The CHEMISAND project is organized as a set of five (5) interlinked Work Packages (WP), each led by one of the project partners and the achievement of the objectives will be supervised by the Principal Investigator.
CHEMISAND WORK PACKAGES (WPs)
WP1. Management, Synthesis and Dissemination of Result
WP2. Sampling Network and samplings
WP3. Transport and climatology of African Dust (AD)
WP4. Physical, chemical and geochemical characterization of AD particles
WP5. Microbial analysis of AD
WP 1. Management, Synthesis and Dissemination of Results
The objective of this Work Package is the coordination and the seamless project implementation. Specifically:
The setup and coordination of the Project Team
The responsibility of the efficient WP implementation
The promotion of the project scientific objectives
Synthesis of the results
Technical reports and joint publications in leading journals and participation in international conferences
WP 2. Sampling Network and sampling
The design and setup of a integrated and efficient sampling network, using state-of-the-art air samplers in selected sites in Eastern Mediterranean (Northern and Southern Crete) for the determination of the AD transport size impact. The main study area (Crete Region) is subjecting into intense AD transport and deposition events during every year. Specifically, the samplers will be deployed at three (3) sampling stations:
The Main Sampling Station: University of Crete, Chemistry Department (Voutes Campus, Heraklion Crete), where the most intensive sampling campaigns will take place The Background Station (Background ECPL sampling station in Finokalia (35o20'N, 25o40'E, 250m - http://finokalia.chemistry.uoc.gr/ , for control sampling in the study area Two (2) control sampling stations (in Central and Southern Crete respectively) for control sampling
Samples of soil dust from Africa
Samples will be collected as follows:
During intense AD events (according to the above mentioned forecasting systems)
During periods where AD episodes will not be observed (right before and after AD episodes)
All samples will be collected for the determination of size-segregated PM mass concentration (both respirable, for instance PM2.5-PM10, and non-respirable Particulate Matter) and its chemical, geochemical and microbial content (for further info, see WP 3,4 and 5).
WP 3. Study of Transport and Climatology of African Dust
The scheduled samplings will be developed under the use of well established forecasting systems:
"SKIRON" model (University of Athens, http://forecast.uoa.gr/forecastcity.php) and "DREAM" model (Tel Aviv University Weather Research Center, TAUWeRC ( http://wind.tau.ac.il/dust8/dust.html ).
In addition, 72h back trajectories calculations of the sampling dates will be performed using NOAA's HUSPLIT_4 model.
Dust climatology over Mediterranean will be compiled on the basis of the available aerosol parameters, retrieved from satellite data. The AOT (Aerosol Optical Thickness) data will be obtained from TOMS (Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer; NASA's EOS-Aura satellite) and MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer; NASA's Aqua and Terra satellites). For the validation of satellite data, available surface measurements of AOT will also be used, taken from the AERONET (Aerosol Robotic Network; NASA's Earth Observing System) stations, located in the study area. Finally, relation of Saharan dust events with climate change parameters (NAO) will be investigated for the whole basin. Aerosol-index (AI) data using Version 8 of the TOMS processing algorithm will be obtained from the TOMS/Earth Probe sensor ( http://toms.gsfc.nasa.gov/aerosols/aerosols_v8.html ).
WP 4. Physical, chemical and geochemical characterization of AD particles
The aim of this WP is to deliver a database of the physical, chemical characteristics of African dust particles transported into the study areas in the Mediterranean, as well as the data on chemical composition of dust in the source and control areas, using advanced analytical chemical techniques. Emphasis will be placed on the determination of the transportable and respirable (>PM2.5) AD air particles toxic content, in order to determine its potential transportation through the African Dust, but also to serve as Health-Risk indicators.
The Main objectives of this Work Package are:
To study the concentration of respirable air particles (<pm2.5) and="" the="" size="" distribution="" of="" particulate="" matter="" in="" atmosphere="" downwind="" area="" heraklion="" (urban)="" control="" (background="" station="" finokalia),="" during="" african="" dust="" events="" periods="" non-events="" periods<br=""> To provide the geochemical characterization of African dust in the downwind areas in order to study the fractionation of the airborne minerals during transport and to conduct mineralogical comparisons with local dust samples and soils, and of dust samples and soils of the sources areas The concentrations of the most toxic metals and metalloids (Be, As, Hg, Tl, Pb) will be investigated for their potential use for improved risk assessment analysis of the dust events. Conducting elemental speciation analysis for some of these toxic trace elements can make further progress in this area To study the organic carbon (OC) and elemental carbon (EC) content of Saharan dust in the source and downwind areas as pollution parameters To study the presence of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), of POPs (PCBs, DDT) and other pesticides in the Saharan dust of source and downwind areas
WP 5. Microbial analysis of AD
The specific aim of this WP is to establish a molecular microbiology platform in order to investigate the microbial quality and quantity of size-distributed aerosol particles during a) the Saharan dust events in the sampling sites and b) the non-event days. For this purpose, a series of molecular microbiology methods, well established for biodiversity characterization, will be applied to describe the microbial communities present in the atmosphere. The microbial biodiversity described by PCR-based fingerprinting techniques and the screening of clone libraries and innovative techniques based on microarray analysis (Phylochip) will allow to build for aerosol samples a database of the prokaryotic taxa present even at very low biomass densities. With this olistic approach and using state-of-the-art techniques will be obtained: a) the microbial diversity of AD, b) the effect of particle size transported in microbial diversity and c) characterization of communities structure.
The main objectives are:
Phylogenetic analysis for the rapid screening of the microbial diversity present in the atmosphere. A high-density DNA microarray (Phylochip) will be used for the comprehensive identification of both bacterial and archaeal organisms Microbial community composition using conventional molecular techniques. PCR-based fingerprinting such as RFLP or/and T-RFLP will be carried out to classify clones into operational taxonomic units (OTUs) and estimate species richness Construction of libraries of 16S and 18SrRNA. Bacterial 16S and microeukaryotic 18S rRNA genes will be amplified using Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) and universal primers Quantitative analyses of selected samples will be obtained using Real-Time PCR and FISH technique Phylogenetic Trees building