Academic literature on the topic 'Dustūr (Morocco : 2011)'

Abstract. This paper promotes an understanding of the mineralogical, chemical, and physical interrelationships of re-suspended mineral dusts collected as grab samples from global dust sources. Surface soils were collected from arid regions, including the southwestern USA, Mali, Chad, Morocco, Canary Islands, Cabo Verde, Djibouti, Afghanistan, Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, UAE, Serbia, China, Namibia, Botswana, Australia, and Chile. The < 38 µm sieved fraction of each sample was re-suspended in a chamber, from which the airborne mineral dust could be extracted, sampled, and analyzed. Instruments integrated into the entrainment facility included two PM10 and two PM2.5 filter samplers, a beta attenuation gauge for the continuous measurement of PM10 and PM2.5 particulate mass fractions, an aerodynamic particle size analyzer, and a three-wavelength (405, 532, 781 nm) photoacoustic instrument with integrating reciprocal nephelometer for monitoring absorption and scattering coefficients during the dust re-suspension process. Filter sampling media included Teflon® membrane and quartz fiber filters for chemical analysis and Nuclepore® filters for individual particle analysis by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The < 38 µm sieved fractions were also analyzed by X-ray diffraction for their mineral content while the > 75, < 125 µm soil fractions were mineralogically assessed by optical microscopy. Presented here are results of the optical measurements, showing the interdependency of single-scattering albedos (SSA) at three different wavelengths and mineralogical content of the entrained dust samples. To explain the elevated concentrations of iron (Fe) and Fe ∕ Al ratios in the soil re-suspensions, we propose that dust particles are to a large extent composed of nano-sized particles of micas, clays, metal oxides, and ions of potassium (K+), calcium (Ca2+), and sodium (Na+) evenly dispersed as a colloid or adsorbed in amorphous clay-like material. Also shown are differences in SSA of the kaolinite/hematite/goethite samples from Mali and those from colloidal soils elsewhere. Results from this study can be integrated into a database of mineral dust properties, for applications in climate modeling, remote sensing, visibility, health (medical geology), ocean fertilization, and impact on equipment.

Dust aerosols often create hazardous air quality conditions that affect human health, visibility, agriculture, and communication in various parts of the world. While substantial progress has been made in dust-event simulation and hazard mitigation over the last several decades, accurately forecasting the spatial and temporal variability of dust emissions continues to be a challenge. This report documents an analysis of atmospheric conditions for a series of dust events in North Africa. The researchers highlight four analyzed events that occurred between January 2016 to present in the following locations: (1) the western Sahara Desert; (2) East Algeria and the Iberian Peninsula; (3) Chad-Bodélé Depression; (4) Algeria and Morocco. For each event, the researchers developed an overview of the general synoptic, mesoscale, and local environmental forcing conditions that controlled the event evolution and used a combination of available lidar data, surface weather observations, upper-air soundings, aerosol optical depth, and satellite imagery to characterize the dust conditions. These assessments will support downstream forecast model evaluation and sensitivity testing; however, the researchers also encourage broader use of these assessments as reference case studies for dust transport, air quality modeling, remote sensing, soil erosion, and land management research applications.