IMPACT OF HARMATTAN DUST ON ATMOSPHERIC ELECTRIC FIELD VARIABILITY IN NIGERIA’S MIDDLE BELT

Jude Durojaiye Koffa; Ogunjobi Olakunle

doi:10.33003/fjs-2025-0912-4257

Authors

Jude Durojaiye Koffa
durojaiye.koffa@fulokoja.edu.ng

Federal University Lokoja
Ogunjobi Olakunle
Federal University Lokoja

Keywords:

Harmattan Dust, Atmospheric Electricity, Saharan Dust Transport, Aerosol-Electricity Coupling, West Africa, Electric Field Enhancement

Abstract

The Harmattan season presents a unique natural laboratory for investigating aerosol-electricity interactions under extreme mineral dust loading conditions. We quantify the relationship between Saharan dust transport and atmospheric electric field enhancement using 30 months (Jan 2022–Jun 2024) of hourly electric field (field mill), PM2.5/PM10 (optical particle counter), and HYSPLIT back-trajectory measurements from Lokoja, Nigeria . Harmattan episodes demonstrate exceptional coupling between aerosol loading and electric field strength, following the power law relationship Fine-mode particles exhibit the strongest correlation with field enhancement while coarse particles show weaker associations . Source region analysis using HYSPLIT back-trajectories reveals systematic differences: dust events originating from the Bodélé Depression produce electric field peaks of , compared to , compared to for Western Saharan sources, reflecting variations in particle size distribution and mineralogical composition. Case studies of three major Harmattan events reveal characteristic temporal patterns with rapid onset and gradual recovery , indicating asymmetric dust mobilization and removal processes. Results indicate Lokoja observations robustly capture source-dependent dust-electricity coupling across the sampled transport corridors. This is the first multi-season, size-resolved demonstration that surface electric field can serve as a near-real-time proxy for fine dust transport and source attribution in the Sahel.

Dimensions

REFERENCES

Adedokun, J. A., Emofurieta, W. O., & Adedeji, O. A. (1989). Physical, mineralogical and chemical properties of harmattan dust at Ile-Ife, Nigeria. Theoretical and Applied Climatology, 40 (3), 161–169.

Chiapello, I., Moulin, C., & Prospero, J. M. (2005). Understanding the long-term variability of African dust transport across the Atlantic as recorded in both Barbados surface concentrations and large-scale Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) optical thickness. Journal of Geophysical Research, 110 (D18), D18S10.

Christian, H. J., Blakeslee, R. J., Boccippio, D. J., Boeck, W. L., Buechler, D. E., Driscoll, K. T., & Thomas, R. J. (2003). Global frequency and distribution of lightning as observed from space by the Optical Transient Detector. Journal of Geophysical Research, 108 (D1), 4005.

Evan, A. T., Flamant, C., Gaetani, M., & Guichard, F. (2016). The past, present and future of African dust. Nature, 531 (7595), 493–495.

Formenti, P., Schütz, L., Balkanski, Y., Desboeufs, K., Ebert, M., Kandler, K., & Weinzierl.B. (2011). Recent progress in understanding physical and chemical properties of African and Asian mineral dust. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 11 (16), 8231–8256.

Goudie, A. S. (2014). Desert dust and human health disorders. Environment International, 63, 101–113.

Gurmani, S. F., Rana, A. D., Arshad, M., Ikram, J., Khan, A., Ahmad, I., & Tahir, S.N. (2018). Simultaneous measurement of ion concentration and electric field at Islamabad, Pakistan. Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics, 179, 224–234.

Hamilton, R. A., & Archbold, J. W. (1945). Meteorology of Nigeria and adjacent territory.Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, 71 (309–310), 231–264.

Harrison, R. G. (2013). The Carnegie curve. Surveys in Geophysics, 34 (2), 209–232.

Israelsson, S., & Knudsen, E. (1994). Meteorological effects on atmospheric electrical quantities measured at a continental station. Journal of Atmospheric and Terrestrial Physics, 56 (6), 785–800.

Knippertz, P., & Todd, M. C. (2012). Mineral dust aerosols over the Sahara: Meteorological controls on emission and transport and implications for modeling. Reviews of Geophysics, 50 (1), RG1007.

Nicholson, S. E. (2013). The West African Sahel: A review of recent studies on the rainfall regime and its interannual variability. ISRN Meteorology, 2013, 453521.

Prospero, J. M., Ginoux, P., Torres, O., Nicholson, S. E., & Gill, T. E. (2002). Environmental characterization of global sources of atmospheric soil dust identified with the Nimbus 7 Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) absorbing aerosol product. Reviews of Geophysics, 40 (1), 1002.

Silva, H. G., Conceição, R., Melgão, M., Nicoll, K., Tlemçani, M., Reis, A. H., & Harrison, R.G. (2014). Atmospheric electric field measurements in urban environment and the pollutant aerosol weekly dependence. Environmental Research Letters, 9 (11), 114025.

Tacza, J., Raulin, J. P., Macotela, E., Pinto, O., Fernandez, G., Morales, C., & Kellen, C. S. (2020). Atmospheric electric field measurements in fair weather at the Huancayo Observatory, Peru. Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics, 197, 105162.

Washington, R., Todd, M., Middleton, N. J., & Goudie, A. S. (2003). Dust-storm source areas determined by the total ozone monitoring spectrometer and surface observations. Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 93 (2), 297–313.

Williams, E. R. (2005). Lightning and climate: A review. Atmospheric Research, 76 (1–4), 272– 287.

Yaniv, R., Yair, Y., Price, C., Kelman, G., Israelevich, P., Ziv, B., & Reicher, N. (2017). Ground-based measurements of the vertical E-field in mountainous regions and the "Austausch" effect. Atmospheric Research, 189, 127–133.

IMPACT OF HARMATTAN DUST ON ATMOSPHERIC ELECTRIC FIELD VARIABILITY IN NIGERIA’S MIDDLE BELT

Authors

Keywords:

Abstract

REFERENCES

Published

How to Cite

Issue

Section

How to Cite

Make a Submission

Browse

Developed By

Information

Latest publications