Saharan dust impact in central Italy: An overview on three years elemental data records

In southern European countries, Saharan dust may episodically produce significant increases of PM10, which may also cause the exceedance of the PM10 daily limit value established by the European Directive (2008/50/EC). The detection with very high sensitivity of all the elements that constitute mineral dust makes PIXE technique a very effective tool to assess the actual impact of these episodes.In this work, a review of long-term series of elemental concentrations obtained by PIXE has been accomplished with the aim of identifying the occurrence of Saharan dust transport episodes over long periods in Tuscany and characterising them in terms of composition and impact on PM concentration, tracing back their contribution to the exceedances of the PM10 limit value.The impact of the different Saharan intrusions on PM10 showed a very high variability. During the most intense episodes (which occurred with a frequency of few times per year) the calculated soil dust concentration reached values as high as 25-30 μg m−3, to be compared with background values of the order of 5 μg m−3. The Saharan dust contribution was decisive to cause the exceedance of the PM10 daily limit value in the 1-2% of the days considered in the present work.

► PIXE is very effective to quantify the actual mineral dust contribution to PM. ► The impact of Saharan intrusions on PM10 is extremely variable from case to case. ► Desert dust concentrations up to 20-25 μg m−3 during the most intense episodes. ► Saharan dust determinant for PM10 daily limit exceedance in 2% of analysed samples.