Record‐Breaking Easterly Dust Transport From North Africa to the Arctic: An Observational Study

Abstract

Mineral dust drives Arctic climate variability, but accurate source attribution remains difficult due to plume mixing from the different regions. Using observations and HYSPLIT modeling, we characterize a record‐breaking trans‐continental dust intrusion (March 13–19, 2013) traversing from North Africa to the Arctic. Distinct from single‐source transport, a novel “cumulative‐snowballing” phenomenon‐Saharan dust uplifted into the free troposphere mixed with Central and East Asian emissions‐was identified. This blended plume was dominated by East (45.22%) and Central (23.62%) Asian sources, while retaining a non‐negligible Saharan contributions (17.34%). Driven by extreme multi‐regional emissions, the mid‐latitude westerly jet exported this dust across the North Pacific in the middle to lower troposphere, further a blocking‐like anticyclone opened a meridional pathway for continuous poleward intrusion. These findings demonstrate that Arctic aerosol loading can result from consecutive multi‐continental injections, highlighting the importance of considering complex mixing states in climate assessments.