MOBBE

Objectives

General objective: quantify and predict natural and anthropogenic BBA dispersion over Romania and its impact on air quality and the climate.
The project purpose is to exploit the complementary capabilities offered by in situ monitors, remote sensing, satellite and airborne data in order to improve the large-scale dispersion forecasts of emitted compound. It aims to investigate the potential sources and the properties of BBA and the urban and anthropogenic smoke plumes over Romania, starting as a research case study in the Bucharest area. The project must:

• Quantify the properties of biomass-burning aerosols from natural and anthropogenic sources in Romania
• Identify the transport pathways and modification processes of biomass burning aerosols (anthropogenic and natural) in the region
• Predict biomass burning aerosols, and their impact on air quality and climate at local and national scale
• Increase scientific visibility

Overview

MOBBE, Computational Model for “Biomass Burning” prediction and their Impact – aims to investigate the potential sources and the properties of aerosols from biomass burning, urban aerosols and long-range transport aerosols over Romania, performing a first research case study in the Bucharest area, using improved inversion algorithms. The results (a new parametrization scheme of the physical processes of the biomass burning aerosols, sources and properties) will be implemented during the project, in the FLEXPART aerosol dispersion model based on the Lagrangean particle dispersion mechanism. As meteorological input data, the model will use new data from COSMO (Consortium for Small-scale Modeling) model. Anthropogenic and natural emissions of biomass burning will be compared with the daily analysis and the fine mode aerosol optical depth (AOD) at 550 nm provided by the radio-spectrometer MODIS launched by NASA on the Aqua and Terra satellites, MAAC II, and with an independent dataset of AOD from the AERONET network. All the above information will be integrated in a “MOBBE Web Tool”.
The MOBBE research project is an interdisciplinary environmental research infrastructure based on continuous measurements, two intensive experimental field campaigns (summer and winter campaign) and eight flight hours of a research aircraft, that integrates in-situ monitors, ground-based and airborne observations, with a detailed analysis of satellite data and numerical modeling results. The satellite data are provided by the MODIS instruments from the satellites Terra and Aqua, by the Caliop lidar from the satellite CALIPSO and by EUMETCast.

Schedule

MOBBE Gantt diagrame, click for a larger version