Variability of Soot and Fine Aerosol in the Moscow Region in 2014–2016

Abstract

Results of measurements of the soot and fine aerosol mass concentration in the center of Moscow and at two points of the Zvenigorod Scientific Site (ZSS) in the spring–autumn periods of 2014–2016 are presented. The results are compared with data of complex measurements made during 1989–2013. Events where the increase in atmospheric air pollution by smokes from burning peat bogs in Bryansk oblast and smoke from burning trees infested by bark beetles in forests in Moscow region, as well as by forest fire smoke coming from Siberia, have been identified. The considerable increase in vehicle density during past 25 years near the ZSS measurement point located 150 m from a highway led to an increase in the level of air contamination by aerosol components by two or three times. At the second point, 1 km from the highway, the soot contamination level is comparable with data obtained in the 1990s and is approximately a third as high as in Moscow.