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Measurements of the global surface solar irradiation and its direct and diffuse components performed at three Egyptian sites (Aswan, Cairo, and Port Said) are used to test the ability of two published decomposition models to estimate the hourly direct normal irradiance from the measured global horizontal one in cloud-free conditions. The tested models failed to reproduce the temporal variability of the measurements, which we show to be partly induced by the large variability of the atmospheric content in aerosols. We propose a revised formulation of the decomposition models that takes into account the aerosol optical depth (AOD) at 1000 nm derived from onsite measurements. It leads to a significant reduction of the bias and root mean square deviation of the original models and this at the three Egyptian sites. However, because the AOD is rarely measured at the meteorological stations, we also quantify the performance of the revised models when the AOD is either derived from the MODIS observations or obtained by the products from Copernicus Atmospheric Monitoring Service (CAMS). Probably because of their finer temporal resolution that makes them more apt to reproduce the rapid variations of the AOD, the best results are obtained with the CAMS products. Therefore, we recommend using a combination of the revised decomposition models and these CAMS products to estimate the hourly direct normal irradiance in areas such as Egypt where aerosols are ubiquitous. Note that the improved decomposition models are generally applicable in all-sky conditions, although their benefit has been demonstrated to be significant, and probably limited to, cloud-free conditions.

A database containing the global and diffuse components of the surface solar hourly irradiation measured from 1 January 2004 to 31 December 2010 at eight stations of the Egyptian Meteorological Authority is presented. For three of these sites (Cairo, Aswan and El-Farafra), the direct component is also available. In addition, a series of meteorological variables including surface pressure, relative humidity, temperature, wind speed and direction is provided at the same hourly resolution at all stations. The details of the experimental sites and instruments used for the acquisition are given. Special attention is paid to the quality of the data and the procedure applied to flag suspicious or erroneous measurements is described in detail. Between 88 and 99 % of the daytime measurements are validated by this quality control. Except at Barrani where the number is lower (13 500), between 20 000 and 29 000 measurements of global and diffuse hourly irradiation are available at all sites for the 7-year period. Similarly, from 9000 to 13 000 measurements of direct hourly irradiation values are provided for the three sites where this component is measured. With its high temporal resolution this consistent irradiation and meteorological database constitutes a reliable source to estimate the potential of solar energy in Egypt. It is also adapted to the study of high-frequency atmospheric processes such as the impact of aerosols on atmospheric radiative transfer. It is planned to update regularly the current 2004–2010 database, which has been placed on the PANGAEA repository (doi:10.1594/PANGAEA.848804) and contains the individual meteorological and irradiation data files of the eight stations.

This work presents an exhaustive chemical characterization of the organic fraction of fine particulate matter (PM 2.5 ) collected at an urban site in the Greater Cairo Area, Egypt, one of the most polluted megacities in the world. An intensive 2-month sampling campaign was conducted at an urban site in Giza (Dokki), from November 26, 2019, to January 28, 2020. Daily (24-h integrated) PM 2.5 filter samples were then analyzed for their carbonaceous (OC, EC) and organic fractions including primary (n-alkanes, phthalates, fatty acids, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, hopanes, sugars, and sugar alcohols) and secondary (isoprene and β-caryophyllene oxidation products, and dicarboxylic acids) compounds. Average organic (OC) and elemental carbon (EC) concentrations were 17.8 ± 6.6 μg/m 3 and 4.4 ± 1.5 μg/m 3 , respectively. Biomass burning was confirmed by high daily concentration levels of levoglucosan, mannosan, and galactosan (sum equals to 288 ng/m 3 ). Road traffic was also highlighted by the relative abundance of tetracosane and a carbon preference index close to unity as well as by the concentration ratios of PAHs and hopanes. Moreover, phthalates were identified for the first time in Cairo with high concentrations (654 ng/m 3 ) that might be attributable to open waste burning activities. Fatty acids and sugars were also investigated and assigned to cooking activities and primary biogenic sources, respectively. The average concentration of isoprene and β-caryophyllene oxidation products were 0.89 ± 0.83 ng/m 3 , and 0.01 ± 0.02 ng/m 3 , respectively. These low values are expected since no pine trees or even forests exist in Egypt. The macrotracer approach was employed alongside Monte Carlo simulation to identify sources of primary OC and evaluate the uncertainties associated with source attribution and OC reconstruction. The findings revealed a strong contribution from cooking (31% of observed OC) and biomass burning (18%), with median reconstructed OC levels showing significant uncertainty (64%) as expected., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Greater Cairo, the largest megacity of the Middle East North Africa (MENA) region, is currently suffering from major aerosol pollution, posing a significant threat to public health. However, the main sources of pollution remain insufficiently characterized due to limited atmospheric observations. To bridge this knowledge gap, we conducted a continuous 2-month field study during the winter of 2019-2020 at an urban background site, documenting for the first time the chemical and physical properties of submicron (PM 1 ) aerosols. Crustal material from both desert dust and road traffic dust resuspension contributed as much as 24 % of the total PM 1 mass (rising to 66 % during desert dust events), a figure not commonly observed in urban environments. Our observations showed significant decreases in black carbon concentrations and ammonium sulfate compared to data from 15 years ago, indicating an important reduction in both local and regional emissions as a result of effective mitigation measures. The diurnal variability of carbonaceous aerosols was attributed to emissions emanating from local traffic at rush hours and nighttime open biomass burning. Surprisingly, semi-volatile ammonium chloride (NH 4 Cl) originating from local open biomass and waste burning was found to be the main chemical species in PM 1 over Cairo. Its nighttime formation contributed to aerosol water uptake during morning hours, thereby playing a major role in the build-up of urban haze. While our results confirm the persistence of a significant dust reservoir over Cairo, they also unveil an additional source of highly hygroscopic (semi-volatile) inorganic salts, leading to a unique type of urban haze. This haze, with dominant contributors present in both submicron (primarily as NH 4 Cl) and supermicron (largely as dust) modes, underscores the potential implications of heterogeneous chemical transformation of air pollutants in urban environments., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)