BIOSURE – unique Lithuanian and Polish scientific project for biomass burning assessment in urban environment

For the first time combined remote sensing and in situ study on aerosol properties modifications has been conducted as a joint effort at two observational sites in Warsaw, Poland and Vilnius, Lithuania.

BIOSURE
Duration: 2021-2023 

Contacts:
Iwona Stachlewska, Iwona.Stachlewska@fuw.edu.pl
Steigvilė Byčenkienė, steigvile.bycenkiene@ftmc.lt

Project description
BIOSURE provides long-term, comprehensive remote and in-situ measurements of Biomass Burning Aerosol particles at two urban sites in Warsaw, Poland and Vilnius, Lithuania. The measurements are being conducted using exactly the same set of instruments, including Raman polarization lidars, sunphotometers, modern nephelometers and aethalometers. All observations are compatible with recommendations of the pan-European Aerosol, Cloud and Trace-gases Research Infrastructure (ACTRIS) to be provided to ACTRIS Database. The sunphotometer data are provided to the Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) of National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). All instruments will be used in combination so as to gain from their synergies. Intensive operation periods (IOP) during two dedicated field experiments (in summer 2022 and winter 2022/2023) shall focus on simultaneous measurements at both sites for the assessment of changes in aerosol properties during the transport of air masses between the two sites. Currently, a joint field campaign is being conducted between31 May 2022 – 1 July 2022.

Objectives
-  For the first time unique and simultaneous measurements of aerosol particles and derivation of vertically resolved aerosol particles characteristics are conducted between observational sites in Poland and Lithuania.
- Warsaw site gains instruments and knowledge on the use of crucial apparatus in ACTRIS in situ component and Vilnius site on ACTRIS remote sensing component. Research results will directly enforce the ACTRIS Database with datasets obtained during field campaigns that will be made available for ACTRIS data users.
- By combining in situ and remote sensing data, the results of this study will provide a unique possibility to separately evaluate the importance of local and long-range transport-related Biomass Burning Aerosol to the air quality in urban environments;
- Results obtained in this project will be ready for direct use in radiative transfer calculations for future assessments of radiative forcing effect in the atmosphere;
Funding
Bilateral research funding programme between Research Council of Lithuania (LMT) and National Science Centre of Poland (NCN): DAINA-2 Polish‐Lithuanian Funding Initiative “Importance of long-range transport of BIO mass burning emissions to local Smog events in Urban Environments (BIOSURE)” under project agreement No. P‐LL‐21‐130.
This project is supported by measurements of the ESA Mobile Raman lidar (EMORAL) developed within the European Space Agency PLIIS programme “Technical assistance for Polish Radar and Lidar Mobile Observation System (POLIMOS)“ under contract No. POLIMOS-4000119961/16/NL/FF/mg.