Spatial distribution and temporal variability of Harmattan dust haze in sub-Sahel West Africa

The distributions of frequency of occurrence (FOO) of ‘thick dust haze’ (TDH) and of ‘light dust haze’ (LDH) with respect to latitude, longitude, elevation and distance from source during Harmattan season (from November to February) are investigated, using 30-year visibility data collected from 27 synoptic stations located in Nigeria between the West African Sahel and the coasts of Gulf of Guinea. This region lies along the Harmattan season trajectory of Saharan dust. Also investigated is the temporal variability of TDH and LDH on intra-seasonal and inter-annual timescales spanning three decades from 1971 to 2000. Dust haze distribution over the region is found to correlate with the four geographical variables to different extents, with latitude, distance from source and elevation showing strong correlations with both TDH and LDH. The investigation also shows that while FOO of TDH days increases with latitude (correlation coefficient, rlat,FOO_TDH=0.88), FOO of LDH days decreases with latitude over the region (correlation coefficient, rlat,FOO_LDH=−0.74). The correlation coefficients with longitude over the region are rlon,FOO_TDH=0.44 and rlon,FOO_LDH=−0.25, respectively, indicating weaker dependence of TDH and LDH on longitude. The average number of TDH days per month during the Harmattan season in the region ranges from about 0.5 in the humid coastal zone near the Gulf of Guinea in the south, to approximately 6 in the dry semi-arid zone near the West African Sahel. An empirical equation which shows that FOO of TDH increases exponentially with latitude over the region is derived. The FOO of TDH is found to be most variable in or near the Sahel zone and decreases southwards towards the Gulf of Guinea. The average of the standard deviations is 1.13 for the six northernmost synoptic stations and decreases to 0.51 over the six coastal and southernmost locations. In contrast, the FOO of LDH is most variable in the south (with standard deviation of 2.11 (over the six southernmost and coastal stations) and decreases to an average of 0.30 (over six of the extreme northern stations). The observed patterns of TDH and LDH distribution are attributed to distance from dust source region, decrease in dust particle size and wind speed from north to south, increase in atmospheric humidity and vegetation cover from the Sahel in the north to the coastal zone in the south, as well as inter-annual variability of Sahel rainfall.