Publication Date:
2017-08-12
Description:
We investigated the variability in the North African dust transport routes over the Atlantic (NAD routes) by extracting the dust transport central axis using Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aerosol data for 2001–2015. The results showed that the NAD routes can be classified into two regimes, a southern-route centered at the southernmost position of 6.08 ± 1.12°N during November to March and a northern-route centered at the northernmost position of 18.21 ± 1.04°N during April to October. In the southern-route, large inter-variation was correlated with the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) and North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), but the ITCZ and NAO jointly explained only 38% of the variation. In the northern-route, the ITCZ alone explained 67% of the inter-variation. The extracted trends during 2001–2015 exhibited a northward shift of 1.68° for the southern-route and of 0.52° for the northern-route. The causes for the shift were also examined.
Print ISSN:
0094-8276
Electronic ISSN:
1944-8007
Topics:
Geosciences
,
Physics
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