P. Formenti (PI)
Financial support: Partner University Fund/FACE foundation (2012-2015)
Partners:
O. Mayol-Bracero – Univ. PuertoRico
B. Andrews, J. Ogren - NOAA

Group publications

- Denjean, C., P. Formenti, K. Desboeufs, S. Chevaillier, S. Triquet, M. Maillé, M. Cazaunau, B. Laurent, O. L. Mayol-Bracero, P. Vallejo, M. Quiñones, I. E. Gutierrez-Molina, F. Cassola, P. Prati, E. Andrews, and J. Ogren, Size distribution and optical properties of African mineral dust after intercontinental transport, J. Geophys. Res. Atmos., 121, 7117–7138, doi:10.1002/2016JD024783, 2016.
- Denjean, C., S. Caquineau, K. Desboeufs, B. Laurent, M. Maille, M. Quiñones Rosado, P. Vallejo, O. L. Mayol-Bracero, and P. Formenti, Long-range transport across the Atlantic in summertime does not enhance the hygroscopicity of African mineral dust, Geophys. Res. Lett., 42, 7835–7843, 10.1002/2015GL065693., 2015.