Dust Climatology of Turkey as a Part of the Eastern Mediterranean Basin via 9-Year CALIPSO-Derived Product

Aslanoğlu S. Y., Proestakis E., Gkikas A., Güllü G., Amiridis V.

ATMOSPHERE, cilt.13, sa.5, ss.1-24, 2022 (SCI-Expanded)

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Cilt numarası: 13 Sayı: 5
  • Basım Tarihi: 2022
  • Dergi Adı: ATMOSPHERE
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Scopus, EBSCO Legal Collection, Geobase
  • Sayfa Sayıları: ss.1-24
  • Hacettepe Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

Turkey is located in the heart of complex transition geography between Eurasia and the
Middle East. In the grand scheme, the so-called eastern Mediterranean Basin is located almost
in the middle of the dusty belt, and is a hot spot of climate change. The downstream location of
dust-carrying winds from close desert sources reveals Turkey as an open plane to particulate matter
exposure throughout the year. In order to clarify this phenomenon, this paper aims to determine the
desert dust climatology of Turkey via CALIPSO onboard Lidar. This prominent instrument enables
us to understand clouds, aerosols and their types, and related climatic systems, with its valuable
products. In this study, a 9-year CALIPSO-derived pure dust product dataset was formed to explain
horizontal and vertical distributions, transport heights and case incidences. The results indicated
that the pure dust extinction coefficient increased as the location shifted from west to east. Moreover,
in the same direction of west to east, the dominant spring months changed to summer and autumn.
Mountain range systems surrounding Anatolia were the main obstacles against lofted and buoyant
dust particles travelling to northern latitudes. Even if high ridges accumulated mass load on the
southern slopes, they also enabled elevated particles to reach the ground level of the inner cities.