Extreme Saharan dust events expand northward over the Atlantic and Europe, prompting record-breaking PM₁₀ and PM_2.5 episodes

30 October 2024

Extreme Saharan dust events expanded northward to the Atlantic and Europe, prompting record-breaking PM₁₀ and PM_2.5 events. These episodes are caused by low-to-high dipole meteorology during hemispheric anomalies characterized by subtropical anticyclones shifting to higher latitudes, anomalous low pressures beyond the tropics and amplified Rossby waves. Extreme dust events occur in a paradoxical context of a multidecadal decrease in dust emissions, a topic that requires further investigation.

Please also read the press release by the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC).

Contact: Sergio Rodríguez (sergio.rodriguez@csic.es)