Characterization of Atmospheric Saharan Dust Plumes Using Remote Hyperspectral Imagery for Public Health

Abstract

Atmospheric dust affects climate, biogeochemistry, and human health, with total emissions estimated at 1,500 to 3,000 Tg yr⁻¹. The Bodélé Depression, Chad (17˚N, 18˚E) in the Saharan Desert is the largest single point source of dust in the world, and dust from the Bodélé, and the Sahara in general, has been tracked across much of the world, including to the Caribbean and the Americas. Although it has been linked to negative health effects in sink regions, few have worked to understand its local health effects in Africa. The lack of ground-based stations in North Africa and the inaccessibility of much of the region call for a remote technique to track dust concentration and composition as it moves across Africa. Such a method would provide a more detailed understanding of dust dynamics in North Africa and reveal the potential health effects of dust in the region. Here, we combine aerosol optical thickness measurements from MODIS and dust concentrations from the DREAM model with hyperspectral imagery from the Hyperion sensor onboard NASA's EO-1 spacecraft to reveal differences between calm and dusty scenes in North Africa and compare the data to the ground-based aerosol optical thickness measurements from AERONET stations.

Keywords:

• aerosol
• health
• Hyperion
• hyperspectral
• Saharan dust
• West Africa

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Dr. Thomas Mote and Dr. Andrew Grundstein for their intellectual guidance throughout this project. Special thanks to Steve Padgett-Vasquez for his expertise in the processing of Hyperion data and remote sensing in general. We thank the principal investigators and technicians who run the AERONET stations that provided the ground-based AOT data, specifically Didier Tanri at the Dakar Site in Senegal, Bernadette Chatenet at the IER Cinzana site in Mali, Jean Louis Rajot at the Zinder Airport site in Niger, and Rachel T. Pinker at the Ilorin site in Nigeria.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Kyle Mattingly

KYLE MATTINGLY is a graduate student in the Department of Geography, University of Georgia, 210 Field Street, Rm 204, Athens, GA 30602. E-mail: [email protected]. His research interests include remote sensing, synoptic meteorology, and hydroclimatology.

Bradford Johnson

BRADFORD JOHNSON is graduate student in the Department of Geography, University of Georgia, 210 Field Street, Rm 204, Athens, GA 30602. E-mail: [email protected]. His research interests include urban climatology, remote sensing, and geospatial analysis.

Al Fischer

AL FISCHER is a graduate student in the Department of Chemistry, University of Georgia, 140 Cedar Street, Athens, GA 30602. E-mail: [email protected]. His research interests include aerosol optical properties and spectroscopic methods development.