Turkey is located in the heart of complex transition geography between Eurasia and the Middle East. In the grand scheme, the so-called eastern Mediterranean Basin is located almost in the middle of the dusty belt, and is a hot spot of climate change. The downstream location of dust-carrying winds from close desert sources reveals Turkey as an open plane to particulate matter exposure throughout the year. In order to clarify this phenomenon, this paper aims to determine the desert dust climatology of Turkey via CALIPSO onboard Lidar. This prominent instrument enables us to understand clouds, aerosols and their types, and related climatic systems, with its valuable products. In this study, a 9-year CALIPSO-derived pure dust product dataset was formed to explain horizontal and vertical distributions, transport heights and case incidences. The results indicated that the pure dust extinction coefficient increased as the location shifted from west to east. Moreover, in the same direction of west to east, the dominant spring months changed to summer and autumn. Mountain range systems surrounding Anatolia were the main obstacles against lofted and buoyant dust particles travelling to northern latitudes. Even if high ridges accumulated mass load on the southern slopes, they also enabled elevated particles to reach the ground level of the inner cities.

Load forecasting is important necessity to provide economic, reliable, high grade energy. In this study, short term hourly load forecasting systems were developed for nine load distribution regions of Turkey using artificial neural networks (ANN) approach. ANN is the most commonly preferred approach for load forecasting. The mean average percent error (MAPE) of total hourly load forecast for Turkey is found as 1.81%.

The focus on aerosol analysis in the Levantine Region is driven by climate-change impacts, the region’s increasing urban development and industrial activities, and its geographical proximity to major dust-source areas. This study conducts a comparative analysis of aerosol optical depth data from Aqua/MODIS and AERONET during different periods between 2003 and 2023 at four stations: IMS-METU-ERDEMLI (Mersin/Türkiye) (2004–2019), CUT-TEPAK (Limassol/Cyprus) (2010–2023), Cairo_EMA_2 (Cairo/Egypt) (2010–2023), and SEDE_BOKER (Sede Boker/Israel) (2003–2023). The objective is to evaluate the variability and reliability of AOD measurements between satellite and ground-based observations and to determine how well they represent regional climatology. The highest percentage of measurements within the expected error envelope was observed at the IMS-METU-ERDEMLI station, indicating the best agreement between MODIS and AERONET data at this location. The Seasonal-Trend Decomposition using Loess (STL) method revealed consistent spring and summer peaks influenced by dust transport from the Sahara and the Middle East, with lower values in winter. The study also considers the influence of cloud fraction on MODIS measurements and includes aerosol classification. A statistically significant slight positive trend in AOD values was identified at the IMS-METU-ERDEMLI station. Conversely, no significant trends were detected at the other stations. The results of this study agree with those of previous research on the impact of long-range dust transport on regional aerosol loadings, emphasizing the importance of integrating satellite and ground-based observations.

Shooting is among nine sports branches that formed the first modern Olympic Games in Athens in 1896. A professional shooting athlete shoots millions of bullets throughout their sports life to commune with their gun dedicatedly. The number of simultaneous shots per unit time depends on the capacity of the range. It can enormously increase when a national match is a case. Shooting can cause gunshot residue exposure, including lead, other elements, and their by-products accumulate in ambient air and reveal significant health risks. This study aims to find the levels of PM10 and its chemical composition during official three-day 50 m 22-cal competitions in May 2016, Mersin, Turkey. To this end, PM10 samples were collected on quartz-fiber filters and analyzed for elements by ICP-MS and carbonaceous material by Thermal-Optical EC/OC analyzer. The total PM10 mass concentration average is 28.7±7.3 µg/m3 within the indoor threshold values of different countries. The ambient mass concentrations of PM10, OC, EC, TC, Cd, and Pb were higher during once pistol matches instead of rifle matches. Although Pb values did not exceed the indoor limits for shooting ranges, it has the highest concentration among the analyzed elements. Additionally, Cr poses cancer risk potential. Except for Zn, Sr, and Cu, all the measured parameters have higher calculated emission factor (EF) values during pistol shots. To our best knowledge, this study reports the airborne mass concentrations of EC, OC, and TC from indoor shooting ranges and investigates indoor air quality for shooting sport for the first time.

Atmospheric aerosols are among the key factors affecting the Earth’s radiation budget, playing a fundamental role in understanding climate forcing, feedback mechanisms, and their impact on future climate projections and on solar energy systems. More specifically, dust aerosol particles, which are characterized by high complexity of their optical and microphysical properties, remain one of the most uncertain components. In this study, we focus on four severe dust events across multiple sites in the broader Mediterranean Basin between 2021 and 2022. We employ a combination of ground-based remote sensing observations along with Radiative Transfer (RT) modelling, with the libRadtran package and METAL-WRF scheme, as well as photovoltaic (PV) power generation simulations using the Global Solar Energy Estimator (GSEE) to investigate the impact of the different optical and geometrical aspects of these events on solar radiation and solar energy. The results revealed that the strongest dust-induced attenuation was systematically observed in the direct component of solar radiation (DNI), with maximum losses frequently exceeding 60–80%, while Global Horizontal Irradiance (GHI) typically ranged between 5% and 25%. These findings were reflected directly into substantial PV power output losses, for both fixed tilt and two-axis tracking systems, reaching ~45% and 80%, respectively, with the impact on the latter being significantly higher due to their strong dependence on DNI. A sensitivity analysis based on how aerosol optical properties and solar geometry jointly influence PV energy production revealed that Solar Zenith Angle (SZA) plays the most dominant role, followed by Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD), which leads to strong attenuation independently of SZA under altered aerosol load conditions. Finally, the comparison of the modelled PV output estimated from the modelled irradiances based on the two different RT models with the PV output considering ground-based GHI measurements revealed a similar agreement under clear sky conditions, while under cloudy conditions, the analysis revealed the critical role of the diffuse horizontal irradiance (DHI) component in the simulations.