What caused a record high PM 10 episode in northern Europe in October 2020?
In early October 2020, northern Europe experienced an episode with poor air quality due to high concentrations of particulate matter (PM). At several sites in Norway, recorded weekly values exceeded historical maximum PM 10 concentrations from the past 4 to 10 years. Daily mean PM 10 values at Norwe...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:5641a04fc4834778871d0acfb2197ff8 2023-05-15T15:07:52+02:00 What caused a record high PM 10 episode in northern Europe in October 2020? C. D. Groot Zwaaftink W. Aas S. Eckhardt N. Evangeliou P. Hamer M. Johnsrud A. Kylling S. M. Platt K. Stebel H. Uggerud K. E. Yttri 2022-03-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-3789-2022 https://doaj.org/article/5641a04fc4834778871d0acfb2197ff8 EN eng Copernicus Publications https://acp.copernicus.org/articles/22/3789/2022/acp-22-3789-2022.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1680-7316 https://doaj.org/toc/1680-7324 doi:10.5194/acp-22-3789-2022 1680-7316 1680-7324 https://doaj.org/article/5641a04fc4834778871d0acfb2197ff8 Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, Vol 22, Pp 3789-3810 (2022) Physics QC1-999 Chemistry QD1-999 article 2022 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-3789-2022 2022-12-30T22:05:21Z In early October 2020, northern Europe experienced an episode with poor air quality due to high concentrations of particulate matter (PM). At several sites in Norway, recorded weekly values exceeded historical maximum PM 10 concentrations from the past 4 to 10 years. Daily mean PM 10 values at Norwegian sites were up to 97 µg m −3 and had a median value of 59 µg m −3 . We analysed this severe pollution episode caused by long-range atmospheric transport based on surface and remote sensing observations and transport model simulations to understand its causes. Samples from three sites in mainland Norway and the Arctic remote station Zeppelin (Svalbard) showed strong contributions from mineral dust to PM 10 (23 %–36 % as a minimum and 31 %–45 % as a maximum) and biomass burning (8 %–16 % to 19 %–21 %). Atmospheric transport simulations indicate that Central Asia was the main source region for mineral dust observed in this episode. The biomass burning fraction can be attributed to forest fires in Ukraine and southern Russia, but we cannot exclude other sources contributing, like fires elsewhere, because the model underestimates observed concentrations. The combined use of remote sensing, surface measurements, and transport modelling proved effective in describing the episode and distinguishing its causes. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Svalbard Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Arctic Norway Svalbard Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics 22 6 3789 3810 |
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Open Polar |
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Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
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ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Physics QC1-999 Chemistry QD1-999 |
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Physics QC1-999 Chemistry QD1-999 C. D. Groot Zwaaftink W. Aas S. Eckhardt N. Evangeliou P. Hamer M. Johnsrud A. Kylling S. M. Platt K. Stebel H. Uggerud K. E. Yttri What caused a record high PM 10 episode in northern Europe in October 2020? |
topic_facet |
Physics QC1-999 Chemistry QD1-999 |
description |
In early October 2020, northern Europe experienced an episode with poor air quality due to high concentrations of particulate matter (PM). At several sites in Norway, recorded weekly values exceeded historical maximum PM 10 concentrations from the past 4 to 10 years. Daily mean PM 10 values at Norwegian sites were up to 97 µg m −3 and had a median value of 59 µg m −3 . We analysed this severe pollution episode caused by long-range atmospheric transport based on surface and remote sensing observations and transport model simulations to understand its causes. Samples from three sites in mainland Norway and the Arctic remote station Zeppelin (Svalbard) showed strong contributions from mineral dust to PM 10 (23 %–36 % as a minimum and 31 %–45 % as a maximum) and biomass burning (8 %–16 % to 19 %–21 %). Atmospheric transport simulations indicate that Central Asia was the main source region for mineral dust observed in this episode. The biomass burning fraction can be attributed to forest fires in Ukraine and southern Russia, but we cannot exclude other sources contributing, like fires elsewhere, because the model underestimates observed concentrations. The combined use of remote sensing, surface measurements, and transport modelling proved effective in describing the episode and distinguishing its causes. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
C. D. Groot Zwaaftink W. Aas S. Eckhardt N. Evangeliou P. Hamer M. Johnsrud A. Kylling S. M. Platt K. Stebel H. Uggerud K. E. Yttri |
author_facet |
C. D. Groot Zwaaftink W. Aas S. Eckhardt N. Evangeliou P. Hamer M. Johnsrud A. Kylling S. M. Platt K. Stebel H. Uggerud K. E. Yttri |
author_sort |
C. D. Groot Zwaaftink |
title |
What caused a record high PM 10 episode in northern Europe in October 2020? |
title_short |
What caused a record high PM 10 episode in northern Europe in October 2020? |
title_full |
What caused a record high PM 10 episode in northern Europe in October 2020? |
title_fullStr |
What caused a record high PM 10 episode in northern Europe in October 2020? |
title_full_unstemmed |
What caused a record high PM 10 episode in northern Europe in October 2020? |
title_sort |
what caused a record high pm 10 episode in northern europe in october 2020? |
publisher |
Copernicus Publications |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-3789-2022 https://doaj.org/article/5641a04fc4834778871d0acfb2197ff8 |
geographic |
Arctic Norway Svalbard |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Norway Svalbard |
genre |
Arctic Svalbard |
genre_facet |
Arctic Svalbard |
op_source |
Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, Vol 22, Pp 3789-3810 (2022) |
op_relation |
https://acp.copernicus.org/articles/22/3789/2022/acp-22-3789-2022.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1680-7316 https://doaj.org/toc/1680-7324 doi:10.5194/acp-22-3789-2022 1680-7316 1680-7324 https://doaj.org/article/5641a04fc4834778871d0acfb2197ff8 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-3789-2022 |
container_title |
Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics |
container_volume |
22 |
container_issue |
6 |
container_start_page |
3789 |
op_container_end_page |
3810 |
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1766339278234714112 |