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Dust vertical distribution in the Caribbean during the Puerto Rico Dust Experiment

2002; American Geophysical Union; Volume: 29; Issue: 7 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1029/2001gl014092

1944-8007

Jeffrey S. Reid, Douglas L. Westphal, John M. Livingston, D. L. Savoie, Hal Maring, Haflidi H. Jonsson, Daniel P. Eleuterio, James E. Kinney, Elizabeth A. Reid,

Aeolian processes and effects

As part of Puerto Rico Dust Experiment (PRIDE), a Piper Navajo research aircraft, equipped with particle probes and an airborne Sun photometer, was deployed to Puerto Rico in July 2000. During the study, mid‐visible optical depths in Puerto Rico due to dust reached 0.5. In the middle of the summer transport season, the vertical distributions of dust were similar to that commonly assumed in the region with dust concentrated in the Saharan Air Layer (SAL) aloft. However, during the first half of the study period, dust had the highest concentrations in the marine and convective boundary layers, with lower dust concentrations above the trade inversion despite the presence of a strong SAL. Supporting meteorology suggests that the state of the monsoon on the coast of Africa influences the nature of the vertical distribution of dust in the Caribbean.