Peculiarities of Seasonal Variations of Atmospheric Aerosol Concentration in the Surface Air of Moscow Environs

N. O. Plaude, E. A. Stulov, I. P. Parshutkina, E. V. Sosnikova, N. A. Monakhova, and V. V. Yakhno

The seasonal variations of the concentration of particles of different sizes in the atmospheric surface layer are studied on the basis of the data of daily measurements of atmospheric aerosol characteristics in the town of Dolgoprudny (20 km from the center of Moscow) carried out in 2006–2009. It is revealed that the steady variations of monthly mean aerosol concentration are observed within the particle diameter interval of 0.02–1μm. The annual course of concentration of these particles has two maxima, in February–March and in September–October, and one minimum in June. The concentrations of particles with the size of 0.01–0.02 μm defined by the general atmospheric background and the concentrations of particles of >1 μm associated with the local sources do not have clearly pronounced seasonal variations. It is shown that the regularities of the annual concentration variations of particles with the size of 0.02–1 μm are mainly explained by the sign and value of the lapse rate in the layer up to 925 hPa that indicates the prevalence of the vertical mixing in the processes of aerosol scattering in the surface layer as compared with the horizontal transfer.