Aerosols over the Arabian Sea: Atmospheric transport pathways and concentrations of dust and sea salt

This paper provides an overview of dust transport pathways and concentratio ns over the Arabian Sea during 1995. Results indicate that the transport an d input of dust to the region is complex, being affected by both temporally and spatially important processes. Highest values of dust were found off t he Omani coast and in the entrance to the Gulf of Oman. Dust levels were ge nerally lower in summer than the other seasons, although still relatively h igh compared to other oceanic regions. The Findlater jet, rather than actin g as a source of dust from Africa, appears to block the direct transport of dust to the open Arabian Sea from desert dust source regions in the Middle East and Iran/Pakistan. Dust transport aloft, above the jet, rather than a t the surface, may be more important during summer. In an opposite pattern to dust, sea salt levels were exceedingly high during the summer monsoon, p resumably due to the sustained strong surface winds. The high sea salt aero sols during the summer months may be impacting on the strong aerosol reflec tance and absorbance signals over the Arabian Sea that are detected by sate llite each year. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.