The southern EUrope biomass BURNing observation project – EUBURN

Wildfires are an ever-present and increasing threat in Europe. Due to climate change, the length of the fire season, as well as the size, intensity and severity of wildfires have increased in Europe, and this trend is set to continue. Wildfires are a massive, highly variable, and uncontrollable source of emission of aerosols to the atmosphere, which can affect the climate at the regional and global scales, along with impacts on air quality and weather. Despite the importance of wildfires in the context of climate change and their potential impact on the earth system, observations of biomass burning aerosols are surprisingly scarce in Europe and their impacts are highly uncertain. The EUBURN project proposes to conduct the first-ever multi-scale in-situ and remote-sensing observations to better understand the effects of increasing forest fires in southern Europe on the local and regional and global atmosphere. A wide range of airborne, satellite and surface-based measurements will allow to gather a unique data set on the properties of biomass burning aerosols throughout their atmospheric lifetime and their distribution in the tropospheric column to: (1) yield in new insights into the influence of fire emissions on the atmospheric composition with continuity from initial emissions to evolved impacts far from the source, (2) improve understanding of the physical and chemical processes that govern aerosol formation and evolution in biomass burning aerosols and (3) quantify key aerosol variables relevant for meteorological and climate modeling and satellite retrievals.