Columnar and surface aerosol load over the Iberian Peninsula establishing annual cycles, trends, and relationships in five geographical sectors

• DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2015.03.002
• Publication Date: 2015-03-13T05:00:18Z
• Authors: D. Mateos; V.E. Cachorro; C. Toledano; M.A. Burgos; Y. Bennouna; B. Torres; D. Fuertes; R. González; C. Guirado; A. Calle; A.M. de Frutos
• Keywords: Peninsula; AERONET; Seasonality

The study of atmospheric aerosol load over the Iberian Peninsula (IP) under a climatological perspective is accomplished by means of PM10 and AOD440 nm measurements from EMEP and AERONET networks, respectively, in the period 2000-2013. The PM10 annual cycles in five Iberian sectors show a main maximum in summer and a secondary maximum in spring, which is only observed in the southern area for the AOD climatology. The characteristics of PM10-AOD annual cycles of each geographical sector are explained by the different climatology of the air mass origins and their apportioning. The two magnitudes are correlated with a factor ranging between 20 and 90 depending on the sector. The temporal evolution of the aerosol load has shown a notable decrease in the IP since the 1980s. Statistically significant trends are obtained in the Northeastern sector with a reduction of 26% (period 1985-2000) for the total suspended particles, which continues for the PM10 data with a value of 35% per decade (2001-2013), and also in the whole column, 61% per decade in the AOD440 nm (2004-2013).