• 50.084°N 18.192°E 215 m a.s.l.

Observational platform

Poland

• Institute of Environmental Engineering
• Institute of Geophysics (IGF PAN)
• Institute of Meteorology and Water Management National Research Institute

• Artur Szkop
  Facility PI
• Krzysztof Klejnowski
  Facility PI

The Raciborz Observatory (50.08◦ N, 18.19◦ E) is a part of the observation network operated by the Institute of Geophysics, Polish Academy of Sciences. Raciborz is a town in southern Poland, located in a depression between the Sudetes and the Carpathian Mountains (often called the Moravian Gate), in close vicinity to the highly urbanized and industrialized region of Silesia in Poland and the Ostrava industrial zone in the Czech Republic. The observatory is located on a slope of a small hill (~20m) on the outskirts of the town, in the vicinity of a residential area and a municipal cemetery.

The observatory was established in the 1920s for seismographic studies (continued to this day). Optical aerosol measurements started in 2015 with the installation of a CIMEL sun-sky-moon photometer and Lufft CHM15k "Nimbus" ceilometer. In the subsequent years, the measurements were expended with UV pyranometer, AWS, and trace gas detectors. In 2023 an ACTRIS-compliant aerosol in-situ component was added composed of APS, MPSS, nephelometer, and athelometer. A multiwavelength LIDAR is planned soon.
The main scope of aerosol studies includes the influence of low emissions on wintertime carbon concentrations, transnational advection patterns and potential source recognition, and aerosol-radiation interactions in the UV range (ozone formation / photochemical smog).

• Pietruczuk et al. (2022). Impact of Vertical Profiles of Aerosols on the Photolysis Rates in the Lower Troposphere from the Synergy of Photometer and Ceilometer Measurements in Raciborz, Poland, for the Period 2015–2020. Remote Sensing, 14(5), 1057. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs14051057
• Fernandes et al. (2021). Aerosol Layering in the Free Troposphere over the Industrial City of Raciborz in Southwest Poland and Its Influence on Surface UV Radiation. Atmosphere, 12(7), 812. https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos12070812
• Fernandes et al. (2023). Comparison of the Performance of the GRASP and MERRA2 Models in Reproducing Tropospheric Aerosol Layers. Atmosphere, 14(9), 1409. https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos14091409