Alexander Baklanov

World Meteorological Organization | WMO · Science and innovation department

The global methane pledge paves a fresh, critical way toward carbon neutrality. However, it remains largely invisible and highly controversial due to the fact that planet-scale and plant-level methane retrievals have rarely been coordinated. This has never been more essential within the narrow window to reach the Paris target. Here we present a two...

Abtract The paper summarizes many of the scientific achievements of Professor Sergej S. Zilitinkevich (1936–2021). It first focuses on his basic and applied atmospheric boundary layer research contributions. It then reviews their applications within research and operational numerical weather prediction and air quality modeling, showing their contri...

Risks associated with dust hazards are often underappreciated, a gap between the knowledge pool and public awareness that can be costly for impacted communities. This study reviews the emission sources and chemical, physical, and biological characteristics of airborne soil particles (dust) and their effects on human and environmental health and saf...

More than one year has passed since Sergej Zilitinkevich’s death, and we feel more and more grateful to fate for giving us the luxury of communication for many years with an outstanding scientist, an ascetic of science, and a wonderful and deep Personality—Sergej Zilitinkevich. For us, he became a sincere Friend, a demanding Mentor, and an example...

An overview of studies of aerothermodynamics and atmospheric pollution at mining facilities using computational fluid dynamics software systems (CFD modeling) has been presented. Both specialized and non-specialized software are marked. The review focuses on the studies performed using the FLOWVISION, ANSYS FLUENT and COMSOL software codes. An aero...

Risks associated with dust hazards are often underappreciated, a gap between the knowledge pool and public awareness that can be costly for impacted communities. This study reviews the emission sources and chemical, physical, and biological characteristics of airborne soil particles (dust) and their effects on human and environmental health and saf...

The weather conditions of the summer of 2022 were very unusual, particularly in Eastern Asia, Europe, and North America. The devasting impact of climate change has come to our attention, with much hotter and drier conditions, and with more frequent and intense flooding events. Some extreme events have reached a dangerous level, increasingly threate...

Turbulence is the key process transporting material and energy in the atmosphere. Furthermore, turbulence causes concentration fluctuations, influencing different atmospheric processes such as deposition, chemical reactions, formation of low-volatile vapours, formation of new aerosol particles and their growth in the atmosphere, and the effect of a...

Cold environment supports a large diversity of local climates. Among them, urban climates in northern cities stand out for their pronounced warm temperature anomaly known as the Urban Heat Island (UHI). UHI in northern cities has been already studies through satellite images and in-situ observations in the urban canopy layer (UCL). Yet, the vertica...

It is unequivocal that human influence has warmed the planet, which is seriously affecting the planetary health including human health. Adapting climate change should not only be a slogan, but requires a united, holistic action and a paradigm shift from crisis response to an ambitious and integrated approach immediately. Recognizing the urgent need...

Dust particles from high latitudes have a potentially large local, regional, and global significance to climate and the environment as short-lived climate forcers, air pollutants, and nutrient sources. Identifying the locations of local dust sources and their emission, transport, and deposition processes is important for understanding the multiple...

The spatial distribution of the global surface concentration of mineral dust in 2021 (Figure 1) and its anomaly relative to climatologically mean values (1981–2010) (Figure 2) were derived based on the dust products from the Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications, Version 2 (MERRA-2) (Gelaro et al., 2017). This is the lates...

The global methane pledge paves a fresh, critical way toward Carbon Neutrality. However, it remains largely invisible and highly controversial due to the fact that planet-scale and plant-level methane retrievals have rarely been coordinated. This has never been more essential within a narrow window to reach the Paris target. Here we present a versa...

This article addresses modeling of the atmospheric boundary layer of the city of Almaty (Kazakhstan) in stagnant, environmentally unfavorable conditions using WRF Model. The city is located on the northern slope of Trans-Ili Alatau, where the rate of recurrence of calm and low-wind (1-2 m/sec) days reaches about 80%. All simulations were made for a...

The aim of the "Sand and Dust Storms Compendium: Information and Guidance on Assessing and Addressing the Risks" is to provide information and guidance on how to assess and address the risks posed by sand and dust storms and plan actions to combat sand and dust storms. The Compendium brings together information and guidance from a wide range of sou...

Air pollution is estimated to contribute to approximately 7 million premature deaths, of which around 4.5 million deaths are linked to ambient (outdoor) air pollution (Murray et al. 2020). The deaths attributed to air pollution rank the highest in the Asian Region and thus the implementation of the stricter World Health Organization (WHO) Global Ai...

This review provides a community's perspective on air quality research focusing mainly on developments over the past decade. The article provides perspectives on current and future challenges as well as research needs for selected key topics. While this paper is not an exhaustive review of all research areas in the field of air quality, we have sel...

The Pan-Eurasian Experiment (PEEX) Science Plan, released in 2015, addressed a need for a holistic system understanding and outlined the most urgent research needs for the rapidly changing Arctic-boreal region. Air quality in China, together with the long-range transport of atmospheric pollutants, was also indicated as one of the most crucial topic...

The results of numerical simulation of atmospheric pollution in Apatity are presented with variations in the dusting area of discrete spatially spaced areas selected randomly and the wind flow velocity. CFD modeling in the volumetric formulation was performed using the COMSOL program. To calculate the aerodynamic characteristics, an incompressible...

The COVID-19 pandemic has severely affected all countries and the global scientific agenda, particularly that of health, economy, environment, geography and geosciences in general. This Special Issue is also a contribution to the global efforts of the scientific community in the analysis of the geography of the COVID-19 pandemic with public health,...

Dust particles emitted from high latitudes (≥ 50° N and ≥ 40° S, including Arctic as a subregion ≥ 60° N), have a potentially large local, regional, and global significance to climate and environment as short-lived climate forcers, air pollutants and nutrient sources. To understand the multiple impacts of the High Latitude Dust (HLD) on the Earth s...

This global study, which has been coordinated by the World Meteorological Organization Global Atmospheric Watch (WMO/GAW) programme, aims to understand the behaviour of key air pollutant species during the COVID-19 pandemic period of exceptionally low emissions across the globe. We investigated the effects of the differences in both emissions and r...

The Enviro-HIRLAM (Environment - HIgh Resolution Limited Area Model) is seamless/ online integrated numerical weather prediction (NWP) and atmospheric chemical transport (ACT) modelling system capable to simulate simultaneously meteorology – atmospheric composition on multi-scales ranging from regional to subregional – urban scales.

This review provides a community's perspective on air quality research focussing mainly on developments over the past decade. The article provides perspectives on current and future challenges as well as research needs for selected key topics. While this paper is not an exhaustive review of all research areas in the field of air quality, we have se...

Research aim is to estimate levels of atmospheric pollution in the city of Apatity by numerical modeling, depending on discrete locations of the changing number of randomly selected dusting areas, and the wind flow velocity. Methods of research. Computer simulation of aerodynamics and dust transport in three-dimensional geometry is performed using...

In this study, the downscaling modeling chain for prediction of weather and atmospheric composition is described and evaluated against observations. The chain consists of interfacing models for forecasting at different spatiotemporal scales that run in a semi-operational mode. The forecasts were performed for European (EU) regional and Danish (DK)...

The WMO Global Sand and Dust Storm Warning Advisory and Assessment System (SDS-WAS) is intended to provide continuous and improved SDS operational forecasts as well as to facilitate international coordinated SDS research in the earth-system science domain, fostering the seamless forecast of SDSs, air quality and chemical weather. It is also expecte...

The Pan-Eurasian Experiment (PEEX) Science Plan, released in 2015, addressed a need for a holistic system understanding and outlined the most urgent research needs for sustainable development in the Artic-boreal region. Air quality in China and long-range transport of the atmospheric pollutants was also indicated as one of the most crucial topics o...

O fogo na vegetação, incluindo a aplicação do fogo no uso da terra e na mudança de uso da terra, assim como os incêndios florestais, afetam o funcionamento do sistema terrestre e impõem ameaças significativas à saúde e segurança públicas. Este documento apresenta o conceito de um Sistema de Avaliação e Alerta de Poluição causada por Fumaça decorren...

Sustaining urban environmental quality requires effective policy measures that integrate local monitoring and contextualized high-resolution modelling with actionable scenarios. Knowledgeable decision making in this field can nowadays be supported by an array of atmospheric models, but their transfer into an Integrated Urban hydrometeorological, cl...

For this volume, a survey was conducted among WMO Members in 2018 to judge the level of service provision in each area, the extent to which users and providers collaborate and the status of urban services currently provided. The common hazards that require Integrated Urban Services are identified as heavy rainfall, flooding, windstorms, tropical st...

The problem of air pollution in Almaty city in stagnant weather conditions is considered. Such conditions are so frequent, because the city is located at the foothills of the mountain range of Ile Alatau. The WRF-Chem complex model is used for the analysis and allows a high-detail simulation both of the atmospheric circulation and the transport of...

In this study, the downscaling modelling chain for prediction of weather and atmospheric composition is described and evaluated against observations. The chain consists of interfaced models for forecasting at different spatio-temporal scales and run in a semi-operational mode. The forecasts were performed for European (EU) regional and Danish (DK)...

This chapter describes a new World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) approach to the provision of science-based services to assist the planning of safe, healthy, resilient and climate-friendly cities. The approach is outlined in full in the WMO Guidance on Integrated Urban Hydrometeorological, Climate and Environmental Services. Volume I, Concepts...

The problem of air pollution in Almaty city in stagnant weather conditions is considered. Such conditions are so frequent, because the city is located at the foothills of the mountain range of Ile Alatau. The WRF-Chem complex model is used for the analysis and allows a high-detail simulation both of the atmospheric circulation and the transport of...

Global assessments of air quality and health require comprehensive estimates of the exposures to air pollution that are experienced by populations in every country. However, there are many countries in which measurements from ground-based monitoring are sparse or non-existent, with quality-control and representativeness providing additional challen...

Frequent surface-based inversions are persistent features of climate in the Arctic and, in particular, in its Russian part. Most favourable conditions for temperature inversion formation during the winter period in this region are observed. Surface-based inversions formed in cities are most interesting for research, because of their impact on peopl...

The importance of and interest to research and investigations of atmospheric composition and its modeling for different applications are substantially increased. Air quality forecast (AQF) and assessment systems help decision makers to improve air quality and public health, mitigate the occurrence of acute air pollution episodes, particularly in ur...

Capacity development of Chemical Weather and Air Quality Forecasting (CW-AQF) attracts considerable attention from research communities and governments worldwide for a number of reasons. Increasing numbers of human mortality rates due to human exposure to ambient and indoor air pollution are reported. Recent scientific advancements in numerical wea...

Research aim is to estimate atmospheric pollution levels in the town of Apatity, by numerical simulation, depending on the discrete arrangement of dust sources at the tailing dump closest to the town and the speed of wind flow. Methodology. For computer 3D modeling, the COMSOL software was used. To calculate the aerodynamic properties the approach...

Abstract As a solution for the increasing energy demand in Jordan, nuclear power was recommended for the energy mix at the national level. However, investigations of the meteorological conditions and mass transfer have never been conducted and reported earlier based on typical Jordanian conditions in order to have prior knowledge in case of a futur...

Rapid urbanization combined with climate change necessitates new types of urban services that make best use of science and technology. The Integrated Urban Hydro-Meteorological, Climate and Environmental Services and systems are a new initiative from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) that seeks to provide science-based integrated urban se...

Integrated Urban hydrometeorological, climate and environmental Services (IUS) is a WMO initiative to aid development of science-based services to support safe, healthy, resilient and climate friendly cities. Guidance for Integrated Urban Hydrometeorological, Climate and Environmental Services (Volume I) has been developed with the intent to provid...

Information about distribution of pollen sources, i.e. their presence and abundance in a specific region, is important, especially when atmospheric transport models are applied to forecast pollen concentrations. The goal of this study is to evaluate three pollen source maps using an atmospheric transport model and study the effect on the model resu...

Arctic warming changes not only natural landscapes in polar latitudes but also brings relatively warm summer episodes in cities. In this study the results of the modeling research of the thermal comfort of Apatity town with population about 57 000 inhabitants (the fifth among the biggest cities, located to the North from the Arctic circle), situate...

The International Panel for Climate Change (IPCC) has recently envisioned a number of detrimental environmental effects and challenges that will emerge with the global warming in excess of the 1.5 o C limit set by the Paris Agreement. The Arctic was mentioned as a particularly vulnerable region on the Earth with rapid and amplified warming affectin...

The WUDAPT (World Urban Database and Access Portal Tools project goal is to generate consistent information on urban form and function for cities worldwide that can support a wide range of “fit for purpose” urban weather, climate, hydrology and air quality analyses and modeling on a variety of scales. The latest developments are designed to generat...

Information about distribution of pollen sources, i.e. their presence and abundance in a specific region, is important especially when atmospheric transport models are applied to forecast pollen concentrations. The goal of this study is to evaluate three pollen source maps using an atmospheric transport model and study the effect on the model resul...

The WUDAPT (World Urban Database and Access Portal Tools project goal is to capture consistent information on urban form and function for cities worldwide that can support urban weather, climate, hydrology and air quality modeling. These data are provided as urban canopy parameters (UCPs) as used by weather, climate and air quality models to simula...

Non-technical summary Manhattan, Berlin and New Delhi all need to take action to adapt to climate change and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. While case studies on these cities provide valuable insights, comparability and scalability remain sidelined. It is therefore timely to review the state-of-the-art in data infrastructures, including earth...

The Arctic has rapidly urbanized in recent decades with 2 million people currently living in more than a hundred cities north of 65∘ N. These cities have a harsh but sensitive climate and warming here is the principle driver of destructive thawing, water leakages, air pollution and other detrimental environmental impacts. This study reports on the...

The Arctic has rapidly urbanized in recent decades with two million people currently living in more than a hundred cities north of 65°N. These cities have a harsh but sensitive climate and warming here is the principle driver of destructive thawing, water leakages, air pollution, and other detrimental environmental impacts. This study reports on th...

Numerical prediction of aerosol particle properties has become an important activity at many research and operational weather centres due to growing interest from a diverse set of stakeholders, such as air quality regulatory bodies, aviation and military authorities, solar energy plant managers, providers of climate services, and health professiona...

Atmospheric aerosols modify the radiative budget of the Earth due to their optical, microphysical and chemical properties, and are considered one of the most uncertain climate forcing agents. In order to characterise the uncertainties associated with satellite and modelling approaches to represent aerosol optical properties, mainly aerosol optical...