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Light detection and ranging (LIDAR) atmospheric sensing is a major tool for remote monitoring of aerosol pollution and its propagation in the atmosphere. Combining LIDAR sensing with ground-based aerosol monitoring can form the basis of integrated air-quality characterization. When present, biological atmospheric contamination is transported by aerosol particles of different size known as bioaerosol, whose monitoring is now among the basic areas of atmospheric research, especially in densely-populated large urban regions, where many bioaerosol-emitting sources exist. Thus, promptly identifying the bioaerosol sources, including their geographical coordinates, intensities, space-time distributions, etc., becomes a major task of a city monitoring system. This chapter argues in favor of integrating a LIDAR mapping schematic with in situ sampling and characterization of the bioaerosol in the urban area. The measurements, data processing, and decision-making aimed at preventing further atmospheric contamination should be performed in a near-real-time mode, which imposes certain demands on the typical LIDAR schematics, including long-range sensing as a critical parameter, especially over large areas (10 -100 km2). In this chapter, we describe experiments using a LIDAR schematic allowing near-real-time long-distance measurements of urban bioaerosol combined with its ground-based sampling and physicochemical and biological studies.

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Leptothrix sp. was cultivated in Lieske's medium in the presence of Al foil covered by anodic Alumina. Samples of biomass deposited on lamellae were studied by the methods of infrared, Mössbauer, and X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Sole deposition of γ‐FeOOH on the lamellae was found to take place. This result is explained by the influence of γ‐AlOOH ingredient in the used support due to crystal structure similarity. Thus, iron oxyhydroxide crystallisation could be directed during bacteria cultivation. The catalytic activity of deposited γ‐FeOOH was examined in CO oxidation.

This study of particulate matter (PM) pollution was conducted in May and June 2020 during the COVID-19 lockdown in residential areas of the Bulgarian capital Sofia. Its methodology was based on lidar monitoring of the ground layer of the atmosphere and focused on the sampling procedure. The sampling was performed with portable instruments in situ in the areas with air pollution fixed on the city’s map during the lidar monitoring. The collected PM was examined by a set of physical methods (XRD, SEM, EDAX) and PCR tests for viral contamination). A wide range of data on the nature of PM were obtained. Data on the number of COVID-19 positive individuals in the town for the period was also summarized.