FOR 539:  Saharan Mineral Dust Experiment SAMUM

• Subject Area: Geosciences
• Term: from 2004 to 2012
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 5470891

The Research Unit is focused on the measurement and analysis of the effect of mineral dust from the Sahara desert on the atmospheric radiation budget. Sunlight, as well as the wavelength-transformed light reflected from the ground and from atmospheric particles ("terrestrial radiation"), is strongly influenced by the presence of mineral dust in the atmosphere. This is believed to have a significant impact on the global climate change. However, neither the sign nor the amount of this influence is known, therefore more intense research is needed on this subject.
The location of the first joint field campaign in the South-East of the Kingdom of Morocco has been chosen because of its vicinity to the Sahara desert, which is the strongest natural source of mineral dust in the world. The particular sites (Ouarzazate and Zagora) are chosen because they offer the best infrastructure for the experiment, which could be found close to the Saharan dust sources. The experiment will be conducted on aircraft and by two ground stations, with the two aircraft and one ground station based at Ouarzazate airport, while the second ground station will be located in the surroundings of Zagora. Also data from scientific satellites will be used.
The following physical properties will be measured during the experiment: Solar radiation; terrestrial radiation; microphysical data of the dust particles, as well as their optical properties; standard meteorological data. Various detectors for light and particles, meteorological radio sondes, and lidar instruments will be used for this purpose. The evaluated data will be used in columnar, regional and global models developed by members of the SAMUM consortium. In a second phase of SAMUM the dust plume mixed with biomass burning effluents will be studied off the African coast on the Cape Verde Islands in 2007.

• DFG Programme: Research Units
• International Connection: Morocco

Projects

• Airborne in situ and remote sensing studies on the vertical and areal distribution of microphysical and optical properties of Saharan dust (Applicant Weinzierl, Bernadett )
• Coordination of SAMUM-2 (Applicant Heintzenberg, Jost )
• Determination of optical properties of desert dust aerosol for satellite validation - AERVAL (Applicant Burrows, John Philip )
• Longwave Radiative Effects of Saharan Dust and the Impact of Particle Shape (Applicant Trautmann, Thomas )
• Modeling and observation of Sahara dust transport, modification and radiative impact (Applicants Macke, Andreas ;  Tegen, Ina ;  Wendisch, Manfred )
• Multiwavelength lidar profiling of Saharan dust/biomass-burning aerosol layers over the Cape Verde Islands (Applicants Ansmann, Albert ;  Wiegner, Matthias )
• Optical properties of mixed mineral, biomass burning and marine aerosols at dry and ambient conditions (Applicant Wiedensohler, Alfred )
• Physico-chemical parameters of desert aerosols (Applicant Jaenicke, Ruprecht )
• Physico-chemical parameters of mixed mineral, biomass burning and marine aerosols (Applicants Schütz, Lothar ;  Weinbruch, Stephan )
• Radiative Properties of Sahara Dust: In-situ Aircraft Measurements and Model Calculations (Applicant Wendisch, Manfred )
• Regional Modeling of the Saharan Dust Cycle (Applicant Heintzenberg, Jost )
• Vertikal aufgelöste Charakterisierung von Sahara-Staub (mineralischem Aerosol) mit Hilfe von Lidar (Applicant Wiegner, Matthias )

• Spokesperson: Privatdozent Dr. Albert Ansmann, since 5/2010