From the 17^th of November to December 1^st, 2022, two members of the Remote Sensing Laboratory (RS-Lab), Afwan Hafiz and Zuzanna Rykowska, students of dr hab. Iwona Stachlewska, prof. ucz, had the opportunity to conduct research at the Romanian Atmosphere 3D research Observatory – Măgurele Centre for Atmosphere and Radiation Studies (RADO-MARS) at the National Institute of Research and Development for Optoelectronics (INOE 2000) as part of the ATMO-ACCESS Trans-National Access (TNA) program. The mission of ATMO-ACCESS is to provide coordinated, open access to the most advanced atmospheric research facilities in Europe. The research visit was realized within the TNA program of the ATMO-ACCESS project funded by the European Commission under Horizon 2020. The TNA grant entitled “Towards the development of FLUorescence-MIe-RAman mobile lidar (FLUMIRA” led by Afwan Hafiz covered the research visit at INOE.

The Măgurele Centre for Atmosphere and Radiation Studies is a research platform situated (44.34 N, 26.01 E, 71 m MSL) approximately 12.5 km from Bucharest, Romania. The Romanian plain, south of the Carpathian mountains, in which RADO-MARS is situated, is characterized by hot summers and a humid continental climate with no significant difference in precipitation between seasons. The site is devoted to the characterization of the atmosphere using a synergy of active and passive remote sensing instruments along with modelling and satellite data (Pîrloagă et al. 2022). The RADO-MARS is a part of the distributed pan-European Aerosol Cloud and Trace Gases Research Infrastructure (ACTRIS). Scientists at INOE dedicate their work to performing theoretical and experimental research on air quality assessment as well as essential climatic variables evaluation and Cal/Val for Earth observation satellite missions utilizing techniques such as active and passive remote sensing, in-situ investigation, and cloud remote sensing.

The TNA grant is contributing to the development of synergy measurement between Fluorescence and Raman technique of the ESA Mobile Raman Lidar (EMORAL) developed within the POLIMOS project led by prof. Iwona Stachlewska. At RADO-MARS, Afwan and Zuzanna study the advantages of fluorescence in measuring the biological particles, assess potential information for chemical characterization of biological-based aerosol that could be provided by multi-wavelength Mie-Raman lidar and investigate synergy between fluorescence and Mie-Raman capacities of the lidar. Additionally to that, the INOE researchers provide professional training to RS-Lab students. This includes an in-depth discussion of lidar systems and lidar observation quality assurance, together with hands-on training on RALI and ALPHA lidar organized by lidar expect dr Livio Belegante, as well as discussion on fluorescence techniques led by dr Jeni Vasilescu, together with training on automatic data submission to SCC ACTRIS tool by Viktor Nicolae.

Participants in the program were:

• Group Leader: Afwan Hafiz
• Participant: Zuzanna Rykowska, Iwona Stachlewska
• Supervisors at RADO-MARS: Doina Nicolae, Anca Nemuc, Jeni Vasilescu, Livio Belegante, Viktor Nicolae

Pîrloagă, R.,Ene, D., Boldeanu, M., Antonescu, B., O’Connor, E.J., Ştefan, S.(2022). Ground-Based Measurements of Cloud Properties at the Bucharest–Măgurele Cloudnet Station: First Results. Atmosphere, 13(9), 1445