Uncontrolled fires, mainly in rural areas, can be considered as wildfires. They are a natural part of many ecosystems, but climate change has notably influenced their frequency and heightened risk. Climate, air quality and visibility can be easily affected by wildfire smoke, so it is of great importance to investigate and improve our current knowledge of smoke particles' properties. During the period 2021-2023, intense wildfires affected many regions worldwide and especially North America and southern Europe. In this study we analyze the optical properties of smoke particles observed in the free troposphere of Limassol, Cyprus, during this period. Based on Hysplit model and VIIRS data we determined the origin and the source of the air masses. Utilizing a multiwavelength polarization Raman lidar, Polly, we investigated the behavior of lidar and particle depolarization ratio at 355 nm and 532 nm at different smoke aging levels.
Poutli et al. (Thu,) studied this question.