Linking Aerosol Optical Depth to Air Pollution Risk: An Integrated Assessment in a Metropolitan Environment

Air quality is a critical factor for public health and the balance of urban ecosystems, with aerosols playing a key role in environmental risk assessment. This study proposes an in-tegrated method for evaluating air quality and associated risks using Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) measurements obtained with a Calitoo sun photometer. Applied to the metropolitan area of Iasi, Romania, throughout 2024, the method combines aerosol clas-sification into three main categories – biomass burning (BB), fine and coarse particles (FCP), and desert dust (DD) – with a quantitative assessment of environmental impact and risk. To better reflect the severity of effects specific to each aerosol type, the impact values were rescaled accordingly. The results indicate that BB and FCP aerosols have a major influence on air quality, while DD shows a more moderate impact. Method vali-dation was performed through Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) analysis, which con-firmed the accuracy of the proposed approach. This integrated methodology offers an ef-ficient tool for monitoring pollution dynamics and supporting evidence-based environ-mental decision-making at urban and regional levels.