Routine sun-photometer and micro-lidar measurements were performed in Lille, northern France, in April and May 2010 during the Eyjafjallajökull volcanic eruption. The impact of such an eruption emphasized significance of hazards for human activities and importance of observations of the volcanic aerosol particles. This paper presents the main results of a joint micro-lidar/sun-photometer analysis performed in Lille, where volcanic ash plumes were observed during at least 22 days, whenever weather conditions permitted. Aerosol properties retrieved from automatic sun-photometer measurements (AERONET) were strongly changed during the volcanic aerosol plumes transport over Lille. In most cases, the aerosol optical depth (AOD) increased, whereas Ångström exponent decreased, thus indicating coarse-mode dominance in the volume size distribution. Moreover, the non-spherical fraction retrieved by AERONET significantly increased. The real part of the complex refractive index was up to 1.55 at 440 nm during the eruption, compared to background data of about 1.46 before the eruption. Collocated lidar data revealed that several aerosol layers were present between 2 and 5 km, all originating from the Iceland region as confirmed by backward trajectories. The volcanic ash AOD was derived from lidar extinction profiles and sun-photometer AOD, and its maximum was estimated around 0.37 at 532 nm on 18 April 2010. This value was observed at an altitude of 1700 m and corresponds to an ash mass concentration (AMC) slightly higher than 1000 μg m−3 (±50%). An effective lidar ratio of ash particles of 48 sr was retrieved at 532 nm for 17 April during the early stages of the eruption, a value which agrees with several other studies carried out on this topic. Even though the accuracy of the retrievals is not as high as that obtained from reference multiwavelength lidar systems, this study demonstrates the opportunity of micro-lidar and sun-photometer joint data processing for deriving volcanic AMC. It also outlines the fact that a network of combined micro-lidars and sun photometers can be a powerful tool for routine monitoring of aerosols, especially in the case of such hazardous volcanic events
Mineral aerosols are considered to be the second largest source of natural aerosol, the Saharan desert being the main source of dust at global scale. Under certain meteorological conditions, Saharan dust can be transported over large parts of Europe, including Romania. The aim of this paper is to provide a complex analysis of a Saharan dust outbreak over the Transylvania region of Romania, based on the synergy of multiple ground-based and satellite sensors in order to detect the dust intrusion with a higher degree of certainty. The measurements were performed during the peak of the outbreak on April the 24th 2019, with instruments such as a Cimel sun-photometer and a multi-wavelength Raman depolarization lidar, together with an in-situ particle counter measuring at ground level. Remote sensing data from MODIS sensors on Terra and Aqua were also analyzed. Results show the presence of dust aerosol layers identified by the multi-wavelength Raman and depolarization lidar at altitudes of 2500–4000 m, and 7000 m, respectively. The measured optical and microphysical properties, together with the HYSPLIT back-trajectories, NMMB/BSC dust model, and synoptic analysis, confirm the presence of lofted Saharan dust layers over Cluj-Napoca, Romania. The NMMB/BSC dust model predicted dust load values between 1 and 1.5 g/m2 over Cluj-Napoca at 12:00 UTC for April the 24th 2019. Collocated in-situ PM monitoring showed that dry deposition was low, with PM10 and PM2.5 concentrations similar to the seasonal averages for Cluj-Napoca.
Abstract. Routine sun-photometer and micro-LIDAR measurements were performed in Lille, northern France, in April and May 2010 during the Eyjafjallajökull volcanic eruption. The impact of such an eruption emphasized significance of hazards for human activities and importance of observarions of the volcanic aerosol particles. This paper presents the main results of a joint micro-LIDAR/sun-photometer analysis performed in Lille, where volcanic ash plumes were observed during at least 22 days, weather conditions permitting. Aerosol properties retrieved from automatic sun-photometer measurements (AERONET) were strongly changed during the volcanic aerosol plumes transport over Lille. In most cases, the Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) was increased whereas Ångström exponent decreased thus indicating coarse mode dominance in the volume size distribution. Moreover, the retrieved by AERONET non spherical fraction was significantly increased. The Real part of the complex refractive index was up to 1.55 at 440 nm during the eruption time while typically was about 1.46 before the eruption. Collocated LIDAR data revealed that several aerosol layers were present between 2 and 5 km, all originating from Iceland region as confirmed by backward-trajectories. The volcanic ash AOD was derived from LIDAR extinction profiles and sun-photometer AOD, and was estimated of around 0.37 at 532 nm on 18 April 2010. This value was observed at an altitude of 1700 m and corresponded to an Ash Mass Concentration (AMC) slightly higher than 1000 μg m3 (±50%). The effective LIDAR Ratio of ash particles was 48 sr for 18 April during the early stages of the eruption, a value which agrees with several other studies carried out on this topic. Even though the accuracy of the retrievals is not as high as that obtained from reference multi-wavelength LIDAR systems, this study demonstrates the opportunity of micro-LIDAR and sun-photometer joint data processing for deriving volcanic AMC. It also outlines the fact that a network of combined micro-LIDARs and sun-photometers can be a powerful tool for routine monitoring of aerosols, especially in case of such hazardous volcanic events.
The satellite based monitoring initiative for regional air quality (SAMIRA) initiative was set up to demonstrate the exploitation of existing satellite data for monitoring regional and urban scale air quality. The project was carried out between May 2016 and December 2019 and focused on aerosol optical depth (AOD), particulate matter (PM), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), and sulfur dioxide (SO2). SAMIRA was built around several research tasks: 1. The spinning enhanced visible and infrared imager (SEVIRI) AOD optimal estimation algorithm was improved and geographically extended from Poland to Romania, the Czech Republic and Southern Norway. A near real-time retrieval was implemented and is currently operational. Correlation coefficients of 0.61 and 0.62 were found between SEVIRI AOD and ground-based sun-photometer for Romania and Poland, respectively. 2. A retrieval for ground-level concentrations of PM2.5 was implemented using the SEVIRI AOD in combination with WRF-Chem output. For representative sites a correlation of 0.56 and 0.49 between satellite-based PM2.5 and in situ PM2.5 was found for Poland and the Czech Republic, respectively. 3. An operational algorithm for data fusion was extended to make use of various satellite-based air quality products (NO2, SO2, AOD, PM2.5 and PM10). For the Czech Republic inclusion of satellite data improved mapping of NO2 in rural areas and on an annual basis in urban background areas. It slightly improved mapping of rural and urban background SO2. The use of satellites based AOD or PM2.5 improved mapping results for PM2.5 and PM10. 4. A geostatistical downscaling algorithm for satellite-based air quality products was developed to bridge the gap towards urban-scale applications. Initial testing using synthetic data was followed by applying the algorithm to OMI NO2 data with a direct comparison against high-resolution TROPOMI NO2 as a reference, thus allowing for a quantitative assessment of the algorithm performance and demonstrating significant accuracy improvements after downscaling. We can conclude that SAMIRA demonstrated the added value of using satellite data for regional- and urban-scale air quality monitoring.
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