Characterization of Atmospheric Saharan Dust Plumes Using Remote Hyperspectral Imagery for Public Health

Atmospheric dust affects climate, biogeochemistry, and human health, with total emissions estimated at 1,500 to 3,000 Tg yr−1. The Bodele Depression, Chad (17˚N, 18˚E) in the Saharan Desert is the largest single point source of dust in the world, and dust from the Bodele, and the Sahara in general, has been tracked across much of the world, including to the Caribbean and the Americas. Although it has been linked to negative health effects in sink regions, few have worked to understand its local health effects in Africa. The lack of ground-based stations in North Africa and the inaccessibility of much of the region call for a remote technique to track dust concentration and composition as it moves across Africa. Such a method would provide a more detailed understanding of dust dynamics in North Africa and reveal the potential health effects of dust in the region. Here, we combine aerosol optical thickness measurements from MODIS and dust concentrations from the DREAM model with hyperspectral imagery from t...