Vertical Separation of Desert Dust and Biomass Burning Aerosol Layers Over Thessaloniki Using the Synergy of Sunphotometer and Lidar Data

In this study we separate the layers of the dust aerosol component, arriving from the Saharan desert region, from the smoke layers, originating from fires in Ukraine during selected multi-layered measurement cases over the Balkans. We apply the Lidar-Radiometer Inversion Code (LIRIC) which is capable to derive the mass concentration profiles for the fine and coarse mode particles, using combined sunphotometer and lidar data. Lidar and CIMEL measurements, performed at the Laboratory of Atmospheric Physics of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece (40.5N, 22.9E), were used for this purpose. The vertical separation of the layers is further examined against model simulation. Back trajectories from the Lagrangian model HYSPLIT are used in combination with MODIS satellite data for fires spots, in order to examine the origin of the aerosol layers. The daily evolution of the event is also analyzed using lidar and CIMEL measurements.