Baqunin Team participating in the Rome Marathon
Saturday, March 21, 2026, on the occasion of the Rome Marathon, the BAQUNIN team (Boundary Layer Air Quality-analysis Using Network of Instruments, an ESA and EUMETSAT project) took part in an air quality monitoring activity in the heart of the city 🏃♂️🌿 Using meteorological and air quality sensors worn on the arms by Nicola, Francesco, and Lorenzo (SERCO), Monica (ISAC), and with support from Sapienza University for sensor setup and data acquisition, we collected data along the 5 km “Stracittadina” route between the Colosseum and Circus Maximus. Several parameters...
Environmental Dust Monitor EDM 280: a new in-situ instrument at BAQUNIN for aerosol monitoring in urban environments
A new instrument has just been installed in BAQUNIN APL: the EDM280, the most advanced dust analyser developed by GRIMM aerosol Technik (DURAG GROUP) for the detection of airborne particulate matter. To assess atmospheric pollution — Particulate Matter (PM) concentration, Total Suspended Particles (TSP), Particle Size Distribution (PSD) — the instrument provides real-time measurements without the need for traditional filter sampling and subsequent laboratory weighing. This allows data to be obtained directly and continuously, supporting immediate monitoring and operational...
Temperature Trends and Influence of the Base Period Selection on Climate Indices in the Mediterranean Region Over the Period 1961–2020
In this recent study published in International Journal of Climatology, the BAQUNIN team explored the spatio-temporal variability of the main climate indices describing extreme temperature events in the Mediterranean, assuming two different base periods (1961–1990 and 1991–2020). The outcomes reveal that the rate of warming is more marked in the minimum than in the maximum temperature and is more evident in the western portion of the Mediterranean Basin from 1990 onward. Moreover, the results demonstrate that the selection of the...
Assessment of the impact of NO2 contribution on aerosol-optical-depth measurements at several sites worldwide
This work aims at investigating the effect of NO2 absorption on aerosol-optical-depth (AOD) measurements and Ångström exponent (AE) retrievals of sun photometers by the synergistic use of accurate NO2 characterization for optical-depth estimation from co-located ground-based measurements. The analysis was performed for ∼ 7 years (2017–2023) at several sites worldwide for the AOD measurements and AE retrievals by Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) sun photometers which use OMI (Ozone Monitoring Instrument) climatology for NO2 representation. The differences in AOD and AE retrievals by NO2 absorption are accounted for using high-frequency columnar NO2 measurements...
BAQUNIN AERONET and Skynet retrievals comparison presented at EMS 2024
Monica Campanelli presented a comparison between AERONET and Skynet retrievals collected in BAQUNIN APL at European Meteorological Society (EMS 2024) conference held in Barcelona (Spain), 2-6 September 2024. Below the abstract of the work presented at the conference. In this contribution, the aerosol optical depth (AOD), the single scattering albedo (SSA) and the refractive index (RI) simultaneously retrieved by measurements from a SKYNET PREDE Sun/Moon photometer (Nakajima et al., 2020) and an AERONET/PHOTONS CIMEL sunphotometer (Giles et al., 2019) in...
Investigating the effects of the greenery increase on air temperature, ventilation and cooling energy demand in Melbourne with the Weather Research and Forecasting model and Local Climate Zones
Vegetation has a well-known potential for mitigating urban overheating. This work aims to explore the effects of enhancing urban greenery in Melbourne (Australia) through a configuration of the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model including the Building Effect Parameterization and the Local Climate Zones and presents novelties in: i) covering two-months and ii) focusing on air circulation and buildings cooling energy demand through the ventilation coefficient (VC) and the cooling degree hours (CDHs). A control case and two “what-if”...
Evaluation of on-site calibration procedures for SKYNET Prede POM sun–sky photometers
To retrieve columnar intensive aerosol properties from sun–sky photometers, both irradiance and radiance calibration factors are needed. For the irradiance the solar calibration constant, V0, which denotes the instrument counts for a direct normal solar flux extrapolated to the top of the atmosphere, must be determined. The solid view angle, SVA, is a measure of the field of view of the instrument, and it is important for obtaining the radiance from sky diffuse irradiance measurements. Each of the three sun-photometer...
EM27 Greenhouse Gases measurements available!
Trace gases concentrations obtained through Bruker EM27/SUN solar absorption FTIR spectrometer are now available for download in the Products page. EM27 is an infrared spectrometer able to measure greenhouse gases concentration in atmosphere; it is hosted at APL and operated manually by BAQUNIN team. The products are in netcdf format following the GEOMS guidelines and contain information about water vapor, CO2, methane and CO total column and mixing ratio. Some weekly time series measured by EM27 are reported in the picture.