Wet deposition flux of insoluble atmospheric particles, M’Bour, Senegal

Wet deposition flux of insoluble atmospheric particles was collected using a passive MTX ARS 1010 automatic deposition sampler (MTX Italia SPA, Modane, Italy). The collector was made of two buckets (30 cm diameter) and a humidity sensor activated an aluminium lid to cover or uncover the buckets whether in case of rain or not. Following the WMO GAW recommendations, the collector opened within 5 seconds of the onset of precipitation of any type or rate; it closed within 120 seconds of the cessation of precipitation. The collector did not open in the absence of precipitation. It was installed on the roof of a building (i.e. at about 10 m above the ground level) of the geophysical station of the Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD) installed in a nature reserve of 50 ha, and 80 m from the seaside. The samples were collected manually with a weekly time-step or after each precipitation event. The collection procedure was decomposed into three main phases: (1) rinsing with a large volume of water, (2) decantation during more than 6 hours and siphoning of excess water; (3) drying in an oven at 70°C until complete water evaporation. The collected dust was finally weighted in a pre-weighted pillbox with a balance having a precision of 0.0001 g. Wet deposition flux of insoluble atmospheric particles is expressed as g/m² per sampling period and as g/m²/day by dividing the collected mass by surface of collection and sampling duration (dates of start and end of sampling are given in the data files in UTC). Fluxes are given after subtracting blanks; the blank value is given in the header of each file.