Atmospheric aerosol characterization during Saharan dust outbreaks at Napoli EARLINET station

The optical properties and the spatial distribution of the tropospheric aerosols over Naples under Saharan dust outbreaks conditions have been studied by means of lidar measurements performed between May 2000 and August 2003 in the frame of the EARLINET project. Climatological analysis of sand plume has been done by comparing normal and dust affected conditions. Results in terms of backscattering and extinction coefficient as well as their integrated quantities show that the aerosol load from the ground level up to 2 Km during Saharan dust transport events is almost the same of normal conditions. This is probably due to the relevant widespread of local aerosol sources, such as vehicular traffic, industrial activities, etc. Nevertheless, when sand outbreaks occur, the extinction to backscattering ratio, i.e. the lidar ratio, clearly shows that the aerosol type in the lowest atmospheric layer changes. Moreover, Saharan dust transport events strong increase both integrated backscatter and optical dept above 2 km.