Lidar Measurements of Aerosols in the Tropical Atmosphere

Measurements of atmospheric aerosols and trace gases using the Laser radar (lidar) techniques, have been in pro-gress since 1985 at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Pune (18o32’N, 73o51’E, 559 m AMSL), India. These observations carried out during nighttime in the lower atmosphere (up to 5.5 km AGL), employing an Argon ion / Helium-Neon lidar provided information on the nature, size, concentration and other characteristics of the constituents present in the tropical atmosphere. The time-height variations in aerosol concentration and associated layer structure exhibit marked differences between the post-sunset and pre-sunrise periods besides their seasonal va-riation with maximum concentration during pre-monsoon / winter and minimum concentration during monsoon months. These observations also revealed the influence of the terrain of the experimental site and some selected me-teorological parameters on the aerosol vertical distributions. The special observations of aerosol vertical profiles ob-tained in the nighttime atmospheric boundary layer during October 1986 through September 1989 showed that the most probable occurrence of mixing depth lies between 450 and 550 m, and the multiple stably stratified aerosol lay-ers present above the mixing depth with maximum frequency of occurrence at around 750 m. This information on nighttime mixing depth / stable layer derived from lidar aerosol observations showed good agreement with the height of the ground-based shear layer / elevated layer observed by the simultaneously operated sodar at the lidar site.     

In-cloud and below-cloud scavenging of aerosol ionic species over a tropical rural atmosphere in India

The temporal variation in concentrations of major water soluble ionic species has been studied from several rain events occurred over Gadanki (13.5 °N, 79.2 °E), located in tropical semi arid region in southern India. The contribution from rain-out (in cloud) and wash-out (below cloud) processes to the total removal of ionic species by rain events is also estimated using the pattern of variations of ionic species within an individual event. A number of rain samples were collected from each rain event during June–November in 2006, 2007 and 2008. On average, nearly 20% of the total NH ₄ ⁺ and non-sea SO ₄ ^2? is removed by in-cloud scavenging, suggesting that their removal by “below cloud” washout is relatively dominant. In contrast Na⁺, Ca²⁺, Mg²⁺, NO ₃ ^? and sea-SO ₄ ^2? are mainly removed by below-cloud scavenging or wash-out process. A significant variation in the acidity was observed within rain events with successive precipitation showing higher acidity at the final stage of the precipitation due to partial neutralization of non-sea SO ₄ ^2? . Overall, greater influence of both terrestrial and anthropogenic sources is recorded in the rain events compared to that from marine sources.     

Clear-sky aerosol radiative forcing effects based on multi-site AERONET observations over Europe

Summary One of the great unknowns in climate research is the contribution of aerosols to climate forcing and climate perturbation. In this study, retrievals from AERONET are used to estimate the direct clear-sky aerosol top-of-atmosphere and surface radiative forcing effects for 12 multi-site observing stations in Europe. The radiative transfer code sdisort in the libRadtran environment is applied to accomplish these estimations. Most of the calculations in this study rely on observations which have been made for the years 1999, 2000, and 2001. Some stations do have observations dating back to the year of 1995. The calculations rely on a pre-compiled aerosol optical properties database for Europe. Aerosol radiative forcing effects are calculated with monthly mean aerosol optical properties retrievals and calculations are presented for three different surface albedo scenarios. Two of the surface albedo scenarios are generic by nature bare soil and green vegetation and the third relies on the ISCCP (International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project) data product. The ISCCP database has also been used to obtain clear-sky weighting fractions over AERONET stations. The AERONET stations cover the area 0° to 30° E and 42° to 52° N. AERONET retrievals are column integrated and this study does not make any seperation between the contribution of natural and anthropogenic components. For the 12 AERONET stations, median clear-sky top-of-atmosphere aerosol radiative forcing effect values for different surface albedo scenarios are calculated to be in the range of −4 to −2 W/m². High median radiative forcing effect values of about −6 W/m² were found to occur mainly in the summer months while lower values of about −1 W/m² occur in the winter months. The aerosol surface forcing also increases in summer months and can reach values of −8 W/m². Individual stations often have much higher values by a factor of 2. The median top-of-atmosphere aerosol radiative forcing effect efficiency is estimated to be about −25 W/m² and their respective surface efficiency is around −35 W/m². The fractional absorption coefficient is estimated to be 1.7, but deviates significantly from station to station. In addition, it is found that the well known peak of the aerosol radiative forcing effect at a solar zenith angle of about 75° is in fact the average of the peaks occurring at shorter and longer wavelengths. According to estimations for Central Europe, based on mean aerosol optical properties retrievals from 12 stations, the critical threshold of the aerosol single scattering albedo, between cooling and heating in the presence of an aerosol layer, is close between 0.6 and 0.76.     

Some observations of water vapor fluctuations in a stable atmosphere over a lake surface

Summary The crain microwave refractometer and a bead thermistor have been used to measure 2 to 30-second period fluctuations in water vapor in a stable atmosphere over a lake surface. It appears that such fluctuations can be related to air flow over water waves and that they permit an estimate of a mixing length for water vapor.

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Zusammenfassung Das Crain-Mikrowellenrefraktometer und ein Perlenthermistor wurden verwendet, um in einer stabilen Atmosphäre über einer Seeoberfläche Wasserdampfschwankungen von 2 bis 30 Sekunden Dauer zu messen. Es scheint, daß solche Schwankungen zur Luftströmung über Wasserwellen in Beziehung gesetzt werden können, und daß sie eine Schätzung des Mischungsweges für Wasserdampf gestatten.

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Résumé Le réfractomètre de Crain et un thermistor ont été utilisés pour mesurer les fluctuations en teneur de vapeur d'eau d'une durée de deux à trente secondes dans un air stable au-dessus d'un lac. Il semble que de telles variations dépendent du mouvement de l'air au-dessus des vagues et qu'elles permettent d'apprécier le parcours de mélange de la vapeur d'eau.

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With 6 Figures     

Lidar and Sun photometer observations of atmospheric boundary-layer characteristics over an urban area in a mountain valley

We present measurements of the vertical aerosol structure and the aerosol optical depth in the lower troposphere performed above the city of Sofia (an urban area situated in a mountain valley), western Bulgaria by means of a ground-based aerosol lidar operating continuously for a number of years. The lidar measurements were accompanied by measurements of the aerosol optical depth (AOD) in the visible and near infrared regions of the spectrum performed in October 2004 using Microtops II radiometers. The maximum values of the AOD were found to occur 1–2 h before the complete development of the atmospheric boundary layer, i.e. during the residual layer destruction, which confirms our hypothesis concerning the slope circulation effect on the processes taking place in the atmospheric boundary layer. The AOD values obtained by the lidar are lower than those taken by the sun photometer. Further, the AOD exhibits two different types of behaviour. In the case of a ‘clear atmosphere’ (i.e. in the absence of volcanic eruptions and/or dust transport from the Sahara) most of the aerosol accumulated within the atmospheric boundary layer over the urban area considered. The combined use of the two instruments allows the comparison between the optical characteristics of the atmospheric aerosol (e.g. aerosol extinction coefficient, etc.) obtained by the lidar and through an independent method (sun photometer).     

烟、尘郁积层的激光探测

利用红宝石激光雷达,在烟、尘较丰富的工业区,当近地层大气稳定时,可以探测烟、尘郁层积的高度,这对了解大气污染物的分布实况和演变,研究大气污染的扩散规律,都有一定实用价值。     

低层大气消光系数分布的激光探测

利用红宝石激光雷达,并配合同时的太阳光衰减测量,对北京地区晴空低层3公里以下的大气消光系数分布及光学厚度作了定量测量和分类整理,取得了基本资料。 结果说明,在我国不能笼统搬用Elterman大气光学模式。对产生差别的原因作了分析,并提出了建立我国自己模式的途径和模式的主要控制因子。     

Resources of the ionized atmosphere as an aerosol source

The potential resources on the ion-stimulated syntheses effects of aerosol particles of lower troposphere in test sites in the arctic, mountain, arid and forest areas as the function of irradiation time and gas-precursor concentration were experimentally and theoretically evaluated. The dust-free outdoor air was irradiated with an ionization current of 10^− 6 A by α-rays from isotope ²³⁹Pu. The total output of radiolytic aerosols (RA) with a diameter of 3–1000 nm was found to be 0.05–0.1 molecules per 1 eV of absorbed radiation, while the physical upper limit is 0.25–0.4 molecules/eV. In an interval of exposition time from 6 to 800 s (adsorbed energy is 3 · 10¹²–10¹⁴ eV/cm³) the RA mass concentration at different sites was increased from 1–10 to 50–500 μg/m³. According to the liquid chromatography data the major RA material is the H₂O/HNO₃ solution with acid concentration  25%. The used physical model presents new aerosols as a product from small and intermediate ion association through formation of neutral clusters and describes adequately some of the peculiarities in field experiment data. Introducing SO₂, NH₃, and also hydrochloric, nitric and sulphuric acid vapours with concentration 0.1–1 mg/m³ in the irradiated air stimulated an increase of mass aerosol concentration by a factor of 8–30. The mean size also decreased by a factor of 3–5. These facts allowed us to expect that the chemical composition of radiolytic aerosols generated in outdoor air would noticeably differ after addition of the gas-precursors.     

Fine mode aerosol chemistry over a tropical urban atmosphere: characterization of ionic and carbonaceous species

An extensive aerosol sampling program was conducted during January-December 2006 over Kolkata (22o33?? N and 88o20?? E), a mega-city in eastern India in order to understand the sources, distributions and properties of atmospheric fine mode aerosol (PM_2.5). The primary focus of this study is to determine the relative contribution of natural and anthropogenic as well as local and transported components to the total fine mode aerosol loading and their seasonal distributions over the metropolis. The average concentrations of fine mode aerosol was found to be 71.2?±?25.2???gm^-3 varying between 34.5???gm^-3 in monsoon and 112.6???gm^-3 in winter. The formation pathways of major secondary aerosol components like nitrate and sulphate in different seasons are discussed. A long range transport of dust aerosol from arid and semi-arid regions of western India and beyond was observed during pre-monsoon which significantly enriched the total aerosol concentration. Vehicular emissions, biomass burning and transported dust particles were the major sources of PM_2.5 from local and continental regions whereas sea-salt aerosol was the major source of PM_2.5 from marine source regions.     

A new method of quantifying aerosol concentrations in atmosphere

Africa is one of the sources of biomass burning emissions. It is estimated that about 6 million tons of fuel per day is consumed in the southern hemisphere. Biomass burning has an important contribution on aerosol particle concentrations in the atmosphere. Efforts have been made to conduct research in Gaborone to monitor the concentration of atmospheric aerosol particles. These studies were mainly confined to measurement of concentration of aerosol particles and establishing a relation with determinants such as carbon dioxide concentration, biomass burning, and precipitation among others. However, very little seems to have been done in relating the empirical data to levels of aerosol concentrations through a mathematical model. In this paper an objective criterion of classifying levels of aerosol concentrations in terms of their severity is provided. A mathematical model for severity levels is built. Furthermore, two indices, namely, an index of dispersion when applied to the observed annual data indicated that intensity of atmospheric aerosol are on increase in the city of Gaborone, Botswana, and an index of drift which establishes that aerosol severity states showed larger drift during the year 2006–2007 than in the year 2007–2008.     

The effect of clouds on aerosol growth in the rural atmosphere

Measurements of accumulation mode aerosol in the atmospheric boundary layer under cloudy and cloud-free conditions, and in the lower free troposphere under cloud-free conditions, were conducted over the rural northwest of England. Normalised size distributions in the cloud-free boundary layer (CFBL) and the cloud-free free troposphere (CFFT) exhibited almost identical spectral similarities with both size distributions possessing a concentration peak mode-radius of ≈0.05 μm or less. By comparison, aerosol distributions observed in cloudy air exhibited a distinctive log-normal distribution with mode-radii occurring at ≈0.1 μm concomitant with a local minimum at ≈0.05 μm. The consistent and noticeable difference in spectral features observed between cloudy and cloud-free conditions suggest that a greater amount of gas-to-particle conversion occurs on cloudy days, presumably through in-cloud aqueous phase oxidation processes, leading to larger sized accumulation mode particles. Apart from the distinct difference between cloudy and cloud-free aerosol spectra on cloudy days, aerosol concentration and mass were observed to be significantly enhanced above that of the ambient background in the vicinity of clouds. Volatility analysis during one case of cloud processing indicated an increase in the relative contribution of aerosol mass volatile at temperatures characteristic of sulphuric acid, along with a smaller fraction of more volatile material (possibly nitric acid and/or organic aerosol). Growth-law analysis of possible growth mechanisms point to aqueous phase oxidation of aerosol precursors in cloud droplets as being the only feasible mechanism capable of producing the observed growth. The effect of cloud processing is to alter the cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) supersaturation spectrum in a manner which increases the availability of CCN at lower cloud supersaturations.     

Lidar observations of subvisual atmospheric phenomena: Research note

Abstract

The systematic error of a large ensemble of 72 ‐h forecasts, as produced by the Canadian Meteorological Centre's spectral model, is studied with particular emphasis on its seasonal and spatial character. By decomposing the error into wavenumber space, we show that most of the error manifests itself in the long planetary waves. We find that the model displays a large systematic error in zonal wavenumber one, which systematically moves westward during each integration.     

Weather effects on the aerosol characteristics in the surface layer of the atmosphere

On the basis of 14-year (1994–2007) series of the semi-annual (January to June) measurements of the atmospheric aerosol microstructure in Dolgoprudny, Moscow region, effects are analyzed of pressure, wind speed, precipitation, and surface temperature inversions on the aerosol particle concentration. It is shown that the weather parameters affect concentration of the particles within a certain range of sizes (0.1 to 1 μm). Concentration of the smaller particles practically does not depend on the weather conditions. The weather effects on large (> 1 μm) particle concentration are not detected due to too high variability of the latter. From three the most available weather parameters (pressure, wind, daily precipitation amount), the observed weather conditions are classified, and for the detected types of weather, typical concentrations are determined of the aerosol particles of different sizes, which allow approximately estimating, from the standard weather data, the aerosol pollution under different meteorological situations.     

Impact of absorbing aerosol deposition on snow albedo reduction over the southern Tibetan plateau based on satellite observations

We investigate the snow albedo variation in spring over the southern Tibetan Plateau induced by the deposition of light-absorbing aerosols using remote sensing data from moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard Terra satellite during 2001–2012. We have selected pixels with 100 % snow cover for the entire period in March and April to avoid albedo contamination by other types of land surfaces. A model simulation using GEOS-Chem shows that aerosol optical depth (AOD) is a good indicator for black carbon and dust deposition on snow over the southern Tibetan Plateau. The monthly means of satellite-retrieved land surface temperature (LST) and AOD over 100 % snow-covered pixels during the 12 years are used in multiple linear regression analysis to derive the empirical relationship between snow albedo and these variables. Along with the LST effect, AOD is shown to be an important factor contributing to snow albedo reduction. We illustrate through statistical analysis that a 1-K increase in LST and a 0.1 increase in AOD indicate decreases in snow albedo by 0.75 and 2.1 % in the southern Tibetan Plateau, corresponding to local shortwave radiative forcing of 1.5 and 4.2 W m⁻², respectively.

     

武汉上空大气密度温度的激光雷达探测

介绍了中国科学院武汉物理与数学研究所瑞利散射激光雷达的结构和性能,报道了该激光雷达观测所得到的我国武汉上空30～70 km范围内大气密度和30～60 km范围内温度廓线的反演结果。     

武汉中层大气温度特性的激光雷达观测研究

报道了升级改造后的WIPM瑞利散射激光雷达的技术状况,并通过与CIRA86标准大气模式和UARS卫星探测的比较,考察了其中层大气温度探测性能. 基于2002年至2003年激光雷达的系统观测数据,给出了武汉上空中层大气温度分布的年平均特性及在各种时间尺度下的变化规律,分析了标准大气模式在描述中层大气温度分布平均特性和变化规律上的局限.     

Spectral aerosol optical depth and Angstrom parameters in the polluted Athens atmosphere

Summary Using ground-based spectral solar extinction data taken in the Athens atmosphere during a field survey, experimental and modeled aerosol optical depths AOD have been retrieved. The Angstrom parameters α and β were derived through spectral extinction curves determined from a log–log plot fit in four spectral intervals, e.g. UV, VIS, UV-VIS and VIS-NIR. The results reveal that exponent α derived in the shorter wavebands, is correlated with β; in the VIS-NIR range the correlation is weaker, however. It has also found that α does not depend on the Angstrom law fits, while β does. Retrieved experimental AOD obtained at longer wavelengths exhibits a daily pattern similar to turbidity β; by contrast, AOD at shorter wavelengths follows the temporal variation of α.