Dual-wavelength Raman and depolarization lidar observations were performed during the SALTRACE campaign at Barbados in June and July 2013 to characterize the optical properties and vertical distribution of long-range transported Saharan dust at the end of its way across the Atlantic Ocean. Four major dust events were studied during the measurements from 15 June to 13 July 2013 with aerosol optical depths of up to 0.6. The vertical aerosol distribution was characterized by a three-layer

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... consisting of the boundary layer, the entrainment or mixing layer, and the pure Saharan dust layer. The upper boundary of the pure dust layer reached up to 4.5 km height. The contribution of the pure dust layer was about half of the total AOD. The total dust contribution was about 50–70 % of the total AOD. The lidar ratio within the pure dust layer was found to be wavelength independent with mean values of 53 ± 5 sr at 355 nm and 56 ± 7 sr at 532 nm. For the particle linear depolarization ratio wavelength independent mean values of 0.26 ± 0.03 at 355 nm and 0.27 ± 0.01 at 532 nm have been found.