Recent progress in understanding physical and chemical properties of African and Asian mineral dust

Abstract. This paper presents a review of recently acquired knowledge of the physico-chemical properties of mineral dust from Africa and Asia based on data and discussion during the Third International Dust Workshop, held in Leipzig (Germany) in September 2008. Various regional experiments have been conducted in the last few years, mostly close to source regions or after short-range transport. Significant progress has been made in characterising the mineralogy of iron and the description of particle shape close to source regions. We consider that future research should focus on the evolution of dust properties during transport. In particular, the prediction of the characteristics of the size distribution of mineral dust at emission and their dynamics evolution during transport should be considered as a high-priority. The presence of large airborne particles above 20 μm in diameter, suggested by various studies, has limited implication for radiation, but should be important for deposition-based studies such as those on ocean productivity. Modelling the uplifting and transport of such large particles will represent a new serious challenge for transport models. A critical assessment and standardisation of the experimental and analytical methods is recommended.