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The long-range transport of desert dust over the area of the temperate climate zone is associated with the influx of hot air masses due to the location of the sources of this aerosol in the tropical climate zone. Between 24–26 February 2021, such an aerosol outbreak took place and reached Central Europe. The mean temperature of +11.7 °C was recorded during the event. A comparison of this value to the 20-year (2000–2020) average February temperature for Warsaw (−0.2 °C) indicates the uniqueness of the meteorological conditions. It was the first wintertime inflow of Saharan dust over Warsaw, the presence of which was confirmed by lidar and sun-photometer measurements. The properties of the desert dust layers were obtained; the mean values of the particle depolarization for the fully developed mineral dust layer were 13 ± 3% and 22 ± 4% for 355 and 532 nm, respectively. The aerosol optical thickness was high with average values >0.36 for all wavelengths smaller than 500 nm. The three-modal, aerosol size distribution was dominated by coarse-mode particles, with a visible contribution of accumulation-mode particles. It suggests the possible presence of other aerosol types.

Atmospheric boundary layer height (ABLH) was observed by the CHM15k ceilometer (January 2008 to October 2013) and the PollyXT lidar (July 2013 to December 2018) over the European Aerosol Research LIdar NETwork to Establish an Aerosol Climatology (EARLINET) site at the Remote Sensing Laboratory (RS-Lab) in Warsaw, Poland. Out of a maximum number of 4017 observational days within this period, a subset of quasi-continuous measurements conducted with these instruments at the same wavelength (1064 nm) was carefully chosen. This provided a data sample of 1841 diurnal cycle ABLH observations. The ABLHs were derived from ceilometer and lidar signals using the wavelet covariance transform method (WCT), gradient method (GDT), and standard deviation method (STD). For comparisons, the rawinsondes of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO 12374 site in Legionowo, 25 km distance to the RS-Lab) were used. The ABLHs derived from rawinsondes by the skew-T-log-p method and the bulk Richardson (bulk-Ri) method had a linear correlation coefficient (R2) of 0.9 and standard deviation (SD) of 0.32 km. A comparison of the ABLHs obtained for different methods and instruments indicated a relatively good agreement. The ABLHs estimated from the rawinsondes with the bulk-Ri method had the highest correlations, R2 of 0.80 and 0.70 with the ABLHs determined using the WCT method on ceilometer and lidar signals, respectively. The three methods applied to the simultaneous, collocated lidar, and ceilometer observations (July to October 2013) showed good agreement, especially for the WCT method (R2 of 0.94, SD of 0.19 km). A scaling threshold-based algorithm was proposed to homogenize ceilometer and lidar datasets, which were applied on the lidar data, and significantly improved the coherence of the results (R2 of 0.98, SD of 0.11 km). The difference of ABLH between clear-sky and cloudy conditions was on average below 230 m for the ceilometer and below 70 m for the lidar retrievals. The statistical analysis of the long-term observations indicated that the monthly mean ABLHs varied throughout the year between 0.6 and 1.8 km. The seasonal mean ABLH was of 1.16 ± 0.16 km in spring, 1.34 ± 0.15 km in summer, 0.99 ± 0.11 km in autumn, and 0.73 ± 0.08 km in winter. In spring and summer, the daytime and nighttime ABLHs appeared mainly in a frequency distribution range of 0.6 to 1.0 km. In winter, the distribution was common between 0.2 and 0.6 km. In autumn, it was relatively balanced between 0.2 and 1.2 km. The annual mean ABLHs maintained between 0.77 and 1.16 km, whereby the mean heights of the well-mixed, residual, and nocturnal layer were 1.14 ± 0.11, 1.27 ± 0.09, and 0.71 ± 0.06 km, respectively (for clear-sky conditions). For the whole observation period, the ABLHs below 1 km constituted more than 60% of the retrievals. A strong seasonal change of the monthly mean ABLH diurnal cycle was evident; a mild weakly defined autumn diurnal cycle, followed by a somewhat flat winter diurnal cycle, then a sharp transition to a spring diurnal cycle, and a high bell-like summer diurnal cycle. A prolonged summertime was manifested by the September cycle being more similar to the summer than autumn cycles.

During August 2016, a quasi-stationary high-pressure system spreading over Central and North-Eastern Europe, caused weather conditions that allowed for 24/7 observations of aerosol optical properties by using a complex multi-wavelength PollyXT lidar system with Raman, polarization and water vapour capabilities, based at the European Aerosol Research Lidar Network (EARLINET network) urban site in Warsaw, Poland. During 24–30 August 2016, the lidar-derived products (boundary layer height, aerosol optical depth, Ångström exponent, lidar ratio, depolarization ratio) were analysed in terms of air mass transport (HYSPLIT model), aerosol load (CAMS data) and type (NAAPS model) and confronted with active and passive remote sensing at the ground level (PolandAOD, AERONET, WIOS-AQ networks) and aboard satellites (SEVIRI, MODIS, CATS sensors). Optical properties for less than a day-old fresh biomass burning aerosol, advected into Warsaw’s boundary layer from over Ukraine, were compared with the properties of long-range transported 3–5 day-old aged biomass burning aerosol detected in the free troposphere over Warsaw. Analyses of temporal changes of aerosol properties within the boundary layer, revealed an increase of aerosol optical depth and Ångström exponent accompanied by an increase of surface PM10 and PM2.5. Intrusions of advected biomass burning particles into the urban boundary layer seem to affect not only the optical properties observed but also the top height of the boundary layer, by moderating its increase.