Silvia Alonso-Pérez

• Ph.D.
• Lecturer at University of La Laguna

Dust events in the Canary Islands have been documented since the late 19th century. However, during the past few years, several severe dust episodes have occurred in the Canary Islands, resulting in significant impacts on various sectors, such as aviation, air quality, and health, among others. These recent severe events have drawn the attention of...

During the months of February–March (FM) of the 2020–2022 period, several intense dust intrusions from northern Africa affected Europe. The frequency of dust events was exceptional, considering that wintertime is the season with minimum dust activity in the Mediterranean, and some episodes displayed a duration and/or intensity never recorded before...

This study presents the results of the long-term monitoring of PM10 and PM2.5 concentrations using a low-cost particle sensor installed in a suburban environment in the Canary Islands. A laser-scattering Nova Fitness SDS011 sensor was operated continuously for approximately three and a half years, which is longer than most other studies using this...

During the winters of the 2020–2022 period, several intense North African dust intrusions affected Europe. Some of them displayed a duration never recorded before. They were referred to as exceptional by several international operational and research institutions considering that wintertime is the season with minimum dust activity in the Mediterran...

Atmospheric deposition of desert dust and other aerosols influence on the open ocean ecosystem and climate. These aerosols provide iron, phosphorus and bio-essential trace elements, which affect the composition and growth of phytoplankton, generating new organic matter that is distributed across the food web. Although this process has an impact on...

In this study, we performed a diagnostic and evolutive analysis of the bioclimatology of the Canary Islands, an Atlantic archipelago where the climate itself is a main feature promoting tourism. Among all the tourist-climate indices described in the literature, we evaluated the most widely used, which is the Tourism Climate Index (TCI) proposed by...

Based at Izaña Observatory (~2400 m a.s.l. in Tenerife), we performed 1-h resolution measurements of elemental composition of dust in the Saharan Air Layer (SAL) and studied the variability of the ratios of these elements to aluminium (elemental ratios). In a period (~1 week) of continuous dust presence (50–200 μg/m³), we observed rapid variations...

Objectives: To explore whether episodes of exposure to atmospheric Saharan dust is a risk factor for hospitalization in patients with acute heart failure (AHF) attended in a hospital emergency department (ED). Material and methods: TSingle-center retrospective study of patients with AHF. The cohort was analyzed in 2 groups: ED patients hospitali...

In some areas, forests are being affected in diverse aspects such as structure, composition and biodiversity showing an increase or a decrease in the growth rates. Pinus is one of the most dominant genera in the forests of the Northern Hemisphere. This study analyzes the pine pollination patterns in 30 locations of Spain with an average of 21-year...

It was previously shown that during August the export of Saharan dust to the Atlantic was strongly affected by the difference of the 700-hPa geopotential height anomaly between the subtropics and the tropics over North Africa, which was termed the North African Dipole Intensity (NAFDI). In this work a more comprehensive analysis of the NAFDI is per...

Seminar imparted on 19 May 2016 about a very preliminar and completely different version of the Atmospheric Environment article published in 2017 about NAFDI, RW and SHL; in this presentation/seminar, there is a link to a discussion manuscript published in 2016 that contains additional interesting sugestions/ideas for future work.

We have studied the relationship between the long-term interannual variability in large-scale meteorology in western North Africa – the largest and most active dust source worldwide – and Saharan dust export in summer, when enhanced dust mobilization in the hyper-arid Sahara results in maximum dust impacts throughout the North Atlantic. We address...

This book is the first Izaña Atmospheric Research Centre (IARC), from the State Meteorological Agency of Spain (AEMET), Activity Report (2012-2014). Many of the IARC activities are part of the Global Atmosphere Watch Programme (GAW) of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), and the associated networks (NDACC, TCCON, BSRN, MPLNET), and theref...

This paper presents a new empirical equation relating horizontal visibility and PM10 dust concentrations. The new empirical equation (IZO-Eq) is derived from observations performed at the Izaña Atmospheric Observatory (IZO, 28.30°N, 16.49°W, 2367 m a.s.l., Tenerife, Spain), recorded during Saharan dust outbreaks from 2003 to 2010. A filter based on...

More than 2 years of columnar atmospheric aerosol measurements (2006–2009) at the Tamanrasset site (22.79° N, 5.53° E, 1377 m a.s.l.), in the heart of the Sahara, are analysed. Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) level 2.0 data were used. The KCICLO (K is the name of a constant and ciclo means cycle in Spanish) method was applied to a part of the lev...

Desert dust aerosols influence air quality and climate on a global scale, including radiative forcing, cloud properties and carbon dioxide modulation through ocean fertilisation. North Africa is the largest and most active dust source worldwide; however, the mechanisms modulating year-to-year variability in Saharan dust export in summer remains unc...

The occurrence of African dust outbreaks over different areas of the western Mediterranean Basin were identified on an 11-year period (2001–2011). The main atmospheric circulation patterns causing the transport of African air masses were characterized by means of an objective classification methodology of atmospheric variable fields. Next, the pote...

More than two years of columnar atmospheric aerosol measurements (2006–2009) at Tamanrasset site, in the heart of the Sahara desert, are analysed. AERONET level 2.0 data were used. The KCICLO method was applied to a part of level 1.5 data series to improve the quality of the results. The annual variability of aerosol optical depth (AOD) and Angstro...

An analysis of the 22-yr ozone (O3) series (1988– 2009) at the subtropical high mountain Iza˜na station (IZO; 2373m a.s.l.), representative of free troposphere (FT) conditions, is presented. Diurnal and seasonal O3 variations as well as the O3 trend (0.19±0.05%yr−1 or 0.09 ppbvyr−1), are assessed. A climatology of O3 transport pathways using backwa...

An analysis of the 22-yr ozone (O3) series (1988–2009) at the subtropical high mountain Izaña station (IZO; 2373 m a.s.l.), representative of free troposphere (FT) conditions, is presented. Diurnal and seasonal O3 variations as well as the O3 trend (0.19 ± 0.05% yr−1 or 0.09 ppbv yr−), are assessed. A climatology of O3 transport pathways using back...

High mineral dust-laden air mass potential source regions affecting the Marine Boundary Layer (MBL) of the Subtropical Eastern North Atlantic Region above 25°N (SENAR), directly or by means of gravitational settlement, were objectively identified. We introduced a new hybrid Lagrangian-Eulerian receptor model, in which air mass residence time probab...

Synoptic geopotential height anomalies patterns favouring African dust outbreaks into the marine boundary layer (MBL) of the subtropical Eastern North Atlantic Region (SENAR) were objectively identified. The proportion of the total variance explained by each of these patterns was also calculated. Dust intrusions into the MBL of the SENAR were ident...

African dust intrusions in the marine mixing layer of the Eastern North Atlantic subtropical region (23.5°N to 35°N) are favoured in winter when the eastern edge of the Azores High covers Southwestern Europe and North Africa. In situ ground pressure observations and reanalysis from National Centers for Environmental Prediction/National Center for A...

An analysis of chemical composition data of particulate matter samples (TSP, PM10 and PM2.5) collected from 2002 to 2008 in the North Atlantic free troposphere at the Izaña Global Atmospheric Watch (GAW) observatory (Tenerife, Canary Islands) shows that desert dust is very frequently mixed with particulate pollutants in the Saharan Air Layer (SAL)....

The chemical composition of particulate matter samples (TSP, PM₁₀ and PM_2.5) collected from 2002 to 2008 in the North Atlantic free troposphere at Izaña Global Atmospheric Watch (GAW) observatory (Tenerife, The Canary Islands) was studied. The analysis of the samples collected in the Saharan Air Layer (SAL) shows that soil des...

A Cimel sun photometer has been in operation at Tamanrasset station since late 2006. In this study, more than two years of aerosol measurements have been analyzed from October 2006 to January 2009. Two parameters, aerosol optical depth (AOD) and Ångström exponent (AE), have been used for this preliminar characterization. At this station, the mean A...

Alternaria is a common airborne phytopathogenic fungus that may affect crops in the field or can cause decay of plant products. It can also cause diseases in animals and humans. The study of airborne Alternaria conidia is a necessary step for the control and prevention of the agricultural damage they can provoke. The aim of this paper is to contrib...

The Canary Islands, due to their geographical position, constitute an adequate site for the study of long-range pollen transport from the surrounding land masses. In this study, we analyzed airborne pollen counts at two sites: Santa Cruz de Tenerife (SCO), at sea level corresponding to the marine boundary layer (MBL), and Izaña at 2,367 m.a.s.l. co...

This manuscript proposes and validates a methodology for the quantification of the daily African PM load during dust outbreaks in southern Europe. The daily net dust load in PM10 attributable to an African episode can be obtained by subtracting the daily regional background (RB) level from the PM10 concentration value at a RB station. The daily RB...

During the last 7-year period (2000-2006) atmosphere circulation changes show strong influences on the dust storm deposition dynamics and, as a result, on the primary production dynamics of the northwest African Upwelling System. From 2000 to 2006, the annual mean sea level pressure became higher ranging from 1014 to 1015 mb. Mean annual zonal wind...

During the period 2000-2005, the atmospheric dynamic showed a significant influence on the dust inputs dynamic and, as a result, on the primary production of the northwest African Upwelling System since 2000 to 2005. In this period, the annual mean sea level pressure became higher, ranging from 1014 to 1015 mb. Mean annual zonal wind intensity beca...

Tenerife (Canary Islands) is often affected by Saharan mineral dust outbreaks. These events result in high PM10 concentrations in ambient air, well above the limiting values adopted by the European Union (Directive EU/1999/30). To comply with the EU Air Quality Directive, a quantitative proxy for the characterisation of high PM10 events is required...

Temporal series of atmospheric PM1 and PM10 matter (particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter below 1 and 10 μm) as well as 40K and 7Be concentrations in aerosol filters, collected in the Island of Tenerife from 30 June 2003 until 17 January 2005, were analysed here to: (1) study the variability of 7Be in the atmosphere at this site and (2) to i...

Six years (1998–2003) of measurements of ambient air concentrations of total suspended particulate (TSP) measured at a rural background monitoring station in Tenerife (Canary Islands), the El Río station (ER, 28°08′35″N, 16°39′20″W, 500 m a.s.l.) were studied. African dust outbreaks were objectively identified using a new quantitative tool, called...

This paper proposes and validates a methodology for the quantification of the daily African PM load during dust outbreaks in southern Europe. The daily net dust load in PM10 attributable to an African episode in a given region can be obtained by subtracting the daily regional background (RB) level from the PM10 concentration value at an RB station....

The influence of two intensive low-altitude atmospheric-dust intrusions on the activity levels of 137Cs and 40K as well as atmospheric particle matter (PM10) concentrations in the lower atmosphere of the Canary Islands are analysed here. These two events took place at the beginning of January 2002 and March 2004, respectively. 3D atmospheric back-t...