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Human Health Effects
Marine & Wildlife
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Spatial variability of Saharan dust deposition revealed through a citizen science campaign
Earth system science data2023
21 citations
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Citation count from OpenAlex, updated daily. May differ slightly from the publisher's own count.
Score: 55
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0–100 AI score estimating relevance to the microplastics field. Papers below 30 are filtered from public browse.
Marie Dumont,
François Tuzet,
François Tuzet,
Gaël, Le Roux,
Marie Dumont,
Gaël, Le Roux,
Gaël, Le Roux,
Simon Gascoin,
Marie Dumont,
Laure Gandois,
Gaël, Le Roux,
Gaël, Le Roux,
Sophia V. Hansson,
Martin Schneebeli,
Gaël, Le Roux,
Sophia V. Hansson,
Martin Schneebeli,
Gaël, Le Roux,
Gaël, Le Roux,
Gaël, Le Roux,
Gaël, Le Roux,
Marion Réveillet,
Gaël, Le Roux,
Didier Voisin,
Sophia V. Hansson,
Didier Voisin,
Gaël, Le Roux,
Gaël, Le Roux,
Didier Voisin,
Gaël, Le Roux,
Sophia V. Hansson,
Sophia V. Hansson,
Didier Voisin,
Gaël, Le Roux,
Olivier Evrard,
Laure Gandois,
Gaël, Le Roux,
Gaël, Le Roux,
Olivier Evrard,
Laure Gandois,
Gaël, Le Roux,
Jürg Trachsel,
Gaël, Le Roux,
François Tuzet,
François Tuzet,
Gaël, Le Roux,
Jürg Trachsel,
Didier Voisin,
Gaël, Le Roux,
Didier Voisin,
Didier Voisin,
Gaël, Le Roux,
Gaël, Le Roux,
Gaël, Le Roux,
Gaël, Le Roux,
Gaël, Le Roux,
Gaël, Le Roux,
Sophia V. Hansson,
Gaël, Le Roux,
Gaël, Le Roux,
Laurent Arnaud,
Gaël, Le Roux,
Sophia V. Hansson,
Mylène Bonnefoy,
Sophia V. Hansson,
Mylène Bonnefoy,
Sophia V. Hansson,
Montse Bacardit Peñarroya,
Montse Bacardit Peñarroya,
Gaël, Le Roux,
Sophia V. Hansson,
Gaël, Le Roux,
Gaël, Le Roux,
Gaël, Le Roux,
Carlo Maria Carmagnola,
Carlo Maria Carmagnola,
Laurent Arnaud,
Alexandre Deguine,
Martin Schneebeli,
Sophia V. Hansson,
Aurélie Diacre,
Lukas Dürr,
Lukas Dürr,
Olivier Evrard,
Firmin Fontaine,
Firmin Fontaine,
Amaury Frankl,
Mathieu Fructus,
Laure Gandois,
Mathieu Fructus,
Laure Gandois,
Laurent Arnaud,
Isabelle Gouttevin,
Abdelfateh Gherab,
Abdelfateh Gherab,
Pascal Hagenmuller,
Sophia V. Hansson,
Hervé Herbin,
Hervé Herbin,
Béatrice Josse,
Bruno Jourdain,
Irène Lefèvre,
Irène Lefèvre,
Gaël, Le Roux,
Quentin Libois,
Lucie Liger,
Samuel Morin,
Denis Petitprez,
Alvaro Robledano,
Martin Schneebeli,
Pascal Salze,
Pascal Salze,
Delphine Six,
Emmanuel Thibert,
Jürg Trachsel,
Matthieu Vernay,
Matthieu Vernay,
Léo Viallon-Galinier,
Léo Viallon-Galinier,
Céline Voiron,
Céline Voiron
Summary
Researchers used a citizen science campaign to collect dust-on-snow samples across the Pyrenees and Alps following a major Saharan dust event in February 2021. They found that the amount and particle size of deposited dust decreased with distance from the source, and south-facing slopes accumulated more dust. The study demonstrates how citizen science can fill gaps in understanding atmospheric dust transport, which also carries microplastics and other pollutants across long distances.
Abstract. Saharan dust outbreaks have profound effects on ecosystems, climate, human health, and the cryosphere in Europe. However, the spatial deposition pattern of Saharan dust is poorly known due to a sparse network of ground measurements. Following the extreme dust deposition event of February 2021 across Europe, a citizen science campaign was launched to sample dust on snow over the Pyrenees and the European Alps. This somewhat improvised campaign triggered wide interest since 152 samples were collected from the snow in the Pyrenees, the French Alps, and the Swiss Alps in less than 4 weeks. Among the 152 samples, 113 in total could be analysed, corresponding to 70 different locations. The analysis of the samples showed a large variability in the dust properties and amount. We found a decrease in the deposited mass and particle sizes with distance from the source along the transport path. This spatial trend was also evident in the elemental composition of the dust as the iron mass fraction decreased from 11 % in the Pyrenees to 2 % in the Swiss Alps. At the local scale, we found a higher dust mass on south-facing slopes, in agreement with estimates from high-resolution remote sensing data. This unique dataset, which resulted from the collaboration of several research laboratories and citizens, is provided as an open dataset to benefit a large community and to enable further scientific investigations. Data presented in this study are available at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7969515 (Dumont et al., 2022a).