Analysis of Aerosols Climatology over Saudi Provinces Based on Satellites and Ground Stations Data

Abstract:

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is one of the major sources of aerosols in the world, including natural and anthropogenic components. This study presents a detailed climatological analysis of the optical, microphysical aerosol properties and absorption aerosol characteristics over four different regions of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia using satellite and ground stations data including MODIS/Terra and Aqua, OMI, MISR/Terra, AERONET and CALIPSO for the period April 2003 – January 2013. Analysis shows an increase in the aerosol concentration during March 2009 which could be attributed to a Major dust storm during that time. Comparing the AOD time series over regions 1-3 and region 4 (desert) we observe monthly and annual variability with no recurrence pattern over the years. The results also show minimum precipitation rates during the summer and maximum during the winter over region 3. The Aqua deep blue AOD550 data over region 4 shows a single peak pattern that occurs during the spring season around the dust season. Aeronet observations at 440 nm show maxima of 0.71 in July and a minimum of 0.27 in March from MASDAR and maxima of 0.08 in November and a minimum of 0.05 in August from Solar Village. The non-spherical particles are significantly higher in the spring than the rest of the year based on MISR data. The AOD of non-spherical particles reaches a maximum in June with a value of ~ 0.3517±0.01. The maximum of the spherical fraction AOD occurs in July with a value of ~ 0.4867±0.01.

Acknowledgment

The authors would like to acknowledge the support provided by the Deanship of Scientific Research (DSR) at the King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM), for funding this work through project no. IN121064.