- 1Hacettepe University, Environmental Engineering, Ankara, Türkiye (yaslanoglu@hacettepe.edu.tr)
- 2Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Laboratory of Atmospheric Physics, Thessaloniki, Greece
- 3Eratosthenes Centre of Excellence, Fragklinou Rousvelt 82, Limassol, Cyprus
- 4Department of Civil Engineering & Geomatics, Cyprus University of Technology, Limassol, Cyprus
- 5Group of Atmospheric Optics (GOA-UVa), Universidad de Valladolid, Valladolid, Spain
- 6Laboratory of Climatology and Atmospheric Environment, Department of Geology and Geoenvironment, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece
- 7Institute for Astronomy, Astrophysics, Space Applications and Remote Sensing, National Observatory of Athens (IAASARS/NOA), Athens, Greece
- 8Physicalisch Meteorologisches Observatorium, World Radiation Center, Davos, Switzerland
- 9Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche-Istituto di Metodologie per l'Analisi Ambientale (CNR-IMAA), Tito Scalo, Italy
- 10The Cyprus Institute, Nicosia, Cyprus
- 11Research Centre for Atmospheric Physics and Climatology, Academy of Athens, Athens, Greece
- 12Physics Department, University of Patras, Patra, Greece
- 13Royal Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy
The Mediterranean Basin is one of the sunniest regions globally, offering high potential for solar energy production. This makes energy production from photovoltaics a cornerstone to the efforts of the Mediterranean countries for decarbonization. Under cloudless skies, dust aerosols are among the main attenuators of surface solar radiation in the Mediterranean. Over the sunniest regions the role of dust can be even more significant than that of clouds.
In this study we used various earth observation products (from IASI, MODIS, CALIPSO), lidar aerosol extinction profiles, and HYSPLIT trajectories to identify strong dust events in 2021 – 2022. Four events where dust originated from different areas in Africa and the Middle East, and travelled over many AERONET stations (in an area covering latitudes from 30° N to 45° N and longitudes from -10° E to 40° E) were identified. AERONET measurements have been used to study the optical (Optical Depth, Angstrom Exponent, Single Scattering Albedo) and microphysical (size distribution) properties of the aerosol mixture at the affected sites and to discuss the role of the mixing of dust with local pollutants.
Furthermore, AERONET products were used as inputs to the UVSPEC model of the libRadtran package to perform radiative transfer (RT) simulations, assuming cloud-free conditions during the days of the events. The Global Horizontal Irradiance (GHI) and the Direct Normal Irradiance (DNI) were simulated and were subsequently used as inputs to the Global Solar Energy Estimator (GSEE). Finally, the energy production from photovoltaics positioned at fixed tilt angles and on solar tracking systems was simulated. Energy production losses due to the presence of dust have been quantified by comparing the simulated energy production with the corresponding simulations for the same days, assuming aerosol-free conditions. Losses that exceed 80% have been observed over specific locations.
Acknowledgements: Authors would like to acknowledge the Action Harmonia CA21119 supported by COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology).
How to cite: Aslanoğlu, S. Y., Chadoulis, R.-T., Charalampous, G., Herrero-Anta, S., Herrero del Barrio, C., Kouklaki, D., Moustaka, A., Mytilinaios, M., Papetta, A., Papadimitriou, N., Solomos, S., Gkikas, A., Spyrou, C., Vandenbussche, S., Proestakis, E., and Fountoulakis, I.: Intense dust events over the Mediterranean Basin and their impact on PV power potential, EGU General Assembly 2025, Vienna, Austria, 27 Apr–2 May 2025, EGU25-20121, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-20121, 2025.
