Articles | Volume 17, issue 3
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-1931-2017
© Author(s) 2017. 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-17-1931-2017
© Author(s) 2017. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
Research article
| 
09 Feb 2017
Research article |
| 09 Feb 2017
Assessment of the aerosol optical depths measured by satellite-based passive remote sensors in the Alberta oil sands region
Christopher E. Sioris
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC), Toronto, ON, Canada
Chris A. McLinden
Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC), Toronto, ON, Canada
Mark W. Shephard
Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC), Toronto, ON, Canada
Vitali E. Fioletov
Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC), Toronto, ON, Canada
Ihab Abboud
Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC), Toronto, ON, Canada
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The AM (annular mode) is the most important internal mode of climatic variability at high latitudes. Upper tropospheric water vapour (UTWV) at high latitudes increases by up to ~ 50 % during the negative phase of the AMs. The response of water vapour to the AMs vanishes above the tropopause. The ultimate goal of the study was to improve UTWV trend uncertainties by explaining shorter-term variability, and this was achieved by accounting for the AM-related response in a multiple linear regression.
Christopher E. Sioris, Jason Zou, C. Thomas McElroy, Chris D. Boone, Patrick E. Sheese, and Peter F. Bernath
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N. R. P. Harris, B. Hassler, F. Tummon, G. E. Bodeker, D. Hubert, I. Petropavlovskikh, W. Steinbrecht, J. Anderson, P. K. Bhartia, C. D. Boone, A. Bourassa, S. M. Davis, D. Degenstein, A. Delcloo, S. M. Frith, L. Froidevaux, S. Godin-Beekmann, N. Jones, M. J. Kurylo, E. Kyrölä, M. Laine, S. T. Leblanc, J.-C. Lambert, B. Liley, E. Mahieu, A. Maycock, M. de Mazière, A. Parrish, R. Querel, K. H. Rosenlof, C. Roth, C. Sioris, J. Staehelin, R. S. Stolarski, R. Stübi, J. Tamminen, C. Vigouroux, K. A. Walker, H. J. Wang, J. Wild, and J. M. Zawodny
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 15, 9965–9982, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-9965-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-9965-2015, 2015
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Trends in the vertical distribution of ozone are reported for new and recently revised data sets. The amount of ozone-depleting compounds in the stratosphere peaked in the second half of the 1990s. We examine the trends before and after that peak to see if any change in trend is discernible. The previously reported decreases are confirmed. Furthermore, the downward trend in upper stratospheric ozone has not continued. The possible significance of any increase is discussed in detail.
C. E. Sioris, C. D. Boone, R. Nassar, K. J. Sutton, I. E. Gordon, K. A. Walker, and P. F. Bernath
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 7, 2243–2262, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-7-2243-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-7-2243-2014, 2014
A. E. Bourassa, D. A. Degenstein, W. J. Randel, J. M. Zawodny, E. Kyrölä, C. A. McLinden, C. E. Sioris, and C. Z. Roth
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 14, 6983–6994, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-6983-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-6983-2014, 2014
C. E. Sioris, C. A. McLinden, V. E. Fioletov, C. Adams, J. M. Zawodny, A. E. Bourassa, C. Z. Roth, and D. A. Degenstein
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 14, 3479–3496, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-3479-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-3479-2014, 2014
C. Adams, A. E. Bourassa, V. Sofieva, L. Froidevaux, C. A. McLinden, D. Hubert, J.-C. Lambert, C. E. Sioris, and D. A. Degenstein
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 7, 49–64, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-7-49-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-7-49-2014, 2014
J. Liu, D. W. Tarasick, V. E. Fioletov, C. McLinden, T. Zhao, S. Gong, C. Sioris, J. J. Jin, G. Liu, and O. Moeini
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 13, 11441–11464, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-11441-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-11441-2013, 2013
Chris A. McLinden, Debora Griffin, Vitali Fioletov, Junhua Zhang, Enrico Dammers, Cristen Adams, Mallory Loria, Nickolay Krotkov, and Lok N. Lamsal
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 6093–6120, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-6093-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-6093-2025, 2025
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Ramina Alwarda, Kristof Bognar, Xiaoyi Zhao, Vitali Fioletov, Jonathan Davies, Sum Chi Lee, Debora Griffin, Alexandru Lupu, Udo Frieß, Alexander Cede, Yushan Su, and Kimberly Strong
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 2397–2423, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-2397-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-2397-2025, 2025
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Debora Griffin, Colin Hempel, Chris McLinden, Shailesh Kumar Kharol, Colin Lee, Andre Fogal, Christopher Sioris, Mark Shephard, and Yuan You
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Paul A. Makar, Philip Cheung, Christian Hogrefe, Ayodeji Akingunola, Ummugulsum Alyuz, Jesse O. Bash, Michael D. Bell, Roberto Bellasio, Roberto Bianconi, Tim Butler, Hazel Cathcart, Olivia E. Clifton, Alma Hodzic, Ioannis Kioutsioukis, Richard Kranenburg, Aurelia Lupascu, Jason A. Lynch, Kester Momoh, Juan L. Perez-Camanyo, Jonathan Pleim, Young-Hee Ryu, Roberto San Jose, Donna Schwede, Thomas Scheuschner, Mark W. Shephard, Ranjeet S. Sokhi, and Stefano Galmarini
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 3049–3107, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-3049-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-3049-2025, 2025
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The large range of sulfur and nitrogen deposition estimates from air quality models results in a large range of predicted impacts. We used models and deposition diagnostics to identify the processes controlling atmospheric sulfur and nitrogen deposition variability. Controlling factors included the uptake of gases and aerosols by hydrometeors, aerosol inorganic chemistry, particle dry deposition, ammonia bidirectional fluxes, gas deposition via plant cuticles and soil, and land use data.
Vitali Fioletov, Chris A. McLinden, Debora Griffin, Xiaoyi Zhao, and Henk Eskes
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 575–596, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-575-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-575-2025, 2025
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Xiaoyi Zhao, Vitali Fioletov, Debora Griffin, Chris McLinden, Ralf Staebler, Cristian Mihele, Kevin Strawbridge, Jonathan Davies, Ihab Abboud, Sum Chi Lee, Alexander Cede, Martin Tiefengraber, and Robert Swap
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 6889–6912, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-6889-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-6889-2024, 2024
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This study explores differences between remote sensing and in situ instruments in terms of their vertical, horizontal, and temporal sampling differences. Understanding and resolving these differences are critical for future analyses linking satellite, ground-based remote sensing, and in situ observations in air quality monitoring. It shows that the meteorological conditions (wind directions, speed, and boundary layer conditions) will strongly affect the agreement between the two measurements.
Jieying Ding, Ronald van der A, Henk Eskes, Enrico Dammers, Mark Shephard, Roy Wichink Kruit, Marc Guevara, and Leonor Tarrason
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 10583–10599, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-10583-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-10583-2024, 2024
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Here we applied the existing Daily Emissions Constrained by Satellite Observations (DECSO) inversion algorithm to NH3 observations from the CrIS satellite instrument to estimate NH3 emissions. As NH3 in the atmosphere is influenced by NOx, we implemented DECSO to estimate NOx and NH3 emissions simultaneously. The emissions are derived over Europe for 2020 at a spatial resolution of 0.2° using daily observations from CrIS and TROPOMI. Results are compared to bottom-up emission inventories.
Can Li, Nickolay A. Krotkov, Joanna Joiner, Vitali Fioletov, Chris McLinden, Debora Griffin, Peter J. T. Leonard, Simon Carn, Colin Seftor, and Alexander Vasilkov
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 16, 4291–4309, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-4291-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-4291-2024, 2024
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Sulfur dioxide (SO2), a poisonous gas from human activities and volcanoes, causes air pollution, acid rain, and changes to climate and the ozone layer. Satellites have been used to monitor SO2 globally, including remote areas. Here we describe a new satellite SO2 dataset from the OMPS instrument that flies on the N20 satellite. Results show that the new dataset agrees well with the existing ones from other satellites and can help to continue the global monitoring of SO2 from space.
Debora Griffin, Jack Chen, Kerry Anderson, Paul Makar, Chris A. McLinden, Enrico Dammers, and Andre Fogal
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 10159–10186, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-10159-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-10159-2024, 2024
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Satellite-derived CO emissions provide new insights into the understanding of global CO emission rates from wildfires. We use TROPOMI satellite data to create a global inventory database of wildfire CO emissions. These satellite-derived wildfire emissions are used for the evaluation and improvement of existing fire emission inventories and to examine how the wildfire CO emissions have changed over the past 2 decades.
Enrico Dammers, Janot Tokaya, Christian Mielke, Kevin Hausmann, Debora Griffin, Chris McLinden, Henk Eskes, and Renske Timmermans
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 4983–5007, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-4983-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-4983-2024, 2024
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Nitrogen dioxide (NOx) is produced by sources such as industry and traffic and is directly linked to negative impacts on health and the environment. The current construction of emission inventories to keep track of NOx emissions is slow and time-consuming. Satellite measurements provide a way to quickly and independently estimate emissions. In this study, we apply a consistent methodology to derive NOx emissions over Germany and illustrate the value of having such a method for fast projections.
Karen E. Cady-Pereira, Xuehui Guo, Rui Wang, April B. Leytem, Chase Calkins, Elizabeth Berry, Kang Sun, Markus Müller, Armin Wisthaler, Vivienne H. Payne, Mark W. Shephard, Mark A. Zondlo, and Valentin Kantchev
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 15–36, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-15-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-15-2024, 2024
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Ammonia is a significant precursor of PM2.5 particles and thus contributes to poor air quality in many regions. Furthermore, ammonia concentrations are rising due to the increase of large-scale, intensive agricultural activities. Here we evaluate satellite measurements of ammonia against aircraft and surface network data, and show that there are differences in magnitude, but the satellite data are spatially and temporally well correlated with the in situ data.
Lukas Fehr, Chris McLinden, Debora Griffin, Daniel Zawada, Doug Degenstein, and Adam Bourassa
Geosci. Model Dev., 16, 7491–7507, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-7491-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-7491-2023, 2023
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Vitali E. Fioletov, Chris A. McLinden, Debora Griffin, Nickolay A. Krotkov, Can Li, Joanna Joiner, Nicolas Theys, and Simon Carn
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 5575–5592, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-5575-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-5575-2023, 2023
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Snow-covered terrain, with its high reflectance in the UV, typically enhances satellite sensitivity to boundary layer pollution. However, a significant fraction of high-quality cloud-free measurements over snow is currently excluded from analyses. In this study, we investigated how satellite SO2 measurements over snow-covered surfaces can be used to improve estimations of annual SO2 emissions.
Zhipeng Qu, David P. Donovan, Howard W. Barker, Jason N. S. Cole, Mark W. Shephard, and Vincent Huijnen
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 4927–4946, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-4927-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-4927-2023, 2023
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The EarthCARE satellite mission Level 2 algorithm development requires realistic 3D cloud and aerosol scenes along the satellite orbits. One of the best ways to produce these scenes is to use a high-resolution numerical weather prediction model to simulate atmospheric conditions at 250 m horizontal resolution. This paper describes the production and validation of three EarthCARE test scenes.
Vitali Fioletov, Xiaoyi Zhao, Ihab Abboud, Michael Brohart, Akira Ogyu, Reno Sit, Sum Chi Lee, Irina Petropavlovskikh, Koji Miyagawa, Bryan J. Johnson, Patrick Cullis, John Booth, Glen McConville, and C. Thomas McElroy
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 12731–12751, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-12731-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-12731-2023, 2023
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Stratospheric ozone within the Southern Hemisphere springtime polar vortex has been a subject of intense research since the discovery of the Antarctic ozone hole. The wintertime ozone in the vortex is less studied. We show that the recent wintertime ozone values over the South Pole were about 12 % below the pre-1980s level; i.e., the decline there was nearly twice as large as that over southern midlatitudes. Thus, wintertime ozone there can be used as an indicator of the ozone layer state.
Jason N. S. Cole, Howard W. Barker, Zhipeng Qu, Najda Villefranque, and Mark W. Shephard
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 4271–4288, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-4271-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-4271-2023, 2023
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Measurements from the EarthCARE satellite mission will be used to retrieve profiles of cloud and aerosol properties. These retrievals are combined with auxiliary information about surface properties and atmospheric state, e.g., temperature and water vapor. This information allows computation of 1D and 3D solar and thermal radiative transfer for small domains, which are compared with coincident radiometer observations to continually assess EarthCARE retrievals.
Zhipeng Qu, Howard W. Barker, Jason N. S. Cole, and Mark W. Shephard
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 2319–2331, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-2319-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-2319-2023, 2023
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This paper describes EarthCARE’s L2 product ACM-3D. It includes the scene construction algorithm (SCA) used to produce the indexes for reconstructing 3D atmospheric scene based on satellite nadir retrievals. It also provides the information about the buffer zone sizes of 3D assessment domains and the ranking scores for selecting the best 3D assessment domains. These output variables are needed to run 3D radiative transfer models for the radiative closure assessment of EarthCARE’s L2 retrievals.
Xiaoyi Zhao, Vitali Fioletov, Alberto Redondas, Julian Gröbner, Luca Egli, Franz Zeilinger, Javier López-Solano, Alberto Berjón Arroyo, James Kerr, Eliane Maillard Barras, Herman Smit, Michael Brohart, Reno Sit, Akira Ogyu, Ihab Abboud, and Sum Chi Lee
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 2273–2295, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-2273-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-2273-2023, 2023
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The Brewer ozone spectrophotometer is one of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Global Atmosphere Watch (GAW)'s standard ozone monitoring instruments since the 1980s. This work is aimed at obtaining answers to (1) why Brewer primary calibration work can only be performed at certain sites (e.g., Izaña and MLO) and (2) what is needed to assure the equivalence of calibration quality from different sites.
Vitali E. Fioletov, Chris A. McLinden, Debora Griffin, Ihab Abboud, Nickolay Krotkov, Peter J. T. Leonard, Can Li, Joanna Joiner, Nicolas Theys, and Simon Carn
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 75–93, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-75-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-75-2023, 2023
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Sulfur dioxide (SO2) measurements from three satellite instruments were used to update and extend the previously developed global catalogue of large SO2 emission sources. This version 2 of the global catalogue covers the period of 2005–2021 and includes a total of 759 continuously emitting point sources. The catalogue data show an approximate 50 % decline in global SO2 emissions between 2005 and 2021, although emissions were relatively stable during the last 3 years.
Can Li, Joanna Joiner, Fei Liu, Nickolay A. Krotkov, Vitali Fioletov, and Chris McLinden
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 5497–5514, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-5497-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-5497-2022, 2022
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Satellite observations provide information on the sources of SO2, an important pollutant that affects both air quality and climate. However, these observations suffer from relatively poor data quality due to weak signals of SO2. Here, we use a machine learning technique to analyze satellite SO2 observations in order to reduce the noise and artifacts over relatively clean areas while keeping the signals near pollution sources. This leads to significant improvement in satellite SO2 data.
William G. Read, Gabriele Stiller, Stefan Lossow, Michael Kiefer, Farahnaz Khosrawi, Dale Hurst, Holger Vömel, Karen Rosenlof, Bianca M. Dinelli, Piera Raspollini, Gerald E. Nedoluha, John C. Gille, Yasuko Kasai, Patrick Eriksson, Christopher E. Sioris, Kaley A. Walker, Katja Weigel, John P. Burrows, and Alexei Rozanov
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 3377–3400, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-3377-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-3377-2022, 2022
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This paper attempts to provide an assessment of the accuracy of 21 satellite-based instruments that remotely measure atmospheric humidity in the upper troposphere of the Earth's atmosphere. The instruments made their measurements from 1984 to the present time; however, most of these instruments began operations after 2000, and only a few are still operational. The objective of this study is to quantify the accuracy of each satellite humidity data set.
Mark Weber, Carlo Arosio, Melanie Coldewey-Egbers, Vitali E. Fioletov, Stacey M. Frith, Jeannette D. Wild, Kleareti Tourpali, John P. Burrows, and Diego Loyola
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 6843–6859, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-6843-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-6843-2022, 2022
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Long-term trends in column ozone have been determined from five merged total ozone datasets spanning the period 1978–2020. We show that ozone recovery due to the decline in stratospheric halogens after the 1990s (as regulated by the Montreal Protocol) is evident outside the tropical region and amounts to half a percent per decade. The ozone recovery in the Northern Hemisphere is however compensated for by the negative long-term trend contribution from atmospheric dynamics since the year 2000.
Michael Sitwell, Mark W. Shephard, Yves Rochon, Karen Cady-Pereira, and Enrico Dammers
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 6595–6624, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-6595-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-6595-2022, 2022
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Observations of ammonia made using the satellite-borne CrIS instrument were used to improve the ammonia emissions used in the GEM-MACH model. These observations were used to refine estimates of the monthly mean ammonia emissions over North America for May to August 2016. The updated ammonia emissions reduced biases of GEM-MACH surface ammonia fields with surface observations and showed some improvements in the forecasting of species involved in inorganic particulate matter formation.
Vitali Fioletov, Chris A. McLinden, Debora Griffin, Nickolay Krotkov, Fei Liu, and Henk Eskes
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 4201–4236, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-4201-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-4201-2022, 2022
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The COVID-19 lockdown had a large impact on anthropogenic emissions and particularly on nitrogen dioxide (NO2). A new method of isolation of background, urban, and industrial components in NO2 is applied to estimate the lockdown impact on each of them. From 16 March to 15 June 2020, urban NO2 declined by −18 % to −28 % in most regions of the world, while background NO2 typically declined by less than −10 %.
Shelley van der Graaf, Enrico Dammers, Arjo Segers, Richard Kranenburg, Martijn Schaap, Mark W. Shephard, and Jan Willem Erisman
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 951–972, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-951-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-951-2022, 2022
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CrIS NH3 satellite observations are assimilated into the LOTOS-EUROS model using two different methods. In the first method the data are used to fit spatially varying NH3 emission time factors. In the second method a local ensemble transform Kalman filter is used. Compared to in situ observations, combining both methods led to the most significant improvements in the modeled concentrations and deposition, illustrating the usefulness of CrIS NH3 to improve the spatiotemporal distribution of NH3.
Mahtab Majdzadeh, Craig A. Stroud, Christopher Sioris, Paul A. Makar, Ayodeji Akingunola, Chris McLinden, Xiaoyi Zhao, Michael D. Moran, Ihab Abboud, and Jack Chen
Geosci. Model Dev., 15, 219–249, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-219-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-219-2022, 2022
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A new lookup table for aerosol optical properties based on a Mie scattering code was calculated and adopted within an improved version of the photolysis module in the GEM-MACH in-line chemical transport model. The modified version of the photolysis module makes use of online interactive aerosol feedback and applies core-shell parameterizations to the black carbon absorption efficiency based on Bond et al. (2006) to the size bins with black carbon mass fraction of less than 40 %.
Debora Griffin, Chris A. McLinden, Enrico Dammers, Cristen Adams, Chelsea E. Stockwell, Carsten Warneke, Ilann Bourgeois, Jeff Peischl, Thomas B. Ryerson, Kyle J. Zarzana, Jake P. Rowe, Rainer Volkamer, Christoph Knote, Natalie Kille, Theodore K. Koenig, Christopher F. Lee, Drew Rollins, Pamela S. Rickly, Jack Chen, Lukas Fehr, Adam Bourassa, Doug Degenstein, Katherine Hayden, Cristian Mihele, Sumi N. Wren, John Liggio, Ayodeji Akingunola, and Paul Makar
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 7929–7957, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-7929-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-7929-2021, 2021
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Satellite-derived NOx emissions from biomass burning are estimated with TROPOMI observations. Two common emission estimation methods are applied, and sensitivity tests with model output were performed to determine the accuracy of these methods. The effect of smoke aerosols on TROPOMI NO2 columns is estimated and compared to aircraft observations from four different aircraft campaigns measuring biomass burning plumes in 2018 and 2019 in North America.
Nicolas Theys, Vitali Fioletov, Can Li, Isabelle De Smedt, Christophe Lerot, Chris McLinden, Nickolay Krotkov, Debora Griffin, Lieven Clarisse, Pascal Hedelt, Diego Loyola, Thomas Wagner, Vinod Kumar, Antje Innes, Roberto Ribas, François Hendrick, Jonas Vlietinck, Hugues Brenot, and Michel Van Roozendael
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 16727–16744, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-16727-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-16727-2021, 2021
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We present a new algorithm to retrieve sulfur dioxide from space UV measurements. We apply the technique to high-resolution TROPOMI measurements and demonstrate the high sensitivity of the approach to weak SO2 emissions worldwide with an unprecedented limit of detection of 8 kt yr−1. This result has broad implications for atmospheric science studies dealing with improving emission inventories and identifying and quantifying missing sources, in the context of air quality and climate.
Prashant Chavan, Suvarna Fadnavis, Tanusri Chakroborty, Christopher E. Sioris, Sabine Griessbach, and Rolf Müller
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 14371–14384, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-14371-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-14371-2021, 2021
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Biomass burning (BB) over Asia is a strong source of carbonaceous aerosols during spring. Here, we show an outflow of Asian BB carbonaceous aerosols into the UTLS. These aerosols enhance atmospheric heating and produce circulation changes that lead to the enhancement of water vapor in the UTLS over the tropics. In the stratosphere, water vapor is further transported to the South Pole by the Brewer–Dobson circulation. Enhancement of water vapor in the UTLS has implications for climate change.
Paul A. Makar, Ayodeji Akingunola, Jack Chen, Balbir Pabla, Wanmin Gong, Craig Stroud, Christopher Sioris, Kerry Anderson, Philip Cheung, Junhua Zhang, and Jason Milbrandt
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 10557–10587, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-10557-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-10557-2021, 2021
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We have examined the effects of airborne particles on absorption and scattering of incoming sunlight by the particles themselves via cloud formation. We used an advanced, combined high-resolution weather forecast and chemical transport computer model, for western North America, and simulations with and without the connections between particles and weather enabled. Feedbacks improved weather and air pollution forecasts and changed cloud behaviour and forest-fire pollutant amount and height.
Michaela I. Hegglin, Susann Tegtmeier, John Anderson, Adam E. Bourassa, Samuel Brohede, Doug Degenstein, Lucien Froidevaux, Bernd Funke, John Gille, Yasuko Kasai, Erkki T. Kyrölä, Jerry Lumpe, Donal Murtagh, Jessica L. Neu, Kristell Pérot, Ellis E. Remsberg, Alexei Rozanov, Matthew Toohey, Joachim Urban, Thomas von Clarmann, Kaley A. Walker, Hsiang-Jui Wang, Carlo Arosio, Robert Damadeo, Ryan A. Fuller, Gretchen Lingenfelser, Christopher McLinden, Diane Pendlebury, Chris Roth, Niall J. Ryan, Christopher Sioris, Lesley Smith, and Katja Weigel
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 13, 1855–1903, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-1855-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-1855-2021, 2021
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An overview of the SPARC Data Initiative is presented, to date the most comprehensive assessment of stratospheric composition measurements spanning 1979–2018. Measurements of 26 chemical constituents obtained from an international suite of space-based limb sounders were compiled into vertically resolved, zonal monthly mean time series. The quality and consistency of these gridded datasets are then evaluated using a climatological validation approach and a range of diagnostics.
Xiaoyi Zhao, Vitali Fioletov, Michael Brohart, Volodya Savastiouk, Ihab Abboud, Akira Ogyu, Jonathan Davies, Reno Sit, Sum Chi Lee, Alexander Cede, Martin Tiefengraber, Moritz Müller, Debora Griffin, and Chris McLinden
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 2261–2283, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-2261-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-2261-2021, 2021
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The Brewer spectrophotometer is one of the main instruments for measurements of atmospheric total column ozone. The global Brewer network largely relies on the world reference instruments (the Brewer triad) operated by Environment and Climate Change Canada since the early 1980s. This study provides an updated assessment (1999–2019) of the reference instrument performance, in terms of random uncertainties and long-term stability.
Nikolaos Evangeliou, Yves Balkanski, Sabine Eckhardt, Anne Cozic, Martin Van Damme, Pierre-François Coheur, Lieven Clarisse, Mark W. Shephard, Karen E. Cady-Pereira, and Didier Hauglustaine
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 4431–4451, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-4431-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-4431-2021, 2021
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Ammonia, a substance that has played a key role in sustaining life, has been increasing in the atmosphere, affecting climate and humans. Understanding the reasons for this increase is important for the beneficial use of ammonia. The evolution of satellite products gives us the opportunity to calculate ammonia emissions easier. We calculated global ammonia emissions over the last 10 years, incorporated them into a chemistry model and recorded notable improvement in reproducing observations.
Elena Spinei, Martin Tiefengraber, Moritz Müller, Manuel Gebetsberger, Alexander Cede, Luke Valin, James Szykman, Andrew Whitehill, Alexander Kotsakis, Fernando Santos, Nader Abbuhasan, Xiaoyi Zhao, Vitali Fioletov, Sum Chi Lee, and Robert Swap
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 647–663, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-647-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-647-2021, 2021
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Plastics are widely used in everyday life and scientific equipment. This paper presents Delrin plastic off-gassing as a function of temperature on the atmospheric measurements of formaldehyde by Pandora spectroscopic instruments. The sealed telescope assembly containing Delrin components emitted large amounts of formaldehyde at 30–45 °C, interfering with the Pandora measurements. These results have a broader implication since electronic products often experience the same temperature.
Vitali Fioletov, Chris A. McLinden, Debora Griffin, Nicolas Theys, Diego G. Loyola, Pascal Hedelt, Nickolay A. Krotkov, and Can Li
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 5591–5607, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-5591-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-5591-2020, 2020
Xiaoyi Zhao, Debora Griffin, Vitali Fioletov, Chris McLinden, Alexander Cede, Martin Tiefengraber, Moritz Müller, Kristof Bognar, Kimberly Strong, Folkert Boersma, Henk Eskes, Jonathan Davies, Akira Ogyu, and Sum Chi Lee
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 2131–2159, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-2131-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-2131-2020, 2020
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Pandora NO2 measurements made at three sites located in the Toronto area are used to evaluate the TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) NO2 data products, including standard NO2 and research data developed using a high-resolution regional air quality forecast model. TROPOMI pixels located upwind and downwind from the Pandora sites were analyzed by a new wind-based validation method, which revealed the spatial patterns of local and transported emissions and regional air quality changes.
Debora Griffin, Christopher Sioris, Jack Chen, Nolan Dickson, Andrew Kovachik, Martin de Graaf, Swadhin Nanda, Pepijn Veefkind, Enrico Dammers, Chris A. McLinden, Paul Makar, and Ayodeji Akingunola
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 1427–1445, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-1427-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-1427-2020, 2020
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This study looks into validating the aerosol layer height product from the recently launched TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) for forest fire plume through comparisons with two other satellite products, and interpreting differences due to the individual measurement techniques. These satellite observations are compared to predicted plume heights from Environment and Climate Change's air quality forecast model.
Zoë Y. W. Davis, Udo Frieß, Kevin B. Strawbridge, Monika Aggarwaal, Sabour Baray, Elijah G. Schnitzler, Akshay Lobo, Vitali E. Fioletov, Ihab Abboud, Chris A. McLinden, Jim Whiteway, Megan D. Willis, Alex K. Y. Lee, Jeff Brook, Jason Olfert, Jason O'Brien, Ralf Staebler, Hans D. Osthoff, Cristian Mihele, and Robert McLaren
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 1129–1155, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-1129-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-1129-2020, 2020
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Here, we evaluate a ground-based remote sensing method (MAX-DOAS) for measuring total pollutant loading and vertical profiles of pollution in the lower atmosphere by comparing our method to a variety of other measurement methods (lidar, sunphotometer, active DOAS, and aircraft measurements). Measurements were made in the Athabasca Oil Sands Region in Alberta, Canada. The complex dataset provided a rare opportunity to evaluate the performance of MAX-DOAS under varying atmospheric conditions.
Mark W. Shephard, Enrico Dammers, Karen E. Cady-Pereira, Shailesh K. Kharol, Jesse Thompson, Yonatan Gainariu-Matz, Junhua Zhang, Chris A. McLinden, Andrew Kovachik, Michael Moran, Shabtai Bittman, Christopher E. Sioris, Debora Griffin, Matthew J. Alvarado, Chantelle Lonsdale, Verica Savic-Jovcic, and Qiong Zheng
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 2277–2302, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-2277-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-2277-2020, 2020
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Presented is a description and survey demonstrating the capabilities of the CrIS ammonia product for monitoring, air quality forecast model evaluation, dry deposition estimates, and emission estimates of an agricultural hotspot.
Camille Viatte, Tianze Wang, Martin Van Damme, Enrico Dammers, Frederik Meleux, Lieven Clarisse, Mark W. Shephard, Simon Whitburn, Pierre François Coheur, Karen E. Cady-Pereira, and Cathy Clerbaux
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 577–596, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-577-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-577-2020, 2020
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We study concentrations and spatiotemporal variabilities of atmospheric NH3 from the agricultural sector to gain insights on its effects on the Paris megacity air quality using satellite data from IASI and CrIS.
We evaluate the regional CHIMERE model capacity to reproduce NH3 and particulate matter (PM2.5) concentrations and variabilities in the domain of study.
We quantify the main meteorological parameters driving the optimal conditions involved in the PM2.5 formation from NH3 in Paris.
Fei Liu, Bryan N. Duncan, Nickolay A. Krotkov, Lok N. Lamsal, Steffen Beirle, Debora Griffin, Chris A. McLinden, Daniel L. Goldberg, and Zifeng Lu
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 99–116, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-99-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-99-2020, 2020
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We present a novel method to infer CO2 emissions from individual power plants, based on satellite observations of co-emitted NO2. We find that the CO2 emissions estimated by our satellite-based method during 2005–2017 are in reasonable agreement with the CEMS measurements for US power plants. The broader implication of our methodology is that it has the potential to provide an additional constraint on CO2 emissions from power plants in regions of the world without reliable emissions accounting.
Zoe Y. W. Davis, Sabour Baray, Chris A. McLinden, Aida Khanbabakhani, William Fujs, Csilla Csukat, Jerzy Debosz, and Robert McLaren
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 13871–13889, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-13871-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-13871-2019, 2019
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In this paper, we describe the use of mobile vehicle-mounted instrumentation to measure pollutants both at the surface and overhead (via a telescope) that are coming from a source. This allows us to calculate the total emissions from the source, in this case the city of Sarnia, ON, including both industrial emissions and emissions from the city populace. In this paper, we talk about improvements to the technique in the form of extra instrumentation in the vehicle.
Katerina Garane, Maria-Elissavet Koukouli, Tijl Verhoelst, Christophe Lerot, Klaus-Peter Heue, Vitali Fioletov, Dimitrios Balis, Alkiviadis Bais, Ariane Bazureau, Angelika Dehn, Florence Goutail, Jose Granville, Debora Griffin, Daan Hubert, Arno Keppens, Jean-Christopher Lambert, Diego Loyola, Chris McLinden, Andrea Pazmino, Jean-Pierre Pommereau, Alberto Redondas, Fabian Romahn, Pieter Valks, Michel Van Roozendael, Jian Xu, Claus Zehner, Christos Zerefos, and Walter Zimmer
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 12, 5263–5287, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-5263-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-5263-2019, 2019
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The Sentinel-5 Precursor TROPOMI near real time (NRTI) and offline (OFFL) total ozone column (TOC) products are validated against direct-sun and twilight zenith-sky ground-based TOC measurements and other already known spaceborne sensors. The results show that the TROPOMI TOC measurements are in very good agreement with the ground-based measurements and satellite sensor measurements and that they are well within the product requirements.
Enrico Dammers, Chris A. McLinden, Debora Griffin, Mark W. Shephard, Shelley Van Der Graaf, Erik Lutsch, Martijn Schaap, Yonatan Gainairu-Matz, Vitali Fioletov, Martin Van Damme, Simon Whitburn, Lieven Clarisse, Karen Cady-Pereira, Cathy Clerbaux, Pierre Francois Coheur, and Jan Willem Erisman
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 12261–12293, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-12261-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-12261-2019, 2019
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Ammonia is an essential molecule in the environment, but at its current levels it is unsustainable. However, the emissions are highly uncertain. We explore the use of satellites to estimate the ammonia lifetime and emissions around point sources to help improve the budget. The same method applied to different satellite instruments shows consistent results. Comparison to the emission inventories shows that those are underestimating emissions of point sources by on average a factor of 2.5.
Xiaoyi Zhao, Debora Griffin, Vitali Fioletov, Chris McLinden, Jonathan Davies, Akira Ogyu, Sum Chi Lee, Alexandru Lupu, Michael D. Moran, Alexander Cede, Martin Tiefengraber, and Moritz Müller
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 10619–10642, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-10619-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-10619-2019, 2019
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New nitrogen dioxide (NO2) retrieval algorithms are developed for Pandora zenith-sky measurements. A column-to-surface conversion look-up table was produced for the Pandora instruments; therefore, quick and practical Pandora-based surface NO2 concentration data can be obtained for air quality monitoring purposes. It is demonstrated that the surface NO2 concentration is controlled not only by the planetary boundary layer height but also by both boundary layer dynamics and photochemistry.
Dan Weaver, Kimberly Strong, Kaley A. Walker, Chris Sioris, Matthias Schneider, C. Thomas McElroy, Holger Vömel, Michael Sommer, Katja Weigel, Alexei Rozanov, John P. Burrows, William G. Read, Evan Fishbein, and Gabriele Stiller
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 12, 4039–4063, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-4039-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-4039-2019, 2019
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This work assesses water vapour profiles acquired by Atmospheric Chemistry Experiment (ACE) satellite instruments in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere (UTLS) using comparisons to radiosondes and ground-based Fourier transform infrared spectrometer measurements acquired at a Canadian high Arctic measurement site in Eureka, Nunavut. Additional comparisons are made between these Eureka measurements and other water vapour satellite datasets for context, including AIRS, MLS, and others.
Stefan Lossow, Farahnaz Khosrawi, Michael Kiefer, Kaley A. Walker, Jean-Loup Bertaux, Laurent Blanot, James M. Russell, Ellis E. Remsberg, John C. Gille, Takafumi Sugita, Christopher E. Sioris, Bianca M. Dinelli, Enzo Papandrea, Piera Raspollini, Maya García-Comas, Gabriele P. Stiller, Thomas von Clarmann, Anu Dudhia, William G. Read, Gerald E. Nedoluha, Robert P. Damadeo, Joseph M. Zawodny, Katja Weigel, Alexei Rozanov, Faiza Azam, Klaus Bramstedt, Stefan Noël, John P. Burrows, Hideo Sagawa, Yasuko Kasai, Joachim Urban, Patrick Eriksson, Donal P. Murtagh, Mark E. Hervig, Charlotta Högberg, Dale F. Hurst, and Karen H. Rosenlof
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 12, 2693–2732, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-2693-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-2693-2019, 2019
Xiaoyi Zhao, Kristof Bognar, Vitali Fioletov, Andrea Pazmino, Florence Goutail, Luis Millán, Gloria Manney, Cristen Adams, and Kimberly Strong
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 12, 2463–2483, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-2463-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-2463-2019, 2019
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Ozone is one of the most widely monitored trace gases in the atmosphere. It can be measured via its strong absorption bands in the ultraviolet (UV), visible (Vis) and infrared (IR) portions of the spectrum. Using multiple ground-based measurements and modeled data, this work provides a measurement-based evaluation of the impact of clouds on UV-visible total column ozone measurements in the high Arctic.
Cristen Adams, Chris A. McLinden, Mark W. Shephard, Nolan Dickson, Enrico Dammers, Jack Chen, Paul Makar, Karen E. Cady-Pereira, Naomi Tam, Shailesh K. Kharol, Lok N. Lamsal, and Nickolay A. Krotkov
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 2577–2599, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-2577-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-2577-2019, 2019
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We estimated how much carbon monoxide, ammonia, and nitrogen oxides were emitted in the smoke from the Fort McMurray Horse River wildfire using satellite data and air quality models. The fire emitted amounts of carbon monoxide that were similar to anthropogenic (human-caused) emissions for all of Alberta over a full year. We also estimated large amounts of ammonia and nitrogen oxides emitted from the fire. These results can be used to evaluate the performance of air quality forecasting models.
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.
Jeffrey A. Geddes, Randall V. Martin, Eric J. Bucsela, Chris A. McLinden, and Daniel J. M. Cunningham
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 6271–6287, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-6271-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-6271-2018, 2018
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This paper describes an approach for separating the stratospheric and tropospheric contributions in geostationary observations of nitrogen dioxide from the upcoming TEMPO instrument. We find minimal impact of the limited field of observation compared to previous low-Earth-observing systems with global coverage. We find that continued development of low-Earth-orbit retrievals will benefit geostationary data by providing important context outside the field of regard.
Suvarna Fadnavis, Chaitri Roy, Rajib Chattopadhyay, Christopher E. Sioris, Alexandru Rap, Rolf Müller, K. Ravi Kumar, and Raghavan Krishnan
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 11493–11506, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-11493-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-11493-2018, 2018
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Rapid industrialization, traffic growth and urbanization resulted in a significant increase in the tropospheric trace gases over Asia. There is global concern about rising levels of these trace gases. The monsoon convection transports these gases to the upper-level-anticyclone. In this study, we show transport of these gases to the extratropics via eddy-shedding from the anticyclone. We also deliberate on changes in ozone heating rates due to the transport of Asian trace gases.
Farahnaz Khosrawi, Stefan Lossow, Gabriele P. Stiller, Karen H. Rosenlof, Joachim Urban, John P. Burrows, Robert P. Damadeo, Patrick Eriksson, Maya García-Comas, John C. Gille, Yasuko Kasai, Michael Kiefer, Gerald E. Nedoluha, Stefan Noël, Piera Raspollini, William G. Read, Alexei Rozanov, Christopher E. Sioris, Kaley A. Walker, and Katja Weigel
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 4435–4463, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-4435-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-4435-2018, 2018
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Time series of stratospheric and lower mesospheric water vapour using 33 data sets from 15 satellite instruments were compared in the framework of the second SPARC water vapour assessment. We find that most data sets can be considered in observational and modelling studies addressing, e.g. stratospheric and lower mesospheric water vapour variability and trends if data-set-specific characteristics (e.g. a drift) and restrictions (e.g. temporal and spatial coverage) are taken into account.
Matthew J. Cooper, Randall V. Martin, Alexei I. Lyapustin, and Chris A. McLinden
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 2983–2994, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-2983-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-2983-2018, 2018
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To accurately infer air pollutant concentrations from satellite observations, we must first know the reflectivity of the Earth’s surface. Using a model, we show that satellite observations are better able to observe NO2 near the surface if snow is present. However, knowing when snow is present is difficult due to its variability. We test seven existing snow cover data sets to assess their ability to inform future satellite observations and find that the IMS data set is best suited for this task.
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.
Keith A. Tereszchuk, Yves J. Rochon, Chris A. McLinden, and Paul A. Vaillancourt
Geosci. Model Dev., 11, 1093–1113, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-11-1093-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-11-1093-2018, 2018
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To reduce computational costs, ECCC's new method to calculate the UV Index involves scaling and weighting the irradiance contribution of four low-res UV broadbands currently produced by the GEM forecast model. A high-res irradiance spectrum was produced using Cloud-J to create simulated GEM broadbands to calibrate the original GEM broadbands. The scaled GEM broadbands are then weighted accordingly so that the resultant UV Index field emulates the high-res UV Index field calculated from Cloud-J.
Mark Weber, Melanie Coldewey-Egbers, Vitali E. Fioletov, Stacey M. Frith, Jeannette D. Wild, John P. Burrows, Craig S. Long, and Diego Loyola
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 2097–2117, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-2097-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-2097-2018, 2018
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This paper commemorates the 30-year anniversary of the initial signing of the Montreal Protocol (MP) on substances that deplete the ozone layer. The MP is so far successful in reducing ozone-depleting substances, and total ozone decline was successfully stopped by the late 1990s. Total ozone levels have been mostly stable since then. In some regions, barely significant upward trends are observed that suggest an emergence into the expected ozone recovery phase.
Cynthia H. Whaley, Paul A. Makar, Mark W. Shephard, Leiming Zhang, Junhua Zhang, Qiong Zheng, Ayodeji Akingunola, Gregory R. Wentworth, Jennifer G. Murphy, Shailesh K. Kharol, and Karen E. Cady-Pereira
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 2011–2034, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-2011-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-2011-2018, 2018
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Using a modified air quality forecasting model, we have found that a significant fraction (> 50 %) of ambient ammonia comes from re-emission from plants and soils in the broader Athabasca Oil Sands region and much of Alberta and Saskatchewan. We also found that about 20 % of ambient ammonia in Alberta and Saskatchewan came from forest fires in the summer of 2013. The addition of these two processes improved modelled ammonia, which was a motivating factor in undertaking this research.
Adam E. Bourassa, Chris Z. Roth, Daniel J. Zawada, Landon A. Rieger, Chris A. McLinden, and Douglas A. Degenstein
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 489–498, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-489-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-489-2018, 2018
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OSIRIS satellite measurements of ozone in the stratosphere are corrected for slowly varying errors. These changes make the OSIRIS data compare better with other satellite measurements over the long term and make an impact on our understanding of the recovery of the ozone layer.
Vitali Fioletov, Chris A. McLinden, Shailesh K. Kharol, Nickolay A. Krotkov, Can Li, Joanna Joiner, Michael D. Moran, Robert Vet, Antoon J. H. Visschedijk, and Hugo A. C. Denier van der Gon
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 12597–12616, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-12597-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-12597-2017, 2017
Dan Weaver, Kimberly Strong, Matthias Schneider, Penny M. Rowe, Chris Sioris, Kaley A. Walker, Zen Mariani, Taneil Uttal, C. Thomas McElroy, Holger Vömel, Alessio Spassiani, and James R. Drummond
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 10, 2851–2880, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-2851-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-2851-2017, 2017
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We have compared techniques used by several PEARL instruments to measure atmospheric water vapour. No single instrument can comprehensively map the atmosphere. We documented how well these techniques perform and quantified the agreement and biases between them. This work showed that new FTIR datasets at PEARL capture accurate measurements of High Arctic water vapour.
Enrico Dammers, Mark W. Shephard, Mathias Palm, Karen Cady-Pereira, Shannon Capps, Erik Lutsch, Kim Strong, James W. Hannigan, Ivan Ortega, Geoffrey C. Toon, Wolfgang Stremme, Michel Grutter, Nicholas Jones, Dan Smale, Jacob Siemons, Kevin Hrpcek, Denis Tremblay, Martijn Schaap, Justus Notholt, and Jan Willem Erisman
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 10, 2645–2667, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-2645-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-2645-2017, 2017
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Presented here is the validation of the CrIS fast physical retrieval (CFPR) NH3 column and profile measurements using ground-based Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) observations. The overall FTIR and CrIS total columns have a positive correlation of r = 0.77 (N = 218) with very little bias (a slope of 1.02). Furthermore, we find that CrIS and FTIR profile comparison differences are mostly within the range of the estimated retrieval uncertainties, with differences in the range of ~ 20 to 40 %.
Cristen Adams, Adam E. Bourassa, Chris A. McLinden, Chris E. Sioris, Thomas von Clarmann, Bernd Funke, Landon A. Rieger, and Douglas A. Degenstein
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 8063–8080, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-8063-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-8063-2017, 2017
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We measured the relationship between volcanic aerosol and trace gases in the stratosphere using the OSIRIS and MIPAS satellite instruments between 2002 and 2014. We found that levels of stratospheric NO2 and N2O5 both decreased significantly in the presence of volcanic aerosol. These decreases were consistent with the modeling results.
Shailesh K. Kharol, Chris A. McLinden, Christopher E. Sioris, Mark W. Shephard, Vitali Fioletov, Aaron van Donkelaar, Sajeev Philip, and Randall V. Martin
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 5921–5929, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-5921-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-5921-2017, 2017
Yan Zhang, Can Li, Nickolay A. Krotkov, Joanna Joiner, Vitali Fioletov, and Chris McLinden
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 10, 1495–1509, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-1495-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-1495-2017, 2017
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In this study, we demonstrate a very good consistency of the SO2 retrievals from OMI and OMPS using our state-of-the-art principal component analysis technique. Four full years of OMI and OMPS SO2 retrievals, during 2012–2015 have been analyzed over some of the world’s most polluted regions: eastern China, Mexico, and South Africa. The consistency of retrievals between OMI and OMPS make it possible to continue the long-term global SO2 pollution monitoring.
Christopher E. Sioris, Landon A. Rieger, Nicholas D. Lloyd, Adam E. Bourassa, Chris Z. Roth, Douglas A. Degenstein, Claude Camy-Peyret, Klaus Pfeilsticker, Gwenaël Berthet, Valéry Catoire, Florence Goutail, Jean-Pierre Pommereau, and Chris A. McLinden
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 10, 1155–1168, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-1155-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-1155-2017, 2017
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A new OSIRIS NO2 retrieval algorithm is described and validated using > 40 balloon-based profile measurements. The validation results indicate a slight improvement relative to the existing operational algorithm in terms of the bias versus the balloon data, particularly in the lower stratosphere. The implication is that this new algorithm should replace the operational one. The motivation was to combine spectral fitting and the SaskTRAN radiative transfer model to achieve an improved product.
Stefan Lossow, Farahnaz Khosrawi, Gerald E. Nedoluha, Faiza Azam, Klaus Bramstedt, John. P. Burrows, Bianca M. Dinelli, Patrick Eriksson, Patrick J. Espy, Maya García-Comas, John C. Gille, Michael Kiefer, Stefan Noël, Piera Raspollini, William G. Read, Karen H. Rosenlof, Alexei Rozanov, Christopher E. Sioris, Gabriele P. Stiller, Kaley A. Walker, and Katja Weigel
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 10, 1111–1137, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-1111-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-1111-2017, 2017
Christos S. Zerefos, Kostas Eleftheratos, John Kapsomenakis, Stavros Solomos, Antje Inness, Dimitris Balis, Alberto Redondas, Henk Eskes, Marc Allaart, Vassilis Amiridis, Arne Dahlback, Veerle De Bock, Henri Diémoz, Ronny Engelmann, Paul Eriksen, Vitali Fioletov, Julian Gröbner, Anu Heikkilä, Irina Petropavlovskikh, Janusz Jarosławski, Weine Josefsson, Tomi Karppinen, Ulf Köhler, Charoula Meleti, Christos Repapis, John Rimmer, Vladimir Savinykh, Vadim Shirotov, Anna Maria Siani, Andrew R. D. Smedley, Martin Stanek, and René Stübi
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 551–574, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-551-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-551-2017, 2017
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The paper makes a convincing case that the Brewer network is capable of detecting enhanced SO2 columns, as observed, e.g., after volcanic eruptions. For this reason, large volcanic eruptions of the past decade have been used to detect and forecast SO2 plumes of volcanic origin using the Brewer and other ground-based networks, aided by satellite, trajectory analysis calculations and modelling.
Patrick E. Sheese, Kaley A. Walker, Chris D. Boone, Chris A. McLinden, Peter F. Bernath, Adam E. Bourassa, John P. Burrows, Doug A. Degenstein, Bernd Funke, Didier Fussen, Gloria L. Manney, C. Thomas McElroy, Donal Murtagh, Cora E. Randall, Piera Raspollini, Alexei Rozanov, James M. Russell III, Makoto Suzuki, Masato Shiotani, Joachim Urban, Thomas von Clarmann, and Joseph M. Zawodny
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 9, 5781–5810, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-5781-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-5781-2016, 2016
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This study validates version 3.5 of the ACE-FTS NOy species data sets by comparing diurnally scaled ACE-FTS data to correlative data from 11 other satellite limb sounders. For all five species examined (NO, NO2, HNO3, N2O5, and ClONO2), there is good agreement between ACE-FTS and the other data sets in various regions of the atmosphere. In these validated regions, these NOy data products can be used for further investigation into the composition, dynamics, and climate of the stratosphere.
Xiaoyi Zhao, Vitali Fioletov, Alexander Cede, Jonathan Davies, and Kimberly Strong
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 9, 5747–5761, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-5747-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-5747-2016, 2016
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This study evaluates the performance of the recently developed Pandora spectrometer by comparing it with the Brewer reference triad. The instrument random uncertainty, total column ozone temperature dependence, and ozone air mass dependence have been determined using two Pandora and six Brewer instruments. In general, Pandora and Brewer instruments both have very low random uncertainty and air mass dependence. However, the Brewer has smaller ozone temperature dependence than Pandora.
Vitali E. Fioletov, Chris A. McLinden, Nickolay Krotkov, Can Li, Joanna Joiner, Nicolas Theys, Simon Carn, and Mike D. Moran
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 11497–11519, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-11497-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-11497-2016, 2016
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We introduce the first space-based catalogue of SO2 emission sources seen by OMI. The inventory contains about 500 sources. They account for about a half of all SO2 emissions; the remaining half is likely related to sources emitting less than 30 kt yr−1 and not detected by OMI. The sources are grouped by type (volcanoes, power plants, oil- and gas-related sources, and smelters) and country. The catalogue presented herein can be used for verification of available SO2 emission inventories.
Cristen Adams, Elise N. Normand, Chris A. McLinden, Adam E. Bourassa, Nicholas D. Lloyd, Douglas A. Degenstein, Nickolay A. Krotkov, Maria Belmonte Rivas, K. Folkert Boersma, and Henk Eskes
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 9, 4103–4122, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-4103-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-4103-2016, 2016
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A new "OMI-minus-OSIRIS" (OmO) prototype dataset for tropospheric NO2 was created by combining information from the OMI satellite instrument, which is sensitive to NO2 in both the troposphere and stratosphere, with information from the OSIRIS satellite instrument, which measures NO2 in the stratosphere. This paper demonstrates that this approach is feasible and could be applied to future geostationary missions.
Mohammed K. Osman, David W. Tarasick, Jane Liu, Omid Moeini, Valerie Thouret, Vitali E. Fioletov, Mark Parrington, and Philippe Nédélec
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 10263–10282, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-10263-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-10263-2016, 2016
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A new 3-D gridded climatology of CO has been developed by trajectory mapping of global MOZAIC-IAGOS in situ aircraft measurements. The dataset is archived monthly from 2001–2012 on a grid of 5 × 5deg × 1 km altitude. The dataset facilitates comparison of different years and seasons and offers insight into the global variation and trends of CO. Major CO sources are clearly visible. The dataset can be used as an a priori data for satellite retrieval and for air quality model validation and initialization.
Vitali E. Fioletov, Chris A. McLinden, Alexander Cede, Jonathan Davies, Cristian Mihele, Stoyka Netcheva, Shao-Meng Li, and Jason O'Brien
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 9, 2961–2976, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-2961-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-2961-2016, 2016
Nickolay A. Krotkov, Chris A. McLinden, Can Li, Lok N. Lamsal, Edward A. Celarier, Sergey V. Marchenko, William H. Swartz, Eric J. Bucsela, Joanna Joiner, Bryan N. Duncan, K. Folkert Boersma, J. Pepijn Veefkind, Pieternel F. Levelt, Vitali E. Fioletov, Russell R. Dickerson, Hao He, Zifeng Lu, and David G. Streets
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 4605–4629, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-4605-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-4605-2016, 2016
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We examine changes in SO2 and NO2 over the world's most polluted regions during the first decade of Aura OMI observations. Over the eastern US, both NO2 and SO2 levels decreased by 40 % and 80 %, respectively. OMI confirmed large reductions in SO2 over eastern Europe's largest coal power plants. The North China Plain has the world's most severe SO2 pollution, but a decreasing trend been observed since 2011, with a 50 % reduction in 2012–2014. India's SO2 and NO2 levels are growing at a fast pace.
Stefan Noël, Klaus Bramstedt, Michael Hilker, Patricia Liebing, Johannes Plieninger, Max Reuter, Alexei Rozanov, Christopher E. Sioris, Heinrich Bovensmann, and John P. Burrows
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 9, 1485–1503, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-1485-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-1485-2016, 2016
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Stratospheric methane (CH4) and carbon dioxide (CO2) profiles have been derived from solar occultation measurements of the SCIAMACHY satellite instrument. The accuracy of these profiles is estimated to be about 5–10 % for CH4 and 2–3 % for CO2, mainly limited by unexpected vertical oscillations. Results are available for August 2002 to April 2012 and latitudes between about 50 and 70° N. From these, time series trends have been estimated, which are in reasonable agreement with total column trends.
Christopher E. Sioris, Jason Zou, David A. Plummer, Chris D. Boone, C. Thomas McElroy, Patrick E. Sheese, Omid Moeini, and Peter F. Bernath
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 3265–3278, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-3265-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-3265-2016, 2016
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The AM (annular mode) is the most important internal mode of climatic variability at high latitudes. Upper tropospheric water vapour (UTWV) at high latitudes increases by up to ~ 50 % during the negative phase of the AMs. The response of water vapour to the AMs vanishes above the tropopause. The ultimate goal of the study was to improve UTWV trend uncertainties by explaining shorter-term variability, and this was achieved by accounting for the AM-related response in a multiple linear regression.
Christopher E. Sioris, Jason Zou, C. Thomas McElroy, Chris D. Boone, Patrick E. Sheese, and Peter F. Bernath
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 2207–2219, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-2207-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-2207-2016, 2016
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This paper shows that volcanic eruptions occurring at higher latitudes in windy environments can lead to significant perturbations to upper tropospheric (UT) humidity mostly due to entrainment of lower tropospheric moisture by wind-blown plumes.
This research was performed for the purpose of determining long-term trends in high-latitude UT water vapour. The steps involve building a monthly climatology and using it to deseasonalize the time series. Large observed anomalies are then studied.
M. W. Shephard, C. A. McLinden, K. E. Cady-Pereira, M. Luo, S. G. Moussa, A. Leithead, J. Liggio, R. M. Staebler, A. Akingunola, P. Makar, P. Lehr, J. Zhang, D. K. Henze, D. B. Millet, J. O. Bash, L. Zhu, K. C. Wells, S. L. Capps, S. Chaliyakunnel, M. Gordon, K. Hayden, J. R. Brook, M. Wolde, and S.-M. Li
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 8, 5189–5211, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-5189-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-5189-2015, 2015
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This study provides direct validations of Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer (TES) satellite retrieved profiles against coincident aircraft profiles of carbon monoxide, ammonia, methanol, and formic acid, all of which are of interest for air quality. The comparisons are performed over the Canadian oil sands region during an intensive field campaign in support of the Joint Canada-Alberta Implementation Plan for the Oil Sands Monitoring (JOSM). Initial model evaluations are also provided.
L. Zhu, D. Henze, J. Bash, G.-R. Jeong, K. Cady-Pereira, M. Shephard, M. Luo, F. Paulot, and S. Capps
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 15, 12823–12843, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-12823-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-12823-2015, 2015
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We implement new diurnal variation scheme for ammonia livestock emissions and bidirectional exchange scheme and its adjoint in the GEOS-Chem global chemical transport model. Updated diurnal variability improves modeled-to-hourly in situ measurements comparison. The ammonium soil pool in the bidirectional exchange model largely extends the ammonia lifetime in the atmosphere. Large model biases remain as livestock emissions are still underestimated.
K.-L. Chang, S. Guillas, and V. E. Fioletov
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 8, 4487–4505, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-4487-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-4487-2015, 2015
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The aim of this article is to analyze the total column ozone data from the World Ozone and Ultraviolet Radiation Data Centre (WOUDC) that consists of around 150 stations irregularly spaced over the globe. Our use of a new statistical spatial technique over the globe can greatly outperform the currently used spatial approximation of the total column ozone in terms of approximation. We feel that this technique could benefit the ozone science community.
N. R. P. Harris, B. Hassler, F. Tummon, G. E. Bodeker, D. Hubert, I. Petropavlovskikh, W. Steinbrecht, J. Anderson, P. K. Bhartia, C. D. Boone, A. Bourassa, S. M. Davis, D. Degenstein, A. Delcloo, S. M. Frith, L. Froidevaux, S. Godin-Beekmann, N. Jones, M. J. Kurylo, E. Kyrölä, M. Laine, S. T. Leblanc, J.-C. Lambert, B. Liley, E. Mahieu, A. Maycock, M. de Mazière, A. Parrish, R. Querel, K. H. Rosenlof, C. Roth, C. Sioris, J. Staehelin, R. S. Stolarski, R. Stübi, J. Tamminen, C. Vigouroux, K. A. Walker, H. J. Wang, J. Wild, and J. M. Zawodny
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 15, 9965–9982, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-9965-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-9965-2015, 2015
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Trends in the vertical distribution of ozone are reported for new and recently revised data sets. The amount of ozone-depleting compounds in the stratosphere peaked in the second half of the 1990s. We examine the trends before and after that peak to see if any change in trend is discernible. The previously reported decreases are confirmed. Furthermore, the downward trend in upper stratospheric ozone has not continued. The possible significance of any increase is discussed in detail.
G. Bernhard, A. Arola, A. Dahlback, V. Fioletov, A. Heikkilä, B. Johnsen, T. Koskela, K. Lakkala, T. Svendby, and J. Tamminen
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 15, 7391–7412, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-7391-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-7391-2015, 2015
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Surface erythemal UV data from the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) are validated for high northern latitudes (Arctic and Scandinavia) using ground-based measurements. The bias in OMI data caused by incorrect assumptions of the surface albedo are quantified and the mechanism that causes this bias is discussed. Methods to improve the accuracy of OMI data products are presented.
M. W. Shephard and K. E. Cady-Pereira
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 8, 1323–1336, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-1323-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-1323-2015, 2015
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Presented is a robust retrieval algorithm that demonstrates the capabilities of utilizing Cross-track Infrared Sounder (CrIS) satellite observations to globally retrieval ammonia (NH3) concentrations. Initial NH3 retrieval results show that CrIS is (i) sensitive to NH3 in the boundary layer, with peak vertical sensitivity typically around 850–750hPa (~2km), (ii) has a minimum detection limit of ~1ppbv (peak profile value typically at the surface), and (iii) typically has up to ~1 DOFS.
K. E. Cady-Pereira, S. Chaliyakunnel, M. W. Shephard, D. B. Millet, M. Luo, and K. C. Wells
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 7, 2297–2311, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-7-2297-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-7-2297-2014, 2014
C. E. Sioris, C. D. Boone, R. Nassar, K. J. Sutton, I. E. Gordon, K. A. Walker, and P. F. Bernath
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 7, 2243–2262, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-7-2243-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-7-2243-2014, 2014
A. E. Bourassa, D. A. Degenstein, W. J. Randel, J. M. Zawodny, E. Kyrölä, C. A. McLinden, C. E. Sioris, and C. Z. Roth
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 14, 6983–6994, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-6983-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-6983-2014, 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
C. A. McLinden, V. Fioletov, K. F. Boersma, S. K. Kharol, N. Krotkov, L. Lamsal, P. A. Makar, R. V. Martin, J. P. Veefkind, and K. Yang
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 14, 3637–3656, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-3637-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-3637-2014, 2014
C. E. Sioris, C. A. McLinden, V. E. Fioletov, C. Adams, J. M. Zawodny, A. E. Bourassa, C. Z. Roth, and D. A. Degenstein
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 14, 3479–3496, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-3479-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-3479-2014, 2014
K. C. Wells, D. B. Millet, K. E. Cady-Pereira, M. W. Shephard, D. K. Henze, N. Bousserez, E. C. Apel, J. de Gouw, C. Warneke, and H. B. Singh
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 14, 2555–2570, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-2555-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-2555-2014, 2014
C. Adams, A. E. Bourassa, V. Sofieva, L. Froidevaux, C. A. McLinden, D. Hubert, J.-C. Lambert, C. E. Sioris, and D. A. Degenstein
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 7, 49–64, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-7-49-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-7-49-2014, 2014
J. Liu, D. W. Tarasick, V. E. Fioletov, C. McLinden, T. Zhao, S. Gong, C. Sioris, J. J. Jin, G. Liu, and O. Moeini
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 13, 11441–11464, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-11441-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-11441-2013, 2013
G. Liu, J. Liu, D. W. Tarasick, V. E. Fioletov, J. J. Jin, O. Moeini, X. Liu, C. E. Sioris, and M. Osman
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 13, 10659–10675, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-10659-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-10659-2013, 2013
G. Bernhard, A. Dahlback, V. Fioletov, A. Heikkilä, B. Johnsen, T. Koskela, K. Lakkala, and T. Svendby
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 13, 10573–10590, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-10573-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-10573-2013, 2013
M. J. Alvarado, V. H. Payne, E. J. Mlawer, G. Uymin, M. W. Shephard, K. E. Cady-Pereira, J. S. Delamere, and J.-L. Moncet
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 13, 6687–6711, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-6687-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-6687-2013, 2013
C. Adams, A. E. Bourassa, A. F. Bathgate, C. A. McLinden, N. D. Lloyd, C. Z. Roth, E. J. Llewellyn, J. M. Zawodny, D. E. Flittner, G. L. Manney, W. H. Daffer, and D. A. Degenstein
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 6, 1447–1459, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-6-1447-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-6-1447-2013, 2013
R. A. Stachnik, L. Millán, R. Jarnot, R. Monroe, C. McLinden, S. Kühl, J. Puķīte, M. Shiotani, M. Suzuki, Y. Kasai, F. Goutail, J. P. Pommereau, M. Dorf, and K. Pfeilsticker
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 13, 3307–3319, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-3307-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-3307-2013, 2013
C. Adams, K. Strong, X. Zhao, A. E. Bourassa, W. H. Daffer, D. Degenstein, J. R. Drummond, E. E. Farahani, A. Fraser, N. D. Lloyd, G. L. Manney, C. A. McLinden, M. Rex, C. Roth, S. E. Strahan, K. A. Walker, and I. Wohltmann
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 13, 611–624, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-611-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-611-2013, 2013
Related subject area
Subject: Aerosols | Research Activity: Remote Sensing | Altitude Range: Troposphere | Science Focus: Physics (physical properties and processes)
Atmospheric processing and aerosol aging responsible for observed increase in absorptivity of long-range-transported smoke over the southeast Atlantic
Discussion of the spectral slope of the lidar ratio between 355 and 1064 nm from multiwavelength Raman lidar observations
Observational constraints suggest a smaller effective radiative forcing from aerosol–cloud interactions
Analysis of a saline dust storm from the Aralkum Desert – Part 1: Consistency between multisensor satellite aerosol products
Retrieval of microphysical properties of dust aerosols from extinction, backscattering and depolarization lidar measurements using various particle scattering models
Fluorescence spectra of atmospheric aerosols
All-Sky Direct Aerosol Radiative Effects Estimated from Integrated A-Train Satellite Measurements
Invisible aerosol layers: improved lidar detection capabilities by means of laser-induced aerosol fluorescence
Wildfires heat the middle troposphere over the Himalayas and Tibetan Plateau during the peak of fire season
Characterization of aerosol optical depth (AOD) anomalies in September and October 2022 over Skukuza in South Africa
Technical note: Evolution of convective boundary layer height estimated by Ka-band continuous millimeter wave radar at Wuhan in central China
Evolution of aerosol optical depth over China in 2010–2024: increasing importance of meteorological influences
Trends in the erythemal radiant exposure from re-evaluated measurements (1976–2023) with biometers at Belsk, Poland, and their sources from corresponding ozone, aerosol, and cloud observations
Fluorescence properties of long-range-transported smoke: insights from five-channel lidar observations over Moscow during the 2023 wildfire season
Lidar estimates of birch pollen number, mass, and CCN-related concentrations
An observational estimate of Arctic UV-absorbing aerosol direct radiative forcing on instantaneous and climatic scales
Distinct effects of fine and coarse aerosols on microphysical processes of shallow-precipitation systems in summer over southern China
Increased number concentrations of small particles explain perceived stagnation in air quality over Korea
Remote-sensing detectability of airborne Arctic dust
Regional transport of aerosols from Northern India and its impact on boundary layer dynamics and air quality over Chennai, a coastal megacity in Southern India
Investigating the link between mineral dust hematite content and intensive optical properties by means of lidar measurements and aerosol modelling
The role of refractive indices in measuring mineral dust with high-spectral-resolution infrared satellite sounders: application to the Gobi Desert
Influence of covariance of aerosol and meteorology on co-located precipitating and non-precipitating clouds over the Indo-Gangetic Plain
Light-absorbing black carbon and brown carbon components of smoke aerosol from DSCOVR EPIC measurements over North America and central Africa
The emission, transport, and impacts of the extreme Saharan dust storm of 2015
California wildfire smoke contributes to a positive atmospheric temperature anomaly over the western United States
Dust storms from the Taklamakan Desert significantly darken snow surface on surrounding mountains
Opposite effects of aerosols and meteorological parameters on warm clouds in two contrasting regions over eastern China
Effect of wind speed on marine aerosol optical properties over remote oceans with use of spaceborne lidar observations
Assessment of smoke plume height products derived from multisource satellite observations using lidar-derived height metrics for wildfires in the western US
A remote sensing algorithm for vertically resolved cloud condensation nuclei number concentrations from airborne and spaceborne lidar observations
Opinion: Aerosol remote sensing over the next 20 years
Monitoring biomass burning aerosol transport using CALIOP observations and reanalysis models: a Canadian wildfire event in 2019
Thermal infrared observations of a western United States biomass burning aerosol plume
A new look into the impacts of dust radiative effects on the energetics of tropical easterly waves
Wind-driven emissions of coarse-mode particles in an urban environment
Measurement report: Dust and anthropogenic aerosols' vertical distributions over northern China dense aerosols gathered at the top of the mixing layer
Climatological assessment of the vertically resolved optical and microphysical aerosol properties by lidar measurements, sun photometer, and in situ observations over 17 years at Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) Barcelona
Aerosol optical depth climatology from the high-resolution MAIAC product over Europe: differences between major European cities and their surrounding environments
Impact of assimilating NOAA VIIRS aerosol optical depth (AOD) observations on global AOD analysis from the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS)
Spectral dependence of birch and pine pollen optical properties using a synergy of lidar instruments
Validation activities of Aeolus wind products on the southeastern Iberian Peninsula
Thermal infrared dust optical depth and coarse-mode effective diameter over oceans retrieved from collocated MODIS and CALIOP observations
A comprehensive reappraisal of long-term aerosol characteristics, trends, and variability in Asia
Satellite (GOSAT-2 CAI-2) retrieval and surface (ARFINET) observations of aerosol black carbon over India
Spatiotemporal variation characteristics of global fires and their emissions
The (mis)identification of high-latitude dust events using remote sensing methods in the Yukon, Canada: a sub-daily variability analysis
Comparison of dust optical depth from multi-sensor products and MONARCH (Multiscale Online Non-hydrostatic AtmospheRe CHemistry) dust reanalysis over North Africa, the Middle East, and Europe
Understanding day–night differences in dust aerosols over the dust belt of North Africa, the Middle East, and Asia
Satellite observations of smoke–cloud–radiation interactions over the Amazon rainforest
Abdulamid A. Fakoya, Jens Redemann, Pablo E. Saide, Lan Gao, Logan T. Mitchell, Calvin Howes, Amie Dobracki, Ian Chang, Gonzalo A. Ferrada, Kristina Pistone, Samuel E. Leblanc, Michal Segal-Rozenhaimer, Arthur J. Sedlacek III, Thomas Eck, Brent Holben, Pawan Gupta, Elena Lind, Paquita Zuidema, Gregory Carmichael, and Connor J. Flynn
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 7879–7902, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-7879-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-7879-2025, 2025
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Tiny atmospheric particles from wildfire smoke impact the climate by interacting with sunlight and clouds, the extent of which is uncertain due to gaps in understanding how smoke changes over time. We developed a new method using remote sensing instruments to track how these particles evolve during atmospheric transport. Our results show that the ability of these particles to absorb sunlight increases as they travel. This discovery could help improve predictions of future climate scenarios.
Moritz Haarig, Ronny Engelmann, Holger Baars, Benedikt Gast, Dietrich Althausen, and Albert Ansmann
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 7741–7763, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-7741-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-7741-2025, 2025
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The lidar ratio is an important quantity in aerosol typing. Its spectral slope contains information about the source region or transport paths of the observed aerosol. The extension to 1064 nm is a recent development led by our institute. We gathered previous observations and added new ones to provide the spectral slope for the most important aerosol types such as marine and continental aerosol, dust, smoke, and sulfate. We compared it to assumptions used for spaceborne backscatter lidars.
Chanyoung Park, Brian J. Soden, Ryan J. Kramer, Tristan S. L'Ecuyer, and Haozhe He
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 7299–7313, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-7299-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-7299-2025, 2025
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This study addresses the long-standing challenge of quantifying the impact of aerosol–cloud interactions. Using satellite observations, reanalysis data, and a "perfect-model" cross-validation, we show that explicitly accounting for aerosol–cloud droplet activation rates is key to accurately estimating ERFaci (effective radiative forcing due to aerosol–cloud interactions). Our results indicate a smaller and less uncertain ERFaci than previously assessed, implying the reduced role of aerosol–cloud interactions in shaping climate sensitivity.
Xin Xi, Jun Wang, Zhendong Lu, Andrew M. Sayer, Jaehwa Lee, Robert C. Levy, Yujie Wang, Alexei Lyapustin, Hongqing Liu, Istvan Laszlo, Changwoo Ahn, Omar Torres, Sabur Abdullaev, James Limbacher, and Ralph A. Kahn
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 7403–7429, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-7403-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-7403-2025, 2025
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The Aralkum Desert is challenging for aerosol retrieval due to its bright, heterogeneous, and dynamic surfaces and the lack of in situ constraints on aerosol properties. The performance and consistency of satellite algorithms in observing Aralkum-generated saline dust remain unknown. This study compares multisensor UVAI (ultraviolet aerosol index), AOD (aerosol optical depth), and ALH (aerosol layer height) products and reveals inconsistencies and potential biases over the Aral Sea basin.
Yuyang Chang, Qiaoyun Hu, Philippe Goloub, Thierry Podvin, Igor Veselovskii, Fabrice Ducos, Gaël Dubois, Masanori Saito, Anton Lopatin, Oleg Dubovik, and Cheng Chen
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 6787–6821, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-6787-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-6787-2025, 2025
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Our study retrieved dust aerosol microphysical properties from lidar measurements using different scattering models. Numeric simulations and real data applications revealed the importance of considering depolarization measurements and the superiority of the irregular–hexahedral model in the retrieval of dust aerosols from lidar measurements.
Jens Reichardt, Felix Lauermann, and Oliver Behrendt
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 5857–5892, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-5857-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-5857-2025, 2025
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Optical remote sensing systems, so-called lidars, are used to learn more about aerosols, which play an important role in atmospheric processes. The present study demonstrates that lidars, which measure the backscattering behavior of aerosols over the entire visible wavelength range, can increase our knowledge of the spatial and temporal occurrence of aerosol layers, the type of aerosol, and their interaction with clouds. The focus of the publication is on wildfire aerosol and Saharan dust.
Meloë S. F. Kacenelenbogen, Ralph Kuehn, Nandana Amarasinghe, Kerry Meyer, Edward Nowottnick, Mark Vaughan, Hong Chen, Sebastian Schmidt, Richard Ferrare, John Hair, Robert Levy, Hongbin Yu, Paquita Zuidema, Robert Holz, and Willem Marais
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1403, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1403, 2025
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Aerosols perturb the radiation balance of the Earth-atmosphere system. To reduce the uncertainty in quantifying present-day climate change, we combine two satellite sensors and a model to assess the aerosol effects on radiation in all-sky conditions. Satellite-based and coincident aircraft measurements of aerosol radiative effects agree well over the Southeast Atlantic. This constitutes a crucial first evaluation before we apply our method to more years and regions of the world.
Benedikt Gast, Cristofer Jimenez, Albert Ansmann, Moritz Haarig, Ronny Engelmann, Felix Fritzsch, Athena A. Floutsi, Hannes Griesche, Kevin Ohneiser, Julian Hofer, Martin Radenz, Holger Baars, Patric Seifert, and Ulla Wandinger
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 3995–4011, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-3995-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-3995-2025, 2025
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In this study, we discuss the enhanced detection capabilities of a fluorescence lidar in the case of optically thin aerosol layers in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere (UTLS) region. Our results suggest that such thin aerosol layers are not so rare in the UTLS and can potentially trigger and impact cirrus cloud formation through heterogeneous ice nucleation. By altering the microphysical cloud properties, this could affect clouds' evolution and lifetime and thus their climate effect.
Qiaomin Pei, Chuanfeng Zhao, Yikun Yang, Annan Chen, Zhiyuan Cong, Xin Wan, Haotian Zhang, and Guangming Wu
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1172, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1172, 2025
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This study investigates smoke's impact on atmospheric warming over the Himalayan and Tibetan Plateau (HTP) using MODIS fire data, ground-based and satellite aerosol observations, and model simulations. It finds that smoke aerosols – predominantly concentrated between 6 and 8 km in the mid-troposphere over southern HTP – likely alter regional atmospheric stability by modifying the vertical temperature profile, as indicated by a reduced lapse rate.
Marion Ranaivombola, Nelson Bègue, Lucas Vaz Peres, Farahnaz Fazel-Rastgar, Venkataraman Sivakumar, Gisèle Krysztofiak, Gwenaël Berthet, Fabrice Jegou, Stuart Piketh, and Hassan Bencherif
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 3519–3540, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-3519-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-3519-2025, 2025
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From September to October 2022, the Biomass Burning Aerosol Campaign (BiBAC) in Kruger National Park revealed a significant aerosol loading linked to biomass burning activity, with southeastward transport over southern Africa and the southwestern Indian Ocean (SWIO) basin. The study revealed a predominance of biomass burning aerosols and two distinct transport mechanisms of aerosol plumes and CO, underscoring the importance of east-coast observations in understanding atmospheric dynamics.
Zirui Zhang, Kaiming Huang, Fan Yi, Wei Cheng, Fuchao Liu, Jian Zhang, and Yue Jia
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 3347–3361, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-3347-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-3347-2025, 2025
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The height of the convective boundary layer (CBLH) is related to our health due to its crucial role in pollutant dispersion. The variance of vertical velocity from millimeter wave cloud radar (MMCR) can accurately capture the diurnal evolution of the CBLH, due to a small blind range and less impact by the residual layer. The CBLH is affected by radiation, humidity, cloud, and precipitation; thus, the MMCR is suitable for monitoring the CBLH, owing to its observation capability in various weather conditions.
Cheng Fan, Gerrit de Leeuw, Xiaoxi Yan, Jiantao Dong, Hanqing Kang, Chengwei Fang, Zhengqiang Li, and Ying Zhang
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-880, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-880, 2025
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This study describes the analysis of time series of the MODIS-derived Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) over China between 2010 and 2024. Emission reduction policy has been effective in reducing the AOD until 2018. Thereafter the overall reduction until the end of the study was very small due to unfavorable meteorological factors cancelling favorable anthropogenic effects which resulted in AOD increase during extended periods. The variations over different areas in China are discussed.
Agnieszka Czerwińska, Janusz Krzyścin, Janusz Jarosławski, Piotr S. Sobolewski, and Aleksander Pietruczuk
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1129, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1129, 2025
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Excessive levels of ultraviolet solar radiation at the Earth's surface have been linked to several types of skin cancer. The world's longest record of solar radiation intensities causing harmful skin redness comes from observations at Belsk, Poland, between 1976 and 2023. In this century, the intensity of such radiation is stable, but 15 % higher than in the 1970s. This trend is due to the combined effects of a decrease in stratospheric ozone and an increase in cloud transparency before 2000.
Igor Veselovskii, Mikhail Korenskiy, Nikita Kasianik, Boris Barchunov, Qiaoyun Hu, Philippe Goloub, and Thierry Podvin
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 1603–1615, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-1603-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-1603-2025, 2025
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A fluorescence lidar was used to study transported Canadian smoke in May–September 2023. The fluorescence measurements were taken at five wavelengths. The results revealed that fluorescence capacity increases with altitude, suggesting a higher concentration of organic compounds in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere than in the lower troposphere. The fluorescence spectra peaked in the 513 and 560 nm channels in smoke layers but decreased with wavelength in urban aerosols.
Maria Filioglou, Petri Tiitta, Xiaoxia Shang, Ari Leskinen, Pasi Ahola, Sanna Pätsi, Annika Saarto, Ville Vakkari, Uula Isopahkala, and Mika Komppula
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 1639–1657, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-1639-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-1639-2025, 2025
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Every year a vast number of people experience allergic reactions due to exposure to airborne pollen. These symptoms are concentration dependent; thus accurate information about the pollen load in the atmosphere is essential. Moreover, pollen grains and fragments of it are likely to contribute to cloud processes and suppress precipitation. Here, we estimate the concentration and cloud-relevant parameters of birch pollen in the atmosphere using observations from a PollyXT and a CL61 ceilometer.
Blake T. Sorenson, Jianglong Zhang, Jeffrey S. Reid, and Peng Xian
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-80, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-80, 2025
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Plumes of wildfire smoke in the Arctic affect the Arctic radiative budget. Using a neural network and observations from satellite-based sensors, we analyzed the direct radiative forcing of smoke particles on the Arctic climate and estimated long-term forcing trends. Strong negative trends in aerosol direct radiative forcing were found in northern Russia and Canada, with positive trends found over parts of the Arctic Ocean. Overall, smoke plumes may act to counter future Arctic warming.
Fengjiao Chen, Yuanjian Yang, Lu Yu, Yang Li, Weiguang Liu, Yan Liu, and Simone Lolli
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 1587–1601, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-1587-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-1587-2025, 2025
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The microphysical mechanisms of precipitation responsible for the varied impacts of aerosol particles on shallow precipitation remain unclear. This study reveals that coarse aerosol particles invigorate shallow rainfall through enhanced coalescence processes, whereas fine aerosol particles suppress shallow rainfall through intensified microphysical breaks. These impacts are independent of thermodynamic environments but are more significant in low-humidity conditions.
Sohee Joo, Juseon Shin, Matthias Tesche, Naghmeh Dehkhoda, Taegyeong Kim, and Youngmin Noh
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 1023–1036, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-1023-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-1023-2025, 2025
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In our study, we investigated why, in northeast Asia, visibility has not improved even though air pollution levels have decreased. By examining trends in Seoul and Ulsan, we found that the particles in the air are getting smaller, which scatters light more effectively and reduces how far we can see. Our findings suggest that changes in particle properties adversely affected public perception of air quality improvement even though the PM2.5 mass concentration is continuously decreasing.
Norman T. O'Neill, Keyvan Ranjbar, Liviu Ivănescu, Yann Blanchard, Seyed Ali Sayedain, and Yasmin AboEl-Fetouh
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 27–44, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-27-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-27-2025, 2025
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Dust from mid-latitude deserts or from local drainage basins is a weak component of atmospheric aerosols in the Arctic. Satellite-based dust estimates are often overestimated because dust and cloud measurements can be confused. Illustrations are given with an emphasis on the flawed claim that a classic indicator of dust (negative brightness temperature differences) is proof of the presence of airborne Arctic dust. Low-altitude warm-water plumes are the likely source of such negative values.
Saleem Ali, Chandan Sarangi, and Sanjay Kumar Mehta
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3093, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3093, 2024
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The pollutants over Northern India are transported towards South India under the influence of the prevalent wind system, especially during winter. This long-range transport induces a widespread haziness over southern India, lasting for days. We evaluated the occurrence of such transport episodes over south India using observational methods and found that it suppresses the boundary layer height by ~38 % compared to the clear days while exacerbating the surface pollution by ~30–35 %.
Sofía Gómez Maqueo Anaya, Dietrich Althausen, Julian Hofer, Moritz Haarig, Ulla Wandinger, Bernd Heinold, Ina Tegen, Matthias Faust, Holger Baars, Albert Ansmann, Ronny Engelmann, Annett Skupin, Birgit Heese, and Kerstin Schepanski
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3159, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3159, 2024
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This study investigates how hematite (an iron oxide mineral) in the Saharan Desert dust affects how dust particles interact with radiation. Using lidar data from Cabo Verde (2021–2022) and hematite content from atmospheric model simulations, the results show that higher hematite fraction leads to stronger particle backscattering at specific wavelengths. These findings can improve the representaiton of mineral dust in climate models, particularly regarding their radiative effect.
Perla Alalam, Fabrice Ducos, and Hervé Herbin
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 12277–12294, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-12277-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-12277-2024, 2024
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This study dives into the impact of mineral dust laboratory complex refractive indices (CRIs) on quantifying the dust microphysical properties using satellite infrared remote sensing. Results show that using CRIs obtained by advanced realistic techniques can improve the accuracy of these measurements, emphasizing the importance of choosing the suitable CRI in atmospheric models. This improvement is crucial for better predicting the dust radiative effect and impact on the climate.
Nabia Gulistan, Khan Alam, and Yangang Liu
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 11333–11349, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-11333-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-11333-2024, 2024
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This study looks at the influence of aerosol and meteorology on precipitating and non-precipitating clouds over the Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP). A major finding of this study was that the high loading of aerosols led to a high occurrence of precipitating clouds under unstable conditions in summer. The study has the potential to open a new avenue for the scientific community to further explore and understand the complications of aerosol–cloud–precipitation over the complex topography of the IGP.
Myungje Choi, Alexei Lyapustin, Gregory L. Schuster, Sujung Go, Yujie Wang, Sergey Korkin, Ralph Kahn, Jeffrey S. Reid, Edward J. Hyer, Thomas F. Eck, Mian Chin, David J. Diner, Olga Kalashnikova, Oleg Dubovik, Jhoon Kim, and Hans Moosmüller
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 10543–10565, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-10543-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-10543-2024, 2024
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This paper introduces a retrieval algorithm to estimate two key absorbing components in smoke (black carbon and brown carbon) using DSCOVR EPIC measurements. Our analysis reveals distinct smoke properties, including spectral absorption, layer height, and black carbon and brown carbon, over North America and central Africa. The retrieved smoke properties offer valuable observational constraints for modeling radiative forcing and informing health-related studies.
Brian Harr, Bing Pu, and Qinjian Jin
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 8625–8651, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-8625-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-8625-2024, 2024
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We found that the formation of the extreme trans-Atlantic African dust event in June 2015 was associated with a brief surge in dust emissions over western North Africa and extreme circulation patterns, including intensified easterly jets, which facilitated the westward transport of dust. The dust plume modified radiative flux along its transport pathway but had minor impacts on air quality in the US due to the record-high Caribbean low-level jet advecting part of the plume to the Pacific.
James L. Gomez, Robert J. Allen, and King-Fai Li
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 6937–6963, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-6937-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-6937-2024, 2024
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Wildfires in California (CA) have grown very large during the past 20 years. These fires emit sunlight-absorbing aerosols. Analyzing observational data, our study finds that aerosols emitted from large fires in northern CA spread throughout CA and Nevada and heat the atmosphere. This heating is consistent with larger-than-normal temperatures and dry conditions. Further study is needed to determine how much the aerosols heat the atmosphere and whether they are drying the atmosphere as well.
Yuxuan Xing, Yang Chen, Shirui Yan, Xiaoyi Cao, Yong Zhou, Xueying Zhang, Tenglong Shi, Xiaoying Niu, Dongyou Wu, Jiecan Cui, Yue Zhou, Xin Wang, and Wei Pu
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 5199–5219, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-5199-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-5199-2024, 2024
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This study investigated the impact of dust storms from the Taklamakan Desert on surrounding high mountains and regional radiation balance. Using satellite data and simulations, researchers found that dust storms significantly darken the snow surface in the Tien Shan, Kunlun, and Qilian mountains, reaching mountains up to 1000 km away. This darkening occurs not only in spring but also during summer and autumn, leading to increased absorption of solar radiation.
Yuqin Liu, Tao Lin, Jiahua Zhang, Fu Wang, Yiyi Huang, Xian Wu, Hong Ye, Guoqin Zhang, Xin Cao, and Gerrit de Leeuw
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 4651–4673, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-4651-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-4651-2024, 2024
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A new method, the geographical detector method (GDM), has been applied to satellite data, in addition to commonly used statistical methods, to study the sensitivity of cloud properties to aerosol over China. Different constraints for aerosol and cloud liquid water path apply over polluted and clean areas. The GDM shows that cloud parameters are more sensitive to combinations of parameters than to individual parameters, but confounding effects due to co-variation of parameters cannot be excluded.
Kangwen Sun, Guangyao Dai, Songhua Wu, Oliver Reitebuch, Holger Baars, Jiqiao Liu, and Suping Zhang
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 4389–4409, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-4389-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-4389-2024, 2024
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This paper investigates the correlation between marine aerosol optical properties and wind speeds over remote oceans using the spaceborne lidars ALADIN and CALIOP. Three remote ocean areas are selected. Pure marine aerosol optical properties at 355 nm are derived from ALADIN. The relationships between marine aerosol optical properties and wind speeds are analyzed within and above the marine atmospheric boundary layer, revealing the effect of wind speed on marine aerosols over remote oceans.
Jingting Huang, S. Marcela Loría-Salazar, Min Deng, Jaehwa Lee, and Heather A. Holmes
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 3673–3698, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-3673-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-3673-2024, 2024
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Increased wildfire intensity has resulted in taller wildfire smoke plumes. We investigate the vertical structure of wildfire smoke plumes using aircraft lidar data and establish two effective smoke plume height metrics. Four novel satellite-based plume height products are evaluated for wildfires in the western US. Our results provide guidance on the strengths and limitations of these satellite products and set the stage for improved plume rise estimates by leveraging satellite products.
Piyushkumar N. Patel, Jonathan H. Jiang, Ritesh Gautam, Harish Gadhavi, Olga Kalashnikova, Michael J. Garay, Lan Gao, Feng Xu, and Ali Omar
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 2861–2883, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-2861-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-2861-2024, 2024
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Global measurements of cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) are essential for understanding aerosol–cloud interactions and predicting climate change. To address this gap, we introduced a remote sensing algorithm that retrieves vertically resolved CCN number concentrations from airborne and spaceborne lidar systems. This innovation offers a global distribution of CCN concentrations from space, facilitating model evaluation and precise quantification of aerosol climate forcing.
Lorraine A. Remer, Robert C. Levy, and J. Vanderlei Martins
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 2113–2127, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-2113-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-2113-2024, 2024
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Aerosols are small liquid or solid particles suspended in the atmosphere, including smoke, particulate pollution, dust, and sea salt. Today, we rely on satellites viewing Earth's atmosphere to learn about these particles. Here, we speculate on the future to imagine how satellite viewing of aerosols will change. We expect more public and private satellites with greater capabilities, better ways to infer information from satellites, and merging of data with models.
Xiaoxia Shang, Antti Lipponen, Maria Filioglou, Anu-Maija Sundström, Mark Parrington, Virginie Buchard, Anton S. Darmenov, Ellsworth J. Welton, Eleni Marinou, Vassilis Amiridis, Michael Sicard, Alejandro Rodríguez-Gómez, Mika Komppula, and Tero Mielonen
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 1329–1344, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-1329-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-1329-2024, 2024
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In June 2019, smoke particles from a Canadian wildfire event were transported to Europe. The long-range-transported smoke plumes were monitored with a spaceborne lidar and reanalysis models. Based on the aerosol mass concentrations estimated from the observations, the reanalysis models had difficulties in reproducing the amount and location of the smoke aerosols during the transport event. Consequently, more spaceborne lidar missions are needed for reliable monitoring of aerosol plumes.
Blake T. Sorenson, Jeffrey S. Reid, Jianglong Zhang, Robert E. Holz, William L. Smith Sr., and Amanda Gumber
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 1231–1248, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-1231-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-1231-2024, 2024
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Smoke particles are typically submicron in size and assumed to have negligible impacts at the thermal infrared spectrum. However, we show that infrared signatures can be observed over dense smoke plumes from satellites. We found that giant particles are unlikely to be the dominant cause. Rather, co-transported water vapor injected to the middle to upper troposphere and surface cooling beneath the plume due to shadowing are significant, with the surface cooling effect being the most dominant.
Farnaz Hosseinpour and Eric M. Wilcox
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 707–724, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-707-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-707-2024, 2024
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This study shows mechanistic relationships between the radiative effect of dust aerosols in the Saharan air layer and the kinetic energy of the African easterly waves across the tropical Atlantic Ocean using 22 years of daily satellite observations and reanalysis data based on satellite assimilation. Our findings suggest that dust aerosols not merely are transported by these waves but also contribute to the growth of waves through the enhancement of diabatic heating induced by dust.
Markus D. Petters, Tyas Pujiastuti, Ajmal Rasheeda Satheesh, Sabin Kasparoglu, Bethany Sutherland, and Nicholas Meskhidze
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 745–762, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-745-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-745-2024, 2024
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This work introduces a new method that uses remote sensing techniques to obtain surface number emissions of particles with a diameter greater than 500 nm. The technique was applied to study particle emissions at an urban site near Houston, TX, USA. The emissions followed a diurnal pattern and peaked near noon local time. The daily averaged emissions correlated with wind speed. The source is likely due to wind-driven erosion of material situated on asphalted and other hard surfaces.
Zhuang Wang, Chune Shi, Hao Zhang, Yujia Chen, Xiyuan Chi, Congzi Xia, Suyao Wang, Yizhi Zhu, Kaidi Zhang, Xintong Chen, Chengzhi Xing, and Cheng Liu
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 14271–14292, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-14271-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-14271-2023, 2023
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The annual cycle of dust and anthropogenic aerosols' vertical distributions was revealed by polarization Raman lidar in Beijing. Anthropogenic aerosols typically accumulate at the top of the mixing layer (ML) due to the hygroscopic growth of atmospheric particles, and this is most significant in summer. There is no significant relationship between bottom dust mass concentration and ML height, while the dust in the upper air tends to be distributed near the mixing layer.
Simone Lolli, Michaël Sicard, Francesco Amato, Adolfo Comeron, Cristina Gíl-Diaz, Tony C. Landi, Constantino Munoz-Porcar, Daniel Oliveira, Federico Dios Otin, Francesc Rocadenbosch, Alejandro Rodriguez-Gomez, Andrés Alastuey, Xavier Querol, and Cristina Reche
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 12887–12906, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-12887-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-12887-2023, 2023
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We evaluated the long-term trends and seasonal variability of the vertically resolved aerosol properties over the past 17 years in Barcelona. Results shows that air quality is improved, with a consistent drop in PM concentrations at the surface, as well as the column aerosol optical depth. The results also show that natural dust outbreaks are more likely in summer, with aerosols reaching an altitude of 5 km, while in winter, aerosols decay as an exponential with a scale height of 600 m.
Ludovico Di Antonio, Claudia Di Biagio, Gilles Foret, Paola Formenti, Guillaume Siour, Jean-François Doussin, and Matthias Beekmann
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 12455–12475, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-12455-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-12455-2023, 2023
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Long-term (2000–2021) 1 km resolution satellite data have been used to investigate the climatological aerosol optical depth (AOD) variability and trends at different scales in Europe. Average enhancements of the local-to-regional AOD ratio at 550 nm of 57 %, 55 %, 39 % and 32 % are found for large metropolitan areas such as Barcelona, Lisbon, Paris and Athens, respectively, suggesting a non-negligible enhancement of the aerosol burden through local emissions.
Sebastien Garrigues, Melanie Ades, Samuel Remy, Johannes Flemming, Zak Kipling, Istvan Laszlo, Mark Parrington, Antje Inness, Roberto Ribas, Luke Jones, Richard Engelen, and Vincent-Henri Peuch
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 10473–10487, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-10473-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-10473-2023, 2023
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The Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) provides global monitoring of aerosols using the ECMWF forecast model constrained by the assimilation of satellite aerosol optical depth (AOD). This work aims at evaluating the assimilation of the NOAA VIIRS AOD product in the ECMWF model. It shows that the introduction of VIIRS in the CAMS data assimilation system enhances the accuracy of the aerosol analysis, particularly over Europe and desert and maritime sites.
Maria Filioglou, Ari Leskinen, Ville Vakkari, Ewan O'Connor, Minttu Tuononen, Pekko Tuominen, Samuli Laukkanen, Linnea Toiviainen, Annika Saarto, Xiaoxia Shang, Petri Tiitta, and Mika Komppula
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 9009–9021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-9009-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-9009-2023, 2023
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Pollen impacts climate and public health, and it can be detected in the atmosphere by lidars which measure the linear particle depolarization ratio (PDR), a shape-relevant optical parameter. As aerosols also cause depolarization, surface aerosol and pollen observations were combined with measurements from ground-based lidars operating at different wavelengths to determine the optical properties of birch and pine pollen and quantify their relative contribution to the PDR.
Jesús Abril-Gago, Pablo Ortiz-Amezcua, Diego Bermejo-Pantaleón, Juana Andújar-Maqueda, Juan Antonio Bravo-Aranda, María José Granados-Muñoz, Francisco Navas-Guzmán, Lucas Alados-Arboledas, Inmaculada Foyo-Moreno, and Juan Luis Guerrero-Rascado
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 8453–8471, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-8453-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-8453-2023, 2023
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Validation activities of Aeolus wind products were performed in Granada with different upward-probing instrumentation (Doppler lidar system and radiosondes) and spatiotemporal collocation criteria. Specific advantages and disadvantages of each instrument were identified, and an optimal comparison criterion is proposed. Aeolus was proven to provide reliable wind products, and the upward-probing instruments were proven to be useful for Aeolus wind product validation activities.
Jianyu Zheng, Zhibo Zhang, Hongbin Yu, Anne Garnier, Qianqian Song, Chenxi Wang, Claudia Di Biagio, Jasper F. Kok, Yevgeny Derimian, and Claire Ryder
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 8271–8304, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-8271-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-8271-2023, 2023
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We developed a multi-year satellite-based retrieval of dust optical depth at 10 µm and the coarse-mode dust effective diameter over global oceans. It reveals climatological coarse-mode dust transport patterns and regional differences over the North Atlantic, the Indian Ocean and the North Pacific.
Shikuan Jin, Yingying Ma, Zhongwei Huang, Jianping Huang, Wei Gong, Boming Liu, Weiyan Wang, Ruonan Fan, and Hui Li
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 8187–8210, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-8187-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-8187-2023, 2023
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To better understand the Asian aerosol environment, we studied distributions and trends of aerosol with different sizes and types. Over the past 2 decades, dust, sulfate, and sea salt aerosol decreased by 5.51 %, 3.07 %, and 9.80 %, whereas organic carbon and black carbon aerosol increased by 17.09 % and 6.23 %, respectively. The increase in carbonaceous aerosols was a feature of Asia. An exception is found in East Asia, where the carbonaceous aerosols reduced, owing largely to China's efforts.
Mukunda M. Gogoi, S. Suresh Babu, Ryoichi Imasu, and Makiko Hashimoto
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 8059–8079, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-8059-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-8059-2023, 2023
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Considering the climate warming potential of atmospheric black carbon (BC), satellite-based retrieval is a novel idea. This study highlights the regional distribution of BC based on observations by the Cloud and Aerosol Imager-2 on board the GOSAT-2 satellite and near-surface measurements of BC in ARFINET. The satellite retrieval fairly depicts the regional and seasonal features of BC over the Indian region, which are similar to those recorded by surface observations.
Hao Fan, Xingchuan Yang, Chuanfeng Zhao, Yikun Yang, and Zhenyao Shen
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 7781–7798, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-7781-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-7781-2023, 2023
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Using 20-year multi-source data, this study shows pronounced regional and seasonal variations in fire activities and emissions. Seasonal variability of fires is larger with increasing latitude. The increase in temperature in the Northern Hemisphere's middle- and high-latitude forest regions was primarily responsible for the increase in fires and emissions, while the changes in fire occurrence in tropical regions were more influenced by the decrease in precipitation and relative humidity.
Rosemary Huck, Robert G. Bryant, and James King
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 6299–6318, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-6299-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-6299-2023, 2023
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This study shows that mineral aerosol (dust) emission events in high-latitude areas are under-represented in both ground- and space-based detecting methods. This is done through a suite of ground-based data to prove that dust emissions from the proglacial area, Lhù’ààn Mân, occur almost daily but are not always recorded at different timescales. Dust has multiple effects on atmospheric processes; therefore, accurate quantification is important in the calibration and validation of climate models.
Michail Mytilinaios, Sara Basart, Sergio Ciamprone, Juan Cuesta, Claudio Dema, Enza Di Tomaso, Paola Formenti, Antonis Gkikas, Oriol Jorba, Ralph Kahn, Carlos Pérez García-Pando, Serena Trippetta, and Lucia Mona
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 5487–5516, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-5487-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-5487-2023, 2023
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Multiscale Online Non-hydrostatic AtmospheRe CHemistry model (MONARCH) dust reanalysis provides a high-resolution 3D reconstruction of past dust conditions, allowing better quantification of climate and socioeconomic dust impacts. We assess the performance of the reanalysis needed to reproduce dust optical depth using dust-related products retrieved from satellite and ground-based observations and show that it reproduces the spatial distribution and seasonal variability of atmospheric dust well.
Jacob Z. Tindan, Qinjian Jin, and Bing Pu
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 5435–5466, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-5435-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-5435-2023, 2023
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We use the Infrared Atmospheric Sounder Interferometer (IASI) retrievals of dust variables (dust optical depth and dust layer height) and surface observations to understand the day- and nighttime variations in dust aerosols over the dust belt. Our results show that daytime dust aerosols are significantly different from nighttime, and such day–night variations are influenced by meteorological factors such as wind speed, precipitation, and turbulent motions within the atmospheric boundary layer.
Ross Herbert and Philip Stier
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 4595–4616, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-4595-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-4595-2023, 2023
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We provide robust evidence from multiple sources showing that smoke from fires in the Amazon rainforest significantly modifies the diurnal cycle of convection and cools the climate. Low to moderate amounts of smoke increase deep convective clouds and rain, whilst beyond a threshold amount, the smoke starts to suppress the convection and rain. We are currently at this threshold, suggesting increases in fires from agricultural practices or droughts will reduce cloudiness and rain over the region.
Cited articles
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Hubanks, P.: MODIS atmosphere QA plan for Collection 006, Greenbelt, MD, USA, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, version 8, 2015.
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Kahn, R. A., Gaitley, B. J., Garay, M. J., Diner, D. J., Eck, T. F., Smirnov, A., and Holben, B. N.: Multiangle Imaging SpectroRadiometer global aerosol product assessment by comparison with the Aerosol Robotic Network, J. Geophys. Res., 115, D23209, https://doi.org/10.1029/2010JD014601, 2010.
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Short summary
The contribution of the oil sands region to the local aerosol optical depth (AOD) is sought. Satellite data are used since they provide spatial coverage over many years. Satellites measure AOD with high correlation and small biases relative to coincident AERONET AODs. Trends are determined using annual mean AODs, and an increasing trend is found near the Shell mines. Spatially variable and high surface albedo is challenging for some sensors. Measuring polarization appears to be an asset.
The contribution of the oil sands region to the local aerosol optical depth (AOD) is sought....
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