Articles | Volume 21, issue 16
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-12359-2021
© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-12359-2021
© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
18 Aug 2021
Research article |
| 18 Aug 2021
| 18 Aug 2021
Observation and modeling of the historic “Godzilla” African dust intrusion into the Caribbean Basin and the southern US in June 2020
Earth Sciences Division, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, USA
Qian Tan
Bay Area Environment Research Institute, Petaluma, CA, USA
Earth Science Division, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA, USA
Lillian Zhou
Earth Sciences Division, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, USA
Yaping Zhou
Earth Sciences Division, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, USA
JCET, University of Maryland at Baltimore County, Baltimore, MD, USA
Huisheng Bian
Earth Sciences Division, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, USA
JCET, University of Maryland at Baltimore County, Baltimore, MD, USA
Mian Chin
Earth Sciences Division, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, USA
Claire L. Ryder
Department of Meteorology, University of Reading, Reading, RG6 6BB, UK
Robert C. Levy
Earth Sciences Division, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, USA
Yaswant Pradhan
Met Office, Exeter, EX1 3PB, UK
Yingxi Shi
Earth Sciences Division, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, USA
JCET, University of Maryland at Baltimore County, Baltimore, MD, USA
Qianqian Song
JCET, University of Maryland at Baltimore County, Baltimore, MD, USA
Physics Department, University of Maryland at Baltimore County, Baltimore, MD, USA
Zhibo Zhang
JCET, University of Maryland at Baltimore County, Baltimore, MD, USA
Physics Department, University of Maryland at Baltimore County, Baltimore, MD, USA
Peter R. Colarco
Earth Sciences Division, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, USA
Dongchul Kim
Earth Sciences Division, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, USA
GESTAR, Universities Space Research Association, Columbia, MD, USA
Lorraine A. Remer
JCET, University of Maryland at Baltimore County, Baltimore, MD, USA
Tianle Yuan
Earth Sciences Division, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, USA
JCET, University of Maryland at Baltimore County, Baltimore, MD, USA
Olga Mayol-Bracero
Department of Environmental Science, University of Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico, USA
now at: Brookhaven National Laboratory, New York City, New York, USA
Brent N. Holben
Earth Sciences Division, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, USA
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Peng Xian, Jeffrey S. Reid, Melanie Ades, Angela Benedetti, Peter R. Colarco, Arlindo da Silva, Tom F. Eck, Johannes Flemming, Edward J. Hyer, Zak Kipling, Samuel Rémy, Tsuyoshi Thomas Sekiyama, Taichu Tanaka, Keiya Yumimoto, and Jianglong Zhang
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Sampa Das, Peter R. Colarco, Huisheng Bian, and Santiago Gassó
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Jonathan Elsey, Nicolas Bellouin, and Claire Ryder
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 4065–4081, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-4065-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-4065-2024, 2024
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Aerosols influence the Earth's energy balance. The uncertainty in this radiative forcing is large depending partly on uncertainty in measurements of aerosol optical properties. We have developed a freely available new framework of millions of radiative transfer simulations spanning aerosol uncertainty and assess the impact on radiative forcing uncertainty. We find that reducing these uncertainties would reduce radiative forcing uncertainty, but non-aerosol uncertainties must also be considered.
Mijin Kim, Robert C. Levy, Lorraine A. Remer, Shana Mattoo, and Pawan Gupta
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 1913–1939, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-1913-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-1913-2024, 2024
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The study focused on evaluating and modifying the surface reflectance parameterization (SRP) of the Dark Target (DT) algorithm for geostationary observation. When using the DT SRP with the ABIs sensor on GOES-R, artificial diurnal signatures were present in AOD retrieval. To overcome this issue, a new SRP was developed, incorporating solar zenith angle and land cover type. The revised SRP resulted in improved AOD retrieval, demonstrating reduced bias around local noon.
Adeleke S. Ademakinwa, Zahid H. Tushar, Jianyu Zheng, Chenxi Wang, Sanjay Purushotham, Jianwu Wang, Kerry G. Meyer, Tamas Várnai, and Zhibo Zhang
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 3093–3114, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-3093-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-3093-2024, 2024
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Clouds play a critical role in our climate system. At present and in the near future, satellite-based remote sensing is the only means to obtain regional and global observations of cloud properties. The current satellite remote sensing algorithms are mostly based on the so-called 1D radiative transfer. This deviation from the 3D world reality can lead to large errors. In this study we investigate how this error affects our estimation of cloud radiative effects.
Adriana Rocha-Lima, Peter R. Colarco, Anton S. Darmenov, Edward P. Nowottnick, Arlindo M. da Silva, and Luke D. Oman
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 2443–2464, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-2443-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-2443-2024, 2024
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Observations show an increasing aerosol optical depth trend in the Middle East between 2003–2012. We evaluate the NASA Goddard Earth Observing System (GEOS) model's ability to capture these trends and examine the meteorological and surface parameters driving dust emissions. Our results highlight the importance of data assimilation for long-term trends of atmospheric aerosols and support the hypothesis that vegetation cover loss may have contributed to increasing dust emissions in the period.
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.
Ruth A. R. Digby, Nathan P. Gillett, Adam H. Monahan, Knut von Salzen, Antonis Gkikas, Qianqian Song, and Zhibo Zhang
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 2077–2097, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-2077-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-2077-2024, 2024
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The COVID-19 lockdowns reduced aerosol emissions. We ask whether these reductions affected regional aerosol optical depth (AOD) and compare the observed changes to predictions from Earth system models. Only India has an observed AOD reduction outside of typical variability. Models overestimate the response in some regions, but when key biases have been addressed, the agreement is improved. Our results suggest that current models can realistically predict the effects of future emission changes.
Allison B. Collow, Peter R. Colarco, Arlindo M. da Silva, Virginie Buchard, Huisheng Bian, Mian Chin, Sampa Das, Ravi Govindaraju, Dongchul Kim, and Valentina Aquila
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 1443–1468, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-1443-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-1443-2024, 2024
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The GOCART aerosol module within the Goddard Earth Observing System recently underwent a major refactoring and update to the representation of physical processes. Code changes that were included in GOCART Second Generation (GOCART-2G) are documented, and we establish a benchmark simulation that is to be used for future development of the system. The 4-year benchmark simulation was evaluated using in situ and spaceborne measurements to develop a baseline and prioritize future development.
Huisheng Bian, Mian Chin, Peter R. Colarco, Eric C. Apel, Donald R. Blake, Karl Froyd, Rebecca S. Hornbrook, Jose Jimenez, Pedro Campuzano Jost, Michael Lawler, Mingxu Liu, Marianne Tronstad Lund, Hitoshi Matsui, Benjamin A. Nault, Joyce E. Penner, Andrew W. Rollins, Gregory Schill, Ragnhild B. Skeie, Hailong Wang, Lu Xu, Kai Zhang, and Jialei Zhu
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 1717–1741, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-1717-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-1717-2024, 2024
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This work studies sulfur in the remote troposphere at global and seasonal scales using aircraft measurements and multi-model simulations. The goal is to understand the sulfur cycle over remote oceans, spread of model simulations, and observation–model discrepancies. Such an understanding and comparison with real observations are crucial to narrow down the uncertainties in model sulfur simulations and improve understanding of the sulfur cycle in atmospheric air quality, climate, and ecosystems.
Tianle Yuan, Fei Liu, Lok N. Lamsal, and Hua Song
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.22541/essoar.168771101.14987378/v1, https://doi.org/10.22541/essoar.168771101.14987378/v1, 2023
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We train and apply a state-of-the-art deep learning model to detect NO2 plumes emitted by ships using NO2 retrievals from TROPOMI. By applying the model, we can detect individual plumes with excellent fidelity. The aggregated data show major shipping routes, but miss other routes. The missing routes are due to high cloudiness. Our method can be potentially useful for monitoring ship emissions of NOx and verifying compliance of emission standards.
Hamza Ahsan, Hailong Wang, Jingbo Wu, Mingxuan Wu, Steven J. Smith, Susanne Bauer, Harrison Suchyta, Dirk Olivié, Gunnar Myhre, Hitoshi Matsui, Huisheng Bian, Jean-François Lamarque, Ken Carslaw, Larry Horowitz, Leighton Regayre, Mian Chin, Michael Schulz, Ragnhild Bieltvedt Skeie, Toshihiko Takemura, and Vaishali Naik
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 14779–14799, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-14779-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-14779-2023, 2023
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We examine the impact of the assumed effective height of SO2 injection, SO2 and BC emission seasonality, and the assumed fraction of SO2 emissions injected as SO4 on climate and chemistry model results. We find that the SO2 injection height has a large impact on surface SO2 concentrations and, in some models, radiative flux. These assumptions are a
hiddensource of inter-model variability and may be leading to bias in some climate model results.
Eric M. Wilcox, Tianle Yuan, and Hua Song
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 5387–5401, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-5387-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-5387-2023, 2023
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A new database is constructed from over 20 years of satellite records that comprises millions of deep convective clouds and spans the global tropics and subtropics. The database is a collection of clouds ranging from isolated cells to giant cloud systems. The cloud database provides a means of empirically studying the factors that determine the spatial structure and coverage of convective cloud systems, which are strongly related to the overall radiative forcing by cloud systems.
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.
Amanda Gumber, Jeffrey S. Reid, Robert E. Holz, Thomas F. Eck, N. Christina Hsu, Robert C. Levy, Jianglong Zhang, and Paolo Veglio
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 2547–2573, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-2547-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-2547-2023, 2023
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The purpose of this study is to create and evaluate a gridded dataset composed of multiple satellite instruments and algorithms to be used for data assimilation. An important part of aerosol data assimilation is having consistent measurements, especially for severe aerosol events. This study evaluates 4 years of data from MODIS, VIIRS, and AERONET with a focus on aerosol severe event detection from a regional and global perspective.
Allison B. Marquardt Collow, Virginie Buchard, Peter R. Colarco, Arlindo M. da Silva, Ravi Govindaraju, Edward P. Nowottnick, Sharon Burton, Richard Ferrare, Chris Hostetler, and Luke Ziemba
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 16091–16109, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-16091-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-16091-2022, 2022
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Biomass burning aerosol impacts aspects of the atmosphere and Earth system through radiative forcing, serving as cloud condensation nuclei, and air quality. Despite its importance, the representation of biomass burning aerosol is not always accurate in models. Field campaign observations from CAMP2Ex are used to evaluate the mass and extinction of aerosols in the GEOS model. Notable biases in the model illuminate areas of future development with GEOS and the underlying GOCART aerosol module.
Huilin Huang, Yun Qian, Ye Liu, Cenlin He, Jianyu Zheng, Zhibo Zhang, and Antonis Gkikas
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 15469–15488, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-15469-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-15469-2022, 2022
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Using a clustering method developed in the field of artificial neural networks, we identify four typical dust transport patterns across the Sierra Nevada, associated with the mesoscale and regional-scale wind circulations. Our results highlight the connection between dust transport and dominant weather patterns, which can be used to understand dust transport in a changing climate.
Qianqian Song, Zhibo Zhang, Hongbin Yu, Jasper F. Kok, Claudia Di Biagio, Samuel Albani, Jianyu Zheng, and Jiachen Ding
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 13115–13135, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-13115-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-13115-2022, 2022
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This study developed a dataset that enables us to efficiently calculate dust direct radiative effect (DRE, i.e., cooling or warming our planet) for any given dust size distribution in addition to three sets of dust mineral components and two dust shapes. We demonstrate and validate the method of using this dataset to calculate dust DRE. Moreover, using this dataset we found that dust mineral composition is a more important factor in determining dust DRE than dust size and shape.
Eleni Drakaki, Vassilis Amiridis, Alexandra Tsekeri, Antonis Gkikas, Emmanouil Proestakis, Sotirios Mallios, Stavros Solomos, Christos Spyrou, Eleni Marinou, Claire L. Ryder, Demetri Bouris, and Petros Katsafados
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 12727–12748, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-12727-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-12727-2022, 2022
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State-of-the-art atmospheric dust models have limitations in accounting for a realistic dust size distribution (emission, transport). We modify the parameterization of the mineral dust cycle by including particles with diameter >20 μm, as indicated by observations over deserts. Moreover, we investigate the effects of reduced settling velocities of dust particles. Model results are evaluated using airborne and spaceborne dust measurements above Cabo Verde.
Ukkyo Jeong, Si-Chee Tsay, N. Christina Hsu, David M. Giles, John W. Cooper, Jaehwa Lee, Robert J. Swap, Brent N. Holben, James J. Butler, Sheng-Hsiang Wang, Somporn Chantara, Hyunkee Hong, Donghee Kim, and Jhoon Kim
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 11957–11986, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-11957-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-11957-2022, 2022
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Ultraviolet (UV) measurements from satellite and ground are important for deriving information on several atmospheric trace and aerosol characteristics. Simultaneous retrievals of aerosol and trace gases in this study suggest that water uptake by aerosols is one of the important phenomena affecting aerosol properties over northern Thailand, which is important for regional air quality and climate. Obtained aerosol properties covering the UV are also important for various satellite algorithms.
Anthony C. Jones, Adrian Hill, John Hemmings, Pascal Lemaitre, Arnaud Quérel, Claire L. Ryder, and Stephanie Woodward
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 11381–11407, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-11381-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-11381-2022, 2022
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As raindrops fall to the ground, they capture aerosol (i.e. below-cloud scavenging or BCS). Many different BCS schemes are available to climate models, and it is unclear what the impact of selecting one scheme over another is. Here, various BCS models are outlined and then applied to mineral dust in climate model simulations. We find that dust concentrations are highly sensitive to the BCS scheme, with dust atmospheric lifetimes ranging from 5 to 44 d.
Samuel E. LeBlanc, Michal Segal-Rozenhaimer, Jens Redemann, Connor Flynn, Roy R. Johnson, Stephen E. Dunagan, Robert Dahlgren, Jhoon Kim, Myungje Choi, Arlindo da Silva, Patricia Castellanos, Qian Tan, Luke Ziemba, Kenneth Lee Thornhill, and Meloë Kacenelenbogen
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 11275–11304, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-11275-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-11275-2022, 2022
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Airborne observations of atmospheric particles and pollution over Korea during a field campaign in May–June 2016 showed that the smallest atmospheric particles are present in the lowest 2 km of the atmosphere. The aerosol size is more spatially variable than optical thickness. We show this with remote sensing (4STAR), in situ (LARGE) observations, satellite measurements (GOCI), and modeled properties (MERRA-2), and it is contrary to the current understanding.
Qirui Zhong, Nick Schutgens, Guido van der Werf, Twan van Noije, Kostas Tsigaridis, Susanne E. Bauer, Tero Mielonen, Alf Kirkevåg, Øyvind Seland, Harri Kokkola, Ramiro Checa-Garcia, David Neubauer, Zak Kipling, Hitoshi Matsui, Paul Ginoux, Toshihiko Takemura, Philippe Le Sager, Samuel Rémy, Huisheng Bian, Mian Chin, Kai Zhang, Jialei Zhu, Svetlana G. Tsyro, Gabriele Curci, Anna Protonotariou, Ben Johnson, Joyce E. Penner, Nicolas Bellouin, Ragnhild B. Skeie, and Gunnar Myhre
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 11009–11032, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-11009-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-11009-2022, 2022
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Aerosol optical depth (AOD) errors for biomass burning aerosol (BBA) are evaluated in 18 global models against satellite datasets. Notwithstanding biases in satellite products, they allow model evaluations. We observe large and diverse model biases due to errors in BBA. Further interpretations of AOD diversities suggest large biases exist in key processes for BBA which require better constraining. These results can contribute to further model improvement and development.
Giorgio Doglioni, Valentina Aquila, Sampa Das, Peter R. Colarco, and Dino Zardi
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 11049–11064, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-11049-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-11049-2022, 2022
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We use a global chemistry climate model to analyze the perturbations to the stratospheric dynamics caused by an injection of carbonaceous aerosol comparable to the one caused by a series of pyrocumulonimbi that formed over British Columbia, Canada on 13 August 2017. The injection of light-absorbing aerosol in an otherwise clean lower stratosphere causes the formation of long-lasting stratospheric anticyclones at the synoptic scale.
Peng Xian, Jianglong Zhang, Norm T. O'Neill, Travis D. Toth, Blake Sorenson, Peter R. Colarco, Zak Kipling, Edward J. Hyer, James R. Campbell, Jeffrey S. Reid, and Keyvan Ranjbar
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 9915–9947, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-9915-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-9915-2022, 2022
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The study provides baseline Arctic spring and summertime aerosol optical depth climatology, trend, and extreme event statistics from 2003 to 2019 using a combination of aerosol reanalyses, remote sensing, and ground observations. Biomass burning smoke has an overwhelming contribution to black carbon (an efficient climate forcer) compared to anthropogenic sources. Burning's large interannual variability and increasing summer trend have important implications for the Arctic climate.
Alexander Sinyuk, Brent N. Holben, Thomas F. Eck, David M. Giles, Ilya Slutsker, Oleg Dubovik, Joel S. Schafer, Alexander Smirnov, and Mikhail Sorokin
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 4135–4151, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-4135-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-4135-2022, 2022
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This paper describes modification of smoothness constraints on the imaginary part of the refractive index employed in the AERONET aerosol retrieval algorithm. This modification is termed relaxed due to the weaker strength of this new smoothness constraint. Applying the modified version of the smoothness constraint results in a significant reduction of retrieved light absorption by brown-carbon-containing aerosols.
Pawan Gupta, Prakash Doraiswamy, Jashwanth Reddy, Palak Balyan, Sagnik Dey, Ryan Chartier, Adeel Khan, Karmann Riter, Brandon Feenstra, Robert C. Levy, Nhu Nguyen Minh Tran, Olga Pikelnaya, Kurinji Selvaraj, Tanushree Ganguly, and Karthik Ganesan
Atmos. Meas. Tech. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2022-140, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2022-140, 2022
Revised manuscript not accepted
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The use of low-cost sensors in air quality monitoring has been gaining interest across all walks of society. We present the results of evaluations of the PurpleAir against regulatory-grade PM2.5. The results indicate that with proper calibration, we can achieve bias-corrected PM2.5 data using PA sensors. Our study also suggests that pre-deployment calibrations developed at local or regional scales are required for the PA sensors to correct data from the field for scientific data analysis.
Po-Lun Ma, Bryce E. Harrop, Vincent E. Larson, Richard B. Neale, Andrew Gettelman, Hugh Morrison, Hailong Wang, Kai Zhang, Stephen A. Klein, Mark D. Zelinka, Yuying Zhang, Yun Qian, Jin-Ho Yoon, Christopher R. Jones, Meng Huang, Sheng-Lun Tai, Balwinder Singh, Peter A. Bogenschutz, Xue Zheng, Wuyin Lin, Johannes Quaas, Hélène Chepfer, Michael A. Brunke, Xubin Zeng, Johannes Mülmenstädt, Samson Hagos, Zhibo Zhang, Hua Song, Xiaohong Liu, Michael S. Pritchard, Hui Wan, Jingyu Wang, Qi Tang, Peter M. Caldwell, Jiwen Fan, Larry K. Berg, Jerome D. Fast, Mark A. Taylor, Jean-Christophe Golaz, Shaocheng Xie, Philip J. Rasch, and L. Ruby Leung
Geosci. Model Dev., 15, 2881–2916, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-2881-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-2881-2022, 2022
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An alternative set of parameters for E3SM Atmospheric Model version 1 has been developed based on a tuning strategy that focuses on clouds. When clouds in every regime are improved, other aspects of the model are also improved, even though they are not the direct targets for calibration. The recalibrated model shows a lower sensitivity to anthropogenic aerosols and surface warming, suggesting potential improvements to the simulated climate in the past and future.
Meloë S. F. Kacenelenbogen, Qian Tan, Sharon P. Burton, Otto P. Hasekamp, Karl D. Froyd, Yohei Shinozuka, Andreas J. Beyersdorf, Luke Ziemba, Kenneth L. Thornhill, Jack E. Dibb, Taylor Shingler, Armin Sorooshian, Reed W. Espinosa, Vanderlei Martins, Jose L. Jimenez, Pedro Campuzano-Jost, Joshua P. Schwarz, Matthew S. Johnson, Jens Redemann, and Gregory L. Schuster
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 3713–3742, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-3713-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-3713-2022, 2022
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The impact of aerosols on Earth's radiation budget and human health is important and strongly depends on their composition. One desire of our scientific community is to derive the composition of the aerosol from satellite sensors. However, satellites observe aerosol optical properties (and not aerosol composition) based on remote sensing instrumentation. This study assesses how much aerosol optical properties can tell us about aerosol composition.
Jean-Claude Roger, Eric Vermote, Sergii Skakun, Emilie Murphy, Oleg Dubovik, Natacha Kalecinski, Bruno Korgo, and Brent Holben
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 1123–1144, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-1123-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-1123-2022, 2022
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From measurements of the sky performed by AERONET, we determined the microphysical properties of the atmospheric particles (aerosols) for each AERONET site. We used the aerosol optical thickness and its variation over the visible spectrum. This allows us to determine an aerosol model useful for (but not only) the validation of the surface reflectance satellite-derived product. The impact of the aerosol model uncertainties on the surface reflectance validation has been found to be 1 % to 3 %.
Alcide Zhao, Claire L. Ryder, and Laura J. Wilcox
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 2095–2119, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-2095-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-2095-2022, 2022
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The CMIP6 models' simulated dust processes are getting more uncertain as models become more sophisticated. Of particular challenge are the links between dust cycles and optical properties, and we recommend more detailed output relating to dust cycles in future intercomparison projects to constrain such links. Also, models struggle to capture certain key regional dust processes such as dust accumulation along the slope of the Himalayas and dust seasonal cycles in North China and North America.
Sujung Go, Alexei Lyapustin, Gregory L. Schuster, Myungje Choi, Paul Ginoux, Mian Chin, Olga Kalashnikova, Oleg Dubovik, Jhoon Kim, Arlindo da Silva, Brent Holben, and Jeffrey S. Reid
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 1395–1423, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-1395-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-1395-2022, 2022
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This paper presents a retrieval algorithm of iron-oxide species (hematite, goethite) content in the atmosphere from DSCOVR EPIC observations. Our results display variations within the published range of hematite and goethite over the main dust-source regions but show significant seasonal and spatial variability. This implies a single-viewing satellite instrument with UV–visible channels may provide essential information on shortwave dust direct radiative effects for climate modeling.
Justin A. Covert, David B. Mechem, and Zhibo Zhang
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 1159–1174, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-1159-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-1159-2022, 2022
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Stratocumulus play an important role in Earth's radiative balance. The simulation of these cloud systems in climate models is difficult due to the scale at which cloud microphysical processes occur compared with model grid sizes. In this study, we use large-eddy simulation to analyze subgrid-scale variability of cloud water and its implications on a cloud water to drizzle model enhancement factor E. We find current values of E may be too large and that E should be vertically dependent in models.
Matthew W. Christensen, Andrew Gettelman, Jan Cermak, Guy Dagan, Michael Diamond, Alyson Douglas, Graham Feingold, Franziska Glassmeier, Tom Goren, Daniel P. Grosvenor, Edward Gryspeerdt, Ralph Kahn, Zhanqing Li, Po-Lun Ma, Florent Malavelle, Isabel L. McCoy, Daniel T. McCoy, Greg McFarquhar, Johannes Mülmenstädt, Sandip Pal, Anna Possner, Adam Povey, Johannes Quaas, Daniel Rosenfeld, Anja Schmidt, Roland Schrödner, Armin Sorooshian, Philip Stier, Velle Toll, Duncan Watson-Parris, Robert Wood, Mingxi Yang, and Tianle Yuan
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 641–674, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-641-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-641-2022, 2022
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Trace gases and aerosols (tiny airborne particles) are released from a variety of point sources around the globe. Examples include volcanoes, industrial chimneys, forest fires, and ship stacks. These sources provide opportunistic experiments with which to quantify the role of aerosols in modifying cloud properties. We review the current state of understanding on the influence of aerosol on climate built from the wide range of natural and anthropogenic laboratories investigated in recent decades.
Elvis Torres-Delgado, Darrel Baumgardner, and Olga L. Mayol-Bracero
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 18011–18027, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-18011-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-18011-2021, 2021
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African dust aerosols can travel thousands of kilometers and reach the Caribbean and other places, where they can serve as ice and cloud condensation nuclei and alter precipitation patterns. Cloud microphysical properties (droplet number and size) were measured in a Caribbean tropical montane cloud forest along with models and satellite products. The results of the study suggest that meteorology and air mass history are more important for cloud processes than aerosols transported from Africa.
Nick Gorkavyi, Nickolay Krotkov, Can Li, Leslie Lait, Peter Colarco, Simon Carn, Matthew DeLand, Paul Newman, Mark Schoeberl, Ghassan Taha, Omar Torres, Alexander Vasilkov, and Joanna Joiner
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 7545–7563, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-7545-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-7545-2021, 2021
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The 21 June 2019 eruption of the Raikoke volcano produced significant amounts of volcanic aerosols (sulfate and ash) and sulfur dioxide (SO2) gas that penetrated into the lower stratosphere. We showed that the amount of SO2 decreases with a characteristic period of 8–18 d and the peak of sulfate aerosol lags the initial peak of SO2 by 1.5 months. We also examined the dynamics of an unusual stratospheric coherent circular cloud of SO2 and aerosol observed from 18 July to 22 September 2019.
Clémence Rose, Martine Collaud Coen, Elisabeth Andrews, Yong Lin, Isaline Bossert, Cathrine Lund Myhre, Thomas Tuch, Alfred Wiedensohler, Markus Fiebig, Pasi Aalto, Andrés Alastuey, Elisabeth Alonso-Blanco, Marcos Andrade, Begoña Artíñano, Todor Arsov, Urs Baltensperger, Susanne Bastian, Olaf Bath, Johan Paul Beukes, Benjamin T. Brem, Nicolas Bukowiecki, Juan Andrés Casquero-Vera, Sébastien Conil, Konstantinos Eleftheriadis, Olivier Favez, Harald Flentje, Maria I. Gini, Francisco Javier Gómez-Moreno, Martin Gysel-Beer, Anna Gannet Hallar, Ivo Kalapov, Nikos Kalivitis, Anne Kasper-Giebl, Melita Keywood, Jeong Eun Kim, Sang-Woo Kim, Adam Kristensson, Markku Kulmala, Heikki Lihavainen, Neng-Huei Lin, Hassan Lyamani, Angela Marinoni, Sebastiao Martins Dos Santos, Olga L. Mayol-Bracero, Frank Meinhardt, Maik Merkel, Jean-Marc Metzger, Nikolaos Mihalopoulos, Jakub Ondracek, Marco Pandolfi, Noemi Pérez, Tuukka Petäjä, Jean-Eudes Petit, David Picard, Jean-Marc Pichon, Veronique Pont, Jean-Philippe Putaud, Fabienne Reisen, Karine Sellegri, Sangeeta Sharma, Gerhard Schauer, Patrick Sheridan, James Patrick Sherman, Andreas Schwerin, Ralf Sohmer, Mar Sorribas, Junying Sun, Pierre Tulet, Ville Vakkari, Pieter Gideon van Zyl, Fernando Velarde, Paolo Villani, Stergios Vratolis, Zdenek Wagner, Sheng-Hsiang Wang, Kay Weinhold, Rolf Weller, Margarita Yela, Vladimir Zdimal, and Paolo Laj
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 17185–17223, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-17185-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-17185-2021, 2021
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Aerosol particles are a complex component of the atmospheric system the effects of which are among the most uncertain in climate change projections. Using data collected at 62 stations, this study provides the most up-to-date picture of the spatial distribution of particle number concentration and size distribution worldwide, with the aim of contributing to better representation of aerosols and their interactions with clouds in models and, therefore, better evaluation of their impact on climate.
Maria Sand, Bjørn H. Samset, Gunnar Myhre, Jonas Gliß, Susanne E. Bauer, Huisheng Bian, Mian Chin, Ramiro Checa-Garcia, Paul Ginoux, Zak Kipling, Alf Kirkevåg, Harri Kokkola, Philippe Le Sager, Marianne T. Lund, Hitoshi Matsui, Twan van Noije, Dirk J. L. Olivié, Samuel Remy, Michael Schulz, Philip Stier, Camilla W. Stjern, Toshihiko Takemura, Kostas Tsigaridis, Svetlana G. Tsyro, and Duncan Watson-Parris
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 15929–15947, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-15929-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-15929-2021, 2021
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Absorption of shortwave radiation by aerosols can modify precipitation and clouds but is poorly constrained in models. A total of 15 different aerosol models from AeroCom phase III have reported total aerosol absorption, and for the first time, 11 of these models have reported in a consistent experiment the contributions to absorption from black carbon, dust, and organic aerosol. Here, we document the model diversity in aerosol absorption.
Xinxin Ye, Pargoal Arab, Ravan Ahmadov, Eric James, Georg A. Grell, Bradley Pierce, Aditya Kumar, Paul Makar, Jack Chen, Didier Davignon, Greg R. Carmichael, Gonzalo Ferrada, Jeff McQueen, Jianping Huang, Rajesh Kumar, Louisa Emmons, Farren L. Herron-Thorpe, Mark Parrington, Richard Engelen, Vincent-Henri Peuch, Arlindo da Silva, Amber Soja, Emily Gargulinski, Elizabeth Wiggins, Johnathan W. Hair, Marta Fenn, Taylor Shingler, Shobha Kondragunta, Alexei Lyapustin, Yujie Wang, Brent Holben, David M. Giles, and Pablo E. Saide
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 14427–14469, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-14427-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-14427-2021, 2021
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Wildfire smoke has crucial impacts on air quality, while uncertainties in the numerical forecasts remain significant. We present an evaluation of 12 real-time forecasting systems. Comparison of predicted smoke emissions suggests a large spread in magnitudes, with temporal patterns deviating from satellite detections. The performance for AOD and surface PM2.5 and their discrepancies highlighted the role of accurately represented spatiotemporal emission profiles in improving smoke forecasts.
Huisheng Bian, Eunjee Lee, Randal D. Koster, Donifan Barahona, Mian Chin, Peter R. Colarco, Anton Darmenov, Sarith Mahanama, Michael Manyin, Peter Norris, John Shilling, Hongbin Yu, and Fanwei Zeng
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 14177–14197, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-14177-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-14177-2021, 2021
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The study using the NASA Earth system model shows ~2.6 % increase in burning season gross primary production and ~1.5 % increase in annual net primary production across the Amazon Basin during 2010–2016 due to the change in surface downward direct and diffuse photosynthetically active radiation by biomass burning aerosols. Such an aerosol effect is strongly dependent on the presence of clouds. The cloud fraction at which aerosols switch from stimulating to inhibiting plant growth occurs at ~0.8.
Qianqian Song, Zhibo Zhang, Hongbin Yu, Paul Ginoux, and Jerry Shen
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 13369–13395, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-13369-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-13369-2021, 2021
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We present a satellite-derived global dust climatological record over the last two decades, including the monthly mean visible dust optical depth (DAOD) and vertical distribution of dust extinction coefficient at a 2º × 5º spatial resolution derived from CALIOP and MODIS. In addition, the CALIOP climatological dataset also includes dust vertical extinction profiles. Based on these two datasets, we carried out a comprehensive comparative study of the spatial and temporal climatology of dust.
Sampa Das, Peter R. Colarco, Luke D. Oman, Ghassan Taha, and Omar Torres
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 12069–12090, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-12069-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-12069-2021, 2021
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Interactions of extreme fires with weather systems can produce towering smoke plumes that inject aerosols at very high altitudes (> 10 km). Three such major injections, largest at the time in terms of emitted aerosol mass, took place over British Columbia, Canada, in August 2017. We model the transport and impacts of injected aerosols on the radiation balance of the atmosphere. Our model results match the satellite-observed plume transport and residence time at these high altitudes very closely.
Johannes Mohrmann, Robert Wood, Tianle Yuan, Hua Song, Ryan Eastman, and Lazaros Oreopoulos
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 9629–9642, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-9629-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-9629-2021, 2021
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Observations of marine-boundary-layer conditions are composited by cloud type, based on a new classification dataset. It is found that two cloud types, representing regions of clustered and suppressed low-level clouds, occur in very similar large-scale conditions but are distinguished from each other by considering low-level circulation and surface wind fields, validating prior results from modeling.
Na Zhao, Xinyi Dong, Kan Huang, Joshua S. Fu, Marianne Tronstad Lund, Kengo Sudo, Daven Henze, Tom Kucsera, Yun Fat Lam, Mian Chin, and Simone Tilmes
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 8637–8654, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-8637-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-8637-2021, 2021
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Black carbon acts as a strong climate forcer, especially in vulnerable pristine regions such as the Arctic. This work utilizes ensemble modeling results from the task force Hemispheric Transport of Air Pollution Phase 2 to investigate the responses of Arctic black carbon and surface temperature to various source emission reductions. East Asia contributed the most to Arctic black carbon. The response of Arctic temperature to black carbon was substantially more sensitive than the global average.
Jasper F. Kok, Adeyemi A. Adebiyi, Samuel Albani, Yves Balkanski, Ramiro Checa-Garcia, Mian Chin, Peter R. Colarco, Douglas S. Hamilton, Yue Huang, Akinori Ito, Martina Klose, Danny M. Leung, Longlei Li, Natalie M. Mahowald, Ron L. Miller, Vincenzo Obiso, Carlos Pérez García-Pando, Adriana Rocha-Lima, Jessica S. Wan, and Chloe A. Whicker
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 8127–8167, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-8127-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-8127-2021, 2021
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Desert dust interacts with virtually every component of the Earth system, including the climate system. We develop a new methodology to represent the global dust cycle that integrates observational constraints on the properties and abundance of desert dust with global atmospheric model simulations. We show that the resulting representation of the global dust cycle is more accurate than what can be obtained from a large number of current climate global atmospheric models.
Jasper F. Kok, Adeyemi A. Adebiyi, Samuel Albani, Yves Balkanski, Ramiro Checa-Garcia, Mian Chin, Peter R. Colarco, Douglas S. Hamilton, Yue Huang, Akinori Ito, Martina Klose, Longlei Li, Natalie M. Mahowald, Ron L. Miller, Vincenzo Obiso, Carlos Pérez García-Pando, Adriana Rocha-Lima, and Jessica S. Wan
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 8169–8193, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-8169-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-8169-2021, 2021
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The many impacts of dust on the Earth system depend on dust mineralogy, which varies between dust source regions. We constrain the contribution of the world’s main dust source regions by integrating dust observations with global model simulations. We find that Asian dust contributes more and that North African dust contributes less than models account for. We obtain a dataset of each source region’s contribution to the dust cycle that can be used to constrain dust impacts on the Earth system.
Katherine H. Breen, Donifan Barahona, Tianle Yuan, Huisheng Bian, and Scott C. James
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 7749–7771, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-7749-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-7749-2021, 2021
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Increases in atmospheric aerosols affect the scattering and absorption of solar radiation by altering the macrophysical and microphysical processes of clouds. We analyzed aerosol–cloud interactions in response to degassing events from the Kilauea volcano in 2008 and 2018 by comparing satellite and simulated cloud properties. Results showed a threshold response to overcome meteorological effects that is largely controlled by aerosol concentration, composition, plume height, and ENSO state.
Yingxi R. Shi, Robert C. Levy, Leiku Yang, Lorraine A. Remer, Shana Mattoo, and Oleg Dubovik
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 3449–3468, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-3449-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-3449-2021, 2021
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Due to fast industrialization and development, China has been experiencing haze pollution episodes with both high frequencies and severity over the last 3 decades. This study improves the accuracy and data coverage of measured aerosol from satellites, which help quantify, characterize, and understand the impact of the haze phenomena over the entire East Asia region.
Rei Kudo, Henri Diémoz, Victor Estellés, Monica Campanelli, Masahiro Momoi, Franco Marenco, Claire L. Ryder, Osamu Ijima, Akihiro Uchiyama, Kouichi Nakashima, Akihiro Yamazaki, Ryoji Nagasawa, Nozomu Ohkawara, and Haruma Ishida
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 3395–3426, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-3395-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-3395-2021, 2021
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A new method, Skyrad pack MRI version 2, was developed to retrieve aerosol physical and optical properties, water vapor, and ozone column concentrations from the sky radiometer, a filter radiometer deployed in the SKYNET international network. Our method showed good performance in a radiative closure study using surface solar irradiances from the Baseline Surface Radiation Network and a comparison using aircraft in situ measurements of Saharan dust events during the SAVEX-D 2015 campaign.
Kirk Knobelspiesse, Amir Ibrahim, Bryan Franz, Sean Bailey, Robert Levy, Ziauddin Ahmad, Joel Gales, Meng Gao, Michael Garay, Samuel Anderson, and Olga Kalashnikova
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 3233–3252, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-3233-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-3233-2021, 2021
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We assessed atmospheric aerosol and ocean surface wind speed remote sensing capability with NASA's Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR), using synthetic data and a Bayesian inference technique called generalized nonlinear retrieval analysis (GENRA). We found success using three aerosol parameters plus wind speed. This shows that MISR can perform an atmospheric correction for the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the same spacecraft (Terra).
Zhibo Zhang, Qianqian Song, David B. Mechem, Vincent E. Larson, Jian Wang, Yangang Liu, Mikael K. Witte, Xiquan Dong, and Peng Wu
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 3103–3121, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-3103-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-3103-2021, 2021
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This study investigates the small-scale variations and covariations of cloud microphysical properties, namely, cloud liquid water content and cloud droplet number concentration, in marine boundary layer clouds based on in situ observation from the Aerosol and Cloud Experiments in the Eastern North Atlantic (ACE-ENA) campaign. We discuss the dependence of cloud variations on vertical location in cloud and the implications for warm-rain simulations in the global climate models.
Jens Redemann, Robert Wood, Paquita Zuidema, Sarah J. Doherty, Bernadette Luna, Samuel E. LeBlanc, Michael S. Diamond, Yohei Shinozuka, Ian Y. Chang, Rei Ueyama, Leonhard Pfister, Ju-Mee Ryoo, Amie N. Dobracki, Arlindo M. da Silva, Karla M. Longo, Meloë S. Kacenelenbogen, Connor J. Flynn, Kristina Pistone, Nichola M. Knox, Stuart J. Piketh, James M. Haywood, Paola Formenti, Marc Mallet, Philip Stier, Andrew S. Ackerman, Susanne E. Bauer, Ann M. Fridlind, Gregory R. Carmichael, Pablo E. Saide, Gonzalo A. Ferrada, Steven G. Howell, Steffen Freitag, Brian Cairns, Brent N. Holben, Kirk D. Knobelspiesse, Simone Tanelli, Tristan S. L'Ecuyer, Andrew M. Dzambo, Ousmane O. Sy, Greg M. McFarquhar, Michael R. Poellot, Siddhant Gupta, Joseph R. O'Brien, Athanasios Nenes, Mary Kacarab, Jenny P. S. Wong, Jennifer D. Small-Griswold, Kenneth L. Thornhill, David Noone, James R. Podolske, K. Sebastian Schmidt, Peter Pilewskie, Hong Chen, Sabrina P. Cochrane, Arthur J. Sedlacek, Timothy J. Lang, Eric Stith, Michal Segal-Rozenhaimer, Richard A. Ferrare, Sharon P. Burton, Chris A. Hostetler, David J. Diner, Felix C. Seidel, Steven E. Platnick, Jeffrey S. Myers, Kerry G. Meyer, Douglas A. Spangenberg, Hal Maring, and Lan Gao
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 1507–1563, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-1507-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-1507-2021, 2021
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Southern Africa produces significant biomass burning emissions whose impacts on regional and global climate are poorly understood. ORACLES (ObseRvations of Aerosols above CLouds and their intEractionS) is a 5-year NASA investigation designed to study the key processes that determine these climate impacts. The main purpose of this paper is to familiarize the broader scientific community with the ORACLES project, the dataset it produced, and the most important initial findings.
Jonas Gliß, Augustin Mortier, Michael Schulz, Elisabeth Andrews, Yves Balkanski, Susanne E. Bauer, Anna M. K. Benedictow, Huisheng Bian, Ramiro Checa-Garcia, Mian Chin, Paul Ginoux, Jan J. Griesfeller, Andreas Heckel, Zak Kipling, Alf Kirkevåg, Harri Kokkola, Paolo Laj, Philippe Le Sager, Marianne Tronstad Lund, Cathrine Lund Myhre, Hitoshi Matsui, Gunnar Myhre, David Neubauer, Twan van Noije, Peter North, Dirk J. L. Olivié, Samuel Rémy, Larisa Sogacheva, Toshihiko Takemura, Kostas Tsigaridis, and Svetlana G. Tsyro
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 87–128, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-87-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-87-2021, 2021
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Simulated aerosol optical properties as well as the aerosol life cycle are investigated for 14 global models participating in the AeroCom initiative. Considerable diversity is found in the simulated aerosol species emissions and lifetimes, also resulting in a large diversity in the simulated aerosol mass, composition, and optical properties. A comparison with observations suggests that, on average, current models underestimate the direct effect of aerosol on the atmosphere radiation budget.
Jianglong Zhang, Robert J. D. Spurr, Jeffrey S. Reid, Peng Xian, Peter R. Colarco, James R. Campbell, Edward J. Hyer, and Nancy L. Baker
Geosci. Model Dev., 14, 27–42, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-14-27-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-14-27-2021, 2021
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A first-of-its-kind scheme has been developed for assimilating Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) aerosol index (AI) measurements into the Naval Aerosol Analysis and Predictive System. Improvements in model simulations demonstrate the utility of OMI AI data assimilation for improving the accuracy of aerosol model analysis over cloudy regions and bright surfaces. This study can be considered one of the first attempts at direct radiance assimilation in the UV spectrum for aerosol analyses.
Cheng Chen, Oleg Dubovik, David Fuertes, Pavel Litvinov, Tatyana Lapyonok, Anton Lopatin, Fabrice Ducos, Yevgeny Derimian, Maurice Herman, Didier Tanré, Lorraine A. Remer, Alexei Lyapustin, Andrew M. Sayer, Robert C. Levy, N. Christina Hsu, Jacques Descloitres, Lei Li, Benjamin Torres, Yana Karol, Milagros Herrera, Marcos Herreras, Michael Aspetsberger, Moritz Wanzenboeck, Lukas Bindreiter, Daniel Marth, Andreas Hangler, and Christian Federspiel
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 12, 3573–3620, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-12-3573-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-12-3573-2020, 2020
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Aerosol products obtained from POLDER/PARASOL processed by the GRASP algorithm have been released. The entire archive of PARASOL/GRASP aerosol products is evaluated against AERONET and compared with MODIS (DT, DB and MAIAC), as well as PARASOL/Operational products. PARASOL/GRASP aerosol products provide spectral 443–1020 nm AOD correlating well with AERONET with a maximum bias of 0.02. Finally, GRASP shows capability to derive detailed spectral properties, including aerosol absorption.
Tianle Yuan, Hua Song, Robert Wood, Johannes Mohrmann, Kerry Meyer, Lazaros Oreopoulos, and Steven Platnick
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 6989–6997, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-6989-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-6989-2020, 2020
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We use deep transfer learning techniques to classify satellite cloud images into different morphology types. It achieves the state-of-the-art results and can automatically process a large amount of satellite data. The algorithm will help low-cloud researchers to better understand their mesoscale organizations.
Peng Xian, Philip J. Klotzbach, Jason P. Dunion, Matthew A. Janiga, Jeffrey S. Reid, Peter R. Colarco, and Zak Kipling
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 15357–15378, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-15357-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-15357-2020, 2020
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Using dust AOD (DAOD) data from three aerosol reanalyses, we explored the correlative relationships between DAOD and multiple indices representing seasonal Atlantic TC activities. A robust negative correlation with Caribbean DAOD and Atlantic TC activity was found. We documented for the first time the regional differences of this relationship for over the Caribbean and the tropical North Atlantic. We also evaluated the impacts of potential confounding climate factors in this relationship.
Mingxuan Wu, Xiaohong Liu, Hongbin Yu, Hailong Wang, Yang Shi, Kang Yang, Anton Darmenov, Chenglai Wu, Zhien Wang, Tao Luo, Yan Feng, and Ziming Ke
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 13835–13855, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-13835-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-13835-2020, 2020
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The spatiotemporal distributions of dust aerosol simulated by global climate models (GCMs) are highly uncertain. In this study, we evaluate dust extinction profiles, optical depth, and surface concentrations simulated in three GCMs and one reanalysis against multiple satellite retrievals and surface observations to gain process-level understanding. Our results highlight the importance of correctly representing dust emission, dry/wet deposition, and size distribution in GCMs.
Augustin Mortier, Jonas Gliß, Michael Schulz, Wenche Aas, Elisabeth Andrews, Huisheng Bian, Mian Chin, Paul Ginoux, Jenny Hand, Brent Holben, Hua Zhang, Zak Kipling, Alf Kirkevåg, Paolo Laj, Thibault Lurton, Gunnar Myhre, David Neubauer, Dirk Olivié, Knut von Salzen, Ragnhild Bieltvedt Skeie, Toshihiko Takemura, and Simone Tilmes
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 13355–13378, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-13355-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-13355-2020, 2020
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We present a multiparameter analysis of the aerosol trends over the last 2 decades in the different regions of the world. In most of the regions, ground-based observations show a decrease in aerosol content in both the total atmospheric column and at the surface. The use of climate models, assessed against these observations, reveals however an increase in the total aerosol load, which is not seen with the sole use of observation due to partial coverage in space and time.
Debbie O'Sullivan, Franco Marenco, Claire L. Ryder, Yaswant Pradhan, Zak Kipling, Ben Johnson, Angela Benedetti, Melissa Brooks, Matthew McGill, John Yorks, and Patrick Selmer
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 12955–12982, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-12955-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-12955-2020, 2020
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Mineral dust is an important component of the climate system, and we assess how well it is predicted by two operational models. We flew an aircraft in the dust layers in the eastern Atlantic, and we also make use of satellites. We show that models predict the dust layer too low and that it predicts the particles to be too small. We believe that these discrepancies may be overcome if models can be constrained with operational observations of dust vertical and size-resolved distribution.
Nick Schutgens, Andrew M. Sayer, Andreas Heckel, Christina Hsu, Hiren Jethva, Gerrit de Leeuw, Peter J. T. Leonard, Robert C. Levy, Antti Lipponen, Alexei Lyapustin, Peter North, Thomas Popp, Caroline Poulsen, Virginia Sawyer, Larisa Sogacheva, Gareth Thomas, Omar Torres, Yujie Wang, Stefan Kinne, Michael Schulz, and Philip Stier
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 12431–12457, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-12431-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-12431-2020, 2020
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We intercompare 14 different datasets of satellite observations of aerosol. Such measurements are challenging but also provide the best opportunity to globally observe an atmospheric component strongly related to air pollution and climate change. Our study shows that most datasets perform similarly well on a global scale but that locally errors can be quite different. We develop a technique to estimate satellite errors everywhere, even in the absence of surface reference data.
Katta Vijayakumar, Panuganti C. S. Devara, Sunil M. Sonbawne, David M. Giles, Brent N. Holben, Sarangam Vijaya Bhaskara Rao, and Chalicheemalapalli K. Jayasankar
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 5569–5593, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-5569-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-5569-2020, 2020
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The direct-Sun and inversion products of urban atmospheric aerosols, obtained from a Cimel Sun–sky radiometer in Pune, India, under the AERONET program since October 2004, have been reported in this paper. The mean seasonal variations in AOD from cloud-free days indicated greater values during the monsoon season, revealing dominance of hygroscopic aerosols over the station. Such results are sparse in India and are important for estimating aerosol radiative forcing and validating climate models.
Anin Puthukkudy, J. Vanderlei Martins, Lorraine A. Remer, Xiaoguang Xu, Oleg Dubovik, Pavel Litvinov, Brent McBride, Sharon Burton, and Henrique M. J. Barbosa
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 5207–5236, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-5207-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-5207-2020, 2020
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In this work, we report the demonstration and validation of the aerosol properties retrieved using AirHARP and GRASP for data from the NASA ACEPOL campaign 2017. These results serve as a proxy for the scale and detail of aerosol retrievals that are anticipated from future space mission data, as HARP CubeSat (mission begins 2020) and HARP2 (aboard the NASA PACE mission with the launch in 2023) are near duplicates of AirHARP and are expected to provide the same level of aerosol characterization.
Kirk Knobelspiesse, Henrique M. J. Barbosa, Christine Bradley, Carol Bruegge, Brian Cairns, Gao Chen, Jacek Chowdhary, Anthony Cook, Antonio Di Noia, Bastiaan van Diedenhoven, David J. Diner, Richard Ferrare, Guangliang Fu, Meng Gao, Michael Garay, Johnathan Hair, David Harper, Gerard van Harten, Otto Hasekamp, Mark Helmlinger, Chris Hostetler, Olga Kalashnikova, Andrew Kupchock, Karla Longo De Freitas, Hal Maring, J. Vanderlei Martins, Brent McBride, Matthew McGill, Ken Norlin, Anin Puthukkudy, Brian Rheingans, Jeroen Rietjens, Felix C. Seidel, Arlindo da Silva, Martijn Smit, Snorre Stamnes, Qian Tan, Sebastian Val, Andrzej Wasilewski, Feng Xu, Xiaoguang Xu, and John Yorks
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 12, 2183–2208, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-12-2183-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-12-2183-2020, 2020
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The Aerosol Characterization from Polarimeter and Lidar (ACEPOL) field campaign is a resource for the next generation of spaceborne multi-angle polarimeter (MAP) and lidar missions. Conducted in the fall of 2017 from the Armstrong Flight Research Center in Palmdale, California, four MAP instruments and two lidars were flown on the high-altitude ER-2 aircraft over a variety of scene types and ground assets. Data are freely available to the public and useful for algorithm development and testing.
Samantha J. Kramer, Claudia Alvarez, Anne E. Barkley, Peter R. Colarco, Lillian Custals, Rodrigo Delgadillo, Cassandra J. Gaston, Ravi Govindaraju, and Paquita Zuidema
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 10047–10062, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-10047-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-10047-2020, 2020
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Comparisons of sea salt and size-resolved dust mass concentration measurements over southeast Florida to those from the MERRA-2/GEOS-5 FP aerosol reanalysis show the reanalysis depicts excessive sea salt and puts too much dust in larger intermediate sizes than do the measurements. The vertical distribution of the dust mass is approximately correct. The incorrect reanalysis aerosol speciation and dust sizes have implications for the modeling of their transport, deposition, and radiative impact.
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Bian, H., Chin, M., Hauglustaine, D. A., Schulz, M., Myhre, G., Bauer, S. E., Lund, M. T., Karydis, V. A., Kucsera, T. L., Pan, X., Pozzer, A., Skeie, R. B., Steenrod, S. D., Sudo, K., Tsigaridis, K., Tsimpidi, A. P., and Tsyro, S. G.: Investigation of global particulate nitrate from the AeroCom phase III experiment, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 12911–12940, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-12911-2017, 2017.
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A critical evaluation of the ability of the Spinning Enhanced Visible and InfraRed Imager (SEVIRI) thermal infrared red-green-blue rendering to identify dust events: Theoretical analysis,
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Chin, M., Diehl, T., Dubovik, O., Eck, T. F., Holben, B. N., Sinyuk, A., and Streets, D. G.: Light absorption by pollution, dust, and biomass burning aerosols: a global model study and evaluation with AERONET measurements, Ann. Geophys., 27, 3439–3464, https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-27-3439-2009, 2009.
Chin, M., Diehl, T., Tan, Q., Prospero, J. M., Kahn, R. A., Remer, L. A., Yu, H., Sayer, A. M., Bian, H., Geogdzhayev, I. V., Holben, B. N., Howell, S. G., Huebert, B. J., Hsu, N. C., Kim, D., Kucsera, T. L., Levy, R. C., Mishchenko, M. I., Pan, X., Quinn, P. K., Schuster, G. L., Streets, D. G., Strode, S. A., Torres, O., and Zhao, X.-P.: Multi-decadal aerosol variations from 1980 to 2009: a perspective from observations and a global model, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 14, 3657–3690, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-3657-2014, 2014.
Colarco, P., da Silva, A. M., Chin, M., and Diehl, T.:
On-line simulations of global aerosol distributions in the NASA GEOS-4 model and comparisons to satellite and ground-based aerosol optical depth,
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Impact of radiatively interactive dust aerosols in the NASA GEOS-5 climate model: Sensitivity to dust particle shape and refractive index,
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Short summary
This study characterizes a historic African dust intrusion into the Caribbean Basin in June 2020 using satellites and NASA GEOS. Dust emissions in West Africa were large albeit not extreme. However, a unique synoptic system accumulated the dust near the coast for about 4 d before it was ventilated. Although GEOS reproduced satellite-observed plume tracks well, it substantially underestimated dust emissions and did not lift up dust high enough for ensuing long-range transport.
This study characterizes a historic African dust intrusion into the Caribbean Basin in June 2020...
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