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During the summer of 2018, a widespread drought developed over Northern and Central Europe. The increase in temperature and the reduction of soil moisture have influenced carbon dioxide (CO2) exchange between the atmosphere and terrestrial ecosystems in various ways, such as a reduction of photosynthesis, changes in ecosystem respiration, or allowing more frequent fires. In this study, we characterize the resulting perturbation of the atmospheric CO2 seasonal cycles. 2018 has a good coverage of European regions affected by drought, allowing the investigation of how ecosystem flux anomalies impacted spatial CO2 gradients between stations. This density of stations is unprecedented compared to previous drought events in 2003 and 2015, particularly thanks to the deployment of the Integrated Carbon Observation System (ICOS) network of atmospheric greenhouse gas monitoring stations in recent years. Seasonal CO2 cycles from 48 European stations were available for 2017 and 2018. Earlier data were retrieved for comparison from international databases or national networks. Here, we show that the usual summer minimum in CO2 due to the surface carbon uptake was reduced by 1.4 ppm in 2018 for the 10 stations located in the area most affected by the temperature anomaly, mostly in Northern Europe. Notwithstanding, the CO2 transition phases before and after July were slower in 2018 compared to 2017, suggesting an extension of the growing season, with either continued CO2 uptake by photosynthesis and/or a reduction in respiration driven by the depletion of substrate for respiration inherited from the previous months due to the drought. For stations with sufficiently long time series, the CO2 anomaly observed in 2018 was compared to previous European droughts in 2003 and 2015. Considering the areas most affected by the temperature anomalies, we found a higher CO2 anomaly in 2003 (+3 ppm averaged over 4 sites), and a smaller anomaly in 2015 (+1 ppm averaged over 11 sites) compared to 2018. This article is part of the theme issue 'Impacts of the 2018 severe drought and heatwave in Europe: from site to continental scale'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study was the first to investigate the direct effects of anomalous concentrations of ozone mediated by summer heat waves on seed germination in alpine plants. During germination, the seeds were exposed to three peaks of O3concentration (125 ppb for 5 and 10 days; 185 ppb for 5 days), derived from measurements taken close to the species growing site. High O3concentration delayed the first germination time, increased the mean germination time, and reduced the germination percentage during and immediately after the treatment, but, in most cases, effects were weak and had almost vanished three weeks after the treatments. In few cases, chronic exposure to O3(125 for 10 days’ treatment) enhanced seed germination compared to the control, suggesting that ozone may induce antioxidant and DNA-repair mechanisms or dormancy-breaking effects in hydrated seeds. Although seed mortality increased during O3treatments in four species, the effect of O3on seed germination is mostly limited to the period of exposure, indicating that it is unlikely to produce permanent negative effects on seeds, during the germination phase. Our results show that the direct effect of O3on seeds of alpine plants may have minor impacts on plant reproductive performance during seed germination. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The Kathmandu Valley in south Asia is considered as one of the global "hot spots" in terms of urban air pollution. It is facing severe air quality problems as a result of rapid urbanization and land use change, socioeconomic transformation, and high population growth. In this paper, we present the first full year (February 2013-January 2014) analysis of simultaneous measurements of two shortlived climate forcers/pollutants (SLCF/P), i.e., ozone (O3) and equivalent black carbon (hereinafter noted as BC) and aerosol number concentration at Paknajol, in the city center of Kathmandu. The diurnal behavior of equivalent BC and aerosol number concentration indicated that local pollution sources represent the major contributions to air pollution in this city. In addition to photochemistry, the planetary boundary layer (PBL) and wind play important roles in determining O3 variability, as suggested by the analysis of seasonal changes of the diurnal cycles and the correlation with meteorological parameters and aerosol properties. Especially during pre-monsoon, high values of O3 were found during the afternoon/evening. This could be related to mixing and entrainment processes between upper residual layers and the PBL. The high O3 concentrations, in particular during pre-monsoon, appeared well related to the impact of major open vegetation fires occurring at the regional scale. On a synoptic-scale perspective, westerly and regional atmospheric circulations appeared to be especially conducive for the occurrence of the high BC and O3 values. The very high values of SLCF/P, detected during the whole measurement period, indicated persisting adverse air quality conditions, dangerous for the health of over 3 million residents of the Kathmandu Valley, and the environment. Consequently, all of this information may be useful for implementing control measures to mitigate the occurrence of acute pollution levels in the Kathmandu Valley and surrounding area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Monitoring Atmospheric Composition and Climate (MACC) project represents the European Union's Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) (http: //www.copernicus.eu/), which became fully operational during 2015. The global near-real-time MACC model production run for aerosol and reactive gases provides daily analyses and 5-day forecasts of atmospheric composition fields. It is the only assimilation system worldwide that is operational to produce global analyses and forecasts of reactive gases and aerosol fields. We have investigated the ability of the MACC analysis system to simulate tropospheric concentrations of reactive gases covering the period between 2009 and 2012. A validation was performed based on carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and ozone (O3) surface observations from the Global AtmosphereWatch (GAW) network, the O3 surface observations from the European Monitoring and Evaluation Programme (EMEP) and, furthermore, NO2 tropospheric columns, as well as CO total columns, derived from satellite sensors. The MACC system proved capable of reproducing reactive gas concentrations with consistent quality; however, with a seasonally dependent bias compared to surface and satellite observations - for northern hemispheric surface O3 mixing ratios, positive biases appear during the warm seasons and negative biases during the cold parts of the year, with monthly modified normalised mean biases (MNMBs) ranging between -30 and 30% at the surface. Model biases are likely to result from difficulties in the simulation of vertical mixing at night and deficiencies in the model's dry deposition parameterisation. Observed tropospheric columns of NO2 and CO could be reproduced correctly during the warm seasons, but are mostly underestimated by the model during the cold seasons, when anthropogenic emissions are at their highest level, especially over the US, Europe and Asia. Monthly MNMBs of the satellite data evaluation range from values between -110 and 40% for NO2 and at most -20% for CO, over the investigated regions. The underestimation is likely to result from a combination of errors concerning the dry deposition parameterisation and certain limitations in the current emission inventories, together with an insufficiently established seasonality in the emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High-resolution aerosol mass spectrometer measurements were performed, for the first time, at the Mt. Cimone Global Atmosphere Watch (GAW) station between June and July 2012, within the EU project PEGASOS and the ARPA-Emilia-Romagna project SUPERSITO. Submicron aerosol was dominated by organics (63%), with sulfate, ammonium and nitrate contributing the remaining 20, 9 and 7%, respectively. Organic aerosol (OA) was in general highly oxygenated, consistent with the remote character of the site; our observations suggest that oxidation and secondary organic aerosol (SOA) formation processes occurred during aerosol transport to high altitudes. All of the aerosol component concentrations as well as the OA elemental ratios showed a clear daily trend, driven by the evolution of the planetary boundary layer (PBL) and by the mountain wind regime. Higher loadings and lower OA oxidation levels were observed during the day, when the site was within the PBL, and therefore affected by relatively fresh aerosol transported from lower altitudes. Conversely, lower loadings and higher OA oxidation levels were observed at night, when the top of Mt. Cimone resided in the free troposphere although affected by the transport of residual layers on several days of the campaign. Analysis of the elemental ratios in a Van Krevelen space shows that OA oxidation follows a slope comprised between ..0.5 and ..1, consistent with addition of carboxylic groups, with or without fragmentation of the parent molecules. The increase of carboxylic groups during OA ageing is confirmed by the increased contribution of organic fragments containing more than one oxygen atom in the free troposphere night-time mass spectra. Finally, positive matrix factorization was able to deconvolve the contributions of relatively fresh OA (OOAa) originating from the PBL, more aged OA (OOAb) present at high altitudes during periods of atmospheric stagnation, and very aged aerosols (OOAc) transported over long distances in the free troposphere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High resolution aerosol mass spectrometer measurements have been performed, for the first time, at the Mt. Cimone Global Atmospheric Watch (GAW) station between June and July 2012, within the EU project PEGASOS and the ARPA--Emilia Romagna project SUPERSITO. Sub-micron aerosol was dominated by organics (63%) with sulphate, ammonium and nitrate contributing for the remaining 20, 9 and 7%, respectively. Organic aerosol (OA) was in general highly oxygenated, consistent with the remote character of the site; our observations suggest that oxidation and secondary organic aerosol (SOA) formation processes occurred during aerosol transport to high altitudes. All of the aerosol component concentrations as well as the OA elemental ratios showed a clear daily trend, driven by the evolution of the planetary boundary layer (PBL) and by the mountain wind regime. Higher loadings and lower OA oxidation levels were observed during the day, when the site was within the PBL, and therefore affected by relatively fresh aerosol transported from lower altitudes. Conversely, lower loadings and higher OA oxidation levels were observed at night, when the top of Mt. Cimone resided in the free troposphere although affected by the transport of residual layers on several days of the campaign. Analysis of the elemental ratios in a Van Krevelen space shows that OA oxidation follows a slope comprised between -0.5 and -1, consistent with addition of carboxylic groups, with or without fragmentation of the parent molecules. The increase of carboxylic groups during OA ageing is confirmed by the increased contribution of organic fragments containing more than one oxygen atom in the free troposphere night-time mass spectra. Finally, positive matrix factorization was able to deconvolve the contributions of relatively fresh OA (OOAa) originating from the PBL, more aged OA (OOAb) present at high altitudes during periods of atmospheric stagnation, and very aged aerosols (OOAc) transported over long distances in the free troposphere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies on recent climate trends from the Himalayan range are limited, and even completely absent at high elevation ( > 5000ma.s.l.). This study specifically explores the southern slopes of Mt. Everest, analyzing the time series of temperature and precipitation reconstructed from seven stations located between 2660 and 5600ma.s.l. during 1994-2013, complemented with the data from all existing ground weather stations located on both sides of the mountain range (Koshi Basin) over the same period. Overall we find that the main and most significant increase in temperature is concentrated outside of the monsoon period. Above 5000ma.s.l. the increasing trend in the time series of minimum temperature (+0.072°C yr-1) is much stronger than of maximum temperature (+0.009°C yr-1), while the mean temperature increased by +0.044°C yr-1. Moreover, we note a substantial liquid precipitation weakening (-9.3 mm yr-1) during the monsoon season. The annual rate of decrease in precipitation at higher elevations is similar to the one at lower elevations on the southern side of the Koshi Basin, but the drier conditions of this remote environment make the fractional loss much more consistent (-47% during the monsoon period). Our results challenge the assumptions on whether temperature or precipitation is the main driver of recent glacier mass changes in the region. The main implications are the following: (1) the negative mass balances of glaciers observed in this region can be more ascribed to a decrease in accumulation (snowfall) than to an increase in surface melting; (2) the melting has only been favoured during winter and spring months and close to the glaciers terminus; (3) a decrease in the probability of snowfall (-10 %) has made a significant impact only at glacier ablation zone, but the magnitude of this decrease is distinctly lower than the observed decrease in precipitation; (4) the decrease in accumulation could have caused the observed decrease in glacier flow velocity and the current stagnation of glacier termini, which in turn could have produced more melting under the debris glacier cover, leading to the formation of numerous supraglacial and proglacial lakes that have characterized the region in the last decades. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Continuous measurements of physical and chemical properties at the Mt. Cimone (Italy) GAW-WMO (Global Atmosphere Watch, World Meteorological Organization) Global Station (2165ma.s.l.) have allowed the detection of the volcanic aerosol plume resulting from the Eyjafjallajökull (Iceland) eruption of spring 2010. The event affected the Mt. Cimone site after a transport over a distance of more than 3000 km. Two main transport episodes were detected during the eruption period, showing a volcanic fingerprint discernible against the free tropospheric background conditions typical of the site, the first from April 19 to 21 and the second from 18 to 20 May 2010. This paper reports the modification of aerosol characteristics observed during the two episodes, both characterised by an abrupt increase in fine and, especially, coarse mode particle number. Analysis of major, minor and trace elements by different analytical techniques (ionic chromatography, particle induced X-ray emission-particle induced gamma-ray emission (PIXE-PIGE) and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS)) were performed on aerosols collected by ground-level discrete sampling. The resulting database allows the characterisation of aerosol chemical composition during the volcanic plume transport and in background conditions. During the passage of the volcanic plume, the fine fraction was dominated by sulphates, denoting the secondary origin of this mode, mainly resulting from in-plume oxidation of volcanic SO2. By contrast, the coarse fraction was characterised by increased concentration of numerous elements of crustal origin, such as Fe, Ti, Mn, Ca, Na, and Mg, which enter the composition of silicate minerals. Data analysis of selected elements (Ti, Al, Fe, Mn) allowed the estimation of the volcanic plume's contribution to total PM10, resulting in a local enhancement of up to 9.5 μgm-3, i.e. 40% of total PM10 on 18 May, which was the most intense of the two episodes. These results appear significant, especially in light of the huge distance of Mt. Cimone from the source, confirming the widespread diffusion of the Eyjafjallajökull ashes over Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Continuous measurements of physical and chemical properties at the Mt. Cimone GAW-WMO Global Station (2165ma.s.l.) allowed the detection of the volcanic aerosol plume resulting from the Eyjafjallajökull eruption of spring 2010. The event affected the site after a transport over a distance of more than 3000 km. Two main transport episodes were detected during the eruption period, showing a volcanic fingerprint discernible against the free tropospheric background conditions typical of the site, the first from 19 to 21 April and the second from 18 to 20 May 2010. The paper reports the modification of aerosol characteristics observed during the two episodes, both characterized by an abrupt increase in fine and, especially, coarse mode particle number. Analysis of major, minor and trace elements by different analytical techniques (Ionic Chromatography, PIXE-PIGE and ICP-MS) were performed on aerosols collected by ground level discrete sampling. The resulting database allows the characterization of aerosol chemical composition during the volcanic plume transport and in background conditions. During the passage of the volcanic plume, the fine fraction was dominated by sulphates, denoting the secondary origin of this mode, mainly resulting from inplume oxidation of volcanic SO2. By contrast, the coarse fraction was characterized by increased concentration of numerous elements of crustal origin, such as Fe, Ti, Mn, Ca, Na, and Mg, which enter the composition of silicate minerals. Data analysis of selected elements (Ti, Al, Fe, Mn) allowed the estimation of the volcanic plume's contribution to total PM10, resulting in a local enhancement of up to 9.5 µgm-3, i.e. 40% of total PM10, on 18 May, which was the most intense of the two episodes. These results appear significant, especially in the light of the huge distance of Mt. Cimone from the source, confirming the widespread diffusion of the Eyjafjallajokull ashes over Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work investigates the variability of ozone (O3), carbon monoxide (CO) and equivalent black carbon (BC) at the Italian Climate Observatory "O. Vittori" (ICO- OV), part of the Mt. Cimone global GAW-WMO station (Italy). For this purpose, ICO-OV observations carried out in the period January 2007-June 2009, have been analyzed and correlated with the outputs of the FLEXPART Lagrangian dispersion model to specifically evaluate the influence of biomass burning (BB) and anthropogenic emissions younger than 20 days. During the investigation period, the average O3, CO and BC at ICO-OV were 54±3ppb, 122±7ppb and 213±34 ng m-3 (mean±expanded uncertainty with p < 95 %), with clear seasonal cycles characterized by summer maxima and winter minima for O3 and BC and spring maximum and summer minimum for CO. According to FLEXPART outputs, BB impact is maximized during the warm months from July to September but appeared to have a significant contribution to the observed tracers only during specific transport events. We characterised in detail five "representative" events with respect to transport scales (i.e. global, regional and local), source regions and O3, CO and BC variations. For these events, very large variability of enhancement ratios O3/CO (from -0.22 to 0.71) and BC/CO (from 2.69 to 29.83 ng m-3 ppb-1) were observed. CO contributions related with anthropogenic emissions (COant) contributed to 17.4 % of the mean CO value observed at ICO-OV, with the warm months appearing particularly affected by transport events of air-masses rich in anthropogenic pollution. The proportion of tracer variability that is described by FLEXPART COant peaked to 37% (in May-September) for CO, 19% (in May-September) for O3 and 32 % (in January-April) for BC. During May-September, the analysis of the correlation among CO, O3 and BC as a function of the COant indicated that ICO-OV was influenced by air-masses rich in anthropogenic pollution transported from the regional to the global scale. On the other side, CO and O3 were negatively correlated during October-December, when FLEXPART does not show significant presence of re- cent anthropogenic emissions and only a few observations are characterized by enhanced BC. Such behaviour may be attributed to an ensemble of processes concurrent in enhancing O3 with low CO (upper troposphere/lower stratosphere intrusions) and to O3 titration by NO in polluted air-masses along with lower photochemical activity. An intermediate situation occurs in January-April when CO and O3 were almost uncorrelated and BC enhancements were associated to relatively old (10 days) anthropogenic emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gaseous elemental mercury (Hg0) was investigated in the troposphere and in the interstitial air extracted from the snow at Dome Concordia station (alt. 3320m) on the Antarctic Plateau during January 2009. Measurements and modeling studies showed evidence of a very dynamic and daily cycling of Hg0 inside the mixing layer with a range of values from 0.2 ngm-3 up to 2.3 ng m-3. During low solar irradiation periods, fast Hg0 oxidation processes in a confined layer were suspected. Unexpectedly high Hg0 concentrations for such a remote place were measured under higher solar irradiation due to snow photochemistry. We suggest that a daily cycling of reemission/oxidation occurs during summer within the mixing layer at Dome Concordia. Hg0 concentrations showed a negative correlation with ozone mixing ratios, which contrasts with atmospheric mercury depletion events observed during the Arctic spring. Unlike previous Antarctic studies, we think that atmospheric Hg0 removal may not be the result of advection processes. The daily and dramatic Hg0 losses could be a consequence of surface or snow induced oxidation pathways. It remains however unclear whether halogens are involved. The cycling of other oxidants should be investigated together with Hg species in order to clarify the complex reactivity on the Antarctic plateau. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work investigates the variability of ozone (O3), carbon monoxide (CO) and equivalent black carbon (BC) concentrations at the Italian Climate Observatory "O. Vittori" (ICO-OV), part of the Mt. Cimone global GAW-WMO station (Italy). For this purpose, ICO-OV observations carried out in the period January 2007-June 2009, have been analysed and correlated with the output of the FLEXPART Lagrangian dispersion model to specifically evaluate the influence of biomass burning (BB) and anthropogenic emissions younger than 20 days. During the investigation period, the average O3, CO and BC concentrations at ICO-OV were 54 ± 3 ppbv, 122 ± 7 ppbv and 213 ± 34 ngm-3 (mean ± expanded uncertainty with p < 95%), with clear seasonal cycles characterized by summer maxima and winter minima for O3 and BC and spring maximum and summer minimum for CO. According to FLEXPART output, BB impact is maximized during the warm months from July to September but appeared to have a significant contribution to the observed tracer concentrations only during specific transport events. We characterised in detail five major events with respect to transport scales (i.e. global, regional and local), source regions and O3, CO and BC variations. For these events, very large variability of enhancement ratios O3/CO (from -0.22 to 0.71) and BC/CO (from 2.69 to 29.83 ngm-3ppbv-1) were observed. CO related with anthropogenic emissions (COant) contributed to 17.4% of the mean CO value observed at ICO-OV, with the warm months appearing particularly affected by transport events of air-masses rich in anthropogenic pollution. The proportion of tracer variability that is described by FLEXPART COant peaked to 37% (in May-September) for CO, 19% (in May-September) for O3 and 32% (in January-April) for BC. During May-September, the analysis of the correlation among CO, O3 and BC as a function of the COant indicated that ICO-OV was influenced by air-masses rich in anthropogenic pollution transported from the regional to the global scale. On the other side, CO and O3 were negatively correlated during October-December, when FLEXPART does not show significant presence of recent anthropogenic emissions and only a few observations are characterized by enhanced BC. Such behaviour may be attributed to an ensemble of processes concurrent in enhancing O3 with low CO (upper troposphere/lower stratosphere intrusions) and O3 titration by NO in polluted air-masses along with lower photochemical activity. An intermediate situation occurs in January-April when CO and O3 were almost uncorrelated and BC enhancements were associated to relatively old (10 days) anthropogenic emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT The work focuses on the analysis of CO2 and O3 surface variations observed during five summer experimental campaigns carried out at the 'Icaro Camp' clean air facility (74.7°S, 164.1°E, 41 m a.s.l.) of the 'Mario Zucchelli' Italian coastal research station. This experimental activity allowed the definition of summer average background O3 values that ranged from 18.3 ± 4.7 ppbv (summer 2005-2006) to 21.3 ± 4.0 ppbv (summer 2003-2004). Background CO2 concentrations showed an average growth rate of 2.10 ppmv yr-1, with the highest CO2 increase between the summer campaigns 2002-2003 and 2001-2002 (+2.85 ppmv yr-1), probably reflecting the influence of the 2002/2003 ENSO event. A comparison with other Antarctic coastal sites suggested that the summer background CO2 and O3 at MZS-IC are well representative of the average conditions of the Ross Sea coastal regions. As shown by the analysis of local wind direction and by 3-D back-trajectory calculations, the highest CO2 and O3 values were recorded in correspondence to air masses flowing from the interior of the Antarctic continent. These results suggest that air mass transport from the interior of the continent exerts an important influence on air mass composition in Antarctic coastal areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective To investigate the association between Saharan dust outbreaks and natural, cardiovascular and respiratory mortality. Methods A case-crossover design was adopted to assess the effects of Saharan dust days (SDD) on mortality in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy. The population under study consisted of residents in the six main towns of the central-western part of the region who died between August 2002 and December 2006. The association of Saharan dust outbreaks and PM(10) concentration with mortality was estimated using conditional logistic regression, adjusted for apparent temperature, holidays, summer population decrease, flu epidemic weeks and heat wave days. The role of the interaction term between PM(10) and SDD was analysed to test for effect modification induced by SDD on the PM(10)-mortality concentration-response function. Separate estimates were undertaken for hot and cold seasons. Results We found some evidence of increased respiratory mortality for people aged 75 or older on SDD. Respiratory mortality increased by 22.0% (95% CI 4.0% to 43.1%) on the SDD in the whole year model and by 33.9% (8.4% to 65.4%) in the hot season model. Effects substantially attenuated for natural and cardiovascular mortality with ORs of 1.042 (95% CI 0.992 to 1.095) and 1.043 (95% CI 0.969 to 1.122), respectively. Conclusions Our findings suggest an association between respiratory mortality in the elderly and Saharan dust outbreaks. We found no evidence of an effect modification of dust events on the concentration-response relationship between PM(10) and daily deaths. Further work should be carried out to clarify the mechanism of action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A monitoring programme for halogenated climate-altering gases has been established in the frame of the SHARE EV-K2-CNR project at the Nepal Climate Laboratory - Pyramid in the Himalayan range at the altitude of 5079ma.s.I. The site is very well located to provide important insights on changes in atmospheric composition in a region that is of great significance for emissions of both anthropogenic and biogenic halogenated compounds. Measurements are performed since March 2006, with grab samples collected on a weekly basis. The first three years of data have been analysed. After the identification of the atmospheric background values for fourteen halocarbons, the frequency of occurrence of pollution events have been compared with the same kind of analysis for data collected at other global background stations. The analysis showed the fully halogenated species, whose production and consumption are regulated under the Montreal Protocol, show a significant occurrence of "'above the baseline" values, as a consequence of their current use in the developing countries surrounding the region, meanwhile the hydrogenated gases, more recently introduced into the market, show less frequent spikes. Atmospheric concentration trends have been calculated as well, and they showed a fast increase, ranging from 5.7 to 12.6%, of all the hydrogenated species, and a clear decrease of methyl chloroform (-17.7%). The comparison with time series from other stations has also allowed to derive Meridional gradients, which are absent for long living well mixed species, while for the more reactive species, the gradient increases inversely with respect to their atmospheric lifetime. The effect of long range transport and of local events on the atmospheric composition at the station has been analysed as well, allowing the identification of relevant source regions the Northern half of the Indian sub-continent. Also, at liner spatial scales, a smaller, local contribution of forest fires from the Khumbu valley has been detected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study presents two years of continuous observations of physical aerosol properties at the GAW-WMO global station "Nepal Climate Observatory -- Pyramid" (NCO-P, 27°57' N, 86° 48'E), sited at 5079 m a.s.l. in the high Himalayan Khumbu Valley (Nepal). Measurements of aerosol number size distribution, aerosol optical depth (AOD) and single scattering albedo (SSA) are analysed from March 2006 to February 2008. By studying the temporal variations of coarse (1 µm < Dp ≤10 µm) particle number concentration, 53 mineral Dust Transport Events (DTEs) are identified, accounting for 22.2% of the analysed data-set. Such events occurred prevalently during pre-monsoon (for 30.6% of the period) and winter (22.1%) seasons. However, uncommon cases of mineral dust transport are observed even during the monsoon season. The main sources of mineral dust reaching NCO-P are identified in the arid regions not far from the measurement site, i.e. from Tibetan Plateau, and Lot-Thar deserts, which account for 52% of the dust transport days. Moreover, a non-negligible contribution can be attributed to the Arabian Peninsula (17%) and the Indo-Gangetic Plains (16%), as indicated by three dimensional (3-D) back-trajectory analyses performed with LAGRANTO model. The observed DTEs lead to significant enhancements in the coarse aerosol number concentration (+513%) and coarse aerosol mass (+655%), as compared with average values observed in "dust-free" conditions (0.05 ± 0.11 cm-3 and 3.4 ± 3.7 µg m-3, respectively). During DTEs, SSA is higher (0.84-0.89) than on "dust-free" days (0.75-0.83), confirming the importance of this class of events as a driver of the radiative features of the regional Himalayan climate. Considering the dust events, a significant seasonal AOD increase (+37.5%) is observed in the post-monsoon, whereas lower increase (less than +11.1%) characterises the pre-monsoon and winter seasons confirming the influence of synoptic-scale mineral dust transports on the aerosol optical properties observed at NCO-P. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aerosol mass and the absorbing fraction are important variables, needed to constrain the role of atmospheric particles in the Earth radiation budget, both directly and indirectly through CCN activation. In particular, their monitoring in remote areas and mountain sites is essential for determining source regions, elucidating the mechanisms of long range transport of anthropogenic pollutants, and validating regional and global models. Since March 2006, aerosol mass and black carbon concentration have been monitored at the Nepal Climate Observatory-Pyramid, a permanent high-altitude research station located in the Khumbu valley at 5079 m a.s.l. below Mt. Everest. The first twoyear averages of PM1 and PM1-10 mass were 1.94 μgm-3 and 1.88 μgm-3, with standard deviations of 3.90 μgm-3 and 4.45 μgm-3, respectively, while the black carbon concentration average is 160.5 ng m-3, with a standard deviation of 296.1 ng m-3. Both aerosol mass and black carbon show well defined annual cycles, with a maximum during the premonsoon season and a minimum during the monsoon. They also display a typical diurnal cycle during all the seasons, with the lowest particle concentration recorded during the night, and a considerable increase during the afternoon, revealing the major role played by thermal winds in influencing the behaviour of atmospheric compounds over the high Himalayas. The aerosol concentration is subject to high variability: in fact, as well as frequent "background conditions" (55% of the time) when BC concentrations are mainly below 100 ngm-3, concentrations up to 5 μgm-3 are reached during some episodes (a few days every year) in the premonsoon seasons. The variability of PM and BC is the result of both short-term changes due to thermal wind development in the valley, and long-range transport/synoptic circulation. At NCO-P, higher concentrations of PM1 and BC are mostly associated with regional circulation and westerly air masses from the Middle East, while the strongest contributions of mineral dust arrive from the Middle East and regional circulation, with a special contribution from North Africa and South-West Arabian Peninsula in post-monsoon and winter season. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]