[1] In the framework of the European CARBOSOL project (Present and Retrospective State of Organic versus Inorganic Aerosol over Europe: Implications for Climate), atmospheric aerosol was continuously sampled for 2 years at six sites along a west-east transect extending from Azores, in the mid-Atlantic Ocean, to K-Puszta (Hungary), in central Europe. Aerosols were analyzed for 210 Pb, inorganic ions, elemental (EC) and organic (OC) carbon, water soluble organic carbon (WSOC), macromolecular type (humic-like) organic substances (HULIS), C 2 -C 5 diacids, cellulose, and levoglucosan. Pooled aerosol filters were also used for the identification of different families of organic compounds by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry, GC/MS, as well as 14 C determinations. The data resulted in a climatological overview of the aerosol composition over Europe in the various seasons, from west to east, and from the boundary layer to the free troposphere. The paper first summarizes the characteristics of the sites and collected samples and then focuses on the aerosol mass partitioning (mass closure, inorganic versus organic, EC versus OC, water soluble versus insoluble OC), giving an insight on the sources of carbonaceous aerosol present in rural and natural background areas in Europe. It also introduces the main role of other companion papers dealing with CARBOSOL aerosol data that are also presented in this issue.Citation: Pio, C. A., et al. (2007), Climatology of aerosol composition (organic versus inorganic) at nonurban sites on a west-east transect across Europe,

[1] Extensive wildfires burned in northern North America during summer 2004, releasing large amounts of trace gases and aerosols into the atmosphere. Emissions from these wildfires frequently impacted the PICO-NARE station, a mountaintop site situated 6-15 days downwind from the fires in the Azores Islands. To assess the impacts of the boreal wildfire emissions on the levels of aerosol black carbon (BC), nitrogen oxides and O 3 downwind from North America, we analyzed measurements of CO, BC, total reactive nitrogen oxides (NO y ), NO x (NO + NO 2 ) and O 3 made from June to September 2004 in combination with MOZART chemical transport model simulations. Long-range transport of boreal wildfire emissions resulted in large enhancements of CO, BC, NO y and NO x , with levels up to 250 ppbv, 665 ng m À3 , 1100 pptv and 135 pptv, respectively. Enhancement ratios relative to CO were variable in the plumes sampled, most likely because of variations in wildfire emissions and removal processes during transport. Analyses of DBC/DCO, DNO y /DCO and DNO x /DCO ratios indicate that NO y and BC were on average efficiently exported in these plumes and suggest that decomposition of PAN to NO x was a significant source of NO x . High levels of NO x suggest continuing formation of O 3 in these well-aged plumes. O 3 levels were also significantly enhanced in the plumes, reaching up to 75 ppbv. Analysis of DO 3 /DCO ratios showed distinct behaviors of O 3 in the plumes, which varied from significant to lower O 3 production. We identify several potential reasons for the complex effects of boreal wildfire emissions on O 3 and conclude that this behavior needs to be explored further in the future. These observations demonstrate that boreal wildfire emissions significantly contributed to the NO x and O 3 budgets in the central North Atlantic lower free troposphere during summer 2004 and imply large-scale impacts on direct radiative forcing of the atmosphere and on tropospheric NO x and O 3 .

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The aim of this paper is to contribute towards the successful management of heritage landscapes. Many cultural landscapes represent high heritage value and should be classified as heritage landscapes; therefore, special tools should be considered to be used in managing them. These landscapes should be evaluated according to heritage science criteria and good practice guidelines should be established. Several useful heritage landscape evaluation criteria were identified and characterised, and their relative importance was analysed, enabling the establishment of a heritage value hierarchy by means of a weighted linear combination. This is significant in the context of land management measures for countryside valorization promoting rural development. However, this approach also requires awareness of the link between the present cultural landscape and the history of the people that have interacted with the area involved. This is also important for the establishment of a priority ranking system for monitoring criteria indicators. A method for doing this is also proposed by the authors.