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<\/a>\u201cWe are modelling the transport of the smoke and following its path visible in satellite images. \u00a0We have also detected the signal in the atmosphere above the Birkenes observatory in the south of Norway\u201d, says senior scientist Sabine Eckhardt.<\/p>\n
The instrument detecting the smoke signal above the Birkenes observatory is called a Ceilometer.<\/p>\n
\u201cVery simply put, it can see particles in the air by sending up a laser beam and looking at the backscattered signal from the particles. Yesterday the sky was cloud free and smoke layers are clearly visible between 3 km and 7 km altitude,\u201d explains senior scientist Kerstin Stebel.<\/p>\n Senior scientist Massimo Cassiani from NILU is in Trento, Italy. From his balcony, he can see the aerosols in the air.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is amazingly \u2018foggy\u2019 here today, the levels of aerosol particles in the air are so high I could hardly believe it,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n Aerosols are tiny, solid or liquid particles suspended in the atmosphere.\u00a0They can be either natural, for example Saharan mineral dust, smoke from forest fires or sea salt, or come from human activities, such as burning coal or oil or agriculture.<\/p>\n During the last few days, the smoke from Canada has accumulated over the alpine region and is now leading to reduced air quality in several cities. It is also visible with the naked eye, as senior scientist Christine Groot Zwaaftink in Davos, Switzerland, can report.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen looking towards the mountains, the haze is clearly visible and has been since Monday,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n Observatories on mountain stations like Sonnblick in the Austrian alps are detecting these strongly absorbing aerosols. The figure below shows the aerosol particle light absorption coefficient for several different wavelengths measured by a filter absorption photometer (AE33) at Sonnblick Observatory, Austria. An increase in the absorption coefficient indicates an increase in carbonous aerosol particles (black carbon), such as from wildfire emissions.<\/p>\n \u201cOver the next few days, we expect more smoke coming in over Norway, but not as much as in Central Europe. Our forecast also shows that this smoke episode could be followed by desert dust from the Sahara coming in over Europe, leading to even more dust pollution in the air,\u201d says Stebel.<\/p>\n<\/a>Smoke and dust visible by the naked eye<\/h2>\n
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