SUN PHOTOMETER - REMOTE SENSING FOR BIOMASS BURNING AEROSOL ASSESSMENT

The article presents several pollution episodes resulted from biomass burning, over Timisoara city, during 2011 and 2012. The study is relying on detailed physical, chemical and optical aerosol properties, data collected from the sun photometer located at Mechanical Engineering Faculty, Politehnica University of Timisoara. Biomass dispersion was investigated by using NOOA HYSPLIT model (Hybrid Single - Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory). Global Fire Maps from MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) were used to identify biomass burning sites. Biomass burning aerosol leads to absorption and scattering of solar radiation, meaning its attenuation. The result of this paper is estimating the solar irradiance losses, resulted from pollution with biomass burning aerosol, around 10%.