Analysis of the change in mineral dust optical properties over the Eastern Mediterranean with source location using SEAWIFS imagery

Abstract

Mineral dust from surrounding and regions is the major aerosol in the Mediterranean atmosphere during spring and summer. The Eastern Mediterranean is particularly interesting because mineral dust may come from three different sources, originate from the central Sahara in spring, the eastern Sahara in summer and the Middle East/Arabian peninsula in autumn. We obtain the best agreement between SeaWiFS and Sun-Photometer derived aerosol optical thickness by considering, the optical properties dust transported from different sources.