Aerosol characterization over Northern Greece; aerosol loading derived from satellite observations and ground-based measurements

MariLiza Koukouli⁽¹⁾, Dimitris Balis⁽¹⁾ , Alkis Bais⁽¹⁾ , Vasilis Amiridis⁽¹⁾ , Stelios Kazadzis⁽¹⁾ , Elina Giannakaki⁽¹⁾ , Natalia Kouremeti⁽¹⁾ , and Omar Torres⁽²⁾

⁽¹⁾ Laboratory of Atmospheric Physics, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54124, Thessaloniki, Greece
⁽²⁾ JCET, Baltimore County, Baltimore, MD, United States

Abstract

Sunphotometer and lidar ground-based measurements of aerosol optical depth and space-born observations of the aerosol index from 1997 to 2001 (TOMS/Earth Probe) and from 2004 to date (OMI/Aura) were utilised in this work to study the varying aerosol load over Thessaloniki. The city is situated in a unique sea-side location, while being frequently affected by biomass burning and dessert dust particles arriving at the location from air mass trajectories from most directions. Local and regional pollution further affects the quality of the local air and the observed tropospheric optical depth.

Two categories of extreme atmospheric aerosol loading were examined in detail; with the combined use of dust loading modelling over the Mediterranean area and lidar measurements days with significant Saharan dust loading were identified. Further to this, ATSR-2 World Fire Atlas observations over Europe and Russia were superimposed over back-trajectory calculations of the air-mass arriving over Thessaloniki hence identifying biomass burning events. In addition, results from a three-month observational campaign during the summer of 2005, combining OMI/Aura overpasses with detailed sunphotometer, cloud cover and lidar measurements are presented.