Author(s)

Habib Senghor^1*, Éric Machu², Luis Durán³, Gregory S. Jenkins⁴, Amadou Thierno Gaye¹

¹Laboratoire de Physique de l’Atmosphère et de l’Océan Siméon-Fongang (LPAO-SF), école Supérieure Polytechnique (ESP), Université Cheikh Anta Diop (UCAD), Dakar, Sénégal.
²Laboratoire d’Océanographie Physique et Spatiale (LOPS), Institut Universitaire Européen de la Mer (IUEM), Plouzané, France.
³InterMET, Madrid, Spain.
⁴Department of Meteorology and Atmospheric Science, University Park, State College, PA, USA.

The Westward transport of mineral dust from the North Africa continent to Atlantic Ocean can produce poor air quality, low visibilities, and negatively impacting respiratory and cardiac health due to the optical and physical properties of aerosols. The dynamical impact of the sea-breeze on the dust vertical distribution in West Africa remains unknown. To investigate this issue, we have used in-situ measurements from lidar. We have focused on the attenuated backscatter of aerosols to study the effect of the local circulation on the vertical profile of mineral dust at land-sea transition. The results highlight a strong diurnal cycle of mineral dust associated with the nocturnal low-level jet (NLLJ). The jet is located between 500 m and 1000 m and crucially affected by the dynamic of the sea-breeze circulation.

Aerosols, Dust, Sea-Breeze, Circulation

Senghor, H. , Machu, É. , Durán, L. , Jenkins, G. and Gaye, A. (2020) Seasonal Behavior of Aerosol Vertical Concentration in Dakar and Role Played by the Sea-Breeze. Open Journal of Air Pollution, 9, 11-26. doi: 10.4236/ojap.2020.91002.