ISSN 1028334X, Doklady Earth Sciences, 2010, Vol. 432, Part 1, pp. 649–655. © Pleiades Publishing, Ltd., 2010.
Original Russian Text © N.F. Elanskii, I.B. Belikov, G.S. Golitsyn, A.M. Grisenko, O.V. Lavrova, N.V. Pankratova, A.N. Safronov, A.I. Skorokhod, R.A. Shumskii, 2010, published in
Doklady Akademii Nauk, 2010, Vol. 432, No. 2, pp. 250–256.
649
Results of unique experimental observations of the
atmospheric composition over the Moscow megapolis
carried out using a mobile railroad laboratory are pre
sented. The surface concentrations of key gas compo
nents and aerosol, and the radiative and meteorologi
cal parameters were measured. Distributions of
admixtures and atmospheric parameters in the radial
section of the megapolis and along its perimeter were
obtained for the first time. Data analysis reveals the
sources of pollution, character, and degree of the
influence of the city on the regional atmosphere.
In the last few centuries, the population of the
planet has become concentrated in the cities. In 2007,
for the first time in the history, the urban population
exceeded the rural population. As present, the popula
tions of approximately 20 cities in the world exceed
10 mln. people. It is expected that the number of such
megapolises will significantly increase in the near
future. There is evidence (see, for example, [1–3])
that pollution of the atmospheric medium by these
megapolises influences strongly the air quality on the
regional to global scales and impacts the planet’s cli
mate.
Moscow is one of such rapidly developing megap
olises. The population increase (10.4 mln. inhabitants,
according to the population census in 2002), industry
reconstruction, and heavy growth of automobile
transport after the crisis in the 1990s caused increased
emission of pollutants and intensification of oxidizing
properties of the atmospheric air. The emission struc
ture changed due to application of new materials and
appearance of a large number of automobiles with
motors constructed for high temperature fuel combus
tion. Emissions of reactive volatile organic com
pounds (VOCs) and fine dispersion aerosols increased
sharply [4, 5]. It resulted in spreading up oxidation
processes, in particular, ozone formation activated [5, 6].
The quality of the city air worsened. Correspondingly,
the influence of the megapolis on the neighboring
regions increased because the extension of the polluted
air plume reaches many hundreds of kilometers [7].
On the other hand, the Moscow megapolis is sub
jected to the influence of pollution transported from
the neighboring regions and countries in the Western
and Central Europe. Thus, in order to estimate the
state of the atmosphere, forecast its variation, and
determine the air quality in the megapolis, it is neces
sary to know the balance of the main admixtures,
which is determined by the intensity of their sources
and sinks, horizontal and vertical transport, and pho
tochemical transformation.
From October 3 to October 7, 2006, unique multi
disciplinary observations of the gas and aerosol com
position and its radiative and meteorological charac
teristics were carried out in the Moscow megapolis
within the international experiment Transcontinental
Observations into the Chemistry of the Atmosphere
(TROICA10). A mobile railroad laboratory was used
for the observations. The laboratory consists of two
special railroad coaches equipped for measurements
of the concentrations of key gases (
О
3
, СО, СО
2
, СН
4
,
SO
2
, NH
3
, NO,
NO
2
,
222
Rn
, volatile organic com
pounds (VOCs), etc.) and aerosols (concentration,
size distribution from 0.002 to 10
μ
m, optical, micro
physical, and chemical properties), fluxes of solar
radiation, meteorological parameters, and the vertical
profiles of temperature and concentrations of
О
3
and
NO
2
. A detailed description of the laboratory is given
in [7]. Observations were carried out in the radial
direction from the city center to the station Iksha
(northern part of the Moscow region) and along the
circular regional electrified railroad whose radius from
the center of Moscow changes from 42 km in the
northwest to 90 km in the northeast. A total of two
crossings of the megapolis territory and three circles
along the circular railroad were performed.
Air samples for analysis were taken in the frontal
part of the coach (immediately after the electric loco
motive) at a height of 4.5 m over the roadbed. The
concentrations of all gases and aerosol parameters
were carried out continuously. Volatile organic com
ponents were not measured continuously. Their con
Observations of the Atmosphere Composition
in the Moscow Megapolis from a Mobile Laboratory
N. F. Elanskii, I. B. Belikov,
Academician
G. S. Golitsyn, A. M. Grisenko, O. V. Lavrova,
N. V. Pankratova, A. N. Safronov, A. I. Skorokhod, and R. A. Shumskii
Received December 24, 2009
DOI:
10.1134/S1028334X10050211
Obukhov Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Russian Academy
of Sciences, Pyzhevskii per. 3, Moscow, 109017 Russia
GEOPHYSICS