Articles | Volume 22, issue 6
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-3789-2022
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-3789-2022
Research article
 | 
22 Mar 2022
Research article |  | 22 Mar 2022

What caused a record high PM10 episode in northern Europe in October 2020?

Christine D. Groot Zwaaftink, Wenche Aas, Sabine Eckhardt, Nikolaos Evangeliou, Paul Hamer, Mona Johnsrud, Arve Kylling, Stephen M. Platt, Kerstin Stebel, Hilde Uggerud, and Karl Espen Yttri

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Cited articles

Aas, W., Eckhardt, S., Fiebig, M., Platt, S. M., Solberg, S., Yttri, K. E., and Zwaaftink Groot, C.: Monitoring of long-range transported air pollutants in Norway, annual report 2020, Miljødirektoratet rapport, NILU, Kjeller, Norway, M-2072/2021 NILU OR 13/2021, 2021. 
Aftenposten: Mystisk røyk i Midt-Norge kan komme fra Øst-Europa, in: Aftenposten, https://www.aftenposten.no/norge/i/JJ1PyP/mystisk-roeyk-i-midt-norge-kan-komme-fra-oest-europa, last access: 3 October 2020. 
Akritidis, D., Katragkou, E., Georgoulias, A. K., Zanis, P., Kartsios, S., Flemming, J., Inness, A., Douros, J., and Eskes, H.: A complex aerosol transport event over Europe during the 2017 Storm Ophelia in CAMS forecast systems: analysis and evaluation, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 13557–13578, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-13557-2020, 2020. 
Anderson, G., Clough, S., Kneizys, F., Chetwynd, J., and Shettle, E.: AFGL atmospheric constituent profiles (0–120 km), Tech. Rep. AFGL-TR-86-0110, Air Force Geophys. Lab., Hanscom Air Force Base, Bedford, Mass., 1986 
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We investigate causes of a poor-air-quality episode in northern Europe in October 2020 during which EU health limits for air quality were vastly exceeded. Such episodes may trigger measures to improve air quality. Analysis based on satellite observations, transport simulations, and surface observations revealed two sources of pollution. Emissions of mineral dust in Central Asia and biomass burning in Ukraine arrived almost simultaneously in Norway, and transport continued into the Arctic.
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