African dust is covered by news every summer in the south. Researchers at Texas A&M University think it's more than just dust.
Researchers have developed a new method for identifying dust participles. They identified and quantified the dust in previous studies.
The study was published in a journal.
In order to do this work, the team collaborated with professors at Texas A&M and the University of Miami.
One of the few groups that study how this African dust or any kind of global or regional dust sources influence local air pollution is us. The first thing Sourav had to do was develop a new method to measure the dust's composition.
The new method quantifies the composition of three different metals that are unique to African dust. If an element is labeled simply as strontium, it would be labeled strontium 86 or 87, depending on the atomic mass. They analyzed the rare earth metal for dust.
He suggested that the analysis could be used to identify a fullfingerprint. The method is similar to identifying each curve and grooves in the fingerprints. The analogy is that similar sources are similar to twins with the same face, but with different fingerprints, which can be quantified.
What can we do to improve the accuracy of identifying African dust and quantifying its contributions in the air before and after it leaves the country? "Chelam, what do you think?" It is a monumental task to do that. It is more difficult to pursue low concentrations now than it was before.
Accurately and quantitatively tracking Saharan dust across the globe is essential to explain its effects on the Earth. This study is different because they tracked the same dust from Africa to Houston using NASA satellite images and large-scale models, instead of collecting air samples from different places.
There's no model for figuring out if the three isotopes in African dust are related to air pollution. The existing model needed to be improved to include the ability to statistically model the fingerprints.
The composition of the soil from Africa or Houston is basically the same. Researchers have quantified how different resuspended material from the two continents is after crossing the Atlantic.
When it comes to measuring other sources, we are also accurate when it comes to measuring African dust. The method is a universal method. If you have two or three sources that look similar, we can tell them apart. This method of using isotopes is applicable to any location and field of air pollution.
Natural factors such as dust and smoke from fires can affect air quality. Researchers say there is a need for a better understanding of the chemical and physical properties of the air to assess the health effects of the dust. Any metropolitan or remote area in North America, Europe and Asia can be affected by desert aerosols.
There are many other possibilities where we can use this method to quantify pollution in the city.
More information: Sourav Das et al, Coupling Sr–Nd–Hf Isotope Ratios and Elemental Analysis to Accurately Quantify North African Dust Contributions to PM2.5 in a Complex Urban Atmosphere by Reducing Mineral Dust Collinearity, Environmental Science & Technology (2022). DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.2c01233 Journal information: Environmental Science & Technology
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