Abstract
Abstract. In this paper we describe and summarize the main achievements of the European Aerosol Cloud Climate and Air Quality Interactions project (EUCAARI). EUCAARI started on 1 January 2007 and ended on 31 December 2010 leaving a rich legacy including: (a) a comprehensive database with a year of observations of the physical, chemical and optical properties of aerosol particles over Europe, (b) comprehensive aerosol measurements in four developing countries, (c) a database of airborne measurements of aerosols and clouds over Europe during May 2008, (d) comprehensive modeling tools to study aerosol processes fron nano to global scale and their effects on climate and air quality. In addition a new Pan-European aerosol emissions inventory was developed and evaluated, a new cluster spectrometer was built and tested in the field and several new aerosol parameterizations and computations modules for chemical transport and global climate models were developed and evaluated. These achievements and related studies have substantially improved our understanding and reduced the uncertainties of aerosol radiative forcing and air quality-climate interactions. The EUCAARI results can be utilized in European and global environmental policy to assess the aerosol impacts and the corresponding abatement strategies.
Highlights
1.1 BackgroundThe study of atmospheric physics and chemistry as a scientific discipline goes back to the 18th century when the principal issue was identifying the major chemical components of the atmosphere
Results from EUCAARI show that the yields of biogenic secondary organic aerosol (BSOA) from emissions of Boreal and Mediterranean trees were between 5 and 10 %, independent of the monoterpene mixture (Mentel et al, 2009; Lang-Yona et al, 2010; Buchholz et al, 2011), whereas Hao et al (2011) found a somewhat broader range for the yields (1.9–17.7 %)
Reduced horizontal wind velocities averaging below 7 m s−1 at low levels and the stable vertical layering of the lower troposphere resulted in high total particle number concentration over the continent
Summary
1.1 BackgroundThe study of atmospheric physics and chemistry as a scientific discipline goes back to the 18th century when the principal issue was identifying the major chemical components of the atmosphere. Trace gases and atmospheric aerosols are tightly connected with each other via physical, chemical, meteorological and biological processes occurring in the atmosphere and at the atmosphere-biosphere interface (see e.g. Seinfeld and Pandis, 1998; Fowler et al, 2009). Better understanding and quantifying of the above aerosol effects in the atmosphere requires detailed information on how different sources (including those related to the biosphere) and atmospheric transformation processes modify the properties of atmospheric particles and the concentrations of trace gases. It requires the development of advanced instrumentation and methodologies for measuring and validating atmospheric composition changes and understanding key atmospheric processes (Laj et al, 2009)
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