| Περίληψη: | Simulation of the concentration of dust and its interactions with other inorganic components of particulate matter (nitrate, ammonium, sulfate) remains a major modeling challenge due to the lack of accurate dust emission inventories. In this study the chemical transport model PMCAMx is applied over Europe during the period of May 2008 (EUCAARI campaign). First, the existing EUCAARI emission inventory is used and the model predictions are compared with available measurements of PM10 from 43 stations in Europe. Periods of Saharan dust transport are excluded. The predicted dust levels are too low compared to measurements especially in the urban areas (fractional bias for PM10 equal to − 67%). We test the hypothesis that the error is related to underestimation of road transport dust emissions. The fractional bias decreases after the increase of dust emissions related with on-road transportation by a factor of ten. There is significant improvement of the model performance for PM10 in both southern and northern Europe, but also in urban and rural and remote areas. In the second part of the work the hybrid version of PMCAMx is used with the improved dust emissions, in order to study mineral dust interactions with the rest of the pollutants. The average predicted PM1-10 (particles with diameter between 1 and 10 μm) calcium, magnesium, and potassium concentrations are 0.02, 0.006, and 0.01 μg m-3 respectively over Europe. Average PM1 (particles with diameters less than 1 μm) concentrations of nitrate, ammonium, and sulfate decrease 0.04, 0.06, 0.16 μg m-3, while PM1-10 concentrations increase 0.06, 0.03, 0.03 μg m-3 respectively over Europe due to mineral dust. These results are sensitive to the assumed composition of dust.
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