Measurements of desert dust optical characteristics at Porte au Sahara during SAMUM

Main optical characteristics of desert dust, such as phase function and single scattering albedo, have been derived from combinations of sun-/sky-radiometer and satellite measurements during the SAMUM experiment (10 May–10 June 2006) at the site Porte au Sahara (30.237°N, 5.607°W) in South Morocco. Scattering phase functions have been retrieved using combined data of spectral aerosol optical thickness (AOT) and spectral sky brightness in the almucantar, considering non-spherical light scattering. Intercomparisons of modelled top-of-atmosphere (TOA) reflectance with satellite observations of the Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) and Scanning Imaging Absorption Spectrometer for Atmospheric Chartography () instrument have been used for the estimation of spectral single scattering albedo. For the radiative transfer calculations scattering phase functions and AOT from ground-based observations have been used. The spectral single scattering albedo ranges from 0.93 in the blue to 0.98 at 753 nm.     

Properties of dust aerosol particles transported to Portugal from the Sahara desert

Aerosol properties of mineral particles in the far field of an African desert dust outbreak were investigated that brought Saharan dust over the Mediterranean in different layers to Portugal. The measurements were performed inside the project Desert Aerosols over Portugal (DARPO) which was linked to the Saharan Mineral Dust Experiment (SAMUM). The maximum particle mass concentration was about 150 μg m⁻³ and the corresponding scattering coefficient was 130 M m⁻¹ which results in a mass scattering efficiency of 0.87 m² g⁻¹. The aerosol optical depth reached values up to 0.53 and the lidar ratio was between 45 and 50 in the whole dust loaded column. A comparison between particle size distributions and refractive indices derived from different instruments and models showed a general good agreement but some minor differences could also be observed. Measurements as well as calculations with a particle transport model suggest that there is a relatively higher concentration of very large particles in the upper region of the dust layer than on the surface which is likely connected with meteorological conditions at the observational site (Évora, Portugal).     

基于气候带的地面观测站点布局分析

利用1961—2010年云南124站年平均资料,在考虑了气象要素垂直递减（增）率的条件下,将站点数据插值到1 km×1 km的细网格点上。在此基础上,从不同气候带的角度讨论了地面气象观测站点的布局问题,给出了一些有价值的论据。通过分析发现,金沙江流域、怒江大峡谷狭长区域、哀牢山纵向岭谷地貌区域（包括元江、无量山一带）为气象要素最不敏感区域,其主要原因是气候带的南北向分布和东西向剧烈变率。这些区域新增地面观测站点,对认识局地立体小气候、下垫面热力差异、强对流天气系统等有科学价值。     

Desert dust aerosol air mass mapping in the western Sahara, using particle properties derived from space-based multi-angle imaging

Coincident observations made over the Moroccan desert during the Sahara mineral dust experiment (SAMUM) 2006 field campaign are used both to validate aerosol amount and type retrieved from multi-angle imaging spectroradiometer (MISR) observations, and to place the suborbital aerosol measurements into the satellite's larger regional context. On three moderately dusty days during which coincident observations were made, MISR mid-visible aerosol optical thickness (AOT) agrees with field measurements point-by-point to within 0.05–0.1. This is about as well as can be expected given spatial sampling differences; the space-based observations capture AOT trends and variability over an extended region. The field data also validate MISR's ability to distinguish and to map aerosol air masses, from the combination of retrieved constraints on particle size, shape and single-scattering albedo. For the three study days, the satellite observations (1) highlight regional gradients in the mix of dust and background spherical particles, (2) identify a dust plume most likely part of a density flow and (3) show an aerosol air mass containing a higher proportion of small, spherical particles than the surroundings, that appears to be aerosol pollution transported from several thousand kilometres away.     

Detection of Sahara dust intrusions during mixed advection patterns over south-east Italy: A case study

Measurements from July 4 to July 8, 2005 by a high resolution visible radiometer, a Raman lidar, a ground particulate matter sampler, and ground meteorological sensors have been combined in synergy to infer the intrusion over south-east Italy, of air masses from north-west Sahara, the Atlantic Ocean, and the continental Europe. It is shown that backscatter coefficient, depolarization-ratio, and lidar ratio vertical profiles represent the best tools to detect the intrusion of long range transported air masses and to monitor their effects on the vertical distribution of aerosol optical and microphysical properties. High resolution radiometers are instead important tools to monitor changes on columnar aerosol properties and size distributions.Backscatter coefficient, depolarization-ratio, and lidar ratio vertical profiles have revealed that aerosol optical and microphysical properties significantly changed with time and space during African dust outbreaks: the intrusion of dust particles that at first occurred above 2 km of altitude extending up to 6 km, affected the all aerosol load down to ground within few hours. Aerosol size distributions showed during dust events a clear bimodality with an accumulation mode maximum at 0.24 µm and a coarse mode maximum at 0.94 μm. Conversely, we have found that during the advection of air masses from the Atlantic and continental Europe, aerosol particles were mainly located below 2 km, their optical and microphysical properties were affected by smaller changes in time and space, and were characterized by depolarization ratios rather close to those due to a pure molecular atmosphere. In this case bimodal size distributions with an accumulation mode showing two sub-modes at 0.16 μm and 0.24 μm, respectively and a coarse mode centred at 0.94 μm have also been observed.     

Vertical profiling of convective dust plumes in southern Morocco during SAMUM

Lifting of dust particles by dust devils and convective plumes may significantly contribute to the global mineral dust budget. During the Saharan Mineral Dust Experiment (SAMUM) in May–June 2006 vertical profiling of dusty plumes was performed for the first time. Polarization lidar observations taken at Ouarzazate (30.9°N, 6.9°W, 1133 m height above sea level) are analyzed. Two cases with typical and vigorous formation of convective plumes and statistical results of 5 d are discussed. The majority of observed convective plumes have diameters on order of 100–400 m. Most of the plumes (typically 50–95%) show top heights <1 km or 0.3DLH with the Saharan dust layer height DLH of typically 3–4 km. Height-to-diameter ratio is mostly 2–10. Maximum plume top height ranges from 1.1 to 2.9 km on the 5 d. 5–26 isolated plumes and clusters of plumes per hour were detected. A low dust optical depth (<0.3) favours plume evolution. Observed surface, 1 and 2–m air temperatures indicate that a difference of 17–20 K between surface and 2-m air temperature and of 0.9–1 K between the 1 and 2-m temperatures are required before convective plumes develop. Favourable horizontal wind speeds are 2–7 m s⁻¹.     

基于逐时数据的南疆沙尘天气精细化特征研究

利用2006—2019年南疆地区55个国家站的逐日观测和自动站小时数据资料,研究沙尘发生的精细化特征及沙尘暴起沙风速指标阈值。结果表明：南疆沙尘中心位于塔里木盆地中部至其南缘的民丰和且末一线,表现为中部多,东部西部少的分布特点,浮尘和沙尘暴的中心在民丰,而扬沙中心在塔中站;沙尘天气季节差异明显,秋、冬季沙尘最少,以浮尘为主,春、夏季是沙尘天气的高发季节,浮尘日与扬沙日数接近,约为沙尘暴的2倍,沙尘暴、扬沙的季节差异比浮尘天气更为明显;沙尘日变化呈白天多于夜间,下午多于上午的分布特点,18—20时是南疆地区出现沙尘暴、扬沙天气的高频时段;扬沙和沙尘暴的平均持续时间短,一般不超过3 h,巴州东南部平均持续时间最长;南疆不同地区沙尘天气发生的最小风速差异较大,存在区域性规律,而极大风速分布呈东部大于西部,北部大于南部,塔里木盆地中部和南部最小,春季的极大风速平均值大于夏季,差值较小的地区在和田地区,春季的极大风速离散度也较夏季大,各站极大风速的最小值范围在1.6—9.8 m·s^-1之间。     

Sensitivity analysis of 18 different potential evapotranspiration models to observed climatic change at German climate stations

Potential evapotranspiration models very often are important part of hydrological catchment models to calculate potential evapotranspiration (PET) which then is used to estimate actual evapotranspiration considering the soil moisture status. As many different approaches exist, the question arises in which way the choice of the PET model affects the impact of climate change on the calculated water balance? Therefore, 18 different PET models were compared with respect to their sensitivity to observed climate change. Long-term climate data of six German climate stations were used to identify changes in the climate data itself and changes in the calculated PET. The results show that all investigated PET models are sensitive to significant trends in climate data. However, it is also shown that all models show different sensitivities, and that the sensitivities cannot be grouped in terms of different types of PET models such as the aerodynamic concept, radiation or temperature based approaches and combination equations. Predominantly, the variability within a group of models of the same type is comparable to the variability between different model types. Therefore it can be concluded that PET models should be validated in a regional context before they are applied to a certain region within a climate change study despite the poor availability of long-term PET measurements.     

Statistical characterizations of rainfall structure over two tropical stations in southern India for microwave communication

Statistical characterizations of rainfall structure over two tropical stations in southern India are reported in this paper based on the 2-year rainfall data. The statistical characterizations has been based on cumulative distribution function, exceedance of threshold values, dependence of the intensity of rainfall on the event duration, seasonal variability, and worst months concept as well as diurnal variability. These results are needed to give the detailed insights to the system designers for the development of communication gadgets needed for better service, serve as a vital tool to estimate signal outages in a year over the region and for proper planning of radio communication in the region. Finally, the study shows that the recent International Telecommunications Union Recommendations (ITU-R) value underestimated rain rate for 0.01% exceedance for the two locations.     

Diurnal Variation of Southwest Monsoon Rainfall at Indian Stations

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A note on fluctuations in the normal temperature trend at selected Canadian stations

Spurious fluctuations in the normal mean daily temperatures for ten Canadian stations are filtered out, using weighted running means. The filtered curves reveal cycles of temperature peaks at intervals of about 17 days. An attempt is made to relate these cycles to the index cycles of the atmospheric general circulation.     

Vertical profiling of Saharan dust with Raman lidars and airborne HSRL in southern Morocco during SAMUM

Three ground-based Raman lidars and an airborne high-spectral-resolution lidar (HSRL) were operated during SAMUM 2006 in southern Morocco to measure height profiles of the volume extinction coefficient, the extinction-to-backscatter ratio and the depolarization ratio of dust particles in the Saharan dust layer at several wavelengths. Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) Sun photometer observations and radiosoundings of meteorological parameters complemented the ground-based activities at the SAMUM station of Ouarzazate. Four case studies are presented. Two case studies deal with the comparison of observations of the three ground-based lidars during a heavy dust outbreak and of the ground-based lidars with the airborne lidar. Two further cases show profile observations during satellite overpasses on 19 May and 4 June 2006. The height resolved statistical analysis reveals that the dust layer top typically reaches 4–6 km height above sea level (a.s.l.), sometimes even 7 km a.s.l.. Usually, a vertically inhomogeneous dust plume with internal dust layers was observed in the morning before the evolution of the boundary layer started. The Saharan dust layer was well mixed in the early evening. The 500 nm dust optical depth ranged from 0.2–0.8 at the field site south of the High Atlas mountains, Ångström exponents derived from photometer and lidar data were between 0–0.4. The volume extinction coefficients (355, 532 nm) varied from 30–300 Mm⁻¹ with a mean value of 100 Mm⁻¹ in the lowest 4 km a.s.l.. On average, extinction-to-backscatter ratios of 53–55 sr (±7–13 sr) were obtained at 355, 532 and 1064 nm.     

Concentrations and sources of PAHs at three stations in Istanbul,Turkey

The chemical mass balance model was applied to atmospheric Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) in Istanbul, Turkey. A total of 326 airborne samples were collected and analyzed for 16 PAHs and Total Suspended Particles (TSP) in the September 2006–December 2007 period at three monitoring stations: Yildiz, DMO (urban sites) and Kilyos (rural site). The total average PAH concentrations were 100.66 ± 61.26, 84.63 ± 46.66 and 25.12 ± 13.34 ng m^?3 and the TSP concentrations were 101.16 ± 53.22, 152.31 ± 99.12, 49.84 ± 18.58 μg m^?3 for Yildiz, DMO and Kilyos stations respectively. At all the sites, the lighter compounds were the most abundant, notably Nap, AcPy and PA. The average correlation values between TSP and total heavier PAH were greater than 0.5 for Yildiz and DMO stations. The patterns of PAH and TSP concentrations showed spatial and temporal variations. PAH concentrations were evaluated for the PAH contribution from four sources (diesel engines, gasoline engines, natural gas combustion, and coal + wood burning). Vehicle emissions appear to be the major source with contributions of 61.2%, 63.3% and 54.1% for Yildiz, DMO and Kilyos stations respectively. Seasonal and yearly variations had different trends for all sites.     

Mid-level clouds over the Sahara in a convection-permitting regional model

Climate Dynamics - The simulation of Saharan mid tropospheric clouds is investigated with the weather research and forecasting (WRF) regional atmospheric model at convection permitting...     

新旧南京国家基准气候站观测数据差异

南京国家基准气候站2008年1月1日完成迁站。虽然新旧站址直线距离只有7 km,但两地地形、环境都存在较大差异,找出资料序列的差异性对气象资料的连续性、代表性、均一化分析具有重要意义。我们利用2006—2007年的观测资料,分析两站点资料的差异,研究外部环境对资料差异产生的可能影响,依据气候学原理、气候统计方法及气候资料审核规范,结合南京的气候特点,对一些重要天气条件(高温、低温、大风、暴雨等)下两个观测点各气象要素进行分析,研究各气象要素对环境的敏感性。通过两个观测站点资料的对比分析,为今后南京站气象资料的应用提供科学依据。