Transport and Deposition Patterns of Ozone and Aerosols in the Mediterranean Region

The climatic conditions in the Greater Mediterranean Region (GMR) are known to have significant regional scale characteristics capable of long-range transport. The climatic patterns and the physiographic characteristics of the Mediterranean Region, forces the air quality in the area to exhibit remarkable spatiotemporal variability. In addition, concentrations of various pollutants (primary and/or secondary) are found to be significant in remote locations as well as in multiple-layer structures up to a few kilometers above the surface. For the GMR, besides the production, the term of transport of tropospheric ozone and its precursors should be of great interest, as well as the role of ozone in the production of several other pollutants, such as mercury. During the last years, a great number of studies also focus on the important role of aerosols in the air quality of a specific area, due to the potential impact on human health and ecosystems. Desert dust is one of the crucial components that contribute to the air quality degradation of the GMR. Due to these facts the aerosol concentration and deposition patterns are of great interest, along with ozone and its precursors, especially efforts for predicting air quality degradation episodes.