Identification of Saharan dust episodes over Italy in 2003-2005

This study presents a monthly distribution of the main Saharan dust outbreaks registered in the period 2003-2005 at seven Italian locations. The identification has been carried out by looking at several sources of information such as monitoring network observations, satellite images, ground measurements of aerosol optical properties, dust model simulations and air mass backward trajectory analysis. Dust intrusions are mainly focused in spring (40%-45%) and summer (35%-55%). In winter and autumn the sites in Northern Italy registered a significant number of episodes in January and February (between 7% and 10%) whereas the stations in Central Italy and in the islands were not affected by any dust intrusion. The highest number of episodes was identified at the Mediterranean island of Lampedusa in summer (57% of the total). A specific dust event in 2005 (17th-20th July) identified by using this methodology is also described.