The fog and aerosol interaction research Italy (FAIRARI) campaign, November 2021 to May 2022

Almuth Neuberger, Stefano Decesari, Andreas Aktypis, Hendrik Andersen, Darrel Baumgardner, Federico Bianchi, Maurizio Busetto, Jing Cai, Jan Cermak, Sudhakar Dipu, Annica Ekman, Sandro Fuzzi, Yvette Gramlich, Sophie L. Haslett, Liine Heikkinen, Jorma Joutsensaari, Christos Kaltsonoudis, Juha Kangasluoma, Radovan Krejci, Angelo Lupi, Angela Marinoni, Angeliki Matrali, Fredrik Mattsson, Claudia Mohr, Athanasios Nenes, Marco Paglione, Spyros N. Pandis, Anil Patel, Ilona Riipinen, Matteo Rinaldi, Sarah S. Steimer, Dominik Stolzenburg, Juha Sulo, Christina N. Vasilakopoulou, Paul Zieger

The Po Valley in Italy ranks among the most polluted regions in Europe. During winter, meteorological conditions often lead to prolonged and dense fog, which significantly impacts visibility and human health. In spring, nighttime fog frequency decreases, while daytime new particle formation events become more frequent. This shift is likely due to a reduction in particulate matter levels, which lowers the condensation sink. Despite decades of research on fog and aerosol physics and chemistry at the San Pietro Capofiume site since the 1980s, the detailed mechanisms behind these trends remain unclear.

To address this, the “Fog and Aerosol InteRAction Research Italy” (FAIRARI) campaign was conducted in the winter and spring of 2021/2022. The campaign employed various methods, including in-situ measurements, outdoor chamber experiments, and remote sensing, to analyze atmospheric components—from gas molecules and molecular clusters to fog droplets.

Datasets

• Aerosol particle number size distribution, February⁠ – ⁠April 2022
• Equivalent black carbon concentration, February⁠ – ⁠April 2022

FAIRARI field station

Figure 1: Field station

View of the field station of the San Pietro Capofiume field station during FAIRARI with different measurement containers. Photo: Paul Zieger. CC-BY 4.0 licence.

Figure 2: Aerosol-cloud laboratory

Stockholm University’s mobile aerosol-cloud laboratory installed at San Pietro Capofiume during FAIRARI. Photo: Paul Zieger. CC-BY 4.0 licence.

Citation

Almuth Neuberger, Stefano Decesari, Andreas Aktypis, Hendrik Andersen, Darrel Baumgardner, Federico Bianchi, Maurizio Busetto, Jing Cai, Jan Cermak, Sudhakar Dipu, Annica Ekman, Sandro Fuzzi, Yvette Gramlich, Sophie L. Haslett, Liine Heikkinen, Jorma Joutsensaari, Christos Kaltsonoudis, Juha Kangasluoma, Radovan Krejci, Angelo Lupi, Angela Marinoni, Angeliki Matrali, Fredrik Mattsson, Claudia Mohr, Athanasios Nenes, Marco Paglione, Spyros N. Pandis, Anil Patel, Ilona Riipinen, Matteo Rinaldi, Sarah S. Steimer, Dominik Stolzenburg, Juha Sulo, Christina N. Vasilakopoulou, Paul Zieger (2024) The fog and aerosol interaction research Italy (FAIRARI) campaign, November 2021 to May 2022. Dataset version 1. Bolin Centre Database. https://doi.org/10.17043/fairari-2021-2022-1

References

Neuberger A, Decesari S, Aktypis A, Andersen H, Baumgardner D, Bianchi F, Busetto M, Cai J, Cermak J, Dipu S, Ekman A, Fuzzi S, Gramlich Y, Haslett SL, Heikkinen L, Joutsensaari J, Kaltsonoudis C, Kangasluoma J, Krejci R, Lupi A, Marinoni A, Matrali A, Mattsson F, Mohr C, Nenes A, Paglione M, Pandis SN, Patel A, Riipinen I, Rinaldi M, Steimer SS, Stolzenburg D, Sulo J, Vasilakopoulou CN, Zieger P (2024) From molecules to droplets: The Fog and Aerosol InteRAction Research Italy (FAIRARI) 2021/22 campaign. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. https://doi.org/10.1175/bams-d-23-0166.1

Comments

FAIRARI campaign objectives

The FAIRARI campaign took place from November 2021 to May 2022 at the San Pietro Capofiume (SPC) research station in the Italian Po Valley, with an Intensive Observation Period (IOP) occurring between February and April 2022. The primary objectives of FAIRARI were to:

1. Characterize the properties of various atmospheric components, including particle precursor gases, newly formed particles, aerosol particles, hydrated aerosols, fog droplets (activated aerosols), and dried fog droplets (droplet residuals).

2. Assess the impact of fog processing on aerosol composition and evaluate the oxidative potential as an indicator of particulate matter toxicity.

3. Advance theoretical models by integrating novel observations into detailed simulations of aerosol and hydrometeor populations, coupled with atmospheric dynamics, chemistry, and physics.

4. Identify the characteristics of new particle formation and particle growth during and after transitions from foggy to clear conditions.

More details on research goals, set-up, and first results are given in the overview publication by Neuberger et al (2024).

This campaign was an essential part of the H2020 project FORCeS and included collaborators from Italy, Sweden, Finland, Switzerland, Greece, and Germany.

How to cite

Please cite the article by Neuberger et al. (2024) and also the relevant individual datasets.