Geographical Institute, Research Centre for Astronomy and Earth Sciences, Budapest, Hungary.
Faculty of Environmental and Forest Sciences, Agricultural University of Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland.
Sci Rep. 2021 Jun 4;11(1):11891. doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-91481-z.
Mineral dust emissions from Saharan sources have an impact on the atmospheric environment and sedimentary units in distant regions. Here, we present the first systematic observations of long-range Saharan dust transport towards Iceland. Fifteen Saharan dust episodes were identified to have occurred between 2008 and 2020 based on aerosol optical depth data, backward trajectories and numerical models. Icelandic samples from the local dust sources were compared with deposited dust from two severe Saharan dust events in terms of their granulometric and mineralogical characteristics. The episodes were associated with enhanced meridional atmospheric flow patterns driven by unusual meandering jets. Strong winds were able to carry large Saharan quartz particles (> 100 µm) towards Iceland. Our results confirm the atmospheric pathways of Saharan dust towards the Arctic, and identify new northward meridional long-ranged transport of giant dust particles from the Sahara, including the first evidence of their deposition in Iceland as previously predicted by models.
撒哈拉源矿物粉尘排放对远距离地区的大气环境和沉积单元有影响。本文首次系统观测到撒哈拉沙尘长距离向冰岛输送。根据气溶胶光学深度数据、后向轨迹和数值模型，确定 2008 年至 2020 年间发生了 15 次撒哈拉沙尘事件。将来自当地尘埃源的冰岛样本与两次严重撒哈拉尘暴事件中沉积的尘埃在粒度和矿物学特征方面进行了比较。这些事件与异常蜿蜒喷流驱动的增强的经向大气流动模式有关。强风能够将大量撒哈拉石英颗粒（>100μm）带往冰岛。我们的结果证实了撒哈拉沙尘向北极的大气输送途径，并确定了来自撒哈拉的巨型尘埃向北经向长距离输送的新途径，包括模型此前预测的其在冰岛沉积的首个证据。
