Studio di condizioni atmosferiche in relazione ad episodi di inquinamento atosfrico nelle aree costiere dell'Italia e della Bulgaria

Responsabili di progetto

Claudia Roberta Calidonna, Ekaterina Batchvarova

Accordo

BULGARIA - BAS - Bulgarian Academy of Sciences

Bando

CNR-BAS 2016-2018

Dipartimento

Scienze del sistema terra e tecnologie per l'ambiente

Area tematica

Scienze del sistema Terra e tecnologie per l'ambiente

Stato del progetto

Nuovo

Proposta di ricerca

The weather situations affecting the Mediterranean and the Black Sea coasts are often associated with occurrence of adverse atmospheric phenomena such as intense precipitations, strong winds and storms in winter and heat waves in summer. Along with these well-known phenomena, there are also weather situations causing accumulation of pollutants and air quality degradation in the coastal areas, leading to the so called air pollution episodes. All these phenomena have enormous impact on peoples' live and health, on the state of the environment, and on the socio-economic activities in the coastal areas.
The proposed study is focussed on atmospheric processes related to bad air quality in the coastal areas of Italy and Bulgaria.
One of the most important processes affecting the air pollution in coastal areas is the development of shallow internal boundary layers (IBL). Due to the transformation of the marine air masses when passing from sea to land, a shallow internal boundary layer is formed and thus the air quality of coastal cities is much poorer than over cities in homogeneous flat regions. The issue is explained in detail in Batchvarova and Gryning (1998) based on the MECAPHOT experiment in Athens. Therefore, the investigation of the structure of the atmospheric boundary layer is a priority in air quality studies in coastal zones.
Another issue are the high ground level ozone concentrations observed over the Mediterranean Sea and coasts in summer. Numerous studies and experimental campaigns, mainly for the western part of the Mediterranean, point out the decisive role atmospheric dynamics plays in the regional recirculation of pollutants. For the Black Sea, also a semi-closed basin characterized by high solar insolation, similar considerations can be drawn. But while for the Mediterranean this problem has been deeply investigated and documented, for the Black Sea this problem has not been yet comprehensively addressed.
Despite the progress in our knowledge on the topic, the study of weather situations and their adverse effects will continue to be a focal point of current research, since weather and climate extremes are very likely to increase in frequency and intensity with the changing climate (according to the last report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), from one side, but also since the population and the economic activities in coastal areas are growing as well.
In particular, studies of the atmospheric dynamics and composition at different scales in coastal areas are much needed. It is important to convey extensive observation programmes, based on new technologies, in order to bring forward the theoretical studies and understanding. In this project, contemporary remote sensing technologies (sodar, lidar, microwave radiometers) and air and precipitation composition techniques will be used.
In 2005 the Institute of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate (ISAC), opened a section in the Calabrian Region at the coastal site of at Lamezia Terme to undertake research in coastal meteorology with advanced remote sensing techniques to monitor the vertical structure of the coastal boundary layer and to provide ISAC modelers with databases for evaluating model performance in such areas (Avolio et al, 2011; Furevik et al, 2011; Federico et al, 2010; Sempreviva et al, 2010 , Calidonna et al. 2015).
Since December 2014 it is active a climatic environmental I-AMICA observatory, since May 2015 it is GAW regional station. It is equipped with aerosols detection and capture instruments (from nano to micro particles size) and greenhouse gas analyses, a Zephir wind-lidar and a Raymetrics lidar. Measurements are routinely active and continuing monitoring meteorological and chemical parameters. The aerosol observations at the I-AMICA Observatory are included in the earlynet programme and are going to be included also in aeronet programme.
Since 2008 at Ahtopol a Scintec sodar operates under collaboration between the meteorological offices of Bulgaria and Russia. This equipment started a valuable observation programme of the coastal boundary layer at the Bulgarian Black Sea shoreline (Barantiev et al, 2011, Batchvarova et al, 2012a and 2012b, Novitky et al, 2012, Tiriolo et al, 2014; Barantiev et al, 2015; Lo Feudo et al, 2015). Recently, dry and wet deposition measurements were performed in Ahtopol and Burgas within the project SAAP4FUTURE (a joint cross-border Bulgaria-Turley study co-financed by the EU).
The groups from Lamezia Terme and NIMH are conducting research and international cooperation through national and European research projects and networks. A bilateral project "Coastal boundary layer studies based on remote sensing instruments - a parallel between Ahtopol at the Black Sea and Lamezia Terme at the Mediterranean" was conducted in the period 2013-2015. The groups did identify common topics of interest and presented posters at the EMS2014 and EMS2015 conferences.
Still, some of the work started was delayed due to reduction of staff at Lamezia Terme. Very important common task that was not addressed before is the atmospheric composition at the sites and the related air quality problems.
The present bilateral project will contribute to:
1) exchange information and experience in running state of the art meteorological measurements, modelling and data analysis;
2) common studies on the parallel between the meteorological, climate and air quality conditions of the Mediterranean and the Black Sea;
3) enrichment of the networks in which each group participates with the networks of the other - for example, the Lamezia Terme group will benefit from the Bulgarian-Russian cooperation and the NIMH group from the European networks and projects at CNR.

Obiettivi della ricerca

The main objectives are:
o to identify the most relevant episodes of atmospheric adverse phenomena (such as air pollution, heat waves, cold spells, strong winds, etc) in the two regions, respectively for summer and winter periods;
o to analyse the meteorological situations (on synoptic and local scale) associated with these phenomena using archived data;
o to review and compare available models (atmospheric and for the sea state) in the Bulgarian and Italian groups;
o to check the capabilities of these models in reproducing such phenomena (model evaluation) for selected cases in the two regions;
o to review available data on particulate matter speciation at Lamezia Terme, Ahtopol and Burgas;
o to strengthen bilateral collaboration in order to participate in projects for EC funding;
o to built up a network among the young scientists of both teams.

The methodology includes: analysis of observational data of different origin - meteorological, climatological, sea state related, air quality related; analysis of synoptic situations using whether charts, re-analysis maps and products of numerical forecast; application of models - for the atmospheric dynamics and sea wave models; evaluation of model capabilities.

Ultimo aggiornamento: 09/06/2025