Articles | Volume 15, issue 10
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-5743-2015
© Author(s) 2015. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-5743-2015
© Author(s) 2015. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
Research article
| 
26 May 2015
Research article |
| 26 May 2015
Using the OMI aerosol index and absorption aerosol optical depth to evaluate the NASA MERRA Aerosol Reanalysis
V. Buchard
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, USA
GESTAR/Universities Space Research Association, Columbia, MD, USA
A. M. da Silva
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, USA
P. R. Colarco
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, USA
A. Darmenov
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, USA
C. A. Randles
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, USA
GESTAR/Morgan State University, Baltimore, MD, USA
R. Govindaraju
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, USA
Science Systems and Applications, Inc., Lanham, MD, USA
O. Torres
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, USA
J. Campbell
Marine Meteorology Division, Naval Research Laboratory, Monterey, CA, USA
R. Spurr
RT Solutions, Inc., 9 Channing Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
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Preprint withdrawn
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Abundant aerosols are present above low-level liquid clouds over the southeastern Atlantic during late austral spring. The model simulation differences in the proportion of aerosol residing in the planetary boundary layer and in the free troposphere can greatly affect the regional aerosol radiative effects. This study examines the aerosol loading and fractional aerosol loading in the free troposphere among various models and evaluates them against measurements from the NASA ORACLES campaign.
Allison B. Marquardt Collow, Virginie Buchard, Peter R. Colarco, Arlindo M. da Silva, Ravi Govindaraju, Edward P. Nowottnick, Sharon Burton, Richard Ferrare, Chris Hostetler, and Luke Ziemba
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 16091–16109, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-16091-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-16091-2022, 2022
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Biomass burning aerosol impacts aspects of the atmosphere and Earth system through radiative forcing, serving as cloud condensation nuclei, and air quality. Despite its importance, the representation of biomass burning aerosol is not always accurate in models. Field campaign observations from CAMP2Ex are used to evaluate the mass and extinction of aerosols in the GEOS model. Notable biases in the model illuminate areas of future development with GEOS and the underlying GOCART aerosol module.
Samuel E. LeBlanc, Michal Segal-Rozenhaimer, Jens Redemann, Connor Flynn, Roy R. Johnson, Stephen E. Dunagan, Robert Dahlgren, Jhoon Kim, Myungje Choi, Arlindo da Silva, Patricia Castellanos, Qian Tan, Luke Ziemba, Kenneth Lee Thornhill, and Meloë Kacenelenbogen
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 11275–11304, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-11275-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-11275-2022, 2022
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Airborne observations of atmospheric particles and pollution over Korea during a field campaign in May–June 2016 showed that the smallest atmospheric particles are present in the lowest 2 km of the atmosphere. The aerosol size is more spatially variable than optical thickness. We show this with remote sensing (4STAR), in situ (LARGE) observations, satellite measurements (GOCI), and modeled properties (MERRA-2), and it is contrary to the current understanding.
Giorgio Doglioni, Valentina Aquila, Sampa Das, Peter R. Colarco, and Dino Zardi
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 11049–11064, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-11049-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-11049-2022, 2022
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We use a global chemistry climate model to analyze the perturbations to the stratospheric dynamics caused by an injection of carbonaceous aerosol comparable to the one caused by a series of pyrocumulonimbi that formed over British Columbia, Canada on 13 August 2017. The injection of light-absorbing aerosol in an otherwise clean lower stratosphere causes the formation of long-lasting stratospheric anticyclones at the synoptic scale.
Peng Xian, Jianglong Zhang, Norm T. O'Neill, Travis D. Toth, Blake Sorenson, Peter R. Colarco, Zak Kipling, Edward J. Hyer, James R. Campbell, Jeffrey S. Reid, and Keyvan Ranjbar
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 9915–9947, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-9915-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-9915-2022, 2022
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The study provides baseline Arctic spring and summertime aerosol optical depth climatology, trend, and extreme event statistics from 2003 to 2019 using a combination of aerosol reanalyses, remote sensing, and ground observations. Biomass burning smoke has an overwhelming contribution to black carbon (an efficient climate forcer) compared to anthropogenic sources. Burning's large interannual variability and increasing summer trend have important implications for the Arctic climate.
Peng Xian, Jianglong Zhang, Norm T. O'Neill, Jeffrey S. Reid, Travis D. Toth, Blake Sorenson, Edward J. Hyer, James R. Campbell, and Keyvan Ranjbar
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 9949–9967, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-9949-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-9949-2022, 2022
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The study provides a baseline Arctic spring and summertime aerosol optical depth climatology, trend, and extreme event statistics from 2003 to 2019 using a combination of aerosol reanalyses, remote sensing, and ground observations. Biomass burning smoke has an overwhelming contribution to black carbon (an efficient climate forcer) compared to anthropogenic sources. Burning's large interannual variability and increasing summer trend have important implications for the Arctic climate.
Daniel J. Varon, Daniel J. Jacob, Melissa Sulprizio, Lucas A. Estrada, William B. Downs, Lu Shen, Sarah E. Hancock, Hannah Nesser, Zhen Qu, Elise Penn, Zichong Chen, Xiao Lu, Alba Lorente, Ashutosh Tewari, and Cynthia A. Randles
Geosci. Model Dev., 15, 5787–5805, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-5787-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-5787-2022, 2022
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Reducing atmospheric methane emissions is critical to slow near-term climate change. Globally surveying satellite instruments like the TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) have unique capabilities for monitoring atmospheric methane around the world. Here we present a user-friendly cloud-computing tool that enables researchers and stakeholders to quantify methane emissions across user-selected regions of interest using TROPOMI satellite observations.
Sudip Chakraborty, Bin Guan, Duane E. Waliser, and Arlindo M. da Silva
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 8175–8195, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-8175-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-8175-2022, 2022
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This study explores extreme aerosol transport events by aerosol atmospheric rivers (AARs) and shows the characteristics of individual AARs such as length, width, length-to-width ratio, transport strength, and dominant transport direction, the seasonal variations, the relationship to the spatial distribution of surface emissions, the vertical profiles of wind, aerosol mixing ratio, and aerosol mass fluxes, and the major planetary-scale aerosol transport pathways.
Jan-Lukas Tirpitz, Udo Frieß, Robert Spurr, and Ulrich Platt
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 2077–2098, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-2077-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-2077-2022, 2022
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MAX-DOAS is a widely used measurement technique for the remote detection of atmospheric aerosol and trace gases. It relies on the analysis of ultra-violet and visible radiation spectra of skylight. To date, information contained in the skylight's polarisation state has not been utilised. On the basis of synthetic data, we carried out sensitivity analyses to assess the potential of polarimetry for MAX-DOAS applications.
Vinay Kayetha, Omar Torres, and Hiren Jethva
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 845–877, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-845-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-845-2022, 2022
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Existing measurements of spectral aerosol absorption are limited, particularly in the UV region. We use the synergy of satellite and ground measurements to derive spectral single scattering albedo of aerosols from the UV–visible spectrum. The resulting spectral SSAs are used to investigate seasonality in absorption for carbonaceous, dust, and urban aerosols. Regional aerosol absorption models that could be used to make reliable assumptions in satellite remote sensing of aerosols are derived.
Sujung Go, Alexei Lyapustin, Gregory L. Schuster, Myungje Choi, Paul Ginoux, Mian Chin, Olga Kalashnikova, Oleg Dubovik, Jhoon Kim, Arlindo da Silva, Brent Holben, and Jeffrey S. Reid
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 1395–1423, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-1395-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-1395-2022, 2022
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This paper presents a retrieval algorithm of iron-oxide species (hematite, goethite) content in the atmosphere from DSCOVR EPIC observations. Our results display variations within the published range of hematite and goethite over the main dust-source regions but show significant seasonal and spatial variability. This implies a single-viewing satellite instrument with UV–visible channels may provide essential information on shortwave dust direct radiative effects for climate modeling.
Galina Wind, Arlindo M. da Silva, Kerry G. Meyer, Steven Platnick, and Peter M. Norris
Geosci. Model Dev., 15, 1–14, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-1-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-1-2022, 2022
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This is the third paper in series about the Multi-sensor Cloud and Aerosol Retrieval Simulator (MCARS). In this paper we use MCARS to create a set of constraints that might be used to assimilate a new above-cloud aerosol retrieval product developed for the MODIS instrument into a general circulation model. We executed the above-cloud aerosol retrieval over a series of synthetic MODIS granules and found the product to be of excellent quality.
Sarah J. Doherty, Pablo E. Saide, Paquita Zuidema, Yohei Shinozuka, Gonzalo A. Ferrada, Hamish Gordon, Marc Mallet, Kerry Meyer, David Painemal, Steven G. Howell, Steffen Freitag, Amie Dobracki, James R. Podolske, Sharon P. Burton, Richard A. Ferrare, Calvin Howes, Pierre Nabat, Gregory R. Carmichael, Arlindo da Silva, Kristina Pistone, Ian Chang, Lan Gao, Robert Wood, and Jens Redemann
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 1–46, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-1-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-1-2022, 2022
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Between July and October, biomass burning smoke is advected over the southeastern Atlantic Ocean, leading to climate forcing. Model calculations of forcing by this plume vary significantly in both magnitude and sign. This paper compares aerosol and cloud properties observed during three NASA ORACLES field campaigns to the same in four models. It quantifies modeled biases in properties key to aerosol direct radiative forcing and evaluates how these biases propagate to biases in forcing.
Nick Gorkavyi, Nickolay Krotkov, Can Li, Leslie Lait, Peter Colarco, Simon Carn, Matthew DeLand, Paul Newman, Mark Schoeberl, Ghassan Taha, Omar Torres, Alexander Vasilkov, and Joanna Joiner
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 7545–7563, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-7545-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-7545-2021, 2021
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The 21 June 2019 eruption of the Raikoke volcano produced significant amounts of volcanic aerosols (sulfate and ash) and sulfur dioxide (SO2) gas that penetrated into the lower stratosphere. We showed that the amount of SO2 decreases with a characteristic period of 8–18 d and the peak of sulfate aerosol lags the initial peak of SO2 by 1.5 months. We also examined the dynamics of an unusual stratospheric coherent circular cloud of SO2 and aerosol observed from 18 July to 22 September 2019.
Xinxin Ye, Pargoal Arab, Ravan Ahmadov, Eric James, Georg A. Grell, Bradley Pierce, Aditya Kumar, Paul Makar, Jack Chen, Didier Davignon, Greg R. Carmichael, Gonzalo Ferrada, Jeff McQueen, Jianping Huang, Rajesh Kumar, Louisa Emmons, Farren L. Herron-Thorpe, Mark Parrington, Richard Engelen, Vincent-Henri Peuch, Arlindo da Silva, Amber Soja, Emily Gargulinski, Elizabeth Wiggins, Johnathan W. Hair, Marta Fenn, Taylor Shingler, Shobha Kondragunta, Alexei Lyapustin, Yujie Wang, Brent Holben, David M. Giles, and Pablo E. Saide
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 14427–14469, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-14427-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-14427-2021, 2021
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Wildfire smoke has crucial impacts on air quality, while uncertainties in the numerical forecasts remain significant. We present an evaluation of 12 real-time forecasting systems. Comparison of predicted smoke emissions suggests a large spread in magnitudes, with temporal patterns deviating from satellite detections. The performance for AOD and surface PM2.5 and their discrepancies highlighted the role of accurately represented spatiotemporal emission profiles in improving smoke forecasts.
Huisheng Bian, Eunjee Lee, Randal D. Koster, Donifan Barahona, Mian Chin, Peter R. Colarco, Anton Darmenov, Sarith Mahanama, Michael Manyin, Peter Norris, John Shilling, Hongbin Yu, and Fanwei Zeng
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 14177–14197, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-14177-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-14177-2021, 2021
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The study using the NASA Earth system model shows ~2.6 % increase in burning season gross primary production and ~1.5 % increase in annual net primary production across the Amazon Basin during 2010–2016 due to the change in surface downward direct and diffuse photosynthetically active radiation by biomass burning aerosols. Such an aerosol effect is strongly dependent on the presence of clouds. The cloud fraction at which aerosols switch from stimulating to inhibiting plant growth occurs at ~0.8.
Xiaoxia Shang, Tero Mielonen, Antti Lipponen, Elina Giannakaki, Ari Leskinen, Virginie Buchard, Anton S. Darmenov, Antti Kukkurainen, Antti Arola, Ewan O'Connor, Anne Hirsikko, and Mika Komppula
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 6159–6179, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-6159-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-6159-2021, 2021
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The long-range-transported smoke particles from a Canadian wildfire event were observed with a multi-wavelength Raman polarization lidar and a ceilometer over Kuopio, Finland, in June 2019. The optical properties and the mass concentration estimations were reported for such aged smoke aerosols over northern Europe.
Hongbin Yu, Qian Tan, Lillian Zhou, Yaping Zhou, Huisheng Bian, Mian Chin, Claire L. Ryder, Robert C. Levy, Yaswant Pradhan, Yingxi Shi, Qianqian Song, Zhibo Zhang, Peter R. Colarco, Dongchul Kim, Lorraine A. Remer, Tianle Yuan, Olga Mayol-Bracero, and Brent N. Holben
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 12359–12383, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-12359-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-12359-2021, 2021
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This study characterizes a historic African dust intrusion into the Caribbean Basin in June 2020 using satellites and NASA GEOS. Dust emissions in West Africa were large albeit not extreme. However, a unique synoptic system accumulated the dust near the coast for about 4 d before it was ventilated. Although GEOS reproduced satellite-observed plume tracks well, it substantially underestimated dust emissions and did not lift up dust high enough for ensuing long-range transport.
Sampa Das, Peter R. Colarco, Luke D. Oman, Ghassan Taha, and Omar Torres
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 12069–12090, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-12069-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-12069-2021, 2021
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Interactions of extreme fires with weather systems can produce towering smoke plumes that inject aerosols at very high altitudes (> 10 km). Three such major injections, largest at the time in terms of emitted aerosol mass, took place over British Columbia, Canada, in August 2017. We model the transport and impacts of injected aerosols on the radiation balance of the atmosphere. Our model results match the satellite-observed plume transport and residence time at these high altitudes very closely.
Kristina Pistone, Paquita Zuidema, Robert Wood, Michael Diamond, Arlindo M. da Silva, Gonzalo Ferrada, Pablo E. Saide, Rei Ueyama, Ju-Mee Ryoo, Leonhard Pfister, James Podolske, David Noone, Ryan Bennett, Eric Stith, Gregory Carmichael, Jens Redemann, Connor Flynn, Samuel LeBlanc, Michal Segal-Rozenhaimer, and Yohei Shinozuka
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 9643–9668, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-9643-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-9643-2021, 2021
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Using aircraft-based measurements off the Atlantic coast of Africa, we found the springtime smoke plume was strongly correlated with the amount of water vapor in the atmosphere (more smoke indicated more humidity). We see the same general feature in satellite-assimilated and free-running models. Our analysis suggests this relationship is not caused by the burning but originates due to coincident continental meteorology plus fires. This air is transported over the ocean without further mixing.
Jasper F. Kok, Adeyemi A. Adebiyi, Samuel Albani, Yves Balkanski, Ramiro Checa-Garcia, Mian Chin, Peter R. Colarco, Douglas S. Hamilton, Yue Huang, Akinori Ito, Martina Klose, Danny M. Leung, Longlei Li, Natalie M. Mahowald, Ron L. Miller, Vincenzo Obiso, Carlos Pérez García-Pando, Adriana Rocha-Lima, Jessica S. Wan, and Chloe A. Whicker
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 8127–8167, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-8127-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-8127-2021, 2021
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Desert dust interacts with virtually every component of the Earth system, including the climate system. We develop a new methodology to represent the global dust cycle that integrates observational constraints on the properties and abundance of desert dust with global atmospheric model simulations. We show that the resulting representation of the global dust cycle is more accurate than what can be obtained from a large number of current climate global atmospheric models.
Jasper F. Kok, Adeyemi A. Adebiyi, Samuel Albani, Yves Balkanski, Ramiro Checa-Garcia, Mian Chin, Peter R. Colarco, Douglas S. Hamilton, Yue Huang, Akinori Ito, Martina Klose, Longlei Li, Natalie M. Mahowald, Ron L. Miller, Vincenzo Obiso, Carlos Pérez García-Pando, Adriana Rocha-Lima, and Jessica S. Wan
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 8169–8193, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-8169-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-8169-2021, 2021
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The many impacts of dust on the Earth system depend on dust mineralogy, which varies between dust source regions. We constrain the contribution of the world’s main dust source regions by integrating dust observations with global model simulations. We find that Asian dust contributes more and that North African dust contributes less than models account for. We obtain a dataset of each source region’s contribution to the dust cycle that can be used to constrain dust impacts on the Earth system.
Nikita M. Fedkin, Can Li, Nickolay A. Krotkov, Pascal Hedelt, Diego G. Loyola, Russell R. Dickerson, and Robert Spurr
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 3673–3691, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-3673-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-3673-2021, 2021
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This study presents a new volcanic sulfur dioxide (SO2) layer height retrieval algorithm for the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI). We generated a large spectral dataset with a radiative transfer model and used it to train neural networks to predict SO2 height from OMI radiance data. The algorithm is fast and takes less than 10 min for a single orbit. Retrievals were tested on four eruption cases, and results had reasonable agreement (within 2 km) with other retrievals and previous studies.
Nick Schutgens, Oleg Dubovik, Otto Hasekamp, Omar Torres, Hiren Jethva, Peter J. T. Leonard, Pavel Litvinov, Jens Redemann, Yohei Shinozuka, Gerrit de Leeuw, Stefan Kinne, Thomas Popp, Michael Schulz, and Philip Stier
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 6895–6917, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-6895-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-6895-2021, 2021
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Absorptive aerosol has a potentially large impact on climate change. We evaluate and intercompare four global satellite datasets of absorptive aerosol optical depth (AAOD) and single-scattering albedo (SSA). We show that these datasets show reasonable correlations with the AErosol RObotic NETwork (AERONET) reference, although significant biases remain. In a follow-up paper we show that these observations nevertheless can be used for model evaluation.
Taufiq Hassan, Robert J. Allen, Wei Liu, and Cynthia A. Randles
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 5821–5846, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-5821-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-5821-2021, 2021
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State-of-the-art climate models yield robust, externally forced changes in the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC), the bulk of which are due to anthropogenic aerosol perturbations to net surface shortwave radiation and sea surface temperature. AMOC-related feedbacks act to reinforce this aerosol-forced response, largely due to changes in sea surface salinity (and hence sea surface density), with temperature- and cloud-related feedbacks acting to mute the initial response.
Alexander Vasilkov, Nickolay Krotkov, Eun-Su Yang, Lok Lamsal, Joanna Joiner, Patricia Castellanos, Zachary Fasnacht, and Robert Spurr
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 2857–2871, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-2857-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-2857-2021, 2021
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To explicitly account for aerosol effects in the OMI cloud and nitrogen dioxide algorithms, we use a model of aerosol optical properties from a global aerosol assimilation system and radiative transfer computations. Accounting for anisotropic reflection of Earth's surface is an important feature of the approach. Comparisons of the cloud and tropospheric nitrogen dioxide retrievals with implicit and explicit aerosol corrections are carried out for a selected area with high pollution.
Juseon Bak, Xiong Liu, Robert Spurr, Kai Yang, Caroline R. Nowlan, Christopher Chan Miller, Gonzalo Gonzalez Abad, and Kelly Chance
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 2659–2672, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-2659-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-2659-2021, 2021
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We apply a principal component analysis (PCA)-based approach combined with lookup tables (LUTs) of corrections to accelerate the VLIDORT radiative transfer (RT) model used in the retrieval of ozone profiles from backscattered ultraviolet (UV) measurements by the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI).
Jens Redemann, Robert Wood, Paquita Zuidema, Sarah J. Doherty, Bernadette Luna, Samuel E. LeBlanc, Michael S. Diamond, Yohei Shinozuka, Ian Y. Chang, Rei Ueyama, Leonhard Pfister, Ju-Mee Ryoo, Amie N. Dobracki, Arlindo M. da Silva, Karla M. Longo, Meloë S. Kacenelenbogen, Connor J. Flynn, Kristina Pistone, Nichola M. Knox, Stuart J. Piketh, James M. Haywood, Paola Formenti, Marc Mallet, Philip Stier, Andrew S. Ackerman, Susanne E. Bauer, Ann M. Fridlind, Gregory R. Carmichael, Pablo E. Saide, Gonzalo A. Ferrada, Steven G. Howell, Steffen Freitag, Brian Cairns, Brent N. Holben, Kirk D. Knobelspiesse, Simone Tanelli, Tristan S. L'Ecuyer, Andrew M. Dzambo, Ousmane O. Sy, Greg M. McFarquhar, Michael R. Poellot, Siddhant Gupta, Joseph R. O'Brien, Athanasios Nenes, Mary Kacarab, Jenny P. S. Wong, Jennifer D. Small-Griswold, Kenneth L. Thornhill, David Noone, James R. Podolske, K. Sebastian Schmidt, Peter Pilewskie, Hong Chen, Sabrina P. Cochrane, Arthur J. Sedlacek, Timothy J. Lang, Eric Stith, Michal Segal-Rozenhaimer, Richard A. Ferrare, Sharon P. Burton, Chris A. Hostetler, David J. Diner, Felix C. Seidel, Steven E. Platnick, Jeffrey S. Myers, Kerry G. Meyer, Douglas A. Spangenberg, Hal Maring, and Lan Gao
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 1507–1563, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-1507-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-1507-2021, 2021
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Southern Africa produces significant biomass burning emissions whose impacts on regional and global climate are poorly understood. ORACLES (ObseRvations of Aerosols above CLouds and their intEractionS) is a 5-year NASA investigation designed to study the key processes that determine these climate impacts. The main purpose of this paper is to familiarize the broader scientific community with the ORACLES project, the dataset it produced, and the most important initial findings.
Yan Yu, Olga V. Kalashnikova, Michael J. Garay, Huikyo Lee, Myungje Choi, Gregory S. Okin, John E. Yorks, James R. Campbell, and Jared Marquis
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 1427–1447, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-1427-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-1427-2021, 2021
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Given the current uncertainties in the simulated diurnal variability of global dust mobilization and concentration, observational characterization of the variations in dust mobilization and concentration will provide a valuable benchmark for evaluating and constraining such model simulations. The current study investigates the diurnal cycle of dust loading across the global tropics, subtropics, and mid-latitudes by analyzing aerosol observations from the International Space Station.
Jianglong Zhang, Robert J. D. Spurr, Jeffrey S. Reid, Peng Xian, Peter R. Colarco, James R. Campbell, Edward J. Hyer, and Nancy L. Baker
Geosci. Model Dev., 14, 27–42, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-14-27-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-14-27-2021, 2021
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A first-of-its-kind scheme has been developed for assimilating Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) aerosol index (AI) measurements into the Naval Aerosol Analysis and Predictive System. Improvements in model simulations demonstrate the utility of OMI AI data assimilation for improving the accuracy of aerosol model analysis over cloudy regions and bright surfaces. This study can be considered one of the first attempts at direct radiance assimilation in the UV spectrum for aerosol analyses.
Jasper R. Lewis, James R. Campbell, Sebastian A. Stewart, Ivy Tan, Ellsworth J. Welton, and Simone Lolli
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 6901–6913, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-6901-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-6901-2020, 2020
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In this work, the authors describe a process to determine the thermodynamic cloud phase using the Micro Pulse Lidar Network volume depolarization ratio measurements and temperature profiles from the Global Modeling and Assimilation Office GEOS-5 model. A multi-year analysis and comparisons to supercooled liquid water fractions derived from CALIPSO satellite measurements are used to demonstrate the efficacy of the method.
Omar Torres, Hiren Jethva, Changwoo Ahn, Glen Jaross, and Diego G. Loyola
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 6789–6806, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-6789-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-6789-2020, 2020
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TROPOMI measures the quantity of small suspended particles (aerosols). We describe initial results of aerosol measurements using a NASA algorithm that retrieves the UV aerosol index, aerosol optical depth, and single-scattering albedo. An evaluation of derived products using sun-photometer observations shows close agreement. We also use these results to discuss important biomass burning and wildfire events around the world that got the attention of scientists and news media alike.
Peng Xian, Philip J. Klotzbach, Jason P. Dunion, Matthew A. Janiga, Jeffrey S. Reid, Peter R. Colarco, and Zak Kipling
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 15357–15378, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-15357-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-15357-2020, 2020
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Using dust AOD (DAOD) data from three aerosol reanalyses, we explored the correlative relationships between DAOD and multiple indices representing seasonal Atlantic TC activities. A robust negative correlation with Caribbean DAOD and Atlantic TC activity was found. We documented for the first time the regional differences of this relationship for over the Caribbean and the tropical North Atlantic. We also evaluated the impacts of potential confounding climate factors in this relationship.
Can Li, Nickolay A. Krotkov, Peter J. T. Leonard, Simon Carn, Joanna Joiner, Robert J. D. Spurr, and Alexander Vasilkov
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 6175–6191, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-6175-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-6175-2020, 2020
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Sulfur dioxide (SO2) is an important pollutant that causes haze and acid rain. The Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) has been providing global observation of SO2 from space for over 15 years. In this paper, we introduce a new OMI SO2 dataset for global pollution monitoring. The dataset better accounts for the influences of different factors such as location and sun and satellite angles, leading to improved data quality. The new OMI SO2 dataset is publicly available through NASA's data center.
Mingxuan Wu, Xiaohong Liu, Hongbin Yu, Hailong Wang, Yang Shi, Kang Yang, Anton Darmenov, Chenglai Wu, Zhien Wang, Tao Luo, Yan Feng, and Ziming Ke
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 13835–13855, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-13835-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-13835-2020, 2020
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The spatiotemporal distributions of dust aerosol simulated by global climate models (GCMs) are highly uncertain. In this study, we evaluate dust extinction profiles, optical depth, and surface concentrations simulated in three GCMs and one reanalysis against multiple satellite retrievals and surface observations to gain process-level understanding. Our results highlight the importance of correctly representing dust emission, dry/wet deposition, and size distribution in GCMs.
Nick Schutgens, Andrew M. Sayer, Andreas Heckel, Christina Hsu, Hiren Jethva, Gerrit de Leeuw, Peter J. T. Leonard, Robert C. Levy, Antti Lipponen, Alexei Lyapustin, Peter North, Thomas Popp, Caroline Poulsen, Virginia Sawyer, Larisa Sogacheva, Gareth Thomas, Omar Torres, Yujie Wang, Stefan Kinne, Michael Schulz, and Philip Stier
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 12431–12457, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-12431-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-12431-2020, 2020
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We intercompare 14 different datasets of satellite observations of aerosol. Such measurements are challenging but also provide the best opportunity to globally observe an atmospheric component strongly related to air pollution and climate change. Our study shows that most datasets perform similarly well on a global scale but that locally errors can be quite different. We develop a technique to estimate satellite errors everywhere, even in the absence of surface reference data.
Yohei Shinozuka, Pablo E. Saide, Gonzalo A. Ferrada, Sharon P. Burton, Richard Ferrare, Sarah J. Doherty, Hamish Gordon, Karla Longo, Marc Mallet, Yan Feng, Qiaoqiao Wang, Yafang Cheng, Amie Dobracki, Steffen Freitag, Steven G. Howell, Samuel LeBlanc, Connor Flynn, Michal Segal-Rosenhaimer, Kristina Pistone, James R. Podolske, Eric J. Stith, Joseph Ryan Bennett, Gregory R. Carmichael, Arlindo da Silva, Ravi Govindaraju, Ruby Leung, Yang Zhang, Leonhard Pfister, Ju-Mee Ryoo, Jens Redemann, Robert Wood, and Paquita Zuidema
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 11491–11526, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-11491-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-11491-2020, 2020
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In the southeast Atlantic, well-defined smoke plumes from Africa advect over marine boundary layer cloud decks; both are most extensive around September, when most of the smoke resides in the free troposphere. A framework is put forth for evaluating the performance of a range of global and regional atmospheric composition models against observations made during the NASA ORACLES (ObseRvations of Aerosols above CLouds and their intEractionS) airborne mission in September 2016.
Kirk Knobelspiesse, Henrique M. J. Barbosa, Christine Bradley, Carol Bruegge, Brian Cairns, Gao Chen, Jacek Chowdhary, Anthony Cook, Antonio Di Noia, Bastiaan van Diedenhoven, David J. Diner, Richard Ferrare, Guangliang Fu, Meng Gao, Michael Garay, Johnathan Hair, David Harper, Gerard van Harten, Otto Hasekamp, Mark Helmlinger, Chris Hostetler, Olga Kalashnikova, Andrew Kupchock, Karla Longo De Freitas, Hal Maring, J. Vanderlei Martins, Brent McBride, Matthew McGill, Ken Norlin, Anin Puthukkudy, Brian Rheingans, Jeroen Rietjens, Felix C. Seidel, Arlindo da Silva, Martijn Smit, Snorre Stamnes, Qian Tan, Sebastian Val, Andrzej Wasilewski, Feng Xu, Xiaoguang Xu, and John Yorks
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 12, 2183–2208, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-12-2183-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-12-2183-2020, 2020
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The Aerosol Characterization from Polarimeter and Lidar (ACEPOL) field campaign is a resource for the next generation of spaceborne multi-angle polarimeter (MAP) and lidar missions. Conducted in the fall of 2017 from the Armstrong Flight Research Center in Palmdale, California, four MAP instruments and two lidars were flown on the high-altitude ER-2 aircraft over a variety of scene types and ground assets. Data are freely available to the public and useful for algorithm development and testing.
María A. Burgos, Elisabeth Andrews, Gloria Titos, Angela Benedetti, Huisheng Bian, Virginie Buchard, Gabriele Curci, Zak Kipling, Alf Kirkevåg, Harri Kokkola, Anton Laakso, Julie Letertre-Danczak, Marianne T. Lund, Hitoshi Matsui, Gunnar Myhre, Cynthia Randles, Michael Schulz, Twan van Noije, Kai Zhang, Lucas Alados-Arboledas, Urs Baltensperger, Anne Jefferson, James Sherman, Junying Sun, Ernest Weingartner, and Paul Zieger
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 10231–10258, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-10231-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-10231-2020, 2020
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We investigate how well models represent the enhancement in scattering coefficients due to particle water uptake, and perform an evaluation of several implementation schemes used in ten Earth system models. Our results show the importance of the parameterization of hygroscopicity and model chemistry as drivers of some of the observed diversity amongst model estimates. The definition of dry conditions and the phenomena taking place in this relative humidity range also impact the model evaluation.
Samantha J. Kramer, Claudia Alvarez, Anne E. Barkley, Peter R. Colarco, Lillian Custals, Rodrigo Delgadillo, Cassandra J. Gaston, Ravi Govindaraju, and Paquita Zuidema
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 10047–10062, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-10047-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-10047-2020, 2020
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Comparisons of sea salt and size-resolved dust mass concentration measurements over southeast Florida to those from the MERRA-2/GEOS-5 FP aerosol reanalysis show the reanalysis depicts excessive sea salt and puts too much dust in larger intermediate sizes than do the measurements. The vertical distribution of the dust mass is approximately correct. The incorrect reanalysis aerosol speciation and dust sizes have implications for the modeling of their transport, deposition, and radiative impact.
Mengyao Liu, Jintai Lin, Hao Kong, K. Folkert Boersma, Henk Eskes, Yugo Kanaya, Qin He, Xin Tian, Kai Qin, Pinhua Xie, Robert Spurr, Ruijing Ni, Yingying Yan, Hongjian Weng, and Jingxu Wang
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 4247–4259, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-4247-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-4247-2020, 2020
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Nitrogen oxides (NOx = NO + NO2) are important air pollutants in the troposphere and play crucial roles in the formation of ozone and particulate matter. The recently launched TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) provides an opportunity to retrieve tropospheric concentrations of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) at an unprecedented high horizontal resolution. This work presents a new NO2 retrieval product over East Asia and further quantifies key factors affecting the retrieval, including aerosol.
Alexander Ukhov, Suleiman Mostamandi, Arlindo da Silva, Johannes Flemming, Yasser Alshehri, Illia Shevchenko, and Georgiy Stenchikov
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 9281–9310, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-9281-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-9281-2020, 2020
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The data assimilation products MERRA2 and CAMS are tested over the Middle East (ME) against in situ and satellite observations. For the first time, we compared the new MODIS aerosol optical depth (AOD) retrieval, MAIAC, with the Deep Blue and Dark Target MODIS AOD. We conducted 2-year high-resolution WRF-Chem simulations with the most accurate OMI-HTAP SO2 emissions to estimate the contribution of natural and anthropogenic aerosols to the PM pollution in the ME.
Jay Herman, Alexander Cede, Liang Huang, Jerald Ziemke, Omar Torres, Nickolay Krotkov, Matthew Kowalewski, and Karin Blank
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 8351–8380, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-8351-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-8351-2020, 2020
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The amount of erythemal irradiance reaching the Earth's surface has been calculated from ozone, aerosol, and reflectivity data obtained from OMI and DSCOVR/EPIC satellite instruments showing areas with high levels of solar UV radiation. Changes in erythemal irradiance, cloud transmission, aerosol transmission, and ozone absorption have been estimated for 14 years 2005–2018 in units of percent per year for 191 locations, mostly large cities, and from EPIC for the entire illuminated Earth.
Zhong Chen, Pawan K. Bhartia, Omar Torres, Glen Jaross, Robert Loughman, Matthew DeLand, Peter Colarco, Robert Damadeo, and Ghassan Taha
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 3471–3485, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-3471-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-3471-2020, 2020
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The scope of the paper is the evaluation of stratospheric aerosols derived from the OMPS/LP instrument via comparison with independent datasets from the SAGE III/ISS instrument. Results show very good agreement for extinction profiles between an altitude of 19 and 27 km, to within ±25 %, and show systematic differences (LP-SAGE III/ISS) above 28 km and below 19 km (greater than ±25 %).
Alma Hodzic, Pedro Campuzano-Jost, Huisheng Bian, Mian Chin, Peter R. Colarco, Douglas A. Day, Karl D. Froyd, Bernd Heinold, Duseong S. Jo, Joseph M. Katich, John K. Kodros, Benjamin A. Nault, Jeffrey R. Pierce, Eric Ray, Jacob Schacht, Gregory P. Schill, Jason C. Schroder, Joshua P. Schwarz, Donna T. Sueper, Ina Tegen, Simone Tilmes, Kostas Tsigaridis, Pengfei Yu, and Jose L. Jimenez
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 4607–4635, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-4607-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-4607-2020, 2020
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Organic aerosol (OA) is a key source of uncertainty in aerosol climate effects. We present the first pole-to-pole OA characterization during the NASA Atmospheric Tomography aircraft mission. OA has a strong seasonal and zonal variability, with the highest levels in summer and over fire-influenced regions and the lowest ones in the southern high latitudes. We show that global models predict the OA distribution well but not the relative contribution of OA emissions vs. chemical production.
Ernest Nyaku, Robert Loughman, Pawan K. Bhartia, Terry Deshler, Zhong Chen, and Peter R. Colarco
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 1071–1087, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-1071-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-1071-2020, 2020
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This paper shows the importance of the nature of the aerosol phase function used in the retrieval of the stratospheric aerosol extinction from limb scattering measurements. The aerosol phase function is derived from the parameters using either a unimodal lognormal or gamma aerosol size distribution. These two distributions were fitted to the same aerosol concentration measurements at two altitudes, and depending on the nature of the measurements, each distribution shows its strengths.
Therese S. Carter, Colette L. Heald, Jose L. Jimenez, Pedro Campuzano-Jost, Yutaka Kondo, Nobuhiro Moteki, Joshua P. Schwarz, Christine Wiedinmyer, Anton S. Darmenov, Arlindo M. da Silva, and Johannes W. Kaiser
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 2073–2097, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-2073-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-2073-2020, 2020
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Fires and the smoke they emit impact air quality, health, and climate, but the abundance and properties of smoke remain uncertain and poorly constrained. To explore this, we compare model simulations driven by four commonly-used fire emission inventories with surface, aloft, and satellite observations. We show that across inventories smoke emissions differ by factors of 4 to 7 over North America, challenging our ability to accurately characterize the impact of smoke on air quality and climate.
Larisa Sogacheva, Thomas Popp, Andrew M. Sayer, Oleg Dubovik, Michael J. Garay, Andreas Heckel, N. Christina Hsu, Hiren Jethva, Ralph A. Kahn, Pekka Kolmonen, Miriam Kosmale, Gerrit de Leeuw, Robert C. Levy, Pavel Litvinov, Alexei Lyapustin, Peter North, Omar Torres, and Antti Arola
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 2031–2056, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-2031-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-2031-2020, 2020
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The typical lifetime of a single satellite platform is on the order of 5–15 years; thus, for climate studies the usage of multiple satellite sensors should be considered.
Here we introduce and evaluate a monthly AOD merged product and AOD global and regional time series for the period 1995–2017 created from 12 individual satellite AOD products, which provide a long-term perspective on AOD changes over different regions of the globe.
Guangliang Fu, Otto Hasekamp, Jeroen Rietjens, Martijn Smit, Antonio Di Noia, Brian Cairns, Andrzej Wasilewski, David Diner, Felix Seidel, Feng Xu, Kirk Knobelspiesse, Meng Gao, Arlindo da Silva, Sharon Burton, Chris Hostetler, John Hair, and Richard Ferrare
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 553–573, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-553-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-553-2020, 2020
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In this paper, we present aerosol retrieval results from the ACEPOL (Aerosol Characterization from Polarimeter and Lidar) campaign, which was a joint initiative between NASA and SRON (the Netherlands Institute for Space Research). We perform aerosol retrievals from different multi-angle polarimeters employed during the ACEPOL campaign and evaluate them against ground-based AERONET measurements and High Spectral Resolution Lidar-2 (HSRL-2) measurements.
Xiaohua Pan, Charles Ichoku, Mian Chin, Huisheng Bian, Anton Darmenov, Peter Colarco, Luke Ellison, Tom Kucsera, Arlindo da Silva, Jun Wang, Tomohiro Oda, and Ge Cui
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 969–994, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-969-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-969-2020, 2020
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The differences between these six BB emission datasets are large. Our study found that (1) most current biomass burning (BB) aerosol emission datasets derived from satellite observations lead to the underestimation of aerosol optical depth (AOD) in this model in the biomass-burning-dominated regions and (2) it is important to accurately estimate both the magnitudes and spatial patterns of regional BB emissions in order for a model using these emissions to reproduce observed AOD levels.
Zachary Fasnacht, Alexander Vasilkov, David Haffner, Wenhan Qin, Joanna Joiner, Nickolay Krotkov, Andrew M. Sayer, and Robert Spurr
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 12, 6749–6769, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-6749-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-6749-2019, 2019
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The anisotropy of Earth's surface reflection plays an important role in satellite-based retrievals of cloud, aerosol, and trace gases. Most current ultraviolet and visible satellite retrievals utilize climatological surface reflectivity databases that do not account for surface anisotropy. The GLER concept was introduced to account for such features. Here we evaluate GLER for water surfaces by comparing with OMI measurements and show that it captures these surface anisotropy features.
Hiren Jethva and Omar Torres
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 12, 6489–6503, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-6489-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-6489-2019, 2019
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The intercomparison of satellite- and ground-measured aerosol absorption properties, such as presented here using Aura-OMI and SKYNET sensors, constitutes an important exercise to evaluate relative performance, track algorithm changes, and to diagnose retrieval accuracy and issues. The two datasets are found to agree reasonably well under moderate to higher aerosol loading but show disagreement under lower aerosol amounts due to retrieval issues in both techniques.
Yan Yu, Olga V. Kalashnikova, Michael J. Garay, Huikyo Lee, Myungje Choi, Gregory S. Okin, John E. Yorks, and James R. Campbell
Atmos. Chem. Phys. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2019-975, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2019-975, 2019
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Given the current uncertainties in the simulated diurnal variability of global dust mobilization and concentration, observational characterization of the variations in dust mobilization and concentration will provide a valuable benchmark for evaluating and constraining such model simulations. The current study investigates the diurnal cycle of dust loading across the global tropics, sub-tropics, and mid-latitudes by analyzing aerosol observations from the International Space Station.
Daniel H. Cusworth, Daniel J. Jacob, Daniel J. Varon, Christopher Chan Miller, Xiong Liu, Kelly Chance, Andrew K. Thorpe, Riley M. Duren, Charles E. Miller, David R. Thompson, Christian Frankenberg, Luis Guanter, and Cynthia A. Randles
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 12, 5655–5668, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-5655-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-5655-2019, 2019
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We examine the potential for global detection of methane plumes from individual point sources with the new generation of spaceborne imaging spectrometers scheduled for launch in 2019–2025. We perform methane retrievals on simulated scenes with varying surfaces and atmospheric methane concentrations. Our results suggest that imaging spectrometers in space could play a transformative role in the future for quantifying methane emissions from point sources on a global scale.
Pascal Hedelt, Dmitry S. Efremenko, Diego G. Loyola, Robert Spurr, and Lieven Clarisse
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 12, 5503–5517, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-5503-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-5503-2019, 2019
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Sulfur dioxide (SO2) emitted during volcanic eruptions poses not only a major threat to local populations, air quality, and aviation but also has an impact on the climate. The satellite-based detection of the SO2 plume is easy; however, it requires exact knowledge of the SO2 layer height. This paper presents a new method for the extremely fast and accurate determination of the layer height, which is essential in volcanic plume forecasts and the exact determination of the SO2 density.
Fang Li, Maria Val Martin, Meinrat O. Andreae, Almut Arneth, Stijn Hantson, Johannes W. Kaiser, Gitta Lasslop, Chao Yue, Dominique Bachelet, Matthew Forrest, Erik Kluzek, Xiaohong Liu, Stephane Mangeon, Joe R. Melton, Daniel S. Ward, Anton Darmenov, Thomas Hickler, Charles Ichoku, Brian I. Magi, Stephen Sitch, Guido R. van der Werf, Christine Wiedinmyer, and Sam S. Rabin
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 12545–12567, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-12545-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-12545-2019, 2019
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Fire emissions are critical for atmospheric composition, climate, carbon cycle, and air quality. We provide the first global multi-model fire emission reconstructions for 1700–2012, including carbon and 33 species of trace gases and aerosols, based on the nine state-of-the-art global fire models that participated in FireMIP. We also provide information on the recent status and limitations of the model-based reconstructions and identify the main uncertainty sources in their long-term changes.
Huisheng Bian, Karl Froyd, Daniel M. Murphy, Jack Dibb, Anton Darmenov, Mian Chin, Peter R. Colarco, Arlindo da Silva, Tom L. Kucsera, Gregory Schill, Hongbin Yu, Paul Bui, Maximilian Dollner, Bernadett Weinzierl, and Alexander Smirnov
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 10773–10785, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-10773-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-10773-2019, 2019
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We address the GEOS-GOCART sea salt simulations constrained by NASA EVS ATom measurements, as well as those by MODIS and the AERONET MAN. The study covers remote regions over the Pacific, Atlantic, and Southern oceans from near the surface to ~ 12 km altitude and covers both summer and winter seasons. Important sea salt fields, e.g., mass mixing ratio, vertical distribution, size distribution, and marine aerosol AOD, as well as their relationship to relative humidity and emissions, are examined.
Hiren Jethva, Omar Torres, and Yasuko Yoshida
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 12, 4291–4307, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-4291-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-4291-2019, 2019
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Accuracy assessment of the satellite-retrieved aerosol properties is an important exercise to validate and track the changes in the retrieval algorithm. Here, for the first time, three standard aerosol products derived from MODIS Aqua are compared against the ground-based AERONET dataset over the North American region. The present validation analysis provides guidance in the development of inversion schemes to derive aerosol properties from existing and future MODIS-like sensors.
Wenhan Qin, Zachary Fasnacht, David Haffner, Alexander Vasilkov, Joanna Joiner, Nickolay Krotkov, Bradford Fisher, and Robert Spurr
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 12, 3997–4017, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-3997-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-3997-2019, 2019
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Satellite observations depend on Sun and view angles due to anisotropy of the Earth's atmosphere and surface reflection. But most of the ultraviolet and visible cloud, aerosol, and trace-gas algorithms utilize surface reflectivity databases that do not account for surface anisotropy. We create a surface database using the GLER concept which adequately accounts for surface anisotropy, validate it with independent satellite data, and provide a simple implementation to the current algorithms.
Xiaoguang Xu, Jun Wang, Yi Wang, Jing Zeng, Omar Torres, Jeffrey S. Reid, Steven D. Miller, J. Vanderlei Martins, and Lorraine A. Remer
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 12, 3269–3288, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-3269-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-3269-2019, 2019
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Detecting aerosol layer height from space is challenging. The traditional method relies on active sensors such as lidar that provide the detailed vertical structure of the aerosol profile but is costly with limited spatial coverage (more than 1 year is needed for global coverage). Here we developed a passive remote sensing technique that uses backscattered sunlight to retrieve smoke aerosol layer height over both water and vegetated surfaces from a sensor 1.5 million kilometers from the Earth.
Marc Mallet, Pierre Nabat, Paquita Zuidema, Jens Redemann, Andrew Mark Sayer, Martin Stengel, Sebastian Schmidt, Sabrina Cochrane, Sharon Burton, Richard Ferrare, Kerry Meyer, Pablo Saide, Hiren Jethva, Omar Torres, Robert Wood, David Saint Martin, Romain Roehrig, Christina Hsu, and Paola Formenti
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 4963–4990, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-4963-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-4963-2019, 2019
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The model is able to represent LWP but not the LCF. AOD is consistent over the continent but also over ocean (ACAOD). Differences are observed in SSA due to the absence of internal mixing in ALADIN-Climate. A significant regional gradient of the forcing at TOA is observed. An intense positive forcing is simulated over Gabon. Results highlight the significant effect of enhanced moisture on BBA extinction. The surface dimming modifies the energy budget.
David M. Giles, Alexander Sinyuk, Mikhail G. Sorokin, Joel S. Schafer, Alexander Smirnov, Ilya Slutsker, Thomas F. Eck, Brent N. Holben, Jasper R. Lewis, James R. Campbell, Ellsworth J. Welton, Sergey V. Korkin, and Alexei I. Lyapustin
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 12, 169–209, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-169-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-169-2019, 2019
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Clouds or instrumental anomalies may perturb ground-based solar measurements used to calculate aerosol optical depth (AOD). This study presents a new algorithm of automated near-real-time (NRT) quality controls with improved cloud screening for AERONET AOD measurements. Results from the new and old algorithms have excellent agreement for the highest-quality AOD level, while the new algorithm provides higher-quality NRT AOD for applications such as data assimilation and satellite evaluation.
Mayra I. Oyola, James R. Campbell, Peng Xian, Anthony Bucholtz, Richard A. Ferrare, Sharon P. Burton, Olga Kalashnikova, Benjamin C. Ruston, and Simone Lolli
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 205–218, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-205-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-205-2019, 2019
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We conceptualized the aerosol radiative impact of an inline aerosol analysis field coupled with a global meteorological forecast system utilizing NAAPS and NAVGEM analysis and surface albedo fields. Model simulations were compared with in situ validation data collected during the NASA 2013 SEAC4RS experiment. Instantaneous heating rates peaked around 7 K day-1 in the lower part of the troposphere, while the HSRL profiles resulted in values of up to 18 K day-1 in the in the mid-troposphere.
Zhong Chen, Pawan K. Bhartia, Robert Loughman, Peter Colarco, and Matthew DeLand
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 6495–6509, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-6495-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-6495-2018, 2018
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We describe the derivation of an improved aerosol size distribution (ASD) for the OMPS/LP retrieval algorithm. The new ASD uses a gamma function distribution that is derived from CARMA-calculated results. The new ASD also explains the spectral dependence of LP-measured radiances well. Initial comparisons with collocated extinction profiles retrieved at 676 nm from the SAGE III/ISS instrument show a significant improvement in agreement for the LP retrievals.
Daniel H. Cusworth, Daniel J. Jacob, Jian-Xiong Sheng, Joshua Benmergui, Alexander J. Turner, Jeremy Brandman, Laurent White, and Cynthia A. Randles
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 16885–16896, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-16885-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-16885-2018, 2018
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Methane emissions from oil/gas fields originate from a large number of small and densely clustered point sources. We examine the potential of recently launched or planned satellites to locate these high-mode emitters through measurements of atmospheric methane. We find that the recently launched TROPOMI and the planned GeoCARB instruments are successful at locating high-emitting sources for fields of 20-50 emitters within the 50 × 50 km2 geographic domain but are unsuccessful for denser fields.
Fei Liu, Sungyeon Choi, Can Li, Vitali E. Fioletov, Chris A. McLinden, Joanna Joiner, Nickolay A. Krotkov, Huisheng Bian, Greet Janssens-Maenhout, Anton S. Darmenov, and Arlindo M. da Silva
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 16571–16586, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-16571-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-16571-2018, 2018
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Sulfur dioxide measurements from space have been used to detect emissions from large sources. We developed a new emission inventory by combining the satellite-based emission estimates and the conventional bottom-up inventory for smaller sources. The new inventory improves the model agreement with in situ observations and offers the possibility of rapid updates to emissions.
Lu Hu, Christoph A. Keller, Michael S. Long, Tomás Sherwen, Benjamin Auer, Arlindo Da Silva, Jon E. Nielsen, Steven Pawson, Matthew A. Thompson, Atanas L. Trayanov, Katherine R. Travis, Stuart K. Grange, Mat J. Evans, and Daniel J. Jacob
Geosci. Model Dev., 11, 4603–4620, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-11-4603-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-11-4603-2018, 2018
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We present a full-year online global simulation of tropospheric chemistry at 12.5 km resolution. To the best of our knowledge, such a resolution in a state-of-the-science global simulation of tropospheric chemistry is unprecedented. This simulation will serve as the Nature Run for observing system simulation experiments to support the future geostationary satellite constellation for tropospheric chemistry, and can also be used for various air quality applications.
Hiren Jethva, Omar Torres, and Changwoo Ahn
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 5837–5864, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-5837-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-5837-2018, 2018
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We introduce a new global satellite product of aerosol amounts lofted above the clouds from near-UV observations of Aura/OMI. The global decadal record derived from the product has revealed unprecedented quantitative information of light-absorbing aerosols above the cloud over several oceanic and continental regions of the world. The new dataset characterizing the optical properties of aerosol-cloud overlap will help quantify their radiative effects and representation in climate models.
Qianqian Song, Zhibo Zhang, Hongbin Yu, Seiji Kato, Ping Yang, Peter Colarco, Lorraine A. Remer, and Claire L. Ryder
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 11303–11322, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-11303-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-11303-2018, 2018
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Mineral dust is the most abundant atmospheric aerosol component in terms of dry mass. In this study, we integrate recent aircraft measurements of dust microphysical and optical properties with satellite retrievals of aerosol and radiative fluxes to quantify the dust direct radiative effects on the shortwave and longwave radiation at both the top of the atmosphere and the surface in the tropical North Atlantic during summer months.
Angela Benedetti, Jeffrey S. Reid, Peter Knippertz, John H. Marsham, Francesca Di Giuseppe, Samuel Rémy, Sara Basart, Olivier Boucher, Ian M. Brooks, Laurent Menut, Lucia Mona, Paolo Laj, Gelsomina Pappalardo, Alfred Wiedensohler, Alexander Baklanov, Malcolm Brooks, Peter R. Colarco, Emilio Cuevas, Arlindo da Silva, Jeronimo Escribano, Johannes Flemming, Nicolas Huneeus, Oriol Jorba, Stelios Kazadzis, Stefan Kinne, Thomas Popp, Patricia K. Quinn, Thomas T. Sekiyama, Taichu Tanaka, and Enric Terradellas
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 10615–10643, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-10615-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-10615-2018, 2018
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Numerical prediction of aerosol particle properties has become an important activity at many research and operational weather centers. This development is due to growing interest from a diverse set of stakeholders, such as air quality regulatory bodies, aviation authorities, solar energy plant managers, climate service providers, and health professionals. This paper describes the advances in the field and sets out requirements for observations for the sustainability of these activities.
Alexander Vasilkov, Eun-Su Yang, Sergey Marchenko, Wenhan Qin, Lok Lamsal, Joanna Joiner, Nickolay Krotkov, David Haffner, Pawan K. Bhartia, and Robert Spurr
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 4093–4107, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-4093-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-4093-2018, 2018
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We discuss a new cloud algorithm that retrieves effective cloud fraction and cloud altitude and pressure from the oxygen dimer absorption band at 477 nm. The algorithm accounts for how changes in the sun–satellite geometry affect the surface reflection. The cloud fraction and pressure are used as inputs to the OMI algorithm that retrieves a pollutant gas called nitrogen dioxide. Impacts of the application of the newly developed cloud algorithm on the OMI nitrogen dioxide retrieval are discussed.
Robert C. Levy, Shana Mattoo, Virginia Sawyer, Yingxi Shi, Peter R. Colarco, Alexei I. Lyapustin, Yujie Wang, and Lorraine A. Remer
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 4073–4092, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-4073-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-4073-2018, 2018
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Global aerosol data sets are essential for assessing climate-related questions. When comparing data sets derived from twin satellite sensors, we find consistent global offsets between morning and afternoon observations. Applying satellite-like sampling to a global model derives much weaker morning/afternoon offsets, suggesting that the observational differences are due to calibration. However, applying additional calibration corrections appears to reduce (but not remove) the global offsets.
Jun Wang, Partha S. Bhattacharjee, Vijay Tallapragada, Cheng-Hsuan Lu, Shobha Kondragunta, Arlindo da Silva, Xiaoyang Zhang, Sheng-Po Chen, Shih-Wei Wei, Anton S. Darmenov, Jeff McQueen, Pius Lee, Prabhat Koner, and Andy Harris
Geosci. Model Dev., 11, 2315–2332, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-11-2315-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-11-2315-2018, 2018
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The NEMS GFS Aerosol Component (NGAC) version 2.0 for global multispecies aerosol forecast was developed at NCEP. Additional sea salt, sulfate, organic carbon, and black carbon aerosol species were included. This implementation advanced the global aerosol forecast capability and made a step forward toward developing a global aerosol data assimilation system. The aerosol products from this system have been provided to meet the stakeholder's needs.
Alexander J. Turner, Daniel J. Jacob, Joshua Benmergui, Jeremy Brandman, Laurent White, and Cynthia A. Randles
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 8265–8278, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-8265-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-8265-2018, 2018
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We conduct a 1-week WRF-STILT simulation to generate methane column footprints at 1.3 km spatial resolution and hourly temporal resolution over the Barnett Shale. We find that a week of TROPOMI observations should provide regional (~30 km) information on temporally invariant sources and GeoCARB should provide information on temporally invariant sources at 2–7 km spatial resolution. An instrument precision better than 6 ppb is an important threshold for achieving fine resolution of emissions.
Melanie S. Hammer, Randall V. Martin, Chi Li, Omar Torres, Max Manning, and Brian L. Boys
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 8097–8112, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-8097-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-8097-2018, 2018
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We apply a simulation of the Ultraviolet Aerosol Index (UVAI), a method of detecting aerosol absorption from satellite observations, to interpret UVAI values observed by the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) from 2005 to 2015 to understand global trends in aerosol composition. We find that global trends in the UVAI are largely explained by trends in absorption by mineral dust, absorption by brown carbon, and scattering by secondary inorganic aerosol.
Omar Torres, Pawan K. Bhartia, Hiren Jethva, and Changwoo Ahn
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 2701–2715, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-2701-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-2701-2018, 2018
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Since about three years after the launch the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) on the EOS-Aura satellite, the sensor’s viewing capability has been affected by what is believed to be an internal obstruction that has reduced OMI’s spatial coverage. It currently affects about half of the instrument’s 60 viewing positions. In this work we carry out an analysis to assess the effect of the reduced spatial coverage on the monthly average values of retrieved parameters.
Pieternel F. Levelt, Joanna Joiner, Johanna Tamminen, J. Pepijn Veefkind, Pawan K. Bhartia, Deborah C. Stein Zweers, Bryan N. Duncan, David G. Streets, Henk Eskes, Ronald van der A, Chris McLinden, Vitali Fioletov, Simon Carn, Jos de Laat, Matthew DeLand, Sergey Marchenko, Richard McPeters, Jerald Ziemke, Dejian Fu, Xiong Liu, Kenneth Pickering, Arnoud Apituley, Gonzalo González Abad, Antti Arola, Folkert Boersma, Christopher Chan Miller, Kelly Chance, Martin de Graaf, Janne Hakkarainen, Seppo Hassinen, Iolanda Ialongo, Quintus Kleipool, Nickolay Krotkov, Can Li, Lok Lamsal, Paul Newman, Caroline Nowlan, Raid Suleiman, Lieuwe Gijsbert Tilstra, Omar Torres, Huiqun Wang, and Krzysztof Wargan
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 5699–5745, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-5699-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-5699-2018, 2018
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The aim of this paper is to highlight the many successes of the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) spanning more than 13 years. Data from OMI have been used in a wide range of applications. Due to its unprecedented spatial resolution, in combination with daily global coverage, OMI plays a unique role in measuring trace gases important for the ozone layer, air quality, and climate change. OMI data continue to be used for new research and applications.
Jungbin Mok, Nickolay A. Krotkov, Omar Torres, Hiren Jethva, Zhanqing Li, Jhoon Kim, Ja-Ho Koo, Sujung Go, Hitoshi Irie, Gordon Labow, Thomas F. Eck, Brent N. Holben, Jay Herman, Robert P. Loughman, Elena Spinei, Seoung Soo Lee, Pradeep Khatri, and Monica Campanelli
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 2295–2311, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-2295-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-2295-2018, 2018
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Measuring aerosol absorption from the shortest ultraviolet (UV) to the near-infrared (NIR) wavelengths is important for studies of climate, tropospheric photochemistry, human health, and agricultural productivity. We estimate the accuracy and demonstrate consistency of aerosol absorption retrievals from different instruments, after accounting for spectrally varying surface albedo and gaseous absorption.
Simone Lolli, Fabio Madonna, Marco Rosoldi, James R. Campbell, Ellsworth J. Welton, Jasper R. Lewis, Yu Gu, and Gelsomina Pappalardo
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 1639–1651, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-1639-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-1639-2018, 2018
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We evaluate the comparability of aerosol and cloud vertically resolved optical properties obtained with varying lidar profiling techniques and/or data processing methodologies. The discrepancies are assessed by evaluating climate-sensitive direct radiative effects, computed by radiative transfer code means. Results show important discrepancies up to 0.8 W m−2 due to lidar data smoothing in cirrus clouds and a 0.05 W m−2 difference between Raman and elastic lidar technique on a dust layer aloft.
Igor Veselovskii, Philippe Goloub, Thierry Podvin, Didier Tanre, Arlindo da Silva, Peter Colarco, Patricia Castellanos, Mikhail Korenskiy, Qiaoyun Hu, David N. Whiteman, Daniel Pérez-Ramírez, Patrick Augustin, Marc Fourmentin, and Alexei Kolgotin
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 949–969, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-949-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-949-2018, 2018
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Observations of multiwavelength Mie–Raman lidar during smoke episode over West Africa are compared with the vertical distribution of aerosol parameters provided by the MERRA-2 model. The values of modeled and observed extinctions at both 355 nm and 532 nm are also rather close. The model predicts significant concentration of dust particles inside the smoke layer. This is supported by a high depolarization ratio of 15 % observed in the center of this layer.
Zhong Chen, Pawan K. Bhartia, Robert Loughman, and Peter Colarco
Atmos. Meas. Tech. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2018-4, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2018-4, 2018
Revised manuscript has not been submitted
Adriana Rocha-Lima, J. Vanderlei Martins, Lorraine A. Remer, Martin Todd, John H. Marsham, Sebastian Engelstaedter, Claire L. Ryder, Carolina Cavazos-Guerra, Paulo Artaxo, Peter Colarco, and Richard Washington
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 1023–1043, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-1023-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-1023-2018, 2018
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We present results of ground-based measurements and subsequent laboratory analysis of Sahara dust samples collected in Algeria and Mauritania during the Fennec campaign in 2011. The results show that the sampled dust has low absorption characteristics and exhibits a distinct spectral bow-like shape. We find distinctive differences in the composition and optical characteristics of the dust from the two sites, corroborating with other studies that not all Saharan dust is the same.
Travis D. Toth, James R. Campbell, Jeffrey S. Reid, Jason L. Tackett, Mark A. Vaughan, Jianglong Zhang, and Jared W. Marquis
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 499–514, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-499-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-499-2018, 2018
Diego G. Loyola, Sebastián Gimeno García, Ronny Lutz, Athina Argyrouli, Fabian Romahn, Robert J. D. Spurr, Mattia Pedergnana, Adrian Doicu, Víctor Molina García, and Olena Schüssler
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 409–427, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-409-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-409-2018, 2018
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In this paper we present the operational cloud retrieval algorithms for the TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) on board the Sentinel-5 Precursor (S5P) mission: OCRA (Optical Cloud Recognition Algorithm) retrieves the cloud fraction using measurements in the UV–VIS spectral regions, and ROCINN (Retrieval of Cloud Information using Neural Networks) retrieves the cloud top height and optical thickness using measurements in and around the oxygen A-band in the NIR.
Peter R. Colarco, Santiago Gassó, Changwoo Ahn, Virginie Buchard, Arlindo M. da Silva, and Omar Torres
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 10, 4121–4134, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-4121-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-4121-2017, 2017
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We need satellite observations to characterize the properties of atmospheric aerosols. Those observations have uncertainties associated with them because of assumptions made in their algorithms. We test the assumptions on a part of the aerosol algorithms used with the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) flying on the NASA Aura spacecraft. We simulate the OMI observations using a global aerosol model, and then compare what OMI tells us about the simulated aerosols with the model results directly.
Longtao Wu, Hui Su, Olga V. Kalashnikova, Jonathan H. Jiang, Chun Zhao, Michael J. Garay, James R. Campbell, and Nanpeng Yu
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 7291–7309, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-7291-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-7291-2017, 2017
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The WRF-Chem simulation successfully captures aerosol variations in the cold season in the San Joaquin Valley (SJV) but has poor performance in the warm season. High-resolution model simulation can better resolve nonhomogeneous distribution of anthropogenic emissions in urban areas, resulting in better simulation of aerosols in the cold season in the SJV. Poor performance of the WRF-Chem model in the warm season in the SJV is mainly due to misrepresentation of dust emission and vertical mixing.
Simone Lolli, James R. Campbell, Jasper R. Lewis, Yu Gu, and Ellsworth J. Welton
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 7025–7034, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-7025-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-7025-2017, 2017
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We compare net TOA radiative forcing between the simplified Corti–Peter (CP) and relatively complex Fu–Liou–Gu models for cirrus clouds observed by NASA MPLNET at Singapore in 2010–11 and Greenbelt, Maryland, in 2012. We find daytime forcing discrepancies up to 65 % between the two, which is greater than previous studies. In some cases, the sign of net TOA daytime forcing also differs. We attribute model differences to numerical simplifications in CP via regression that are not valid globally.
Michael P. Barkley, Gonzalo González Abad, Thomas P. Kurosu, Robert Spurr, Sara Torbatian, and Christophe Lerot
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 4687–4709, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-4687-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-4687-2017, 2017
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Using Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) trace gas vertical column observations of NO2, HCHO, SO2, and CHOCHO, we have conducted a robust and detailed time series analysis to assess changes in local air quality for over 1000 locations (focussing on urban, oil refinery, oil port, and power plant targets) over the Middle East for 2005–2014. We find that for many locations in the Middle East, OMI observes a degradation in air quality during this time period.
Can Li, Nickolay A. Krotkov, Simon Carn, Yan Zhang, Robert J. D. Spurr, and Joanna Joiner
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 10, 445–458, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-445-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-445-2017, 2017
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In this paper, we describe the new-generation OMI volcanic SO2 algorithm based on our principal component analysis (PCA) retrieval technique. We demonstrate significant improvement in the our new OMI volcanic SO2 data, with the retrieval noise reduced by a factor of 2 as compared with the previous dataset. The algorithm also improves the accuracy for large volcanic eruptions. It is also capable of producing consistent retrievals between different instruments.
Alexander Vasilkov, Wenhan Qin, Nickolay Krotkov, Lok Lamsal, Robert Spurr, David Haffner, Joanna Joiner, Eun-Su Yang, and Sergey Marchenko
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 10, 333–349, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-333-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-333-2017, 2017
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We show how the surface reflection can vary day to day in the blue part of the sun's spectrum where we measure the pollutant gas nitrogen dioxide using a satellite instrument called OMI. We use information from an imaging spectrometer on another satellite, MODIS, to estimate the angular surface effects. We can then use models of how the sunlight travels through the atmosphere to predict how the angle-dependent surface reflection will impact the values of pollutant levels inferred by OMI.
Jeffrey S. Reid, Peng Xian, Brent N. Holben, Edward J. Hyer, Elizabeth A. Reid, Santo V. Salinas, Jianglong Zhang, James R. Campbell, Boon Ning Chew, Robert E. Holz, Arunas P. Kuciauskas, Nofel Lagrosas, Derek J. Posselt, Charles R. Sampson, Annette L. Walker, E. Judd Welton, and Chidong Zhang
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 14041–14056, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-14041-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-14041-2016, 2016
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This paper describes aspects of the 2012 7 Southeast Asian Studies (7SEAS) operations period, the largest within the Maritime Continent. Included were an enhanced deployment of Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) sun photometers, multiple lidars, and a Singapore supersite. Simultaneously, a ship was dispatched to the Palawan Archipelago and Sulu Sea of the Philippines for September 2012 to observe transported smoke and pollution as it entered the southwest monsoon trough.
Jeffrey S. Reid, Nofel D. Lagrosas, Haflidi H. Jonsson, Elizabeth A. Reid, Samuel A. Atwood, Thomas J. Boyd, Virendra P. Ghate, Peng Xian, Derek J. Posselt, James B. Simpas, Sherdon N. Uy, Kimo Zaiger, Donald R. Blake, Anthony Bucholtz, James R. Campbell, Boon Ning Chew, Steven S. Cliff, Brent N. Holben, Robert E. Holz, Edward J. Hyer, Sonia M. Kreidenweis, Arunas P. Kuciauskas, Simone Lolli, Min Oo, Kevin D. Perry, Santo V. Salinas, Walter R. Sessions, Alexander Smirnov, Annette L. Walker, Qing Wang, Liya Yu, Jianglong Zhang, and Yongjing Zhao
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 14057–14078, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-14057-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-14057-2016, 2016
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This paper describes aspects of the 2012 7 Southeast Asian Studies (7SEAS) operations period, the largest within the Maritime Continent. Included were an enhanced deployment of Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) sun photometers, multiple lidars, and a Singapore supersite. Simultaneously, a ship was dispatched to the Palawan Archipelago and Sulu Sea of the Philippines for September 2012 to observe transported smoke and pollution as it entered the southwest monsoon trough.
Hiren Jethva, Omar Torres, Lorraine Remer, Jens Redemann, John Livingston, Stephen Dunagan, Yohei Shinozuka, Meloe Kacenelenbogen, Michal Segal Rosenheimer, and Rob Spurr
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 9, 5053–5062, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-5053-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-5053-2016, 2016
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Validation of the above-cloud aerosol optical depth retrieved using the "color ratio" method applied to MODIS cloudy-sky
measurements against airborne direct measurements made by NASA’s AATS and 4STAR sun photometers during SAFARI-2000,
ACE-ASIA 2001, and SEAC4RS 2013 reveals a good level of agreement (difference < 0.1), in which most matchups are found
be constrained within the estimated uncertainties associated with the MODIS retrievals (-10 % to +50 %).
Santiago Gassó and Omar Torres
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 9, 3031–3052, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-3031-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-3031-2016, 2016
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Aerosol optical depths derived by the OMI near-UV algorithm are evaluated against independent observations over the ocean. The comparison resulted in differences within the expected levels of uncertainty. In addition, in clear sky conditions, the retrieved AODs compare well with independent measurements but they are biased high in partially cloud-contaminated pixels. Additional sources of discrepancies are documented and will be corrected in future versions of the algorithm.
Galina Wind, Arlindo M. da Silva, Peter M. Norris, Steven Platnick, Shana Mattoo, and Robert C. Levy
Geosci. Model Dev., 9, 2377–2389, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-9-2377-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-9-2377-2016, 2016
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The MCARS code creates sensor radiances using model-generated atmospheric columns and actual sensor and solar geometry. MCARS output looks like real data, so it is usable by any code that reads MODIS data. MCARS output can be used to test remote-sensing retrieval algorithms. Users know what went into creating the radiance: atmosphere, surface, clouds, and aerosols. Models can use MCARS output to create new parameterizations of relations of atmospheric physical quantities and measured radiances.
David N. Whiteman, Daniel Perez-Ramirez, Igor Veselovskii, Peter Colarco, and Virginie Buchard
Atmos. Meas. Tech. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2016-174, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2016-174, 2016
Revised manuscript not accepted
Cheng-Hsuan Lu, Arlindo da Silva, Jun Wang, Shrinivas Moorthi, Mian Chin, Peter Colarco, Youhua Tang, Partha S. Bhattacharjee, Shen-Po Chen, Hui-Ya Chuang, Hann-Ming Henry Juang, Jeffery McQueen, and Mark Iredell
Geosci. Model Dev., 9, 1905–1919, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-9-1905-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-9-1905-2016, 2016
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Aerosols have an important effect on the Earth's climate and implications for public health. NASA has partnered with NOAA to transfer GOCART aerosol model to NCEP, enabling the first global aerosol forecasting system at NOAA/NCEP. This collaboration reflects an effective research-to-operation transition, paving the way for NCEP to provide global aerosol products serving a wide range of stakeholders and to allow the effects of aerosols on weather and climate prediction to be considered.
Peng Lynch, Jeffrey S. Reid, Douglas L. Westphal, Jianglong Zhang, Timothy F. Hogan, Edward J. Hyer, Cynthia A. Curtis, Dean A. Hegg, Yingxi Shi, James R. Campbell, Juli I. Rubin, Walter R. Sessions, F. Joseph Turk, and Annette L. Walker
Geosci. Model Dev., 9, 1489–1522, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-9-1489-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-9-1489-2016, 2016
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An 11-year, 1-degree aerosol reanalysis is presented for use in studies of aerosol effects on climate and atmospheric processes. The reanalysis uses the Navy Aerosol Analysis and Prediction System, constrained by aerosol optical thickness (AOT) data from NASA sensors. Fine and coarse mode AOT at 550 nm agrees well with ground-based measurements, and reproduces the decadal AOT trends found using standalone satellite products. This dataset is a resource for basic and applied science research.
Zhibo Zhang, Kerry Meyer, Hongbin Yu, Steven Platnick, Peter Colarco, Zhaoyan Liu, and Lazaros Oreopoulos
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 2877–2900, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-2877-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-2877-2016, 2016
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The frequency of occurrence and shortwave direct radiative effects (DRE) of above-cloud aerosols (ACAs) over global oceans are investigated using 8 years of collocated CALIOP and MODIS observations. We estimated that ACAs have a global ocean annual mean diurnally averaged cloudy-sky DRE of 0.015 W m−2 (range of −0.03 to 0.06 W m−2) at TOA. The DREs at surface and within atmosphere are −0.15 W m−2 (range of −0.09 to −0.21 W m−2), and 0.17 W m−2 (range of 0.11 to 0.24 W m−2), respectively.
Melanie S. Hammer, Randall V. Martin, Aaron van Donkelaar, Virginie Buchard, Omar Torres, David A. Ridley, and Robert J. D. Spurr
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 2507–2523, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-2507-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-2507-2016, 2016
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We interpret satellite observations to infer the global absorption properties of brown carbon (BrC) aerosols. We incorporate these BrC absorption properties into a chemical transport model to estimate global direct radiative effects and changes in hydroxyl radical (OH) concentrations. To our knowledge, this is the first time the effect of BrC absorption on atmospheric photochemistry has been considered in a global chemical transport model.
Sang Seo Park, Jhoon Kim, Hanlim Lee, Omar Torres, Kwang-Mog Lee, and Sang Deok Lee
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 1987–2006, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-1987-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-1987-2016, 2016
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The sensitivities of oxygen-dimer (O4) slant column densities (SCDs) to changes in aerosol layer height are investigated using simulated radiances by a linearized pseudo-spherical vector discrete ordinate radiative transfer (VLIDORT) model, and the differential optical absorption spectroscopy (DOAS) technique. A new algorithm is developed and tested to derive the aerosol effective height for cases over East Asia using radiance data from the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI).
U. Jeong, J. Kim, C. Ahn, O. Torres, X. Liu, P. K. Bhartia, R. J. D. Spurr, D. Haffner, K. Chance, and B. N. Holben
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 177–193, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-177-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-177-2016, 2016
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An aerosol retrieval and error analysis algorithm using OMI measurements based on an optimal-estimation method was developed in this study. The aerosol retrievals were validated using the DRAGON campaign products. The estimated errors of the retrievals represented the actual biases between retrieval and AERONET measurements well. The retrievals, with their estimated uncertainties, are expected to be valuable for relevant studies, such as trace gas retrieval and data assimilation.
R. Alfaro-Contreras, J. Zhang, J. R. Campbell, and J. S. Reid
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 47–69, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-47-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-47-2016, 2016
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The spatial distributions and trends of above-cloud aerosol (ACA) events are studied using seven and a half years of MODIS, OMI, and CALIOP data. The active- (CALIOP) and passive-based (MODIS-OMI) methods have their advantages and caveats, and thus both are used to get a thorough and robust comparison of ACA distribution and climatology. For the first time, baseline above-cloud CALIOP aerosol optical depth and OMI aerosol index thresholds are derived and examined for each sensor.
J.-T. Lin, M.-Y. Liu, J.-Y. Xin, K. F. Boersma, R. Spurr, R. Martin, and Q. Zhang
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 15, 11217–11241, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-11217-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-11217-2015, 2015
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We conduct an improved OMI-based retrieval of tropospheric NO2 VCDs (POMINO) over China by explicitly accounting for aerosol optical effects and surface reflectance anisotropy. Compared to the traditional implicit aerosol treatment, an explicit treatment greatly lowers NO2 VCDs and subsequently estimated NOx emissions over eastern China, but with large spatiotemporal dependence. An explicit treatment also better captures high-pollution days. Effects of surface reflectance treatments are smaller.
W. Hewson, M. P. Barkley, G. Gonzalez Abad, H. Bösch, T. Kurosu, R. Spurr, and L. G. Tilstra
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 8, 4055–4074, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-4055-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-4055-2015, 2015
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This work presents the air mass factor (AMF) algorithm in use at the University of Leicester, which introduces scene-specific variables into a per-observation full radiative transfer AMF calculation, including increasing spatial resolution of key environmental parameter databases, input variable area weighting, instrument-specific scattering weight calculation, and inclusion of an ozone vertical profile climatology.
M. Coldewey-Egbers, D. G. Loyola, M. Koukouli, D. Balis, J.-C. Lambert, T. Verhoelst, J. Granville, M. van Roozendael, C. Lerot, R. Spurr, S. M. Frith, and C. Zehner
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 8, 3923–3940, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-3923-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-3923-2015, 2015
P. Castellanos, K. F. Boersma, O. Torres, and J. F. de Haan
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 8, 3831–3849, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-3831-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-3831-2015, 2015
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Inaccuracies in the retrieval of NO2 tropospheric columns due to the radiative effects of light-absorbing aerosols are not well understood. Here we explicitly account for the effects of aerosols in the Dutch OMI NO2 (DOMINO) tropospheric AMF calculation by including aerosol observations collocated with OMI pixels. The AMF calculations that included aerosol absorption and scattering were on average 10% higher than traditional AMFs. Errors can reach a factor of 2 for individual pixels.
L. Zhang, D. K. Henze, G. A. Grell, G. R. Carmichael, N. Bousserez, Q. Zhang, O. Torres, C. Ahn, Z. Lu, J. Cao, and Y. Mao
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 15, 10281–10308, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-10281-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-10281-2015, 2015
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We attempt to reduce uncertainties in BC emissions and improve BC model simulations by developing top-down, spatially resolved, estimates of BC emissions through assimilation of OMI observations of aerosol absorption optical depth (AAOD) with the GEOS-Chem model and its adjoint for April and October of 2006. Despite the limitations and uncertainties, using OMI AAOD to constrain BC sources we are able to improve model representation of BC distributions, particularly over China.
E. P. Nowottnick, P. R. Colarco, E. J. Welton, and A. da Silva
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 8, 3647–3669, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-3647-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-3647-2015, 2015
X. Pan, M. Chin, R. Gautam, H. Bian, D. Kim, P. R. Colarco, T. L. Diehl, T. Takemura, L. Pozzoli, K. Tsigaridis, S. Bauer, and N. Bellouin
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 15, 5903–5928, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-5903-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-5903-2015, 2015
J. S. Reid, N. D. Lagrosas, H. H. Jonsson, E. A. Reid, W. R. Sessions, J. B. Simpas, S. N. Uy, T. J. Boyd, S. A. Atwood, D. R. Blake, J. R. Campbell, S. S. Cliff, B. N. Holben, R. E. Holz, E. J. Hyer, P. Lynch, S. Meinardi, D. J. Posselt, K. A. Richardson, S. V. Salinas, A. Smirnov, Q. Wang, L. Yu, and J. Zhang
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 15, 1745–1768, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-1745-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-1745-2015, 2015
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This paper reports on the first measurements of aerosol particles embedded in the convectively active southwest monsoonal flow of the South China Sea. The paper describes the research cruise and discusses how variability in aerosol characteristics relates to regional meteorological phenomena such as and the Madden Julian Oscillation, tropical cyclones, squall lines and the monsoonal flow itself. Of special interest is how aerosol transport relates to meteorological drivers of convective activity.
J. R. Campbell, M. A. Vaughan, M. Oo, R. E. Holz, J. R. Lewis, and E. J. Welton
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 8, 435–449, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-435-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-435-2015, 2015
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Digital thresholds based on 2012 CALIOP satellite lidar measurements are investigated for distinguishing cirrus cloud presence, including cloud top temperatures and heights combined with layer depolarization and phase and optical depths. A cloud top temperature of -37 C is found to exhibit the most stable performance, owing to it being the point of homogeneous liquid-water freezing. Depolarization and phase help but are mostly ambiguous at warmer temperatures where mixed-phase clouds propagate.
W. R. Sessions, J. S. Reid, A. Benedetti, P. R. Colarco, A. da Silva, S. Lu, T. Sekiyama, T. Y. Tanaka, J. M. Baldasano, S. Basart, M. E. Brooks, T. F. Eck, M. Iredell, J. A. Hansen, O. C. Jorba, H.-M. H. Juang, P. Lynch, J.-J. Morcrette, S. Moorthi, J. Mulcahy, Y. Pradhan, M. Razinger, C. B. Sampson, J. Wang, and D. L. Westphal
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 15, 335–362, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-335-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-335-2015, 2015
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S. DeSouza-Machado, L. Strow, E. Maddy, O. Torres, G. Thomas, D. Grainger, and A. Robinson
Atmos. Meas. Tech. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/amtd-8-443-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/amtd-8-443-2015, 2015
Revised manuscript not accepted
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The Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) and the Moderate Resolution
Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) are instruments on the 1.30 pm polar
orbiting Aqua spacecraft. We describe a daytime estimation of dust and
volcanic ash layer heights, using a retrieval algorithm that uses the
information in the AIRS L1B thermal infrared data, constrained by the
MODIS L2 aerosol optical depths. CALIOP aerosol centroid heights are
used for dust height comparisons, as are AATSR volcanic plume heights.
N. Hao, M. E. Koukouli, A. Inness, P. Valks, D. G. Loyola, W. Zimmer, D. S. Balis, I. Zyrichidou, M. Van Roozendael, C. Lerot, and R. J. D. Spurr
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 7, 2937–2951, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-7-2937-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-7-2937-2014, 2014
P. Kishcha, A. M. da Silva, B. Starobinets, C. N. Long, O. Kalashnikova, and P. Alpert
Atmos. Chem. Phys. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/acpd-14-23309-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/acpd-14-23309-2014, 2014
Revised manuscript not accepted
P. R. Colarco, R. A. Kahn, L. A. Remer, and R. C. Levy
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 7, 2313–2335, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-7-2313-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-7-2313-2014, 2014
E. Hache, J.-L. Attié, C. Tourneur, P. Ricaud, L. Coret, W. A. Lahoz, L. El Amraoui, B. Josse, P. Hamer, J. Warner, X. Liu, K. Chance, M. Höpfner, R. Spurr, V. Natraj, S. Kulawik, A. Eldering, and J. Orphal
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 7, 2185–2201, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-7-2185-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-7-2185-2014, 2014
C. A. Keller, M. S. Long, R. M. Yantosca, A. M. Da Silva, S. Pawson, and D. J. Jacob
Geosci. Model Dev., 7, 1409–1417, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-7-1409-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-7-1409-2014, 2014
T. D. Toth, J. Zhang, J. R. Campbell, E. J. Hyer, J. S. Reid, Y. Shi, and D. L. Westphal
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 14, 6049–6062, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-6049-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-6049-2014, 2014
E. W. Chiou, P. K. Bhartia, R. D. McPeters, D. G. Loyola, M. Coldewey-Egbers, V. E. Fioletov, M. Van Roozendael, R. Spurr, C. Lerot, and S. M. Frith
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 7, 1681–1692, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-7-1681-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-7-1681-2014, 2014
M. Chin, T. Diehl, Q. Tan, J. M. Prospero, R. A. Kahn, L. A. Remer, H. Yu, A. M. Sayer, H. Bian, I. V. Geogdzhayev, B. N. Holben, S. G. Howell, B. J. Huebert, N. C. Hsu, D. Kim, T. L. Kucsera, R. C. Levy, M. I. Mishchenko, X. Pan, P. K. Quinn, G. L. Schuster, D. G. Streets, S. A. Strode, O. Torres, and X.-P. Zhao
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 14, 3657–3690, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-3657-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-3657-2014, 2014
V. Buchard, A. M. da Silva, P. Colarco, N. Krotkov, R. R. Dickerson, J. W. Stehr, G. Mount, E. Spinei, H. L. Arkinson, and H. He
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 14, 1929–1941, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-1929-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-1929-2014, 2014
J.-T. Lin, R. V. Martin, K. F. Boersma, M. Sneep, P. Stammes, R. Spurr, P. Wang, M. Van Roozendael, K. Clémer, and H. Irie
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 14, 1441–1461, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-1441-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-1441-2014, 2014
A. Gkikas, N. Hatzianastassiou, N. Mihalopoulos, V. Katsoulis, S. Kazadzis, J. Pey, X. Querol, and O. Torres
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 13, 12135–12154, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-12135-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-12135-2013, 2013
O. Torres, C. Ahn, and Z. Chen
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 6, 3257–3270, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-6-3257-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-6-3257-2013, 2013
G. Wind, A. M. da Silva, P. M. Norris, and S. Platnick
Geosci. Model Dev., 6, 2049–2062, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-6-2049-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-6-2049-2013, 2013
P. E. Saide, G. R. Carmichael, Z. Liu, C. S. Schwartz, H. C. Lin, A. M. da Silva, and E. Hyer
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 13, 10425–10444, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-10425-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-10425-2013, 2013
J. Cuesta, M. Eremenko, X. Liu, G. Dufour, Z. Cai, M. Höpfner, T. von Clarmann, P. Sellitto, G. Foret, B. Gaubert, M. Beekmann, J. Orphal, K. Chance, R. Spurr, and J.-M. Flaud
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 13, 9675–9693, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-9675-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-9675-2013, 2013
A. Vasilkov, J. Joiner, and R. Spurr
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 6, 981–990, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-6-981-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-6-981-2013, 2013
C. A. Randles, S. Kinne, G. Myhre, M. Schulz, P. Stier, J. Fischer, L. Doppler, E. Highwood, C. Ryder, B. Harris, J. Huttunen, Y. Ma, R. T. Pinker, B. Mayer, D. Neubauer, R. Hitzenberger, L. Oreopoulos, D. Lee, G. Pitari, G. Di Genova, J. Quaas, F. G. Rose, S. Kato, S. T. Rumbold, I. Vardavas, N. Hatzianastassiou, C. Matsoukas, H. Yu, F. Zhang, H. Zhang, and P. Lu
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 13, 2347–2379, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-2347-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-2347-2013, 2013
Related subject area
Subject: Aerosols | Research Activity: Atmospheric Modelling and Data Analysis | Altitude Range: Troposphere | Science Focus: Physics (physical properties and processes)
Modeling simulation of aerosol light absorption over the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei region: the impact of mixing state and aging processes
An investigation of the impact of Canadian wildfires on US air quality using model, satellite, and ground measurements
How to trace the origins of short-lived atmospheric species: an Arctic example
Dust-producing weather patterns of the North American Great Plains
High-resolution air quality maps for Bucharest using a mixed-effects modeling framework
Construction and application of a pollen emissions model based on phenology and random forests
The impact of uncertainty in black carbon's refractive index on simulated optical depth and radiative forcing
Characterization of brown carbon absorption in different European environments through source contribution analysis
Accounting for the black carbon aging process in a two-way coupled meteorology–air quality model
The effectiveness of solar radiation management using fine sea spray across multiple climatic regions
A global dust emission dataset for estimating dust radiative forcings in climate models
Tropospheric aerosols over the western North Atlantic Ocean during the winter and summer deployments of ACTIVATE 2020: life cycle, transport, and distribution
Spatial and temporal evolution of future atmospheric reactive nitrogen deposition in China under different climate change mitigation strategies
Steady-state mixing state of black carbon aerosols from a particle-resolved model
Direct radiative forcing of light-absorbing carbonaceous aerosol and the influencing factors over China
Distinctive dust weather intensities in North China resulted from two types of atmospheric circulation anomalies
Biomass burning emission analysis based on MODIS aerosol optical depth and AeroCom multi-model simulations: implications for model constraints and emission inventories
Quasi-weekly oscillation of regional PM2.5 transport over China driven by the synoptic-scale disturbance of the East Asian winter monsoon circulation
Solar radiation estimation in West Africa: impact of dust conditions during the 2021 dry season
Machine Learning Assisted Inference of the Particle Charge Fraction and the Ion-induced Nucleation Rates during New Particle Formation Events
Modeling urban pollutant transport at multi-resolutions: Impacts of turbulent mixing
Gaps in our understanding of ice-nucleating particle sources exposed by global simulation of the UK Earth System Model
The role of interfacial tension in the size-dependent phase separation of atmospheric aerosol particles
Warming effects of reduced sulfur emissions from shipping
The key role of atmospheric absorption in the Asian summer monsoon response to dust emissions in CMIP6 models
Multi-model effective radiative forcing of the 2020 sulfur cap for shipping
Exploring the Aerosol Activation Properties in a Coastal Area Using Cloud and Particle-resolving Models
Representation of iron aerosol size distributions of anthropogenic emissions is critical in evaluating atmospheric soluble iron input to the ocean
Revealing dominant patterns of aerosol regimes in the lower troposphere and their evolution from preindustrial times to the future in global climate model simulations
A Novel Method to Quantify the Uncertainty Contribution of Aerosol-Radiative Interaction Factors
Improving estimation of a record-breaking east Asian dust storm emission with lagged aerosol Ångström exponent observations
Impact of biomass burning aerosols (BBA) on the tropical African climate in an ocean–atmosphere–aerosol coupled climate model
Retrieval of refractive index and water content for the coating materials of aged black carbon aerosol based on optical properties: a theoretical analysis
Strong inter-model differences and biases in CMIP6 simulations of PM2.5, aerosol optical depth, and precipitation over Africa
Impact of post monsoon crop residue burning on PM2.5 over North India: Optimizing emissions using a high-density in situ surface observation network
Predicting hygroscopic growth of organosulfur aerosol particles using COSMOtherm
Dust aerosol from the Aralkum Desert influences the radiation budget and atmospheric dynamics of Central Asia
Global modeling of aerosol nucleation with a semi-explicit chemical mechanism for highly oxygenated organic molecules (HOMs)
Synergistic effects of the winter North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) and El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) on dust activities in North China during the following spring
Aerosol composition, air quality, and boundary layer dynamics in the urban background of Stuttgart in winter
Response of the link between ENSO and the East Asian winter monsoon to Asian anthropogenic aerosols
Measurement report: Source attribution and estimation of black carbon levels in an urban hotspot of the central Po Valley – an integrated approach combining high-resolution dispersion modelling and micro-aethalometers
Modeling CMAQ dry deposition treatment over Western Pacific: A distinct characteristic of mineral dust and anthropogenic aerosol
Microphysical modelling of aerosol scavenging by different types of clouds: description and validation of the approach
Insights into the sources of ultrafine particle numbers at six European urban sites obtained by investigating COVID-19 lockdowns
In-plume and out-of-plume analysis of aerosol–cloud interactions derived from the 2014–2015 Holuhraun volcanic eruption
Impacts of atmospheric circulation patterns and cloud inhibition on aerosol radiative effect and boundary layer structure during winter air pollution in Sichuan Basin, China
Investigating the sign of stratocumulus adjustments to aerosols in the ICON global storm-resolving model
A model study investigating the sensitivity of aerosol forcing to the volatilities of semi-volatile organic compounds
Decomposing the effective radiative forcing of anthropogenic aerosols based on CMIP6 Earth system models
Huiyun Du, Jie Li, Xueshun Chen, Gabriele Curci, Fangqun Yu, Yele Sun, Xu Dao, Song Guo, Zhe Wang, Wenyi Yang, Lianfang Wei, and Zifa Wang
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 5665–5681, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-5665-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-5665-2025, 2025
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Inadequate consideration of mixing states and coatings on black carbon (BC) hinders aerosol radiation forcing quantification. Core–shell mixing aligns well with observations, but partial internal mixing is a more realistic representation. We used a microphysics module to determine the fraction of embedded BC and coating aerosols, constraining the mixing state. This reduced absorption enhancement by 30 %–43 % in northern China, offering insights into BC's radiative effects.
Zhixin Xue, Nair Udaysankar, and Sundar A. Christopher
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 5497–5517, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-5497-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-5497-2025, 2025
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Canadian wildfires in August 2018 significantly increased surface air pollution across the United States (US) – by up to 69 % in some areas. Using model, satellite, and ground measurements, the study highlights how weather patterns and long-range smoke transport drive pollution. The northwestern US was most affected by Canadian wildfire smoke, while the northeastern US experienced the least impact. These findings indicate the growing concern that wildfire smoke poses to air quality across the US.
Anderson Da Silva, Louis Marelle, Jean-Christophe Raut, Yvette Gramlich, Karolina Siegel, Sophie L. Haslett, Claudia Mohr, and Jennie L. Thomas
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 5331–5354, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-5331-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-5331-2025, 2025
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Particle sources in polar climates are unclear, affecting climate representation in models. This study introduces an evaluated method for tracking particles with backward modeling. Tests on simulated particles allowed us to show that traditional detection methods often misidentify sources. An improved method that accurately traces the origins of aerosol particles in the Arctic is presented. The study recommends using this enhanced method for better source identification of atmospheric species.
Stuart Evans
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 4833–4845, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-4833-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-4833-2025, 2025
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This study of the North American Great Plains identifies the various weather patterns responsible for blowing dust in all parts of the region using a weather pattern classification. In the southwestern plains passing cold fronts are the primary cause of dust; in the understudied northern plains, summertime patterns and southerly pre-frontal winds are most important in the west and east, respectively. These results are valuable to understanding and forecasting dust in this complex source region.
Camelia Talianu, Jeni Vasilescu, Doina Nicolae, Alexandru Ilie, Andrei Dandocsi, Anca Nemuc, and Livio Belegante
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 4639–4654, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-4639-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-4639-2025, 2025
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For Bucharest, Romania's capital, mobile measurements during two intensive campaigns and mixed-effect LUR (land-use regression) models to derive seasonal maps of near-surface PM10, NO2 and UFPs (ultrafine particles) have successfully been used. The model's performance was evaluated, demonstrating its potential for high-resolution mapping in other cities with well-characterized urban structures and diverse in situ monitoring stations.
Jiangtao Li, Xingqin An, Zhaobin Sun, Caihua Ye, Qing Hou, Yuxin Zhao, and Zhe Liu
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 3583–3602, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-3583-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-3583-2025, 2025
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Climate change and pollution have intensified pollen allergies. We developed a pollen emissions model using phenology and random forests. Key factors affecting annual pollen emissions include temperature, relative humidity and sunshine hours. Pollen dispersal starts around 10 August, peaks around 30 August and ends by 25 September, lasting about 45 d. Over time, annual pollen emissions exhibit significant fluctuations and a downward trend.
Ruth A. R. Digby, Knut von Salzen, Adam H. Monahan, Nathan P. Gillett, and Jiangnan Li
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 3109–3130, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-3109-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-3109-2025, 2025
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The refractive index of black carbon (BCRI), which determines how much energy black carbon absorbs and scatters, is difficult to measure, and different climate models use different values. We show that varying the BCRI across commonly used values can increase absorbing aerosol optical depth by 42 % and the warming effect from interactions between black carbon and radiation by 47 %, an appreciable fraction of the overall spread between models reported in recent literature assessments.
Hector Navarro-Barboza, Jordi Rovira, Vincenzo Obiso, Andrea Pozzer, Marta Via, Andres Alastuey, Xavier Querol, Noemi Perez, Marjan Savadkoohi, Gang Chen, Jesus Yus-Díez, Matic Ivancic, Martin Rigler, Konstantinos Eleftheriadis, Stergios Vratolis, Olga Zografou, Maria Gini, Benjamin Chazeau, Nicolas Marchand, Andre S. H. Prevot, Kaspar Dallenbach, Mikael Ehn, Krista Luoma, Tuukka Petäjä, Anna Tobler, Jaroslaw Necki, Minna Aurela, Hilkka Timonen, Jarkko Niemi, Olivier Favez, Jean-Eudes Petit, Jean-Philippe Putaud, Christoph Hueglin, Nicolas Pascal, Aurélien Chauvigné, Sébastien Conil, Marco Pandolfi, and Oriol Jorba
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 2667–2694, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-2667-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-2667-2025, 2025
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Brown carbon (BrC) absorbs ultraviolet (UV) and visible light, influencing climate. This study explores BrC's imaginary refractive index (k) using data from 12 European sites. Residential emissions are a major organic aerosol (OA) source in winter, while secondary organic aerosol (SOA) dominates in summer. Source-specific k values were derived, improving model accuracy. The findings highlight BrC's climate impact and emphasize source-specific constraints in atmospheric models.
Yuzhi Jin, Jiandong Wang, Chao Liu, David C. Wong, Golam Sarwar, Kathleen M. Fahey, Shang Wu, Jiaping Wang, Jing Cai, Zeyuan Tian, Zhouyang Zhang, Jia Xing, Aijun Ding, and Shuxiao Wang
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 2613–2630, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-2613-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-2613-2025, 2025
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Black carbon (BC) affects climate and the environment, and its aging process alters its properties. Current models, like WRF-CMAQ, lack full accounting for it. We developed the WRF-CMAQ-BCG model to better represent BC aging by introducing bare and coated BC species and their conversion. The WRF-CMAQ-BCG model introduces the capability to simulate BC mixing states and bare and coated BC wet deposition, and it improves the accuracy of BC mass concentration and aerosol optics.
Zhe Song, Shaocai Yu, Pengfei Li, Ningning Yao, Lang Chen, Yuhai Sun, Boqiong Jiang, and Daniel Rosenfeld
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 2473–2494, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-2473-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-2473-2025, 2025
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Our results with injected sea salt aerosols for five open oceans show that sea salt aerosols with low injection amounts dominate shortwave radiation, mainly through indirect effects. As indirect aerosol effects saturate with increasing injection rates, direct effects exceed indirect effects. This implies that marine cloud brightening is best implemented in areas with extensive cloud cover, while aerosol direct scattering effects remain dominant when clouds are scarce.
Danny M. Leung, Jasper F. Kok, Longlei Li, David M. Lawrence, Natalie M. Mahowald, Simone Tilmes, and Erik Kluzek
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 2311–2331, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-2311-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-2311-2025, 2025
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This study derives a gridded dust emission dataset for 1841–2000 by employing a combination of observed dust from core records and reanalyzed global dust cycle constraints. We evaluate the ability of global models to replicate the observed historical dust variability by using the emission dataset to force a historical simulation in an Earth system model. We show that prescribing our emissions forces the model to better match observations than other mechanistic models.
Hongyu Liu, Bo Zhang, Richard H. Moore, Luke D. Ziemba, Richard A. Ferrare, Hyundeok Choi, Armin Sorooshian, David Painemal, Hailong Wang, Michael A. Shook, Amy Jo Scarino, Johnathan W. Hair, Ewan C. Crosbie, Marta A. Fenn, Taylor J. Shingler, Chris A. Hostetler, Gao Chen, Mary M. Kleb, Gan Luo, Fangqun Yu, Mark A. Vaughan, Yongxiang Hu, Glenn S. Diskin, John B. Nowak, Joshua P. DiGangi, Yonghoon Choi, Christoph A. Keller, and Matthew S. Johnson
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 2087–2121, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-2087-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-2087-2025, 2025
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We use the GEOS-Chem model to simulate aerosol distributions and properties over the western North Atlantic Ocean (WNAO) during the winter and summer deployments in 2020 of the NASA ACTIVATE mission. Model results are evaluated against aircraft, ground-based, and satellite observations. The improved understanding of life cycle, composition, transport pathways, and distribution of aerosols has important implications for characterizing aerosol–cloud–meteorology interactions over WNAO.
Mingrui Ma, Jiachen Cao, Dan Tong, Bo Zheng, and Yu Zhao
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 2147–2166, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-2147-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-2147-2025, 2025
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We combined two global climate change pathways and three national emission control scenarios to analyze the future evolution of reactive nitrogen (Nr) deposition till the 2060s in China with air quality modeling. We show China’s clean air and carbon neutrality policies would overcome the adverse effects of climate change and efficiently reduce Nr deposition. The outflow of Nr fluxes from mainland China to the west Pacific would also be clearly reduced from continuous stringent emission controls.
Zhouyang Zhang, Jiandong Wang, Jiaping Wang, Nicole Riemer, Chao Liu, Yuzhi Jin, Zeyuan Tian, Jing Cai, Yueyue Cheng, Ganzhen Chen, Bin Wang, Shuxiao Wang, and Aijun Ding
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 1869–1881, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-1869-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-1869-2025, 2025
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Black carbon (BC) exerts notable warming effects. We use a particle-resolved model to investigate the long-term behavior of the BC mixing state, revealing its compositions, coating thickness distribution, and optical properties all stabilize with a characteristic time of less than 1 d. This study can effectively simplify the description of the BC mixing state, which facilitates the precise assessment of the optical properties of BC aerosols in global and chemical transport models.
Shuangqin Yang, Yusi Liu, Li Chen, Nan Cao, Jing Wang, and Shuang Gao
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3705, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3705, 2025
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Black carbon, primary brown carbon, and secondary brown carbon are the leading light-absorbing carbonaceous aerosols (LACs) that contribute significantly to climate change. We modified the GEOS-Chem model to simulate the climate change by LACs based on local emission inventory, and explored the impacts of LACs properties and atmospheric variables on the corresponding DRFs in seven regions of China. The study confirms the warming effect of LACs and deepens our knowledge of their climatic effects.
Qianyi Huo, Zhicong Yin, Xiaoqing Ma, and Huijun Wang
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 1711–1724, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-1711-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-1711-2025, 2025
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Dust days during the spring seasons of 2015–2023 in North China were classified into Mongolian cyclone and cold high types depending on the presence of the Mongolian cyclone. The Mongolian cyclone type led to more frequent and severe dust weather, indicated by PM10 concentrations. To comprehensively forecast the two types of dust weather, a common predictor was established based on 500 hPa anomalous circulation systems, offering insights for dust weather forecasting and climate prediction.
Mariya Petrenko, Ralph Kahn, Mian Chin, Susanne E. Bauer, Tommi Bergman, Huisheng Bian, Gabriele Curci, Ben Johnson, Johannes W. Kaiser, Zak Kipling, Harri Kokkola, Xiaohong Liu, Keren Mezuman, Tero Mielonen, Gunnar Myhre, Xiaohua Pan, Anna Protonotariou, Samuel Remy, Ragnhild Bieltvedt Skeie, Philip Stier, Toshihiko Takemura, Kostas Tsigaridis, Hailong Wang, Duncan Watson-Parris, and Kai Zhang
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 1545–1567, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-1545-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-1545-2025, 2025
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We compared smoke plume simulations from 11 global models to each other and to satellite smoke amount observations aimed at constraining smoke source strength. In regions where plumes are thick and background aerosol is low, models and satellites compare well. However, the input emission inventory tends to underestimate in many places, and particle property and loss rate assumptions vary enormously among models, causing uncertainties that require systematic in situ measurements to resolve.
Yongqing Bai, Tianliang Zhao, Kai Meng, Yue Zhou, Jie Xiong, Xiaoyun Sun, Lijuan Shen, Yanyu Yue, Yan Zhu, Weiyang Hu, and Jingyan Yao
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 1273–1287, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-1273-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-1273-2025, 2025
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We proposed a composite statistical method to identify the quasi-weekly oscillation (QWO) of regional PM2.5 transport over China in winter from 2015 to 2019. The QWO of regional PM2.5 transport is constrained by synoptic-scale disturbances of the East Asian winter monsoon circulation with the periodic activities of the Siberian high, providing a new insight into the understanding of regional pollutant transport with meteorological drivers in atmospheric environment changes.
Léo Clauzel, Sandrine Anquetin, Christophe Lavaysse, Gilles Bergametti, Christel Bouet, Guillaume Siour, Rémy Lapere, Béatrice Marticorena, and Jennie Thomas
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 997–1021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-997-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-997-2025, 2025
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Solar energy production in West Africa is set to rise and needs accurate solar radiation estimates which are affected by desert dust. This work analyses a March 2021 dust event using a modelling strategy incorporating desert dust. Results show that considering desert dust cuts errors in solar radiation estimates by 75 % and reduces surface solar radiation by 18 %. This highlights the importance of incorporating dust aerosols into solar forecasting for better accuracy.
Pan Wang, Yue Zhao, Jiandong Wang, Veli-Matti Kerminen, Jingkun Jiang, and Chenxi Li
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3666, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3666, 2025
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We developed a numerical model to explore how the charge state of newly formed atmospheric particles evolves during growth and how this relates to ion-induced nucleation rates. We identify the governing factors of particle charging and further apply neural networks to predict particle charge states and estimate ion induced nucleation rates. This study offers insights into particle charging dynamics and introduces new methods for assessing ion induced nucleation in atmospheric research.
Zining Yang, Qiuyan Du, Qike Yang, Chun Zhao, Gudongze Li, Zihan Xia, Mingyue Xu, Renmin Yuan, Yubin Li, Kaihui Xia, Jun Gu, and Jiawang Feng
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3890, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3890, 2025
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This study investigates the impact of turbulent mixing on black carbon (BC) concentrations in urban areas using WRF-Chem at 25, 5, and 1 km resolutions. Significant variations in BC and turbulent mixing occur mainly at night. Higher resolutions reduce BC overestimation due to enhanced PBL mixing coefficients and vertical wind fluxes. Small-scale eddies at higher resolutions increase BC lifetime and column concentrations. Land use and terrain variations across multi-resolutions affect PBL mixing.
Ross J. Herbert, Alberto Sanchez-Marroquin, Daniel P. Grosvenor, Kirsty J. Pringle, Stephen R. Arnold, Benjamin J. Murray, and Kenneth S. Carslaw
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 291–325, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-291-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-291-2025, 2025
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Aerosol particles that help form ice in clouds vary in number and type around the world and with time. However, in many weather and climate models cloud ice is not linked to aerosols that are known to nucleate ice. Here we report the first steps towards representing ice-nucleating particles within the UK Earth System Model. We conclude that in addition to ice nucleation by sea spray and mineral components of soil dust, we also need to represent ice nucleation by the organic components of soils.
Ryan Schmedding and Andreas Zuend
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 327–346, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-327-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-327-2025, 2025
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Four different approaches for computing the interfacial tension between liquid phases in aerosol particles were tested for particles with diameters from 10 nm to more than 5 μm. Antonov's rule led to the strongest reductions in the onset relative humidity of liquid–liquid phase separation and reproduced measured interfacial tensions for highly immiscible systems. A modified form of the Butler equation was able to best reproduce measured interfacial tensions in more miscible systems.
Masaru Yoshioka, Daniel P. Grosvenor, Ben B. B. Booth, Colin P. Morice, and Ken S. Carslaw
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 13681–13692, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-13681-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-13681-2024, 2024
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A 2020 regulation has reduced sulfur emissions from shipping by about 80 %, leading to a decrease in atmospheric aerosols that have a cooling effect primarily by affecting cloud properties and amounts. Our climate model simulations predict a global temperature increase of 0.04 K over the next 3 decades as a result, which could contribute to surpassing the Paris Agreement's 1.5 °C target. Reduced aerosols may have also contributed to the recent temperature spikes.
Alcide Zhao, Laura J. Wilcox, and Claire L. Ryder
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 13385–13402, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-13385-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-13385-2024, 2024
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Climate models include desert dust aerosols, which cause atmospheric heating and can change circulation patterns. We assess the effect of dust on the Indian and east Asian summer monsoons through multi-model experiments isolating the effect of dust in current climate models for the first time. Dust atmospheric heating results in a southward shift of western Pacific equatorial rainfall and an enhanced Indian summer monsoon. This shows the importance of accurate dust representation in models.
Ragnhild Bieltvedt Skeie, Rachael Byrom, Øivind Hodnebrog, Caroline Jouan, and Gunnar Myhre
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 13361–13370, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-13361-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-13361-2024, 2024
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In 2020, new regulations by the International Maritime Organization regarding sulfur emissions came into force, reducing emissions of SO2 from the shipping sector by approximately 80 %. In this study, we use multiple models to calculate how much the Earth energy balance changed due to the emission reduction or the so-called effective radiative forcing. The calculated effective radiative forcing is weak, comparable to the effect of the increase in CO2 over the last 2 to 3 years.
Ge Yu, Yueya Wang, Zhe Wang, and Xiaoming Shi
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3581, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3581, 2024
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Studying the cloud-forming capacity of aerosols is crucial in climate research. The PartMC model can provide detailed particle information and help these studies. This model is integrated with the ideal meteorological Cloud Model 1 (CM1) to simulate the aerosols at cloud-forming locations. Significant changes are revealed in the hygroscopicity distribution of aerosols within ascending air parcels. Additionally, different ascent times also affect aerosol aging processes.
Mingxu Liu, Hitoshi Matsui, Douglas S. Hamilton, Sagar D. Rathod, Kara D. Lamb, and Natalie M. Mahowald
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 13115–13127, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-13115-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-13115-2024, 2024
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Atmospheric aerosol deposition provides bioavailable iron to promote marine primary production, yet the estimates of its fluxes remain highly uncertain. This study, by performing global aerosol simulations, demonstrates that iron-containing particle size upon emission is a critical factor in regulating soluble iron input to open oceans. Further observational constraints on this are needed to reduce modeling uncertainties.
Jingmin Li, Mattia Righi, Johannes Hendricks, Christof G. Beer, Ulrike Burkhardt, and Anja Schmidt
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 12727–12747, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-12727-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-12727-2024, 2024
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Aiming to understand underlying patterns and trends in aerosols, we characterize the spatial patterns and long-term evolution of lower tropospheric aerosols by clustering multiple aerosol properties from preindustrial times to the year 2050 under three Shared
Socioeconomic Pathway scenarios. The results provide a clear and condensed picture of the spatial extent and distribution of aerosols for different time periods and emission scenarios.
Socioeconomic Pathway scenarios. The results provide a clear and condensed picture of the spatial extent and distribution of aerosols for different time periods and emission scenarios.
Bishuo He and Chunsheng Zhao
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3441, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3441, 2024
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Factor-uncertainty analysis helps us understand their impacts on complex systems. Traditional methods have many limitations. This study introduces a new method to measure how each factor contributes to uncertainty. It gains insights into the role of each variable and works for all multi-factor systems. As an application, we analyzed how aerosols affect solar radiation and identified the key factors. These analyses can improve our understanding of the role of aerosols in climate change.
Yueming Cheng, Tie Dai, Junji Cao, Daisuke Goto, Jianbing Jin, Teruyuki Nakajima, and Guangyu Shi
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 12643–12659, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-12643-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-12643-2024, 2024
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In March 2021, east Asia experienced an outbreak of severe dust storms after an absence of 1.5 decades. Here, we innovatively used the time-lagged ground-based aerosol size information with the fixed-lag ensemble Kalman smoother to optimize dust emission and reproduce the dust storm. This work is valuable for not only the quantification of health damage, aviation risks, and profound impacts on the Earth's system but also revealing the climatic driving force and the process of desertification.
Marc Mallet, Aurore Voldoire, Fabien Solmon, Pierre Nabat, Thomas Drugé, and Romain Roehrig
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 12509–12535, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-12509-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-12509-2024, 2024
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This study investigates the interactions between smoke aerosols and climate in tropical Africa using a coupled ocean–atmosphere–aerosol climate model. The work shows that smoke plumes have a significant impact by increasing the low-cloud fraction, decreasing the ocean and continental surface temperature and reducing the precipitation of coastal western Africa. It also highlights the role of the ocean temperature response and its feedbacks for the September–November season.
Jia Liu, Cancan Zhu, Donghui Zhou, and Jinbao Han
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 12341–12354, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-12341-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-12341-2024, 2024
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The hydrophilic coatings of aged black carbon (BC) particles absorb moisture during the hygroscopic growth process, but it is difficult to characterize how much water is absorbed under different relative humidities (RHs). In this study, we propose a method to obtain the water content in the coatings based on the equivalent complex refractive index retrieved from optical properties. This method is verified from a theoretical perspective, and it performs well for thickly coated BC at high RHs.
Catherine Anne Toolan, Joe Adabouk Amooli, Laura J. Wilcox, Bjørn H. Samset, Andrew G. Turner, and Daniel M. Westervelt
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3057, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3057, 2024
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Our research explores how well air pollution and rainfall patterns in Africa are represented in current climate models, by comparing model data to observations from 1981 to 2023. While most models capture seasonal air quality changes well, they struggle to replicate the distribution of non-dust pollutants and certain rainfall patterns, especially over east Africa. Improving these models is crucial for better climate predictions and preparing for future risks.
Mizuo Kajino, Kentaro Ishijima, Joseph Ching, Kazuyo Yamaji, Rio Ishikawa, Tomoki Kajikawa, Tanbir Singh, Tomoki Nakayama, Yutaka Matsumi, Koyo Kojima, Prabir K. Patra, and Sachiko Hayashida
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-1811, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-1811, 2024
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Air pollution in Delhi during post monsoon period is severe and association with intensive crop residue burning (CRB) over Punjab state has attracted attention. However, the relationship has been unclear as the CRB emissions conventionally derived from satellites were underestimated due to clouds and haze over the region. We evaluated the impact of CRB on PM2.5 as about 50 %, based on a combination of numerical modeling and high-density observation network using low-cost sensors we installed.
Zijun Li, Angela Buchholz, and Noora Hyttinen
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 11717–11725, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-11717-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-11717-2024, 2024
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Evaluating organosulfur (OS) hygroscopicity is important for assessing aerosol–cloud climate interactions in the post-fossil-fuel future, when SO2 emissions decrease and OS compounds become increasingly important. Here a state-of-the-art quantum-chemistry-based method was used to predict the hygroscopic growth factors (HGFs) of a group of atmospherically relevant OS compounds and their mixtures with (NH4)2SO4. A good agreement was observed between their model-estimated and experimental HGFs.
Jamie R. Banks, Bernd Heinold, and Kerstin Schepanski
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 11451–11475, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-11451-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-11451-2024, 2024
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The Aralkum is a new desert in Central Asia formed by the desiccation of the Aral Sea. This has created a source of atmospheric dust, with implications for the balance of solar and thermal radiation. Simulating these effects using a dust transport model, we find that Aralkum dust adds radiative cooling effects to the surface and atmosphere on average but also adds heating events. Increases in surface pressure due to Aralkum dust strengthen the Siberian High and weaken the summer Asian heat low.
Xinyue Shao, Minghuai Wang, Xinyi Dong, Yaman Liu, Wenxiang Shen, Stephen R. Arnold, Leighton A. Regayre, Meinrat O. Andreae, Mira L. Pöhlker, Duseong S. Jo, Man Yue, and Ken S. Carslaw
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 11365–11389, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-11365-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-11365-2024, 2024
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Highly oxygenated organic molecules (HOMs) play an important role in atmospheric new particle formation (NPF). By semi-explicitly coupling the chemical mechanism of HOMs and a comprehensive nucleation scheme in a global climate model, the updated model shows better agreement with measurements of nucleation rate, growth rate, and NPF event frequency. Our results reveal that HOM-driven NPF leads to a considerable increase in particle and cloud condensation nuclei burden globally.
Falei Xu, Shuang Wang, Yan Li, and Juan Feng
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 10689–10705, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-10689-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-10689-2024, 2024
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This study examines how the winter North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) and El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) affect dust activities in North China during the following spring. The results show that the NAO and ENSO, particularly in their negative phases, greatly influence dust activities. When both are negative, their combined effect on dust activities is even greater. This research highlights the importance of these climate patterns in predicting spring dust activities in North China.
Hengheng Zhang, Wei Huang, Xiaoli Shen, Ramakrishna Ramisetty, Junwei Song, Olga Kiseleva, Christopher Claus Holst, Basit Khan, Thomas Leisner, and Harald Saathoff
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 10617–10637, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-10617-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-10617-2024, 2024
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Our study unravels how stagnant winter conditions elevate aerosol levels in Stuttgart. Cloud cover at night plays a pivotal role, impacting morning air quality. Validating a key model, our findings aid accurate air quality predictions, crucial for effective pollution mitigation in urban areas.
Zixuan Jia, Massimo A. Bollasina, Wenjun Zhang, and Ying Xiang
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-2770, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-2770, 2024
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Using multi-model mean data from regional aerosol perturbation experiments, we find that increased Asian sulfate aerosols strengthen the link between ENSO and the East Asian winter monsoon. In coupled simulations, aerosol-induced broad cooling increases ENSO amplitude by affecting the tropical Pacific mean state, contributing to increase monsoon interannual variability. These results provide important implications to reduce uncertainties in future projections of regional extreme variability.
Giorgio Veratti, Alessandro Bigi, Michele Stortini, Sergio Teggi, and Grazia Ghermandi
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 10475–10512, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-10475-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-10475-2024, 2024
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In a study of two consecutive winter seasons, we used measurements and modelling tools to identify the levels and sources of black carbon pollution in a medium-sized urban area of the Po Valley, Italy. Our findings show that biomass burning and traffic-related emissions (especially from Euro 4 diesel cars) significantly contribute to BC concentrations. This research offers crucial insights for policymakers and urban planners aiming to improve air quality in cities.
Steven Soon-Kai Kong, Joshua S. Fu, Neng-Huei Lin, Guey-Rong Sheu, and Wei-Syun Huang
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-2549, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-2549, 2024
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The accuracy of the chemical transport model, a key focus of our research, is strongly dependent on the dry deposition parameterization. Our finding shows that the refined CMAQ dust model correlated well with the ground and high altitude in-situ measurements by implementing the suggested dry deposition schemes. Furthermore, we reveal the mixing state of two types of aerosols at the upper level, a finding supported by both the optimized model and measurement.
Pascal Lemaitre, Arnaud Quérel, Alexis Dépée, Alice Guerra Devigne, Marie Monier, Thibault Hiron, Chloé Soto Minguez, Daniel Hardy, and Andrea Flossmann
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 9713–9732, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-9713-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-9713-2024, 2024
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A new in-cloud scavenging scheme is proposed. It is based on a microphysical model of cloud formation and may be applied to long-distance atmospheric transport models (> 100 km) and climatic models. This model is applied to the two most extreme precipitating cloud types in terms of both relative humidity and vertical extension: cumulonimbus and stratus.
Alex Rowell, James Brean, David C. S. Beddows, Tuukka Petäjä, Máté Vörösmarty, Imre Salma, Jarkko V. Niemi, Hanna E. Manninen, Dominik van Pinxteren, Thomas Tuch, Kay Weinhold, Zongbo Shi, and Roy M. Harrison
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 9515–9531, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-9515-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-9515-2024, 2024
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Different sources of airborne particles in the atmospheres of four European cities were distinguished by recognising their particle size distributions using a statistical procedure, positive matrix factorisation. The various sources responded differently to the changes in emissions associated with COVID-19 lockdowns, and the reasons are investigated. While traffic emissions generally decreased, particles formed from reactions of atmospheric gases decreased in some cities but increased in others.
Amy H. Peace, Ying Chen, George Jordan, Daniel G. Partridge, Florent Malavelle, Eliza Duncan, and Jim M. Haywood
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 9533–9553, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-9533-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-9533-2024, 2024
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Natural aerosols from volcanic eruptions can help us understand how anthropogenic aerosols modify climate. We use observations and model simulations of the 2014–2015 Holuhraun eruption plume to examine aerosol–cloud interactions in September 2014. We find a shift to clouds with smaller, more numerous cloud droplets in the first 2 weeks of the eruption. In the third week, the background meteorology and previous conditions experienced by air masses modulate the aerosol perturbation to clouds.
Hua Lu, Min Xie, Bingliang Zhuang, Danyang Ma, Bojun Liu, Yangzhihao Zhan, Tijian Wang, Shu Li, Mengmeng Li, and Kuanguang Zhu
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 8963–8982, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-8963-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-8963-2024, 2024
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To identify cloud, aerosol, and planetary boundary layer (PBL) interactions from an air quality perspective, we summarized two pollution patterns characterized by denser liquid cloud and by obvious cloud radiation interaction (CRI). Numerical simulation experiments showed CRI could cause a 50 % reduction in aerosol radiation interaction (ARI) under a low-trough system. The results emphasized the nonnegligible role of CRI and its inhibition of ARI under wet and cloudy pollution synoptic patterns.
Emilie Fons, Ann Kristin Naumann, David Neubauer, Theresa Lang, and Ulrike Lohmann
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 8653–8675, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-8653-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-8653-2024, 2024
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Aerosols can modify the liquid water path (LWP) of stratocumulus and, thus, their radiative effect. We compare storm-resolving model and satellite data that disagree on the sign of LWP adjustments and diagnose this discrepancy with causal inference. We find that strong precipitation, the absence of wet scavenging, and cloud deepening under a weak inversion contribute to positive LWP adjustments to aerosols in the model, despite weak negative effects from cloud-top entrainment enhancement.
Muhammed Irfan, Thomas Kühn, Taina Yli-Juuti, Anton Laakso, Eemeli Holopainen, Douglas R. Worsnop, Annele Virtanen, and Harri Kokkola
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 8489–8506, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-8489-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-8489-2024, 2024
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The study examines how the volatility of semi-volatile organic compounds affects secondary organic aerosol (SOA) formation and climate. Our simulations show that uncertainties in these volatilities influence aerosol mass and climate impacts. Accurate representation of these compounds in climate models is crucial for predicting global climate patterns.
Alkiviadis Kalisoras, Aristeidis K. Georgoulias, Dimitris Akritidis, Robert J. Allen, Vaishali Naik, Chaincy Kuo, Sophie Szopa, Pierre Nabat, Dirk Olivié, Twan van Noije, Philippe Le Sager, David Neubauer, Naga Oshima, Jane Mulcahy, Larry W. Horowitz, and Prodromos Zanis
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 7837–7872, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-7837-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-7837-2024, 2024
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Effective radiative forcing (ERF) is a metric for estimating how human activities and natural agents change the energy flow into and out of the Earth’s climate system. We investigate the anthropogenic aerosol ERF, and we estimate the contribution of individual processes to the total ERF using simulations from Earth system models within the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6). Our findings highlight that aerosol–cloud interactions drive ERF variability during the last 150 years.
Cited articles
Arola, A., Schuster, G., Myhre, G., Kazadzis, S., Dey, S., and Tripathi, S. N.: Inferring absorbing organic carbon content from AERONET data, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 11, 215–225, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-11-215-2011, 2011.
Barahona, D., Molod, A., Bacmeister, J., Nenes, A., Gettelman, A., Morrison, H., Phillips, V., and Eichmann, A.: Development of two-moment cloud microphysics for liquid and ice within the NASA Goddard Earth Observing System Model (GEOS-5), Geosci. Model Dev., 7, 1733–1766, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-7-1733-2014, 2014.
Balkanski, Y., Schulz, M., Claquin, T., and Guibert, S.: Reevaluation of Mineral aerosol radiative forcings suggests a better agreement with satellite and AERONET data, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 7, 81–95, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-7-81-2007, 2007.
Bergstrom, R. W., Pilewskie, P., Russell, P. B., Redemann, J., Bond, T. C., Quinn, P. K., and Sierau, B.: Spectral absorption properties of atmospheric aerosols, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 7, 5937–5943, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-7-5937-2007, 2007.
Bond, T. C.: Spectral dependence of visible light absorption by carbonaceous particles emitted from coal combustion, Geophys. Res. Lett., 28, 4075–4078, https://doi.org/10.1029/2001GL013652, 2001.
Buchard, V., da Silva, A. M., Colarco, P., Krotkov, N., Dickerson, R. R., Stehr, J. W., Mount, G., Spinei, E., Arkinson, H. L., and He, H.: Evaluation of GEOS-5 sulfur dioxide simulations during the Frostburg, MD 2010 field campaign, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 14, 1929–1941, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-1929-2014, 2014.
Campbell, J. R., Reid, J. S., Westphal, D. L., Zhang, J., Hyer, E. J., and Welton, E. J.: CALIOP aerosol subset processing for global aerosol transport model data assimilation, J. Sel. Topics Appl. Earth Observ. Remote Sens., 3, 203–214, 2010.
Chin, M., Ginoux, P., Kinne, S., Torres, O., Holben, B. N., Duncan, B. N., Martin, R. V., Logan, J. A., Higurashi, A., and Nakajima, T: Tropospheric aerosol optical thickness from the GOCART model and comparisons with satellite and sun photometer measurements, J. Atmos. Sci., 59, 461–483, 2002.
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Short summary
MERRAero is an aerosol reanalysis based on the GEOS-5 earth system model that incorporates an online aerosol module and assimilation of AOD from MODIS sensors. This study assesses the quality of MERRAero absorption using independent OMI observations. In addition to comparisons to OMI absorption AOD, we have developed a radiative transfer interface to simulate the UV aerosol index from assimilated aerosol fields at OMI footprint. Also, we fully diagnose the model using MISR, AERONET and CALIPSO.
MERRAero is an aerosol reanalysis based on the GEOS-5 earth system model that incorporates an...
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