Localization of aerosol sources in East-European region by back-trajectory statistics

Abstract

A concentration-weighted trajectory method for aerosol source localization based on joint statistical analysis of aerosol column volume concentrations and back-trajectory data was used to estimate the spatial distribution of aerosol sources in the EastEuropean region. The aerosol column volume concentration data measured at five AERONET network sites, Belsk, Minsk, Kyiv, Moldova/Kishinev, and Sevastopol, were used. The geographical areas responsible for increased aerosol content at the monitoring sites were mapped separately for coarse-mode and fine-mode aerosol fractions. The investigated area is located between 42°and 62°N in latitude and between 12°and 50°E in longitude.It was shown that the northeastern territories (in relation to the monitoring stations) give a small contribution to the coarse-mode aerosol content. The events of increased coarse-mode aerosol concentration have been caused by sources in the southeastern regions. On average, the air masses with a large content of coarse-mode aerosol particles were delivered to all stations from regions around Donetsk, Rostov-on-Don, and Kharkiv cities. The fine-mode aerosol fraction originated from areas of Tambov, Voronezh, and Kharkiv cities. The calculated aerosol source regions partly correspond to European Monitoring and Evaluation Programme data for eastern Europe. The cause of difference between calculated regions responsible for increased aerosol content at the monitoring sites and the sources of particle emission according to European Monitoring and Evaluation Programme data are discussed.

Characterization of aerosol size properties from measurements of spectral optical depth: a global validation of the GRASP-AOD code using long-term AERONET data

“…The reason is based on the fact that ground-based systems do not by themselves represent the spatial variation in aerosol properties (Holben et al, 2018). However, ground-based measurements are an essential tool for satellite and aerosol model validation purposes (to cite some: Chu et al, 2002;Liu et al, 2004;Remer et al, 2002Remer et al, , 2005Kahn et al, 2005;Bréon et al, 2011;Sayer et al, 2013;Levy et al, 2013;Chen et al, 2018Chen et al, , 2020 since: (a) the spectral aerosol optical extinction is obtained from direct observations, which confer a high accuracy to the value and (b) the aerosol properties are better described and characterized compared to satellite retrievals, given the larger information contained in their measurements (the aforementioned aerosol extinction plus aerosol scattering information in larger angular ranges).…”

Atmospheric Aerosol Distribution in 2016–2017 over the Eastern European Region Based on the GEOS-Chem Model

“…Modeling of the spatiotemporal distribution of the aerosols' concentration and their properties is particularly important for regions where up-to-date observations are sparse or absent, such as Eastern Europe. The results of the spatiotemporal distribution of the aerosols and their sources over this region using ground-based and satellite observations are discussed in [9,22,23] and simulated in [24,25]. The AOD at 865 nm were used for the analysis of aerosol properties in the atmosphere over Ukraine and adjacent territories in 2003-2011 by Bovchaliuk et al [22], with a resolution of approximately 18 km × 18 km over cloud-free regions.…”

Atmospheric Aerosol Over Ukraine Region: Current Status of Knowledge and Research Efforts

“…The fine-mode aerosols concentrations increasing over the Kyiv site are caused mainly by the air mass from the east direction, namely from Voronezh and Orel (RF) and Kharkov cities, and from the south direction (Stavropol, RF). The main sources that produced the increased aerosols content over other sites were determined as well (see Kabashnikov et al, 2014). The summary is that the events of increased coarse-mode aerosol concentration at these sites have been caused by sources at regions around Donetsk, Rostov-on-Don, and Kharkiv cities, the fine-mode aerosols originated from areas of Tambov, Voronezh, and Kharkiv cities.…”

“…We assume that the events of increased aerosol content over certain places specifically over Kyiv AERONET site are causing from distant aerosol sources. Therefore, we tried to study the paths of air mass over the territory of Ukraine and especially over Kyiv and to determine the localization of main areas contributing to the aerosol content here (Kabashnikov et al, 2014). The main technique to study of aerosol particles transport with air mass is global chemical transport models, for example, GEOS-Chem (Goddard Earth Observing System-Chemistry model; Bey et al, 2001), which are used widely to find the sources of aerosol loading to the atmosphere.…”

“…The cluster analysis of the back trajectories (Dorling et al, 1992) was used to determine the prevailing direction of particles transport over investigated territories (see Figure 1) and aerosol sources localization (Kabashnikov et al, 2014). The method of trajectory statistics known as a concentration-weighted trajectory (CWT) method based on joint statistical analysis of aerosol column volume concentrations and back-trajectory data (Hsu et al, 2003) was used.…”