Aerosols play a fundamental role in the climate system, affect the radiative balance, participate in cloud formation as condensation nuclei and play a complex role in storm formation. Aerosols in high concentrations can also generate impacts to society in the short term, such as reduced visibility and deterioration of the
visibility reduction and deterioration of air quality. The diagnosis of the state of the atmosphere is fundamental for the elaboration of forecasts.
It is therefore necessary to be able to identify the sources of aerosol emissions, to be able to differentiate the types of aerosols in the atmosphere, in order to estimate their horizontal and vertical extension their horizontal and vertical extension and their concentration. This course seeks to provide guidelines for the detection of aerosols in the atmosphere, to allow their discrimination and estimate parameters that can be useful for the elaboration of dispersion forecasts.