THE MEDITERRANEAN CAMPAIGN OF PHOTOCHEMICAL TRACERS TRANSPORT AND CHEMICAL EVOLUTION (MEDCAPHOT-TRACE) - AN OUTLINE

The MEDCAPHOT-TRACE experiment took place in the Gr-ater Athens Area ( GAA) during the summer of 1994 (20 August-20 September) with the parti cipation of 16 European scientific groups. The purpose of MEDCAPHOT-TR ACE was to study tae chemical and meteorological evolution of ozone an d related trace gases (over land and sea), modulated by the various sy noptic and local meteorological conditions (sea/land breeze circulatio n, local winds, inversion layers, etc.) ill one of the largest urban a gglomerations in the Mediterranean region. In addition to the operatin g stations of the existing air pollution monitoring network, 18 new st ations operated in the vicinity of the GAA. The scientific instrumenta tion used in the experiment consisted of ground-based air pollution me asuring systems (gas analysers and gas chromatographs), integrated-pat h air pollution measuring systems (DOAS systems), ground-based laser r emote sensing systems (LIDAR technique), meteorological instrumentatio n (slow-and fast-response) and aircraft measurements (air pollution an d meteorological). Although the monitoring programme was intensified d uring the 10d period of aircraft measurements, the larger proportion o f measurements was carried out on a regular day-and-night basis throug hout the 30d period of the campaign. The data collected cover a variet y of meteorological situations and will be made available for general use in the near future. An introduction to some of the results are giv en in the following. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserve d.