| ABSTRACT | Crete Island, located in the Southeastern Mediterranean basin, is of significant vulnerability with respect to Saharan dust episodes transported from Libya and Egypt over the Eastern Mediterranean. These episodes have been identified by utilizing simulations from the Skiron forecast model and air mass backward-trajectories analysis at three altitudes of 500m, 1500m and 4000m AGL, being more frequent during spring due to specific synoptic conditions established over the Saharan region. The goal of this work is to assess and quantify the chemical composition of dust particles collected by passive samplers (Sigma-2) at four ground-level particle sampling sites, three in Heraklion city, Crete Island and one in the Athens University campus, during the period March 2012 - May 2013. A scanning electron microscope (SEM) was used to investigate the chemical composition of individual dust grains in the collected samples in Heraklion city and Athens. Our findings indicate that higher concentrations for all grades of the dust particles appear in Heraklion against Athens. It is of high importance that rutile (TiO2) has been found in the Heraklion samples, proving that the transboundary advection of dust can cause deterioration in the health of the inhabitants of Crete Island. |