Four African mineral dust episodes occurred during a program of daily aerosol measurements at Barbados (13¿15'N, 59¿30'W) in April 1994. Non-sea-salt sulfate (nss SO4=) and dust were highly correlated (r2=0.93) and ranged from 0.5 to 4.2 μg m-3 and 0.9 to 257 μg m-3, respectively. Day-to-day variations in the size distributions of mineral dust and sea salt were relatively small. However, the coarse-particle (aerodynamic diameter >1 μm) fraction (CPF) of nss SO4= varied substantially, from 21% to 73%. The highest CPF SO4= values were associated with dust events; the lowest CPF was associated with the air mass from the central North Atlantic when the dust concentration was lowest, 0.9 μg m-3. We suggest that large CPF SO4= values are a consequence of SO2 in European pollutants that heterogeneously react with the suspended dust over North Africa. Nonetheless, the association of pollutants and dust does not always result in a large CPF; low CPF values suggest that SO2 may have been oxidized to SO4= prior to mixing with dust-laden air. On those days when dust and pollution concentrations were low, the dominant source of nss SO4= was ascribed to oceanic dimethylsulfide (DMS) and the CPF remained close to 20%. Because such large variations can occur in the particle size distribution of nss SO4= in association with dust events, the role of mineral dust on nss SO4= size must be taken into account when estimating the impact of nss SO4= on radiation transfer in the atmosphere. ¿ 1998 American Geophysical Union