MOBBE

Project Documents

Report 1  Investigation of the atmospheric aerosol to identify the aerosol originating from biomass burning of natural and anthropogenic sources; identification of production sources of this type of aerosol. This project stage contains the following activities:

• Identification, by satellite observations, of the direct aerosol emission from biomass burning, caused by natural and anthropogenic activities, and their sources. 
• Design of project website – based on web technologies, like HTML, CSS and JScript, the project web page has been designed. All key elements needed for project monitoring are included in the web page structure.
• Initiation of the consolidation procedure for observational capacities – the acquisition procedure has been initiated for a triple way automatic Photometer: sun, sky, moon – double polarization which will used to measure the optical properties in the aerosol integrated column. Other equipment has been purchased within this phase: a research telescope ACF-SC 254/2500 which will be setup on the lidar system from Iasi.

Report 2  Observation of Earth atmosphere through remote sensing measurements and ground based and airborne instruments; data analysis retrieved for biomass burning aerosols classification based on the obtained intensive and extensive optical parameters and aerosols composition; development of algorithms and preprocessing models, data analysis and processing and aerosols classification.  This project stage comprises the following activities:

• Consolidation of the observational capacities of remote sensing instruments, ground-based and airborne instruments – activity through which the necessary research infrastructure to monitor of aerosols originating from biomass burn has been developed through:
  • acquisition of moon photometer and its integration in the AERONET network;
  • acquisition of two IT systems for processing and post-processing of the model, to monitor the aerosols originating from biomass burn, which will be developed within MOBBE project
• Achievement of periodic measurements with remote sensing instruments; acquisition of data from airborne platforms
• Achievement of continuous and periodic measurements with remote sensing instruments from ground and airborne which aimed at:
  • measurements with in situ equipment used to record soil particles concentration
  • simultaneous measurements from the ground with lidar systems and airborne systems for monitoring and characterization of aerosols
• Study regarding the transport and vertical mix of biomass burn aerosols over Romania in the context of current issues regarding the processes soil-atmosphere
• Characterization of optical and microphysics properties of biomass burn aerosols transported from long distances over Romania and its neighboring countries – Part two

Report 3  BBA dispersion forecast using MOBBE web instrument

Pollution caused by biomass burn, combined with urban pollution from human activities, is the main source of primary aerosols, which have a significant impact on the human health and on climate, at local, regional and global level. 40 % of global black carbon emissions are caused by biomass burn. Quantification and prediction of the effects of biomass burn and their impact on air quality, climate and meteorology, at local, regional and global level, represents a major challenge. In this project, the properties of biomass burn aerosols, over Romania, were studied, using improved inversion logarithms. The results (a new parameterization of physical processes of biomass burn aerosols, sources and properties) were implemented in the FLEXPART dispersion model, based on the Lagrange mechanism.

The following activities were implemented within the last stage of the project:

• Characterization of optical and microphysics properties of biomass burn aerosols, transported over Romania and in the neighboring countries.
• Investigation of chemical composition and the mixed state of biomass burn aerosol caused by human activities in the boundary layer.
• Implementation of version 9.1 of FLEXPART model in the RADO data center and validation.
• Modeling the dispersion of local and transported biomass burn aerosol; validation with measured data.
• Development and implementation of a web utility for daily display of black carbon concentrations forecasted for three levels (at the ground, in the boundary layer, in the free troposphere).
• Presentation and publication of results.
• Organization of a workshop with participation of stakeholders.

The project results were presented within a larger international context, with participants from the academic environment (institutes and universities), business (small enterprises with direct interest in this field) and representatives of Romanian research authorities.

Results

• Study regarding the identification of the most important natural and anthropogenic sources of biomass burning, which affects the air quality in Romania, based on the most novel technologies in the field, which combine remote sensing instruments, in situ and airborne, with satellite imagery and transport models;
• Study focused on the statistical analysis of meteorological factors that may cause fires and the time periods when the highest number of fires were recorded in Bucharest and Iasi regions;
• Relevant parameters for the characterization of the aerosol originating from biomass burning;
  
• Project web page;
• BBA database – information about the optical and microphysics properties of aerosols originating from vegetation fires and transported over long distances;
• Scientific publications – 4 scientific publications have been achieved, in which the preliminary results obtained at this stage have been presented;
• BBA classification algorithms – a new classification algorithm has been developed for aerosols originating from biomass burn, based on the relation between black carbon content and optical properties;
• Scientific communications – the results obtained at this stage have been presented at prestigious international conferences, such as: ILRC, EGU, EAC and SIGEM.
• Study regarding the identification of microphysics optical properties and chemical characteristics of biomass burn aerosols.
• Implementation of FLEXPART 9.3 model and modeling of the dispersion of local and transported biomass burn aerosol.
• Achievement of the web utility with daily display of biomass burn aerosol concentrations on three levels.
• The web utility can be accessed from the project webpage at the address http://mobbe.inoe.ro/?page_id=364
• Dissemination of results, articles, conferences, workshop
• All these activities have led to the achievement of the proposed objectives for this stage and have constituted the final step in the accomplishment of the project main objective.

Literature

1. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (2007) edited by S. Solomon, D. Qin, M. Manning, Z. Chen, M. Marquis, K. B. Averyt, M. Tignor, and H. L. Miller, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK and New York, NY, USA.
2. Abel, S.J., Haywood, J.M., Highwood, E.J., Li, J. and Buseck, P.R. (2003). Evoluțion of biomass burning aerosol properties from an agricultural fire in southern Africa. Geophysical Research Letters 30: doi: 10.1029/2003GL017342. issn: 0094-8276.
3. A European Aerosol Research Lidar Network to Establish an Aerosol Climatology: EARLINET, http://www.earlinet.org
4. ACTRIS (Aerosols, Clouds, and Trace gases Research InfraStructure Network), http://www.actris.net
5. Winker, D., W. Hunt, and M. McGill (2007), Initial performance assessment of CALIOP, Geophys. Res. Lett., 34, L19803, doi:10.1029/2007GL030135.
6. EPA’s Support Center for Regulatory Atmospheric Modeling, http://www.epa.gov./scram001/
7. Consortium for Small-Scale Modelling, http://cosmo-model.cscs.ch/
8. Nicolae, D., C. Talianu, R.-E. Mamouri, E. Carstea, A. Papayannis, and G. Tsaknakis (2008), Air mass modification processes over the Balkans area detected by aerosol Lidar techniques, Optoelectron. Adv. Mat. 2(6), 405–412.
9. Talianu.C, Nemuc.A.V, Nicolae.D.N, “Detection of local weather events from multiwavelength lidar measurements during the EARLI09 campaign”, Romanian Journal Of Physics Volume: 56   Issue: 3-4   Pages: 484-494, 2011
10. Radu, C., L. Belegante, C. Talianu, and D. Nicolae (2010), Optimization of the multiwavelength raman lidar during EARLI09 campaign, J. Optoelectron. Adv. Mater., 12(1), 165–168.
11. Talianu C., Belegante L., Nicolae D., Nemuc A., Estimation of Urban Pollution Level during EARLI09 Campaign using Real Time Aerosol Monitors, Journal of Environmental Protection and Ecology, 13(4), 2078-2086, 2012.
12. Nicolae D., Nemuc A., Müller D., Talianu C., Vasilescu J., Belegante L. and Kolgotin A., Characterization of fresh and aged biomass burning events using multiwavelength Raman lidar and mass spectrometry, J Geophys Res Atmos, 118, DOI:10.1002/jgrd.50324, 2013
13. Camelia Talianu, Doina Nicolae, Livio Belegante, and Luminita Marmureanu, Study on optical and microphysical properties of mixed aerosols from lidar during the EMEP 2012 summer campaign at 45oN 26oE, Geophysical Research Abstracts, Vol. 15, EGU2013-9449, 2013, EGU General Assembly 2013
14. Biomass Burning Initiative, http://www.igacproject.org/BiomassBurning
15. Osterloh L., Böckmann C., Nicolae, D., Nemuc A., Regularized inversion of microphysical atmospheric particle parameters: Theory and application, J Comput Phys, 237(15), 79-94, ISSN 0021-9991, 10.1016/j.jcp.2012.11.040, 2013
16. Vasilescu, J; Nemuc, A; Marmureanu, L; et al. AEROSOL SIZE DISTRIBUTION AND COMPOSITION NEAR BUCHAREST DURING MAY 2010, Environmental Engineering and Management Journal Volume: 10 Issue: 1 Pages: 121-126, JAN 2011