Transport of atmospheric dust from the Bodele Depression, Chad, Africa
Tamara L. Battle,
Advisor: Prof. Edward Hindman, City College of New York
Mentor: Prof. Lynn C. Sparling, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
Abstract
It is thought that large dust events from the Bodele Depression might be linked to
epidemics in the “Meningitis Belt”; a region of the Sahel in Africa plagued by the
meningitis disease. This research project, which is motivated by this possible connection,
investigates the frequency and intensity of dust episodes originating in the Bodele
Depression and the transport characteristics of atmospheric dust out of this region.
Aerosol index (AI) measurements from the Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS)
were analyzed to detect and characterize large dust events that may derive from the
source region. These data were compared with measurements obtained from several of
the Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) sites located throughout the Sahel, and the
NASA/GSFC Trajectory Model using the National Centers for Environmental Protection
(NCEP) reanalysis winds, initialized simultaneously at the 500mb, 700mb and 850mb
pressure levels, representing various altitudes above the depression region. Results from
these analyses indicate a strong dependence of horizontal transport with the assumed
vertical location of dust particles in the atmospheric column and seasonal variations
associated with the meteorology of the region.