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A detailed analysis of the columnar optical aerosol properties has been carried out for data collected during the "El Arenosillo 2004 summer campaign". These data are derived from a Cimel sun-photometer, as part of the PHOTONS-AERONET network at the El Arenosillo site in south-western Spain, over the period 1 June to 31 October 2004. Version 1 AERONET inversion products are used in the analysis. The aim of this campaign was to obtain a more complete set of data on aerosol particle microphysical, optical/radiative, absorbing and chemical properties for use in closure studies. In this paper we focus on the characterization of the aerosol optical depth (AOD)-alpha coefficients, and the particle size distribution together with their associated microphysical parameters, such as volume concentration, effective radius, etc., in order to define the features and ranges of these physical parameters associated with both fine and coarse particle modes. The requirement of high AOD values for using the inversion technique puts significant constraints on the estimation of the single scattering albedo (SSA) and refractive index, and thus requires great care in the analysis. As a result, only the characterizations of these parameters for desert dust events are considered reliable. Moreover, summer 2004 had the most frequent desert dust intrusions, including the most intense event (22-28 July and 31 July-2 August) ever recorded at the El Arenosillo site since the start of the measurements in February 2000. We summarize the results for the intensive summer campaign in terms of the range of values of the physical and optical parameters of the different aerosol types present in this area of Spain. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.