Numerous wildfires provoked by an unprecedented intensive heat wave caused continuous episodes of extreme air pollution in several Russian cities and densely populated regions, including the Moscow region. This paper analyzes the evolution of the surface concentrations of CO, PM10 and ozone over the Moscow region during the 2010 heat wave by integrating available ground based and satellite measurements with results of a mesoscale model. The model results show that wildfires are the principal factor causing the observed air pollution episode associated with the extremely high levels of daily mean CO and PM10 concentrations. A comparison of MOPITT CO measurements and corresponding simulations indicates that the observed episodes of extreme air pollution in Moscow were only a part of a very strong perturbation of the atmospheric composition, caused by wildfires, over European Russia. Diagnostic model runs indicate that ozone concentrations could reach very high values even without fire emissions which provide 'fuel' for ozone formation, but, at the same time, inhibit it as a result of absorption and scattering of solar radiation by smoke aerosols.

Ключевые слова: 2010 heat wave, wildfires, air pollution, smoke aerosols, mesoscale model, satellite measurements