The Megagrant website has been opened (https://megahapi.ru/; in test version until end of July 2021). Here we will upload here events, main achievements and project deliverables, both with structure and research activities.
Meanwhile, the research activities were done recently by Moscow State University (MSU) team, some of them are presented below.
Under working package2.
The current research is devoted to quantification of the aerosol day-to-night pollution based on phenomenon of stable high nocturnal black carbon (BC) related to the particular diurnal variability of BC in inhalable PM2.5 mass in Moscow megacity. Measurements of the diurnal variability of BC are combine with BrC in the wide range of solar spectra radiation under real conditions of the diversity of urban sources of emissions and meteorological factors. Identification of potential sources of fossil fuel (FF) combustion (diesel, gasoline, gas), biomass burning (BB) releasing into megacity environment at day and night time is provided by characterization of black carbon component BC ff and BCbb. Elemental and inorganic ion aerosol composition improve the assessment of fuel type and technology of combustion operated by transport engines, heating stations and industry, based on developing of specific pollution marker approach.
Under working package 3.
The WG3 is working on the analysis of atmospheric aerosol variations during the COVID-19 pandemic. We showed a significant dependence between PM10 and self-isolation index during the Moscow lockdown conditions in spring 2020 with additional account of the meteorological factors (Chubarova et al., 2021, in print). The study of different emission inventories over Moscow area, which are planned to use in further model simulations, has been performed in collaboration between Russian and Finnish group. The installation of the high-quality radiative BSRN instrumental complex is being carried out in the Meteorological Observatory of Moscow State University. The quality tests of the data on PM10, PM2.5, NO, NO2 over the 2008-2020 period are being undertaken for future use in the mortality models.
Under working package 5.
In the hydrological and geochemical part of the project (Work Package 5 – toxic elements in urban microparticles), in March 2021 fieldworks were carried within the model urban catchment of the Setun River out aimed at studying the chemical composition of the snow cover and assessing the fallout from the atmosphere of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and potentially toxic elements as indicators of the anthropogenic impact of industry and vehicles. At the same sampling points in the summer it is planned to collect soil and road dust samples to establish geochemical relationships between urban environments.
Work has begun to assess the geochemical heterogeneity of the megacity road dust using the data on the chemical composition of various particle size fractions of road dust in the eastern part of Moscow – with the intense impact from industries and in the western part of the city – with strong impact from vehicles. The aim is to determine the primary sources of potentially toxic elements in the particle size fractions of road dust in different parts of Moscow using principal component analysis, as well as to apportion the sources using an absolute principal component analysis with multiple linear regression. It is also planned to determine the intensity of enrichment of road dust particles with potentially toxic elements on roads with different traffic intensities. The results will be used in further work on the project when modeling the flows of microparticles and pollutants within the urban river basin.
Megagrant publications in print
Chubarova N. Ye., Ye. Ye. Androsova, Ye. A. Lezina. The dynamics of the atmospheric pollutants during the COVID-19 pandemic 2020 and their relationship with meteorological conditions in Moscow. Geography, Environment, Sustainability, 2021, in print.
Text by Sergey Chalov, Olga Popovicheva, Dmitry Vlasov, Natalia Kosheleva and Natalia Chubarova, Moscow State University
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