This thesis focuses on the analysis of the optical and microphysical properties of the atmospheric aerosol during African dust outbreaks recorded at Granada. These properties were classified according to potential source sector and also applying a cluster analysis. Additionally, the influence of the studied desert dust event on shortwave radiative forcing at the surface and the top of the atmosphere were also evaluated using a radiative transfer code fed with experimental sun-photometer data.
Major advances presented in this work are related to the implementation and application of a new methodology for deriving atmospheric columnar optical and microphysical properties using sky radiance in principal plane configuration, and considering that the particles are not spherical
This Ph.D. dissertation can be downloaded at: