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Land–atmosphere interactions govern the process of dust emission and transport. An accurate depiction of these physical processes within numerical weather prediction models allows for better estimating the spatial and temporal distribution of the dust burden and the characterisation of source and recipient areas. In the presented study, the ECMWF-IFS (European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecast – Integrated Forecasting System) outputs, produced with and without the assimilation of Aeolus quality-assured Rayleigh–clear and Mie–cloudy horizontal line-of-sight wind profiles, are used as initial or boundary conditions in the Weather Research and Forecasting model coupled with Chemistry (WRF-Chem) to simulate 2-month periods in the spring and autumn of 2020, focusing on a case study in October. The experiments have been performed over the broader eastern Mediterranean and Middle East (EMME) region, which is frequently subjected to dust transport, as it encompasses some of the most active erodible dust sources. Aerosol- and dust-related model outputs (extinction coefficient, optical depth and concentrations) are qualitatively and quantitatively evaluated against ground- and satellite-based observations. Ground-based columnar and vertically resolved aerosol optical properties are acquired through AERONET sun photometers and PollyXT lidar, while near-surface concentrations are taken from EMEP. Satellite-derived vertical dust and columnar aerosol optical properties are acquired through LIVAS (LIdar climatology of Vertical Aerosol Structure) and MIDAS (ModIs Dust AeroSol), respectively. Overall, in cases of either high or low aerosol loadings, the model predictive skill is improved when WRF-Chem simulations are initialised with the meteorological fields of Aeolus wind profiles assimilated by the IFS. The improvement varies in space and time, with the most significant impact observed during the autumn months in the study region. Comparison with observation datasets saw a remarkable improvement in columnar aerosol optical depths, vertically resolved dust mass concentrations and near-surface particulate concentrations in the assimilated run against the control run. Reductions in model biases, either positive or negative, and an increase in the correlation between simulated and observed values was achieved for October 2020.

Since 2018, the Aeolus satellite of the European Space Agency (ESA) has acquired wind HLOS (horizontal line-of-sight) profiles throughout the troposphere and up to the lower stratosphere, filling a critical gap in the Global Observing System (GOS). Aeolus, carrying ALADIN (Atmospheric LAser Doppler INstrument), the first UV HSRL (High Spectral Resolution Lidar) Doppler lidar ever placed in space, provides also vertically resolved optical properties of particulates (aerosols and clouds). The present study focuses on the assessment of Aeolus L2A particulate backscatter coefficient (baseline 2A11), retrieved by the Standard Correct Algorithm (SCA), in the eastern Mediterranean, a region hosting a variety of aerosol species. Ground-based retrievals acquired by lidar instruments operating in Athens (central Greece), Thessaloniki (northern Greece) and Antikythera (southwestern Greece) serve as reference. All lidar stations provide routine measurements to the PANACEA (PANhellenic infrastructure for Atmospheric Composition and climatE chAnge) network. A set of ancillary data, including sun-photometric observations (AERONET), reanalysis products (CAMS and MERRA-2), satellite observations (MSG-SEVIRI and MODIS Aqua) and backward-trajectories modelling (FLEXPART), is utilized towards an optimum characterization of the probed atmospheric conditions under the absence of a classification scheme in Aeolus SCA profiles. First, emphasis is given on the assessment of Aeolus SCA backscatter coefficient under specific aerosol scenarios over Antikythera island. Due to the misdetection of the cross-polar component of the backscattered lidar signal, Aeolus underestimates the aerosol backscatter coefficient by up to 33 % when non-spherical mineral particles are recorded (10 July 2019). A good performance is revealed on 3 July 2019, when horizontally homogeneous loads of fine spherical particles are confined below 4 km. For other two cases (8 July 2020 and 5 August 2020), due to noise issues, the SCA performance degrades in terms of depicting the stratification of aerosol layers composed of particles of different origin. According to the statistical assessment analysis of 43 identified cases, a poor-to-moderate performance is revealed for the unfiltered (aerosols plus clouds) SCA profiles, which improves substantially when cloud-contaminated profiles are excluded from the collocated sample. This improvement is evident at both Aeolus vertical scales (regular scales have 24 bins and mid-bin scales have 23 bins), and it is justified by the drastic reduction in the bias (from 0.45 to 0.27 Mm−1 sr−1 for SCA and from 0.69 to 0.37 Mm−1 sr−1 for SCA mid-bin) and root mean square error (from 2.00 to 1.65 Mm−1 sr−1 for SCA and from 1.88 to 1.00 Mm−1 sr−1 for SCA mid-bin) scores. In the vertical, the SCA performance degrades at the lowermost bins due to either the contamination from surface signals or the increased noise levels for the aerosol retrievals. Among the three PANACEA stations, the best agreement is found at the remote site of Antikythera with respect to the urban sites of Athens and Thessaloniki. Finally, all key Cal/Val (calibration and validation) aspects necessary for future relevant studies, the recommendations for a possible Aeolus follow-on mission and an overview of the ongoing related activities are thoroughly discussed.

Modeling the dispersion of volcanic particles released during explosive eruptions is crucially dependent on the knowledge of the source term of the eruption and the source strength as a function of altitude and time. Forecasting volcanic ash transport is vital for aviation but rather inaccurate for quantitative predictions of the fate of volcanic particle emissions. Here we demonstrate an inverse modeling framework that couples the output of a Lagrangian dispersion model with remote sensing observations to estimate the emission rates of volcanic particles released from the Etna eruption. We use an inversion algorithm (Tichy et al., 2020) where the distance between the model and observations is optimized under the assumption that the source term is either sparse or smooth. The Bayesian formalism allows the algorithm to estimate these characteristics together with the source term itself and thus normalize the inversion problem. This methodology uses source receptor relationships as an input from the FLEXPART (flexible particle dispersion) model constrained by ground-based Lidar measurements and satellite observations of SO2 and ash emissions. The case study analyzed here refers to the Etna eruption on 12 March 2021, with the volcanic plume being well captured by the lidar measurements of the PANGEA observatory located at Antikythera island in southwest Greece. A dense aerosol layer, suspending in the height range between 7.5 and 12.5 km (19:30 - 21:30 UTC), has been captured by the PollyXT lidar. For the inversion simulations, we also use data acquired by the Spin-stabilised Enhanced Visible and Infrared Imager (SEVIRI) instrument, mounted on the Meteosat Second Generation (MSG) geostationary satellite. The aforementioned observations serve as a priori source information to estimate the volcanic ash and SO2 source strength, depending on altitude and time, coupled with the output of the FLEXPART model. Our results are efficient for real-time application and could supply ash forecasting models with an accurate estimation of the mass rate of very fine ash during explosive eruptions. Improved forecasts of the dispersed volcanic plumes following the suggested inverse modeling framework would then allow for more effective emergency preparedness for aviation to ensure safety during volcanic eruptions. This research was also supported by the following projects: ERC grant D-TECT (agreement no. 725698); EU H2020 E-shape project (Grant Agreement n. 820852); PANCEA project (MIS 502151) under the Action NSRF 2014-2020, co-financed by Greece and the European Union. The research was supported by data and services obtained from the PANhellenic Geophysical Observatory of Antikythera (PANGEA) of the National Observatory of Athens (NOA), Greece. O. Tichy was supported by the Czech Science Foundation, grant no. GA20-27939S. Tichy, O.; Ulrych, L.; Smidl, V.; Evangeliou, N.; Stohl, A. On the tuning of atmospheric inverse methods: comparisons with the European Tracer Experiment (ETEX) and Chernobyl datasets using the atmospheric transport model FLEXPART, Geosci. Model Dev. (2020), 13, 5917-5934.

Aeolus, ESA’s space mission, provides vertical profiles of the HLOS wind component in the troposphere and the lower stratosphere. In addition, ALADIN thanks to its HSLR configuration retrieves and provides profiles of extinction/backscatter coefficients of aerosols and clouds (known as spin-off or L2A products), at the ultraviolet region of the spectrum (355nm). However, ALADIN’s design enables the detection only of the returned co-polar component of the transmitted light. This inherent limitation hampers the ability of ALADIN to provide realistic optical products (i.e., underestimated backscatter coefficient profiles) when non-spherical particles (e.g., dust, volcanic ash, cirrus ice crystals) are probed, a deficiency for the case of Earth Observation of highly depolarizing targets with negative impacts on applications of Data Assimilation (DA) and Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP). The ESA L2A+ (Enhancing Aeolus L2A for depolarizing targets and impact on aerosol research and NWP) project kicked off in November 2022, with an overarching objective to develop a refined Aeolus L2A aerosol product (L2A+) and test its application for enhancing aerosol research. The generation of the refined L2A+ Aeolus aerosol optical product will be based, among others, on an integrated approach of novel algorithms (i.e., AEL-FM/AEL-PRO), model outputs (i.e., CAMS), advanced EO-based products (i.e., MSG, MODIS-MIDAS), existing climatologies (ESA-LIVAS), and AOD retrievals from Aeolus itself. The product will be thoroughly compared with L2A and validated against quality-assured measurements from the ESA-ASKOS/JATAC experiment in Cape Verde. With respect to the overarching objectives on aerosol research, L2A+ aims to (1) examine the impact of L2A and L2A+ on aerosol assimilation and dust transport models, (2) assess the impact of Aeolus on NWP, (3) highlight the benefit of the Aeolus joint aerosol and wind assimilation for simulating dust deposition fields, (4) assess the climatological value of L2A+ for aerosol databases such as the ESA-LIVAS long-term climate dataset, and (5) assess the impact of the novel L2A+ product on aerosol assimilation, towards improved dust transport modelling and for further enhancing NWP. The ESA-L2A+ project focuses on the broader the Western Sahara and the Tropical Atlantic Ocean, while due to the extensive wealth of available observational data collected in the framework of the European Space Agency (ESA) ASKOS Tropical Campaign in Cape Verde, which are needed for a complete and descriptive assessment analysis of the project outputs and the evaluation of the enhanced L2A+ product, the developments and experiments will be performed for September 2021. Preliminary results from the project will be presented. The L2A+ team acknowledges support by ESA in the framework of the "Enhancing Aeolus L2A for depolarizing targets and impact on aerosol research and NWP project (4000139424/22/I-NS).

Forecasting volcanic ash atmospheric pathways is of utmost importance for aviation. Volcanic ash can interfere with aircraft navigational instruments and can damage engine parts. Early warning systems, activated after volcanic eruptions can alleviate the impacts on aviation by providing forecasts of the volcanic ash plume dispersion. The quality of these short-term forecasts is subject to the accuracy of the meteorological wind fields used for the initialization of regional models. Here, we use wind profiling data from the first High Spectral Resolution Lidar in Space, Aeolus, to examine the impact of measured wind fields on regional NWP and subsequent volcanic ash dispersion forecasts, focusing on the case of Etna’s eruption on March 2021. The results from this case study demonstrate a significant improvement of the volcanic ash simulation when using Aeolus-assimilated meteorological fields, with differences in wind speed reaching up to 8 m/s when compared to the control run. When comparing the volcanic ash forecast profiles with downwind surface-based aerosol lidar observations, the modeled field is consistent with the measurements only when Aeolus winds are assimilated. This result clearly illustrates the potential and importance of wind profiling from space for volcanic ash forecasting and hence aviation safety.

In August 2021, a historic heatwave was recorded in Greece which resulted in extreme wildfire events that strongly affected the air quality over the city of Athens. Saharan dust was also transferred over Greece in the same period due to the prevailing southern winds. The impact of these events on air quality and surface solar radiation are investigated in this study. Event characterization based on active and passive remote sensing instrumentation has been performed. The study shows that significantly increased levels of air pollution were recorded during the end of July/first week of August. The smoke led to unusually high AOD values (up to 3.6), high Ångström Exponent (AE) (up to 2.4) and a strong and negative dependence of single scattering albedo (SSA) on wavelength that was observed to decrease from 0.93 at 440 nm to 0.86 at 1020 nm signifying the presence of strong absorbing aerosols. While, the dust event led to high AOD (up to 1.4), low AE (up to 0.9) and positive dependence of SSA on wavelength that was observed to increase from 0.89 at 440 nm to 0.95 at 1020 nm indicating large forward scattering due to coarse particles. Furthermore, the analysis of the smoke aerosol optical properties during the transfer from the source to a distance of about 240 km revealed that the SSA and AE changed significantly during the transfer, which lasted approximately 9 h. The transport of the plume led to an impressive change in the spectral shape of SSA whose value significantly increased pointing to the aging of smoke and the dilution of plumes while the transport. The impact of dust and smoke on spectral solar irradiance reveals significant differences in the spectral shape of attenuation caused by the two different aerosol species. The attenuation of solar irradiance in UV-B irradiance was found to be least in case of dust and highest due to smoke (up to 60 % or more) and intermediate in the case of a mixture of smoke and dust. The attenuation was comparatively less in NIR region (mostly within 20 % but it even reached up to 40 % in the presence of smoke) and VIS region (but greater than NIR region). Also, the AOD variations from climatology led to decrease in UV Index up to 53 %, in vitamin-D up to 50 %, in photosynthetically active radiation up to 21 % and in GHI up to 17 %, with implications on health, agriculture and energy. This study highlights the wider impacts of wildfires that are part of the wider problem of the Mediterranean countries, whose frequency is predicted to increase in view of the projected increasing occurrence of summer heatwaves.

Land–atmosphere interactions govern the process of dust emission and transport. An accurate depiction of these physical processes within numerical weather prediction models allows for better estimating the spatial and temporal distribution of the dust burden and the characterisation of source and recipient areas. In the presented study, the ECMWF-IFS (European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecast – Integrated Forecasting System) outputs, produced with and without the assimilation of Aeolus quality-assured Rayleigh–clear and Mie–cloudy horizontal line-of-sight wind profiles, are used as initial or boundary conditions in the Weather Research and Forecasting model coupled with Chemistry (WRF-Chem) to simulate 2-month periods in the spring and autumn of 2020, focusing on a case study in October. The experiments have been performed over the broader eastern Mediterranean and Middle East (EMME) region, which is frequently subjected to dust transport, as it encompasses some of the most active erodible dust sources. Aerosol- and dust-related model outputs (extinction coefficient, optical depth and concentrations) are qualitatively and quantitatively evaluated against ground- and satellite-based observations. Ground-based columnar and vertically resolved aerosol optical properties are acquired through AERONET sun photometers and PollyXT lidar, while near-surface concentrations are taken from EMEP. Satellite-derived vertical dust and columnar aerosol optical properties are acquired through LIVAS (LIdar climatology of Vertical Aerosol Structure) and MIDAS (ModIs Dust AeroSol), respectively. Overall, in cases of either high or low aerosol loadings, the model predictive skill is improved when WRF-Chem simulations are initialised with the meteorological fields of Aeolus wind profiles assimilated by the IFS. The improvement varies in space and time, with the most significant impact observed during the autumn months in the study region. Comparison with observation datasets saw a remarkable improvement in columnar aerosol optical depths, vertically resolved dust mass concentrations and near-surface particulate concentrations in the assimilated run against the control run. Reductions in model biases, either positive or negative, and an increase in the correlation between simulated and observed values was achieved for October 2020.

In the last years, several Etna eruption events are documented, forming lava flows and explosive activity. The Pilot EO4D_ash – Earth observation data for detection, discrimination & distribution (4D) of volcanic ash of the e-shape project provides the PANhellenic GEophysical observatory of Antikythera (PANGEA) of the National Observatory of Athens (NOA), in Greece with near-real-time alerts from Etna volcano eruptions. These alerts are used in the PANGEA station to monitor and reveal the presence of volcanic particles above the area the days following an eruption, also the station is supported by a volcanic particle monitoring and forecasting warning system. In this work, we investigate the volcano eruption between 30 May and 6 June 2019 which affected the southern parts of Greece and reaching the Antikythera station. Due to the prevailing meteorological conditions, volcanic particles and gases followed an easterly direction and were dispersed towards Greece. FLEXPART dispersion model simulations confirm the volcanic plume transport from Etna towards PANGEA, mixing also with co-existing desert dust particles. Model simulations are evaluated with PollyXT lidar measurements performed at PANGEA and satellite-based SO2 observations from the TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument onboard the Sentinel-5 Precursor (TROPOMI/S5P). This is the first time that Etna volcanic products are monitored at the Antikythera station, in Greece with implications for the investigation of their role in the Mediterranean weather and climate.Acknowledgments: We acknowledge the support by EU H2020 E-shape project (Grant Agreement n. 820852). Also, this research was supported by data and services obtained from the PANhellenic Geophysical Observatory of Antikythera (PANGEA) of the National Observatory of Athens (NOA), Greece, and by the project “PANhellenic infrastructure for Atmospheric Composition and climatE change” (MIS 5021516) which is implemented under the Action “Reinforcement of the Research and Innovation Infrastructure”, funded by the Operational Programme "Competitiveness, Entrepreneurship and Innovation" (NSRF 2014-2020) and co-financed by Greece and the European Union (European Regional Development Fund). NOA team acknowledges the support of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF).

Volcanic eruptions are a natural disaster with significant impact on human activities. The unprecedented European Volcanic Ash Crisis in 2010 demonstrated the vulnerability of the infrastructure and the need for new approaches to enable stakeholders in the aviation sector to obtain fast and accurate information. Currently, there are many data sources available and cutting-edge technology to provide the means to detect and monitor high impact eruptions. However, the information from multiple data sources is not yet efficiently integrated and aviation-specific products incorporating multi-platform datasets is not in place. To this end, the integration of tailored ground-based, satellite, and model data as well as information from volcanic observatories in Europe is essential. The Pilot EO4D_ash – Earth observation data for detection, discrimination & distribution (4D) of volcanic ash – of the e-shape project aims to strengthen the Earth Observation and in-situ data exploitation and multi-source (satellite, remotely sensed, and ground-based network) data integration to derive innovation for ash discrimination and monitoring; to enhance the capability of 4D forecasting volcanic ash dispersal and to foster innovation in the decision making processes and mitigate ash related impact and hazard resilience. The overall pilot structure, tailored products, aerosol lidar profile assimilation and study cases will be presented at the conference.Acknowledgements: This work has been conducted within the framework of the H2020 e-shape (Grant Agreement n. 820852) project.

Between 30 May and 6 June 2019 a series of new flanks eruptions interested the south-east flanks of Mt. Etna, Italy, forming lava flows and explosive activity that was most intense during the first day of the eruption, as a result, volcanic particles were dispersed towards Greece. Lidar measurements performed at the PANhellenic GEophysical observatory of Antikythera (PANGEA) of the National Observatory of Athens (NOA), in Greece, reveal the presence of particles of volcanic origin above the area the days following the eruption. FLEXible PARTicle dispersion model (FLEXPART) simulations and satellite-based SO2 observations from the TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument onboard the Sentinel-5 Precursor (TROPOMI/S5P), confirm the volcanic plume transport from Etna towards PANGEA and possible mixing with co-existing desert dust particles. Lidar and modeled values are in agreement and the derived sulfate mass concentration is approximately 15 &mu, g/m3. This is the first time that Etna volcanic products are monitored at Antikythera station, in Greece with implications for the investigation of their role in the Mediterranean weather and climate.

Volcanic eruptions have the capacity to significantly impact human life, consequently, tools for mitigating them are of high importance. The early detection of a potentially hazardous volcanic eruption and the issuance of early warnings concerning volcanic hazards (e.g. ash dispersal), are key elements in the initiation of operational response procedures. Historically, lidars have not typically played a key operational role during volcanic eruptions, with other remote sensing instruments such as radars, infrared and ultraviolet cameras being preferred. Recently, a tailored product of the European Aerosol Research Lidar Network (EARLINET) for the early warning of the presence of volcanic ash and desert dust plumes at cruising altitudes has been developed. Here, we extend the applicability of this methodology to lidars and ceilometers near active volcanoes in Iceland and Mt. Etna in Italy. The tailored methodology and selected case studies will be presented, demonstrating its potential for real-time application during volcanic eruptions.Acknowledgements: This work has been conducted within the framework of the E-shape (Grant Agreement n. 820852) and EUNADICS-AV (Grant agreement no. 723986) H2020 projects. Furthermore, the authors acknowledge the ACTRIS-2 and ACTRIS Preparatory Phase projects that have received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement No. 654109) and from European Union’s Horizon 2020 Coordination and Support Action (grant agreement No. 739530), respectively.

Atmospheric-chemical coupled models usually parameterize sea-salt aerosol (SSA) emissions using whitecap fraction estimated considering only wind speed and ignoring sea state. This approach may introduce inaccuracies in SSA simulation. This study aims to assess the impact of sea state on SSA modeling, applying a new parameterization for whitecap fraction estimation based on wave age, calculated by the ratio between wave phase velocity and wind speed. To this end, the new parameterization was incorporated in the coupled Chemical Hydrological Atmospheric Ocean wave modeling System (CHAOS). CHAOS encompasses the wave model (WAM) two-way coupled through the OASIS3-MCT coupler with the Advanced Weather Research and Forecasting model coupled with Chemistry (WRF-ARW-Chem) and, thus, enabling the concurrent simulation of SSAs, wind speed and wave phase velocity. The simulation results were evaluated against in-situ and lidar measurements at 2 stations in Greece (Finokalia on 4 and 15 July 2014 and Antikythera-PANGEA on 15 September 2018). The results reveal significant differences between the parameterizations with the new one offering a more realistic representation of SSA levels in some layers of the lower atmosphere. This is attributed to the enhancement of the bubble-bursting mechanism representation with air-sea processes controlling whitecap fraction. Our findings also highlight the contribution of fresh wind-generated waves to SSA modeling.