Home – Home – Jornals – Atmospheric and Oceanic Optics 2017 number 11

Unique large-scale smoke haze over European part of Russia (EPR) and adjacent territories in July 2017 was caused by long-range smoke transport from the forest fires in Siberia, which is supported by 10-day back trajectories of air mass transfer in cities at EPR, from Archangelsk to Rostov-on-Don. The territory with AOD > 0.3 (average value is 0.43 and extreme is 2.5) bounded by the coordinates 45-70N and 20-60E reached about 5 million km² 25.07.2016, and the total smoke mass over EPR comprised  1.2 million tonns. It is shown that the daily average mass concentration of aerosol with particles smaller then 2.5 m exceeded the maximum permissible concentration at the majority of ecological monitoring stations in Moscow during 24.07-27.07.2016. The influence of local sources of carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, and aerosol on the air pollution was estimated. Carbon monoxide deficiency in smoke haze 2016 as compared with smoke haze 2010 was ascertained. It is shown that temperature and wind stratification may markedly influence the pollution level in the smoky urban atmosphere. Smoke aerosol radiative impact was evaluated. On July 25, 2016, the average aerosol radiative forcings over EPR at the top and the botton of the atmosphere were equal to -29 and -53 W/m² and extreme forcings reached -112 and -215 W/m², respectively.