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Introduction: Exposure to secondhand smoke (SHS) poses serious and extensive health and economic-related consequences to European society and worldwide. Smoking bans are a key measure to reducing SHS exposure but have been implemented with varying levels of success. We assessed changes in the prevalence of self-reported SHS exposure and smoking behavior in public places among smokers in six European countries and the influence of the country’s type of smoking ban (partial or total ban) on such exposure and smoking behavior. Aims and Methods: The EUREST-PLUS ITC Europe Surveys were conducted among adult smokers in Germany, Greece, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Spain in 2016 (Wave 1, n = 6011) and 2018 (Wave 2, n = 6027). We used generalized estimating equations models to assess changes between Waves 1 and 2 and to test the interaction between the type of smoking ban and (1) self-reported SHS exposure, (2) self-reported smoking in several public places. Results: A significant decrease in self-reported SHS exposure was observed in workplaces, from 19.1% in 2016 to 14.0% in 2018 (-5.1%; 95% CI: -8.0%; -2.2%). Self-reported smoking did not change significantly inside bars (22.7% in Wave 2), restaurants (13.2% in Wave 2) and discos/nightclubs (34.0% in W2). SHS exposure in public places was significantly less likely (adjusted odds ratio = 0.35; 95% CI: 0.26-0.47) in the countries with total bans as compared to those countries with partial bans. Conclusion: The inverse association between smoking in public places and smoking bans indicates an opportunity for strengthening smoke-free legislation and protecting bystanders from exposure to SHS in public places.

Summarization: A deterministic model for atmospheric longwave radiation transfer was used with climatological data to predict the mean monthly zonal (10° latitudinal zones) longwave radiation budget at the Earth's surface and at the top of the atmosphere for the Northern Hemisphere. The climatological data were obtained from the International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project (1983-1990), and from the National Centers for Environmental Prediction/National Center for Atmospheric Research Reanalysis Project. The model's outgoing fluxes agree within 4 Wm-2, on average, with the corresponding values determined from the Earth Radiation Budget Experiment (1985-1989) satellite data. The validation of the model for the top-of-atmosphere radiation budget allows one to obtain a better understanding of the important processes that govern the transfer of the longwave radiation for each season and zone. At the surface, validation of the predicted downwelling radiation is difficult owing to the lack of extensive ground-based measurements. However, we have made intercomparisons with other model predictions and with ground-based measurements that were available. The predictions of the model for the surface longwave radiation budget provide a measure against which simpler algorithms, derived from ground-based measurements, can be compared and used to convert satellite climatologies to a globally distributed surface longwave radiation budget for climatic studies. Presented on: Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres

Recent variations in surface solar radiation (SSR) at the beginning of the 21st century (2000-2007) were determined at scales ranging from local/regional to hemispherical/global, on the basis of radiative transfer computations and information from satellites, reanalyses and surface measurements. Under all-sky conditions, in the Northern Hemisphere (NH) there is no clear dimming/brightening signal after 2000, whereas in the SH there is a more clear dimming arising from both increasing clouds and aerosols. Dimming is observed over land and ocean in the Southern Hemisphere (SH), and over oceans in the NH, whereas a slight brightening occurred over NH land. However, opposite tendencies are found even within the same continent, indicating the need to assess SSR changes at regional/local scales apart from hemispherical/global ones. Copyright (c) 2011 Royal Meteorological Society Atmospheric Science Letters

The spatial and temporal distribution of the downward solar radiation (DSR) at the Earth's surface, which is a key parameter for the Earth-atmosphere climate system, is studied on a global scale by applying the multivariate statistical method of factor analysis (FA) on mean monthly DSR values for the period 1984-2000 for winter and summer. DSR fluxes have been computed with a physical deterministic radiation transfer model, which uses satellite and reanalysis climatological input data. FA objectively groups grid points with common temporal variability of solar radiation, identifying areas with characteristic solar radiation variability and revealing teleconnection patterns. The globally distributed DSR exhibits strong variability and can be represented by about 30 factors (sub-areas) explaining approximately 85% of the total variance. The main factors are located in the tropical Pacific (El Nino Southern Oscillation), the northern Pacific (Aleutian low), desert areas (Africa, Middle East, and Australia), and oceanic areas (storm track zone around 60 S). Furthermore, some of these areas are teleconnected indicating common DSR variability in remote places of the Earth. The primary physical parameter for the co-variability of surface solar radiation is found to be cloud cover. The time series of the factor scores (solar radiation) exhibit features associated with natural climatic phenomena (e. g. NAO, ENSO), thus revealing that DSR might be considered as an indirect indicator for these phenomena. On the other hand, DSR determines these phenomena through its effects on major climate parameters such as surface temperature or evaporation, thus playing a key role in their formation and explanation. Finally, our analysis revealed some statistically significant trends of solar radiation, for example, a reduction in the northern Pacific and an increase in tropical and subtropical regions, which are important for global dimming/brightening and associated surface warming of the Earth. Copyright (C) 2009 Royal Meteorological Society International Journal of Climatology

The second generation Collection 005 (C005) MODIS operational algorithm for retrieval of aerosol properties was evaluated and validated for the greater Mediterranean basin (29.5 degrees N-46.5 degrees N and 10.5 degrees W-38.5 degrees E), a region with an atmosphere under siege by air pollution and diminishing water resources that are exacerbated by high aerosol loads and climatic change. The present study aims to quantify the differences between the C005 and the previous (C004) MODIS collections, and re-assess the results of previous studies that have been performed for the region using MODIS C004 aerosol optical depth (AOD) products. Daily data of AOD from EOS-Terra covering the 6-year period 2000-2006 were taken from both C005 and C004 Level-3 datasets, and were inter-compared and validated against ground-based measurements from 29 AERONET stations. The C005 data were found to significantly better agree with the AERONET data than those of C004. The correlation coefficient between MODIS and AERONET was found to increase from 0.66 to 0.76 and the slope of linear regression MODIS/AERONET from 0.79 to 0.85. The MODIS C005 data still overestimate/underestimate the AERONET AOD values smaller/larger than 0.25, but to a much smaller extent than C004 data. The better agreement of C005 with AERONET data arises from the generally lower C005 values, with regional mean AOD values equal to 0.27 and 0.22 for C004 and C005, respectively. This decrease, however, is not uniform over the region and involves a significant decrease over land and a small increase over the ocean for AOD values greater than 0.1 (opposite changes were found under aerosol-clean conditions). Both data sets indicate a decrease in the regional mean AOD over the period 2000-2006, equal to 20% based on C005 and 17% based on C004 datasets, though the intra-annual and inter-annual variation did not change significantly, thus indicating a systematic correction to C004 values. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics

TandEM was proposed as an L-class (large) mission in response to ESA's Cosmic Vision 2015-2025 Call, and accepted for further studies, with the goal of exploring Titan and Enceladus. The mission concept is to perform in situ investigations of two worlds tied together by location and properties, whose remarkable natures have been partly revealed by the ongoing Cassini-Huygens mission. These bodies still hold mysteries requiring a complete exploration using a variety of vehicles and instruments. TandEM is an ambitious mission because its targets are two of the most exciting and challenging bodies in the Solar System. It is designed to build on but exceed the scientific and technological accomplishments of the Cassini-Huygens mission, exploring Titan and Enceladus in ways that are not currently possible (full close-up and in situ coverage over long periods of time). In the current mission architecture, TandEM proposes to deliver two medium-sized spacecraft to the Saturnian system. One spacecraft would be an orbiter with a large host of instruments which would perform several Enceladus flybys and deliver penetrators to its surface before going into a dedicated orbit around Titan alone, while the other spacecraft would carry the Titan in situ investigation components, i.e. a hot-air balloon (Montgolfière) and possibly several landing probes to be delivered through the atmosphere. © Springer Science + Business Media B.V. 2008.

Journal of Geophysical Research-Oceans

The temporal variability of aerosol optical properties is investigated over the broader Mediterranean basin, with emphasis on aerosol optical depth ( AOD) that is an effective measure of aerosol load. The study is performed using Collection 005 Level-3 mean daily spectral aerosol data from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer ( MODIS) instrument on board the Terra and Aqua satellites, which cover the 6-year period from 2000 to 2006. The results of our analysis reveal a significant interannual variability of AOD in the study region. Specifically, the regional mean visible AOD over land and ocean has decreased over the period 2000-2006 by 20% in relative percentage terms ( or by 0.04 in absolute terms). This tendency is statistically significant according to the Man-Kendall test. However, the decreasing tendency of AOD is not uniform over the whole basin. It appears mainly in the western parts of Iberian, Italian, and Balkan peninsulas ( and coastal areas), as well as in the southern Anatolian peninsula. The analysis for summer ( June to September) and winter ( November to March) seasons revealed different tendencies in both AOD and precipitation. The summer-period AOD has decreased by 0.04 ( or by 14%) probably due to decreased emission rates of anthropogenic pollution. In contrast, the winter AOD has increased by 0.03 ( or 19%) mainly related to decreased precipitation ( associated with an increasing tendency in the NAO index). The decreasing tendency in MODIS AOD is in good agreement with corresponding AOD tendencies based on data from Aerobot Robotic Network ( AERONET) stations in the study region and ground based PM10 measurements at selected stations. Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres

We used a spectral radiative transfer model to compute the direct radiative effect (DRE) of natural plus anthropogenic aerosols in the solar near-infrared (IR), between 0.85–10 μm, namely, their effect on the outgoing near-IR radiation at the top of atmosphere (TOA, ΔFTOA), on the atmospheric absorption of near-IR radiation (ΔFatmab) and on the surface downward and absorbed near-IR radiation (ΔFsurf, and ΔFsurfnet, respectively). The computations were performed on a global scale (over land and ocean) under all-sky conditions, using detailed spectral aerosol optical properties taken from the Global Aerosol Data Set (GADS) supplemented by realistic data for the rest of surface and atmospheric parameters. The computed aerosol DRE, averaged over the 12-year period 1984–1995 for January and July, shows that on a global mean basis aerosols produce a planetary cooling by increasing the scattered near-IR radiation back to space by 0.48 W m−2, they warm the atmosphere by 0.37 W m−2 and cool the surface by decreasing the downward and absorbed near-IR radiation at surface by 1.03 and 0.85 W m−2, respectively. The magnitude of the near-IR aerosol DRE is smaller than that of the combined ultraviolet (UV) and visible DRE, but it is still energetically important, since it contributes to the total shortwave (SW) DRE by 22–31%. The aerosol-produced near-IR surface cooling combined with the atmospheric warming, may affect the thermal dynamics of the Earth-atmosphere system, by increasing the atmospheric stability, decreasing thus cloud formation, and precipitation, especially over desertification threatened regions such as the Mediterranean basin. This, together with the fact that the sign of near-IR aerosol DRE is sometimes opposite to that of UV-visible DRE, demonstrates the importance of performing detailed spectral computations to provide estimates of the climatic role of aerosols for the Earth-atmosphere system. This was demonstrated by sensitivity tests revealing very large differences (up to 300%) between aerosol DREs computed using detailed spectral and spectrally-averaged aerosol optical properties. Our model results indicate thus that the aerosol direct radiative effect on the near-IR radiation is very sensitive to the treatment of the spectral dependence of aerosol optical properties and solar radiation.

International audience; We have studied the spatial and temporal variation of the surface longwave radiation (downwelling and net) over a 21-year period in the tropical and subtropical Pacific Ocean (40 S?40 N, 90 E?75 W). The fluxes were computed using a deterministic model for atmospheric radiation transfer, along with satellite data from the ISCCP-D2 database and reanalysis data from NCEP/NCAR (acronyms explained in main text), for the key atmospheric and surface input parameters. An excellent correlation was found between the downwelling longwave radiation (DLR) anomaly and the Niño-3.4 index time-series, over the Niño-3.4 region located in the central Pacific. A high anti-correlation was also found over the western Pacific (15?0 S, 105?130 E). There is convincing evidence that the time series of the mean downwelling longwave radiation anomaly in the western Pacific precedes that in the Niño-3.4 region by 3?4 months. Thus, the downwelling longwave radiation anomaly is a complementary index to the SST anomaly for the study of ENSO events and can be used to asses whether or not El Niño or La Niña conditions prevail. Over the Niño-3.4 region, the mean DLR anomaly values range from +20 Wm?2 during El Niño episodes to ?20 Wm?2 during La Niña events, while over the western Pacific (15?0 S, 105?130 E) these values range from ?15 Wm?2 to +10 Wm?2, respectively. The long- term average (1984?2004) distribution of the net downwelling longwave radiation at the surface over the tropical and subtropical Pacific for the three month period November-December-January shows a net thermal cooling of the ocean surface. When El Niño conditions prevail, the thermal radiative cooling in the central and south-eastern tropical Pacific becomes weaker by 10 Wm?2 south of the equator in the central Pacific (7?0 S, 160?120 W) for the three-month period of NDJ, because the DLR increase is larger than the increase in surface thermal emission. In contrast, the thermal radiative cooling over Indonesia is enhanced by 10 Wm?2 during the early (August?September?October) El Niño phase.