A Decade of Aerosol Optical Properties Measurements over Athens, Greece

Ioannis-Panagiotis Raptis,Vassilis Amiridis,Stelios Kazadzis,Antonis Gkikas,Nikolaos Mihalopoulos,Evangelos Gerasopoulos

doi:10.3390/atmos11020154

Ioannis-Panagiotis Raptis, Vassilis Amiridis + Show 4 more

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Long-term ground-based measurements of aerosol optical properties in Athens, Greece, for the period 2008–2018 performed by the National Observatory of Athens are used in order to investigate the aerosol climatology of the area. In this study, we utilize quality-assured measurements of the aerosol optical depth (AOD), Single Scattering Albedo (SSA) and Ångström exponent obtained by CIMEL photometers in the framework of the Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) to extract the seasonality and the trends of aerosols in the region. Higher aerosol loads are found during spring and summer months. A 1.1% per year decrease for AOD at 440 nm and 0.4% decrease per year for SSA during the studied period are recorded. Collocated and synchronous PM10 values, for a five-year period, are used in order to study ground-level conditions. Also, the Planetary Boundary Layer Height from ERA-5 is used to investigate the stratification of the particles. The classification of aerosols using AERONET data is performed to separate dust, biomass burning, polluted urban, marine and continental dominant aerosol mixtures. Also, the characterization of AOD provided by Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) is investigated. Finally, seasonal AOD trends recorded from AERONET from satellite sensors (MODIS-Aqua/MODIS-Terra) and estimated by CAMS are examined, and significant differences have been found.

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Aerosols play an important role in Earth’s climate system, as has been reported by the Intergovermental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) [1], and affect human health in urban and agricultural areas [2,3,4]
The current study focuses on the city of Athens, Greece, which is located near the coastline in the eastern Mediterranean
Seasonality the aim of this work is to define the climatology of aerosols in Athens area, the monthly

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Introduction

Aerosols play an important role in Earth’s climate system, as has been reported by the Intergovermental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) [1], and affect human health in urban and agricultural areas [2,3,4]. Aerosol estimation is important for diverse applications such as in the correction of the surface’s satellite retrievals [6,7,8] and in forecasting solar energy [9,10]. Over the last two decades, significant improvements have been performed for surface networks and the satellite retrievals of aerosols, contributing to major improvements in the monitoring and understanding of the related procedures. The major surface aerosol networks include AERONET, which operates hundreds of stations around the globe [11]; SKYNET, which operates more than 60 stations globally with main focus on Asia [12]; and the Global Atmospheric Watch/Precision Filter Radiometer (GAW/PFR), which operates approximately 20 stations with long-term measurements [13,14].

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