**1. Introduction**

The South Eastern Mediterranean region is an atmospheric cross road where aerosols of different origins can be observed. Atmospheric pollution due to particulate matter from natural and anthropogenic sources is a continuing problem in many areas of Cyprus. Partic‐ ulate matter (PM) is a major component of urban air pollution and has a significant effect on human health. High quality PM monitoring with a fine spatial and temporal resolution may help decision makers to assess the efficiency of control strategies and also may be useful for informing the general public about air pollution levels and hazards. The AIRSPACE research project was established with the main aim of combining remote sensing data (mainly MODIS) with concurrent in-situ observations (sunphotometric, LIDAR and ground level PM measure‐ ments) for monitoring air pollution in an integrated manner. AIRSPACE aims to develop a novel methodology based on in-situ experimental observations in order to use satellite retrieval as a tool for monitoring air particulate pollution. This methodology was applied in Cyprus with an emphasis on urban areas and, to a lesser extent, industrial regions. Observa‐ tions from passive and active ground-based and satellite techniques for Aerosol Optical Thickness (AOT) retrieval, in combination with PM10 and PM2.5 concentrations at sites near different PM sources, have been considered. Several factors, such as aerosol vertical distribu‐ tion, that affect the relationship between PM ground measurements and AOT, were consid‐ ered. Data sets from three types of sites (urban, near urban and rural) were used to develop a

© 2013 Hadjimitsis et al.; licensee InTech. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. © 2013 Hadjimitsis et al.; licensee InTech. This is a paper distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

statistical model for the estimating PM mass concentrations using AOT measured from remote sensing techniques and meteorological parameters. Furthermore, the ground truth observa‐ tions collected within AIRSPACE project were used to assess qualitative and quantitative performance of a chemical model forecast of PM concentrations throughout Cyprus.

assisting the air pollution monitoring studies (Ansmann et al., 2012; Amiridis et al., 2008; Engel-Cox et al., 2006; Papayannis et al., 2007a,b; Pitari et al., 2013). This study presents the integrated use of satellite remote sensing, sunphotometers and LIDAR for monitoring air pollution in

Air Pollution from Space http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/39310 183

At the main study site in Limassol, the sunphotometer observations were performed by a CIMEL sun-sky radiometer, which is part of the AERONET Global Network (http://aero‐ net.gsfc.nasa.gov). The CIMEL sunphotometer allows for measurements of direct solar irradiance and sky radiance at 8 wavelengths; 340, 380, 440, 500, 670, 870, 1020 and 1640 nm. The technical specifications of the instrument are given in detail by Holben et al. (1998).

The instrument is located on the roof of the building of the Department of Civil Engineering and Geomatics of Cyprus University of Technology (CUT) (34.675ºN, 33.043ºE elevation: 10 m). The CUT\_TEPAK AERONET station is located in the center of Limassol, 500m away from the sea. The sunphotometric station has been in operation since April 2010. Figure 1 features

At the study sites in Nicosia, Larnaka and Paphos where CIMEL's data were not available a handheld MICROTOPS II sunphotometer was used in order to retrieve AOT measurements.

Cyprus.

**3. Resources**

**3.1. CIMEL Sunphotometer**

**Figure 1.** CUT-TEPAK AERONET station

**3.2. MICROTOPS Sunphotometer**

the CUT-TEPAK AERONET Cimel sun-photometer.

Midletton et al. (2008) reported that in Nicosia, Cyprus for every 10-μg/m3 increase in PM10 daily average concentrations there was a 0.9% (95%CI: 0.6%, 1.2%) increase in all-cause and 1.2% (95%CI: -0.0%, 2.4%) increase in cardiovascular admissions. A recent study regarding dust storm events in Nicosia, Cyprus, found a 2.43% (95% CI: 0.53, 4.37) increase in daily cardiovascular mortality associated with each 10-μg/m3 increase in PM10 concentrations on dust days in comparison with non-dust days (Neophytou et al., 2013).
