Aerosol radiative properties retrieved during Saharan dust events in Southeastern Spain from 2005 to 2008

A large set of aerosol radiative properties using sun-photometric measurements during dust events over Granada from 2005 to 2008 has been obtained. During these desert dust intrusions high values of AOD (440 nm) (0.32 +/- 0.17) and low a values (0.51 +/- 0.21) were found in our station. These values indicate both high aerosol load and predominance of coarse particles during these events. The aerosol volume size distributions were bimodal, with the fine and coarse radius mode close to 0.19 mu m and 2.66 mu m, respectively. The mean value of coarse to fine volume concentration ratio (V-c/V-f) was 12 +/- 6, showing a predominance of coarse particles. The aerosol single scattering albedo values omega(o)(lambda), increases with wavelength. However, the computed values of omega(o)(lambda) were lower than those reported by other authors for desert dust intrusions. The mixing of desert dust with absorbing particles from anthropogenic origin could explain the low omega(o)(lambda) values measured in the studied area..