Use of ¹³⁷Cs as a tracer of low-altitude transport of re-suspended aeroso from the African continent

Northern Africa and the Arabian Peninsula are known sources of dust particles, which, upon certain meteorological conditions, may be transported over long distances (e.g. Goudie and Middleton, 2001). The island of Tenerife is situated approximately 200 km off the coast of Morocco. It is often affected by atmospheric dust intrusions from the African Continent produced by the suspension of aerosol particulate. These atmospheric events produce important increments of PM 10 matter concentrations in the air above the island. In this study, we have analysed the time series of ¹³⁷ Cs and PM 10 matter recorded in Tenerife, during 2000-2006, at the marine boundary layer (MBL) to test the possible usefulness of the mentioned radiotracers as markers of dust intrusions of African origin. The analysis was supported with results obtained from the HYSPLIT (Hybrid Single-Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory) 4.0 dispersion model and the DREAM (Dust Regional Atmospheric Model) model (author)(tk)