Articles | Volume 22, issue 11
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-7319-2022
© Author(s) 2022. 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-22-7319-2022
© Author(s) 2022. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
08 Jun 2022
Research article |
| 08 Jun 2022
| 08 Jun 2022
Wintertime Saharan dust transport towards the Caribbean: an airborne lidar case study during EUREC4A
Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt, Institut für Physik der Atmosphäre, Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany
Meteorologisches Institut, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Munich, Germany
Silke Groß
Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt, Institut für Physik der Atmosphäre, Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany
Christian Heske
Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt, Institut für Physik der Atmosphäre, Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany
Martin Wirth
Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt, Institut für Physik der Atmosphäre, Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany
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The German polarimetric weather radar Poldirad was deployed for the international campaign EUREC4A on Barbados. The focus was monitoring clouds and precipitation in the trade wind region east of Barbados. Observations were with a temporal sequence of 5 min and a maximum range of 375 km. Examples of mesoscale precipitation patterns, rain rate accumulation, diurnal cycle, and vertical distribution show the potential for further studies on the life cycle of precipitating shallow cumulus clouds.
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The German research aircraft HALO took part in the research campaign EUREC4A in January and February 2020. The focus area was the tropical Atlantic east of the island of Barbados. We describe the characteristics of the 15 research flights, provide auxiliary information, derive combined cloud mask products from all instruments that observe clouds on board the aircraft, and provide code examples that help new users of the data to get started.
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Airborne lidar measurements in the vicinity of Barbados are used to investigate radiative effects of long-range-transported Saharan air layers. Derived atmospheric heating rates indicate that observed enhanced water vapor concentrations inside these layers are the main drivers for dust vertical mixing inside the layers. Additionally, they may play a major role for the suppression of subjacent convective cloud development.
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Publication in AMT not foreseen
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Atmos. Meas. Tech. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2016-333, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2016-333, 2016
Revised manuscript not accepted
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This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (ACP).
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Qiang Li and Silke Groß
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-2052, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-2052, 2025
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (ACP).
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Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 3191–3211, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-3191-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-3191-2025, 2025
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Aerosols contribute to the largest uncertainties in climate change predictions. The eastern Mediterranean is a hotspot for aerosols with natural and anthropogenic contributions. We present lidar measurements performed during A-LIFE (Absorbing aerosol layers in a changing climate: aging, lifetime and dynamics) to characterize aerosols and aerosol mixtures. We extend current lidar classification and separation schemes and compare them to classification schemes using different methods.
Christian Heske, Florian Ewald, and Silke Groß
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-691, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-691, 2025
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This study proposes a new technique to augment polarimetric radar measurements of the national German operational radar network with vertically looking cloud radars. The method is tested in two different case studies by comparison to dedicated scanning radars revealing promising results. Future usage of the method is motivated by analyzing the coverage of the operational radar network finding advantageous locations with good radar coverage.
Christoph Kiemle, Andreas Fix, Christian Fruck, Gerhard Ehret, and Martin Wirth
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 6569–6578, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-6569-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-6569-2024, 2024
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Nitrous oxide is the third most important greenhouse gas modified by human activities after carbon dioxide and methane. This study examines the feasibility of airborne differential absorption lidar to quantify emissions from agriculture, fossil fuel combustion, industry, and biomass burning. Simulations show that a technically realizable and affordable mid-infrared lidar system will be able to measure the nitrous oxide column concentration enhancements with sufficient precision.
Sven Krautwurst, Christian Fruck, Sebastian Wolff, Jakob Borchardt, Oke Huhs, Konstantin Gerilowski, Michał Gałkowski, Christoph Kiemle, Mathieu Quatrevalet, Martin Wirth, Christian Mallaun, John P. Burrows, Christoph Gerbig, Andreas Fix, Hartmut Bösch, and Heinrich Bovensmann
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3182, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3182, 2024
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Anomalously high CH4 emissions from landfills in Madrid, Spain, have been observed by satellite measurements in recent years. Our investigations of these waste facilities using passive and active airborne remote sensing measurements confirm these high emission rates with values of up to 13 th-1 during the overflight and show excellent agreement between the two techniques. A large fraction of the emissions is attributed to active landfill sites.
Manfred Wendisch, Susanne Crewell, André Ehrlich, Andreas Herber, Benjamin Kirbus, Christof Lüpkes, Mario Mech, Steven J. Abel, Elisa F. Akansu, Felix Ament, Clémantyne Aubry, Sebastian Becker, Stephan Borrmann, Heiko Bozem, Marlen Brückner, Hans-Christian Clemen, Sandro Dahlke, Georgios Dekoutsidis, Julien Delanoë, Elena De La Torre Castro, Henning Dorff, Regis Dupuy, Oliver Eppers, Florian Ewald, Geet George, Irina V. Gorodetskaya, Sarah Grawe, Silke Groß, Jörg Hartmann, Silvia Henning, Lutz Hirsch, Evelyn Jäkel, Philipp Joppe, Olivier Jourdan, Zsofia Jurányi, Michail Karalis, Mona Kellermann, Marcus Klingebiel, Michael Lonardi, Johannes Lucke, Anna E. Luebke, Maximilian Maahn, Nina Maherndl, Marion Maturilli, Bernhard Mayer, Johanna Mayer, Stephan Mertes, Janosch Michaelis, Michel Michalkov, Guillaume Mioche, Manuel Moser, Hanno Müller, Roel Neggers, Davide Ori, Daria Paul, Fiona M. Paulus, Christian Pilz, Felix Pithan, Mira Pöhlker, Veronika Pörtge, Maximilian Ringel, Nils Risse, Gregory C. Roberts, Sophie Rosenburg, Johannes Röttenbacher, Janna Rückert, Michael Schäfer, Jonas Schaefer, Vera Schemann, Imke Schirmacher, Jörg Schmidt, Sebastian Schmidt, Johannes Schneider, Sabrina Schnitt, Anja Schwarz, Holger Siebert, Harald Sodemann, Tim Sperzel, Gunnar Spreen, Bjorn Stevens, Frank Stratmann, Gunilla Svensson, Christian Tatzelt, Thomas Tuch, Timo Vihma, Christiane Voigt, Lea Volkmer, Andreas Walbröl, Anna Weber, Birgit Wehner, Bruno Wetzel, Martin Wirth, and Tobias Zinner
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 8865–8892, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-8865-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-8865-2024, 2024
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The Arctic is warming faster than the rest of the globe. Warm-air intrusions (WAIs) into the Arctic may play an important role in explaining this phenomenon. Cold-air outbreaks (CAOs) out of the Arctic may link the Arctic climate changes to mid-latitude weather. In our article, we describe how to observe air mass transformations during CAOs and WAIs using three research aircraft instrumented with state-of-the-art remote-sensing and in situ measurement devices.
Clémantyne Aubry, Julien Delanoë, Silke Groß, Florian Ewald, Frédéric Tridon, Olivier Jourdan, and Guillaume Mioche
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 3863–3881, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3863-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3863-2024, 2024
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Radar–lidar synergy is used to retrieve ice, supercooled water and mixed-phase cloud properties, making the most of the radar sensitivity to ice crystals and the lidar sensitivity to supercooled droplets. A first analysis of the output of the algorithm run on the satellite data is compared with in situ data during an airborne Arctic field campaign, giving a mean percent error of 49 % for liquid water content and 75 % for ice water content.
Georgios Dekoutsidis, Martin Wirth, and Silke Groß
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 5971–5987, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-5971-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-5971-2024, 2024
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For decades the earth's temperature has been rising. The Arctic regions are warming faster. Cirrus clouds can contribute to this phenomenon. During warm-air intrusions, air masses are transported into the Arctic from the mid-latitudes. The HALO-(AC)3 campaign took place to measure cirrus during intrusion events and under normal conditions. We study the two cloud types based on these measurements and find differences in their geometry, relative humidity distribution and vertical structure.
Silke Groß, Tina Jurkat-Witschas, Qiang Li, Martin Wirth, Benedikt Urbanek, Martina Krämer, Ralf Weigel, and Christiane Voigt
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 8369–8381, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-8369-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-8369-2023, 2023
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Aviation-emitted aerosol can have an impact on cirrus clouds. We present optical and microphysical properties of mid-latitude cirrus clouds which were formed under the influence of aviation-emitted aerosol or which were formed under rather pristine conditions. We find that cirrus clouds affected by aviation-emitted aerosol show larger values of the particle linear depolarization ratio, larger mean effective ice particle diameters and decreased ice particle number concentrations.
Georgios Dekoutsidis, Silke Groß, Martin Wirth, Martina Krämer, and Christian Rolf
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 3103–3117, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-3103-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-3103-2023, 2023
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Cirrus clouds affect Earth's atmosphere, deeming our study important. Here we use water vapor measurements by lidar and study the relative humidity (RHi) within and around midlatitude cirrus clouds. We find high supersaturations in the cloud-free air and within the clouds, especially near the cloud top. We study two cloud types with different formation processes. Finally, we conclude that the shape of the distribution of RHi can be used as an indicator of different cloud evolutionary stages.
Yun Li, Christoph Mahnke, Susanne Rohs, Ulrich Bundke, Nicole Spelten, Georgios Dekoutsidis, Silke Groß, Christiane Voigt, Ulrich Schumann, Andreas Petzold, and Martina Krämer
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 2251–2271, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-2251-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-2251-2023, 2023
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The radiative effect of aviation-induced cirrus is closely related to ambient conditions and its microphysical properties. Our study investigated the occurrence of contrail and natural cirrus measured above central Europe in spring 2014. It finds that contrail cirrus appears frequently in the pressure range 200 to 245 hPa and occurs more often in slightly ice-subsaturated environments than expected. Avoiding slightly ice-subsaturated regions by aviation might help mitigate contrail cirrus.
Ziming Wang, Luca Bugliaro, Tina Jurkat-Witschas, Romy Heller, Ulrike Burkhardt, Helmut Ziereis, Georgios Dekoutsidis, Martin Wirth, Silke Groß, Simon Kirschler, Stefan Kaufmann, and Christiane Voigt
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 1941–1961, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-1941-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-1941-2023, 2023
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Differences in the microphysical properties of contrail cirrus and natural cirrus in a contrail outbreak situation during the ML-CIRRUS campaign over the North Atlantic flight corridor can be observed from in situ measurements. The cirrus radiative effect in the area of the outbreak, derived from satellite observation-based radiative transfer modeling, is warming in the early morning and cooling during the day.
Andreas Schäfler, Michael Sprenger, Heini Wernli, Andreas Fix, and Martin Wirth
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 999–1018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-999-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-999-2023, 2023
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In this study, airborne lidar profile measurements of H2O and O3 across a midlatitude jet stream are combined with analyses in tracer–trace space and backward trajectories. We highlight that transport and mixing processes in the history of the observed air masses are governed by interacting tropospheric weather systems on synoptic timescales. We show that these weather systems play a key role in the high variability of the paired H2O and O3 distributions near the tropopause.
Qiang Li and Silke Groß
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 15963–15980, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-15963-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-15963-2022, 2022
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The IPCC report identified that cirrus clouds have a significant impact on the radiation balance comparable to the CO2 effects, which, however, is still hard to parameterize. The current study investigates the possible impact of aviation on cirrus properties based on the analysis of 10-year lidar measurements of CALIPSO. The results reveal that there is a significant positive trend in cirrus depolarization ratio in the last 10 years before COVID-19, which is strongly correlated with aviation.
Konstantin Krüger, Andreas Schäfler, Martin Wirth, Martin Weissmann, and George C. Craig
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 15559–15577, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-15559-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-15559-2022, 2022
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A comprehensive data set of airborne lidar water vapour profiles is compared with ERA5 reanalyses for a robust characterization of the vertical structure of the mid-latitude lower-stratospheric moist bias. We confirm a moist bias of up to 55 % at 1.3 km altitude above the tropopause and uncover a decreasing bias beyond. Collocated O3 and H2O observations reveal a particularly strong bias in the mixing layer, indicating insufficiently modelled transport processes fostering the bias.
Eleni Tetoni, Florian Ewald, Martin Hagen, Gregor Köcher, Tobias Zinner, and Silke Groß
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 3969–3999, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-3969-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-3969-2022, 2022
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We use the C-band POLDIRAD and the Ka-band MIRA-35 to perform snowfall dual-wavelength polarimetric radar measurements. We develop an ice microphysics retrieval for mass, apparent shape, and median size of the particle size distribution by comparing observations to T-matrix ice spheroid simulations while varying the mass–size relationship. We furthermore show how the polarimetric measurements from POLDIRAD help to narrow down ambiguities between ice particle shape and size.
Theresa Mieslinger, Bjorn Stevens, Tobias Kölling, Manfred Brath, Martin Wirth, and Stefan A. Buehler
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 6879–6898, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-6879-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-6879-2022, 2022
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The trades are home to a plethora of small cumulus clouds that are often barely visible to the human eye and difficult to detect with active and passive remote sensing methods. With the help of a new method and by means of high-resolution data we can detect small and particularly thin clouds. We find that optically thin clouds are a common phenomenon in the trades, covering a large area and influencing the radiative effect of clouds if they are undetected and contaminate the cloud-free signal.
Martin Hagen, Florian Ewald, Silke Groß, Lothar Oswald, David A. Farrell, Marvin Forde, Manuel Gutleben, Johann Heumos, Jens Reimann, Eleni Tetoni, Gregor Köcher, Eleni Marinou, Christoph Kiemle, Qiang Li, Rebecca Chewitt-Lucas, Alton Daley, Delando Grant, and Kashawn Hall
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 13, 5899–5914, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-5899-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-5899-2021, 2021
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The German polarimetric weather radar Poldirad was deployed for the international campaign EUREC4A on Barbados. The focus was monitoring clouds and precipitation in the trade wind region east of Barbados. Observations were with a temporal sequence of 5 min and a maximum range of 375 km. Examples of mesoscale precipitation patterns, rain rate accumulation, diurnal cycle, and vertical distribution show the potential for further studies on the life cycle of precipitating shallow cumulus clouds.
Heike Konow, Florian Ewald, Geet George, Marek Jacob, Marcus Klingebiel, Tobias Kölling, Anna E. Luebke, Theresa Mieslinger, Veronika Pörtge, Jule Radtke, Michael Schäfer, Hauke Schulz, Raphaela Vogel, Martin Wirth, Sandrine Bony, Susanne Crewell, André Ehrlich, Linda Forster, Andreas Giez, Felix Gödde, Silke Groß, Manuel Gutleben, Martin Hagen, Lutz Hirsch, Friedhelm Jansen, Theresa Lang, Bernhard Mayer, Mario Mech, Marc Prange, Sabrina Schnitt, Jessica Vial, Andreas Walbröl, Manfred Wendisch, Kevin Wolf, Tobias Zinner, Martin Zöger, Felix Ament, and Bjorn Stevens
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 13, 5545–5563, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-5545-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-5545-2021, 2021
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The German research aircraft HALO took part in the research campaign EUREC4A in January and February 2020. The focus area was the tropical Atlantic east of the island of Barbados. We describe the characteristics of the 15 research flights, provide auxiliary information, derive combined cloud mask products from all instruments that observe clouds on board the aircraft, and provide code examples that help new users of the data to get started.
Qiang Li and Silke Groß
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 14573–14590, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-14573-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-14573-2021, 2021
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Aircraft emit exhaust gases and particles directly into the atmosphere, which may contribute to climate change. We present a significant reduction in the occurrence rate and particle linear depolarization ratio of cirrus clouds based on the analysis of measurements with the Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation (CALIPSO) satellite during COVID-19 when air traffic was significantly reduced. The findings imply that these clouds formed with less influence from aviation.
Bjorn Stevens, Sandrine Bony, David Farrell, Felix Ament, Alan Blyth, Christopher Fairall, Johannes Karstensen, Patricia K. Quinn, Sabrina Speich, Claudia Acquistapace, Franziska Aemisegger, Anna Lea Albright, Hugo Bellenger, Eberhard Bodenschatz, Kathy-Ann Caesar, Rebecca Chewitt-Lucas, Gijs de Boer, Julien Delanoë, Leif Denby, Florian Ewald, Benjamin Fildier, Marvin Forde, Geet George, Silke Gross, Martin Hagen, Andrea Hausold, Karen J. Heywood, Lutz Hirsch, Marek Jacob, Friedhelm Jansen, Stefan Kinne, Daniel Klocke, Tobias Kölling, Heike Konow, Marie Lothon, Wiebke Mohr, Ann Kristin Naumann, Louise Nuijens, Léa Olivier, Robert Pincus, Mira Pöhlker, Gilles Reverdin, Gregory Roberts, Sabrina Schnitt, Hauke Schulz, A. Pier Siebesma, Claudia Christine Stephan, Peter Sullivan, Ludovic Touzé-Peiffer, Jessica Vial, Raphaela Vogel, Paquita Zuidema, Nicola Alexander, Lyndon Alves, Sophian Arixi, Hamish Asmath, Gholamhossein Bagheri, Katharina Baier, Adriana Bailey, Dariusz Baranowski, Alexandre Baron, Sébastien Barrau, Paul A. Barrett, Frédéric Batier, Andreas Behrendt, Arne Bendinger, Florent Beucher, Sebastien Bigorre, Edmund Blades, Peter Blossey, Olivier Bock, Steven Böing, Pierre Bosser, Denis Bourras, Pascale Bouruet-Aubertot, Keith Bower, Pierre Branellec, Hubert Branger, Michal Brennek, Alan Brewer, Pierre-Etienne Brilouet, Björn Brügmann, Stefan A. Buehler, Elmo Burke, Ralph Burton, Radiance Calmer, Jean-Christophe Canonici, Xavier Carton, Gregory Cato Jr., Jude Andre Charles, Patrick Chazette, Yanxu Chen, Michal T. Chilinski, Thomas Choularton, Patrick Chuang, Shamal Clarke, Hugh Coe, Céline Cornet, Pierre Coutris, Fleur Couvreux, Susanne Crewell, Timothy Cronin, Zhiqiang Cui, Yannis Cuypers, Alton Daley, Gillian M. Damerell, Thibaut Dauhut, Hartwig Deneke, Jean-Philippe Desbios, Steffen Dörner, Sebastian Donner, Vincent Douet, Kyla Drushka, Marina Dütsch, André Ehrlich, Kerry Emanuel, Alexandros Emmanouilidis, Jean-Claude Etienne, Sheryl Etienne-Leblanc, Ghislain Faure, Graham Feingold, Luca Ferrero, Andreas Fix, Cyrille Flamant, Piotr Jacek Flatau, Gregory R. Foltz, Linda Forster, Iulian Furtuna, Alan Gadian, Joseph Galewsky, Martin Gallagher, Peter Gallimore, Cassandra Gaston, Chelle Gentemann, Nicolas Geyskens, Andreas Giez, John Gollop, Isabelle Gouirand, Christophe Gourbeyre, Dörte de Graaf, Geiske E. de Groot, Robert Grosz, Johannes Güttler, Manuel Gutleben, Kashawn Hall, George Harris, Kevin C. Helfer, Dean Henze, Calvert Herbert, Bruna Holanda, Antonio Ibanez-Landeta, Janet Intrieri, Suneil Iyer, Fabrice Julien, Heike Kalesse, Jan Kazil, Alexander Kellman, Abiel T. Kidane, Ulrike Kirchner, Marcus Klingebiel, Mareike Körner, Leslie Ann Kremper, Jan Kretzschmar, Ovid Krüger, Wojciech Kumala, Armin Kurz, Pierre L'Hégaret, Matthieu Labaste, Tom Lachlan-Cope, Arlene Laing, Peter Landschützer, Theresa Lang, Diego Lange, Ingo Lange, Clément Laplace, Gauke Lavik, Rémi Laxenaire, Caroline Le Bihan, Mason Leandro, Nathalie Lefevre, Marius Lena, Donald Lenschow, Qiang Li, Gary Lloyd, Sebastian Los, Niccolò Losi, Oscar Lovell, Christopher Luneau, Przemyslaw Makuch, Szymon Malinowski, Gaston Manta, Eleni Marinou, Nicholas Marsden, Sebastien Masson, Nicolas Maury, Bernhard Mayer, Margarette Mayers-Als, Christophe Mazel, Wayne McGeary, James C. McWilliams, Mario Mech, Melina Mehlmann, Agostino Niyonkuru Meroni, Theresa Mieslinger, Andreas Minikin, Peter Minnett, Gregor Möller, Yanmichel Morfa Avalos, Caroline Muller, Ionela Musat, Anna Napoli, Almuth Neuberger, Christophe Noisel, David Noone, Freja Nordsiek, Jakub L. Nowak, Lothar Oswald, Douglas J. Parker, Carolyn Peck, Renaud Person, Miriam Philippi, Albert Plueddemann, Christopher Pöhlker, Veronika Pörtge, Ulrich Pöschl, Lawrence Pologne, Michał Posyniak, Marc Prange, Estefanía Quiñones Meléndez, Jule Radtke, Karim Ramage, Jens Reimann, Lionel Renault, Klaus Reus, Ashford Reyes, Joachim Ribbe, Maximilian Ringel, Markus Ritschel, Cesar B. Rocha, Nicolas Rochetin, Johannes Röttenbacher, Callum Rollo, Haley Royer, Pauline Sadoulet, Leo Saffin, Sanola Sandiford, Irina Sandu, Michael Schäfer, Vera Schemann, Imke Schirmacher, Oliver Schlenczek, Jerome Schmidt, Marcel Schröder, Alfons Schwarzenboeck, Andrea Sealy, Christoph J. Senff, Ilya Serikov, Samkeyat Shohan, Elizabeth Siddle, Alexander Smirnov, Florian Späth, Branden Spooner, M. Katharina Stolla, Wojciech Szkółka, Simon P. de Szoeke, Stéphane Tarot, Eleni Tetoni, Elizabeth Thompson, Jim Thomson, Lorenzo Tomassini, Julien Totems, Alma Anna Ubele, Leonie Villiger, Jan von Arx, Thomas Wagner, Andi Walther, Ben Webber, Manfred Wendisch, Shanice Whitehall, Anton Wiltshire, Allison A. Wing, Martin Wirth, Jonathan Wiskandt, Kevin Wolf, Ludwig Worbes, Ethan Wright, Volker Wulfmeyer, Shanea Young, Chidong Zhang, Dongxiao Zhang, Florian Ziemen, Tobias Zinner, and Martin Zöger
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 13, 4067–4119, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-4067-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-4067-2021, 2021
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The EUREC4A field campaign, designed to test hypothesized mechanisms by which clouds respond to warming and benchmark next-generation Earth-system models, is presented. EUREC4A comprised roughly 5 weeks of measurements in the downstream winter trades of the North Atlantic – eastward and southeastward of Barbados. It was the first campaign that attempted to characterize the full range of processes and scales influencing trade wind clouds.
Florian Ewald, Silke Groß, Martin Wirth, Julien Delanoë, Stuart Fox, and Bernhard Mayer
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 5029–5047, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-5029-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-5029-2021, 2021
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In this study, we show how solar radiance observations can be used to validate and further constrain ice cloud microphysics retrieved from the synergy of radar–lidar measurements. Since most radar–lidar retrievals rely on a global assumption about the ice particle shape, ice water content and particle size biases are to be expected in individual cloud regimes. In this work, we identify and correct these biases by reconciling simulated and measured solar radiation reflected from these clouds.
Sebastian Wolff, Gerhard Ehret, Christoph Kiemle, Axel Amediek, Mathieu Quatrevalet, Martin Wirth, and Andreas Fix
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 2717–2736, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-2717-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-2717-2021, 2021
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We report on CO2 emissions of a coal-fired power plant derived from flight measurements performed with the IPDA lidar CHARM-F during the CoMet campaign in spring 2018. Despite the results being in broad agreement with reported emissions, we observe strong variations between successive flyovers. Using a high-resolution large eddy simulation, we identify strong atmospheric turbulence as the cause for the variations and recommend more favorable measurement conditions for future campaign planning.
Andreas Schäfler, Andreas Fix, and Martin Wirth
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 5217–5234, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-5217-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-5217-2021, 2021
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First-ever, collocated ozone and water vapor lidar observations across the tropopause are applied to investigate the extratropical transition layer (ExTL). The combined view of a quasi-instantaneous cross section and its tracer–tracer depiction allows us to analyze the ExTL shape and composition and the formation of mixing lines in relation to the dynamic situation. Such lidar data are relevant for future upper-tropospheric and lower-stratospheric investigations and model validations.
Ourania Soupiona, Alexandros Papayannis, Panagiotis Kokkalis, Romanos Foskinis, Guadalupe Sánchez Hernández, Pablo Ortiz-Amezcua, Maria Mylonaki, Christina-Anna Papanikolaou, Nikolaos Papagiannopoulos, Stefanos Samaras, Silke Groß, Rodanthi-Elisavet Mamouri, Lucas Alados-Arboledas, Aldo Amodeo, and Basil Psiloglou
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 15147–15166, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-15147-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-15147-2020, 2020
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51 dust events over the Mediterranean from EARLINET were studied regarding the aerosol geometrical, optical and microphysical properties and radiative forcing. We found δp532 values of 0.24–0.28, LR532 values of 49–52 sr and AOT532 of 0.11–0.40. The aerosol mixing state was also examined. Depending on the dust properties, intensity and solar zenith angle, the estimated solar radiative forcing ranged from −59 to −22 W m−2 at the surface and from −24 to −1 W m−2 at the TOA (cooling effect).
Anna Gialitaki, Alexandra Tsekeri, Vassilis Amiridis, Romain Ceolato, Lucas Paulien, Anna Kampouri, Antonis Gkikas, Stavros Solomos, Eleni Marinou, Moritz Haarig, Holger Baars, Albert Ansmann, Tatyana Lapyonok, Anton Lopatin, Oleg Dubovik, Silke Groß, Martin Wirth, Maria Tsichla, Ioanna Tsikoudi, and Dimitris Balis
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 14005–14021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-14005-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-14005-2020, 2020
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Stratospheric smoke particles are found to significantly depolarize incident light, while this effect is also accompanied by a strong spectral dependence. We utilize scattering simulations to show that this behaviour can be attributed to the near-spherical shape of the particles. We also examine whether an extension of the current AERONET scattering model to include the near-spherical shapes could be of benefit to the AERONET retrieval for stratospheric smoke associated with enhanced PLDR.
Manuel Gutleben, Silke Groß, Martin Wirth, and Bernhard Mayer
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 12313–12327, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-12313-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-12313-2020, 2020
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Airborne lidar measurements in the vicinity of Barbados are used to investigate radiative effects of long-range-transported Saharan air layers. Derived atmospheric heating rates indicate that observed enhanced water vapor concentrations inside these layers are the main drivers for dust vertical mixing inside the layers. Additionally, they may play a major role for the suppression of subjacent convective cloud development.
Christof G. Beer, Johannes Hendricks, Mattia Righi, Bernd Heinold, Ina Tegen, Silke Groß, Daniel Sauer, Adrian Walser, and Bernadett Weinzierl
Geosci. Model Dev., 13, 4287–4303, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-13-4287-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-13-4287-2020, 2020
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Mineral dust aerosol plays an important role in the climate system. Previously, dust emissions have often been represented in global models by prescribed monthly-mean emission fields representative of a specific year. We now apply an online calculation of wind-driven dust emissions. This results in an improved agreement with observations, due to a better representation of the highly variable dust emissions. Increasing the model resolution led to an additional performance gain.
Lucas Höppler, Felix Gödde, Manuel Gutleben, Tobias Kölling, Bernhard Mayer, and Tobias Zinner
Atmos. Meas. Tech. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2020-49, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2020-49, 2020
Publication in AMT not foreseen
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Clouds are considered as two-dimensional in many climate and weather models. This approach creates errors due to wrongly calculated solar or terrestrial radiative transfer. In order to reduce these errors, realistic three-dimensional clouds need to be retrieved or reproduced. This paper shows an approach to retrieve realistic three-dimensional clouds from an airplane, by combining the strengths of several active and passive remote sensing instruments.
Carlos Toledano, Benjamín Torres, Cristian Velasco-Merino, Dietrich Althausen, Silke Groß, Matthias Wiegner, Bernadett Weinzierl, Josef Gasteiger, Albert Ansmann, Ramiro González, David Mateos, David Farrel, Thomas Müller, Moritz Haarig, and Victoria E. Cachorro
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 14571–14583, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-14571-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-14571-2019, 2019
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Ground-based sun photometers have been used to analyze the properties of long-range transported Saharan dust over Barbados. The measurements were carried out as part of the Saharan Aerosol Long-Range Transport and Aerosol–Cloud-Interaction Experiment (SALTRACE), carried out in the Caribbean in 2013. A variety of instruments, ground-based and airborne, were used in this research. In this paper, the sun photometer data are presented and related to data collected from other co-located instruments.
Eleni Marinou, Matthias Tesche, Athanasios Nenes, Albert Ansmann, Jann Schrod, Dimitra Mamali, Alexandra Tsekeri, Michael Pikridas, Holger Baars, Ronny Engelmann, Kalliopi-Artemis Voudouri, Stavros Solomos, Jean Sciare, Silke Groß, Florian Ewald, and Vassilis Amiridis
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 11315–11342, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-11315-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-11315-2019, 2019
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We assess the feasibility of ground-based and spaceborne lidars to retrieve profiles of cloud-relevant aerosol concentrations and ice-nucleating particles. The retrieved profiles are in good agreement with airborne in situ measurements. Our methodology will be applied to satellite observations in the future so as to provide a global 3D product of cloud-relevant properties.
Manuel Gutleben, Silke Groß, and Martin Wirth
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 10659–10673, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-10659-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-10659-2019, 2019
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This study concentrates on airborne lidar measurements conducted during the NARVAL field experiments over the western subtropical North Atlantic Ocean to study differences between shallow marine cloud macro-physical properties (i.e. cloud fraction, cloud top height, cloud length, cloud gap length) in Saharan-dust-laden and dust-free trade wind regions. Cloud top heights, cloud fractions and cloud lengths are found to be lower and smaller in Saharan-dust-laden compared to dust-free regions.
Marek Jacob, Felix Ament, Manuel Gutleben, Heike Konow, Mario Mech, Martin Wirth, and Susanne Crewell
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 12, 3237–3254, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-3237-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-3237-2019, 2019
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Tropical clouds are a key climate component but are still not fully understood. Therefore, we analyze airborne remote sensing measurements that were taken in the dry and wet seasons over the Atlantic east of Barbados. From these we derive sub-kilometer resolution data of vertically integrated atmospheric water vapor and liquid water. Results show that although the humidity is lower in the dry season, clouds are more frequent, contain more water, and produce more rain than in the wet season.
Quitterie Cazenave, Marie Ceccaldi, Julien Delanoë, Jacques Pelon, Silke Groß, and Andrew Heymsfield
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 12, 2819–2835, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-2819-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-2819-2019, 2019
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The impact of ice clouds on the water cycle and radiative budget is still uncertain due to the complexity of cloud processes that makes it difficult to acquire adequate observations of ice cloud properties and parameterize them into climate and weather prediction models. In this paper we present the latest refinements brought to the DARDAR-CLOUD product, which contains ice cloud microphysical properties retrieved from the cloud radar and lidar measurements from the A-Train space mission.
Florian Ewald, Silke Groß, Martin Hagen, Lutz Hirsch, Julien Delanoë, and Matthias Bauer-Pfundstein
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 12, 1815–1839, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-1815-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-1815-2019, 2019
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This study gives a summary of lessons learned during the absolute calibration of the airborne, high-power Ka-band cloud radar HAMP MIRA on board the German research aircraft HALO. The first part covers the internal calibration of the instrument where individual instrument components are characterized in the laboratory. In the second part, the internal calibration is validated with external reference sources like the ocean surface backscatter and different air- and spaceborne cloud radars.
Kevin Wolf, André Ehrlich, Marek Jacob, Susanne Crewell, Martin Wirth, and Manfred Wendisch
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 12, 1635–1658, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-1635-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-1635-2019, 2019
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Using passive spectral solar radiation and active lidar, radar, and microwave measurements with HALO during NARVAL-II, the cloud droplet number concentration of shallow trade wind cumulus is estimated. With stepwise inclusion of the different instruments into the retrieval, the benefits of the synergetic approach based on artificial measurements and two cloud cases are demonstrated. Significant improvement with the synergetic method compared to the solar-radiation-only method is reported.
Christiane Voigt, Andreas Dörnbrack, Martin Wirth, Silke M. Groß, Michael C. Pitts, Lamont R. Poole, Robert Baumann, Benedikt Ehard, Björn-Martin Sinnhuber, Wolfgang Woiwode, and Hermann Oelhaf
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 15623–15641, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-15623-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-15623-2018, 2018
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The 2015–2016 stratospheric winter was the coldest in the 36-year climatological data record. The extreme conditions promoted the formation of persistent Arctic polar stratospheric ice clouds. An extended ice PSC detected by airborne lidar in January 2016 shows a second mode with higher particle depolarization ratios. Back-trajectories from the high-depol ice matched to CALIOP PSC curtains provide evidence for ice nucleation on NAT. The novel data consolidate our understanding of PSC formation.
Yoann Tellier, Clémence Pierangelo, Martin Wirth, Fabien Gibert, and Fabien Marnas
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 5865–5884, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-5865-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-5865-2018, 2018
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The French and German space agencies (CNES, DLR) are currently developing MERLIN, a satellite that will measure atmospheric concentration of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas. To reach the desired precision, horizontally averaging the measurements along the satellite track is performed but leads to a processing bias due to non-linear equations. This article studies the processing biases for several averaging schemes and bias correction algorithms and recommends a best approach to limit biases.
Volker Freudenthaler, Holger Linné, Anatoli Chaikovski, Dieter Rabus, and Silke Groß
Atmos. Meas. Tech. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2017-395, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2017-395, 2018
Revised manuscript has not been submitted
Moritz Haarig, Albert Ansmann, Dietrich Althausen, André Klepel, Silke Groß, Volker Freudenthaler, Carlos Toledano, Rodanthi-Elisavet Mamouri, David A. Farrell, Damien A. Prescod, Eleni Marinou, Sharon P. Burton, Josef Gasteiger, Ronny Engelmann, and Holger Baars
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 10767–10794, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-10767-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-10767-2017, 2017
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Our measurements performed with a lidar on Barbados give a vertical profile of Saharan dust, which was transported over 5000 km across the Atlantic. The new triple-wavelength depolarization technique reveals more information about the shape and size of dust, which will improve our understanding of the aging process of dust in the atmosphere and its representation in dust models. Changing properties of dust particles influence the solar radiation and the cloud properties and thus our climate.
Benedikt Urbanek, Silke Groß, Andreas Schäfler, and Martin Wirth
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 10, 1653–1664, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-1653-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-1653-2017, 2017
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Cirrus evolution from nucleation to cloud breakup can be investigated with a novel classification scheme based on airborne lidar data. Applying it to a case study from the ML-CIRRUS campaign, we investigate the impact of large-scale dynamics and small-scale gravity lee waves on the detailed spatial distribution of evolution stages in individual clouds. Our scheme may help to gain more insights in optical and radiative properties of cirrus under various formation and life cycle conditions.
Kevin Wolf, André Ehrlich, Tilman Hüneke, Klaus Pfeilsticker, Frank Werner, Martin Wirth, and Manfred Wendisch
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 4283–4303, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-4283-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-4283-2017, 2017
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The potential of airborne radiance measurements in the sideward and nadir directions for cirrus remote sensing is investigated. Therefore radiative transfer simulations were used and the sensitivity of upward radiance with respect to optical thickness, effective radius, surface albedo, wavelength and viewing angle was studied. It was shown that sideward observations lead to more accurate retrieval results. Investigating a case study of ML-CIRRUS, these findings are confirmed.
Josef Gasteiger, Silke Groß, Daniel Sauer, Moritz Haarig, Albert Ansmann, and Bernadett Weinzierl
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 297–311, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-297-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-297-2017, 2017
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To study aerosol transport in the Saharan Air Layer (SAL) from Africa to the Caribbean, we combine advanced optical models of Saharan aerosols with Stokes settling and two hypotheses about the occurrence of vertical mixing. By testing our hypotheses with lidar and in situ profiles measured near the top of the transported SAL, we find strong evidence that vertical mixing occurs in the SAL over the Atlantic with significant consequences for size distribution of the transported Saharan aerosols.
Christiane Voigt, Andreas Dörnbrack, Martin Wirth, Silke M. Groß, Robert Baumann, Benedikt Ehard, Michael C. Pitts, Lamont R. Poole, Björn-Martin Sinnhuber, and Hermann Oelhaf
Atmos. Chem. Phys. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2016-1082, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2016-1082, 2016
Revised manuscript not accepted
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The letter describes unprecedented observations of widespread and persistent polar stratospheric ice clouds (ice PSCs) in the exceptionally cold Arctic stratospheric winter 2015/16. The unique observations are of global relevance because trends in Arctic ozone loss and in polar temperatures are highly uncertain. The new observations at cold conditions serve to enhance our knowledge on ice PSC formation, Arctic ozone loss and polar stratrospheric temperatures in a changing climate.
Manuel Gutleben, Silke Gross, Martin Wirth, and Andreas Schäfler
Atmos. Meas. Tech. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2016-333, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2016-333, 2016
Revised manuscript not accepted
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Shallow marine cumulus convection over the Atlantic ocean is studied with observations by airborne and spaceborne lidar instruments. Cloud top height as well as cloud length and cloud gap length distributions are calculated by use of a newly developed algorithm. The distribution of cloud top heights during wintertime measurements shows a two-layer structure. However, significant differences in cloud top height distributions compared to summertime measurements are found.
Silke Groß, Josef Gasteiger, Volker Freudenthaler, Thomas Müller, Daniel Sauer, Carlos Toledano, and Albert Ansmann
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 11535–11546, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-11535-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-11535-2016, 2016
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Dual-wavelength depolarization sensitive Raman lidar measurements were used to characterize the optical properties of the dust loaded convective boundary layer over the Caribbean. Furthermore we derived the dust volume fraction and dust mass concentration within the convective boundary layer.
Ulla Wandinger, Volker Freudenthaler, Holger Baars, Aldo Amodeo, Ronny Engelmann, Ina Mattis, Silke Groß, Gelsomina Pappalardo, Aldo Giunta, Giuseppe D'Amico, Anatoli Chaikovsky, Fiodor Osipenko, Alexander Slesar, Doina Nicolae, Livio Belegante, Camelia Talianu, Ilya Serikov, Holger Linné, Friedhelm Jansen, Arnoud Apituley, Keith M. Wilson, Martin de Graaf, Thomas Trickl, Helmut Giehl, Mariana Adam, Adolfo Comerón, Constantino Muñoz-Porcar, Francesc Rocadenbosch, Michaël Sicard, Sergio Tomás, Diego Lange, Dhiraj Kumar, Manuel Pujadas, Francisco Molero, Alfonso J. Fernández, Lucas Alados-Arboledas, Juan Antonio Bravo-Aranda, Francisco Navas-Guzmán, Juan Luis Guerrero-Rascado, María José Granados-Muñoz, Jana Preißler, Frank Wagner, Michael Gausa, Ivan Grigorov, Dimitar Stoyanov, Marco Iarlori, Vincenco Rizi, Nicola Spinelli, Antonella Boselli, Xuan Wang, Teresa Lo Feudo, Maria Rita Perrone, Ferdinando De Tomasi, and Pasquale Burlizzi
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 9, 1001–1023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-1001-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-1001-2016, 2016
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We introduce the quality-assurance efforts of the European Aerosol Research Lidar Network (EARLINET) at instrument level. Within several campaigns, 21 EARLINET systems from 18 EARLINET stations were intercompared. A comprehensive strategy for campaign setup and data evaluation was established. The intercomparisons have reinforced our confidence in the EARLINET data quality and allowed us to draw conclusions on necessary system improvements and to identify major challenges for our future work.
S. Groß, V. Freudenthaler, K. Schepanski, C. Toledano, A. Schäfler, A. Ansmann, and B. Weinzierl
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 15, 11067–11080, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-11067-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-11067-2015, 2015
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In June and July 2013 dual-wavelength lidar measurements were performed in Barbados to study long-range transported Saharan dust across the Atlantic Ocean and investigate transport-induced changes. The focus of our measurements is the intensive optical properties, the lidar ratio and the particle linear depolarization ratio. While the lidar ratio shows no differences compared to the values of fresh Saharan dust, the particle linear depolarization ratio shows slight differences.
F. Chouza, O. Reitebuch, S. Groß, S. Rahm, V. Freudenthaler, C. Toledano, and B. Weinzierl
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 8, 2909–2926, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-2909-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-2909-2015, 2015
S. Groß, M. Wirth, A. Schäfler, A. Fix, S. Kaufmann, and C. Voigt
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 7, 2745–2755, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-7-2745-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-7-2745-2014, 2014
G. Pappalardo, L. Mona, G. D'Amico, U. Wandinger, M. Adam, A. Amodeo, A. Ansmann, A. Apituley, L. Alados Arboledas, D. Balis, A. Boselli, J. A. Bravo-Aranda, A. Chaikovsky, A. Comeron, J. Cuesta, F. De Tomasi, V. Freudenthaler, M. Gausa, E. Giannakaki, H. Giehl, A. Giunta, I. Grigorov, S. Groß, M. Haeffelin, A. Hiebsch, M. Iarlori, D. Lange, H. Linné, F. Madonna, I. Mattis, R.-E. Mamouri, M. A. P. McAuliffe, V. Mitev, F. Molero, F. Navas-Guzman, D. Nicolae, A. Papayannis, M. R. Perrone, C. Pietras, A. Pietruczuk, G. Pisani, J. Preißler, M. Pujadas, V. Rizi, A. A. Ruth, J. Schmidt, F. Schnell, P. Seifert, I. Serikov, M. Sicard, V. Simeonov, N. Spinelli, K. Stebel, M. Tesche, T. Trickl, X. Wang, F. Wagner, M. Wiegner, and K. M. Wilson
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 13, 4429–4450, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-4429-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-4429-2013, 2013
S. Groß, M. Esselborn, B. Weinzierl, M. Wirth, A. Fix, and A. Petzold
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 13, 2487–2505, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-2487-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-2487-2013, 2013
S. Groß, M. Esselborn, F. Abicht, M. Wirth, A. Fix, and A. Minikin
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 13, 2435–2444, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-2435-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-2435-2013, 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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Pauliquevis, T., and Artaxo, P.: Dust and smoke transport from Africa to
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Ansmann, A., Petzold, A., Kandler, K., Tegen, I., Wendisch, M., Müller, D.,
Weinzierl, B., Müller, T., and Heintzenberg, J.: Saharan Mineral Dust
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Baars, H., Ansmann, A., Althausen, D., Engelmann, R., Artaxo, P., Pauliquevis,
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Ben-Ami, Y., Koren, I., and Altaratz, O.: Patterns of North African dust
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Bony, S. and Stevens, B.: Measuring Area-Averaged Vertical Motions with
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Kreidenweis, S. M.: Integrating laboratory and field data to quantify the
immersion freezing ice nucleation activity of mineral dust particles, Atmos.
Chem. Phys., 15, 393–409, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-393-2015, 2015. a
Esselborn, M., Wirth, M., Fix, A., Tesche, M., and Ehret, G.: Airborne high
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M., and Radtke, J.: JOANNE: Joint dropsonde Observations of the Atmosphere
in tropical North atlaNtic meso-scale Environments, Earth Syst. Sci. Data,
13, 5253–5272, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-5253-2021, 2021. a
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Haarig, M., Ansmann, A., Baars, H., Jimenez, C., Veselovskii, I., Engelmann,
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mass concentration, and ice-nucleating-particle-relevant aerosol properties
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Karydis, V. A., Kumar, P., Barahona, D., Sokolik, I. N., and Nenes, A.: On the
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Kiemle, C., Wirth, M., Fix, A., Ehret, G., Schumann, U., Gardiner, T.,
Schiller, C., Sitnikov, N., and Stiller, G.: First airborne water vapor lidar
measurements in the tropical upper troposphere and mid-latitudes lower
stratosphere: accuracy evaluation and intercomparisons with other
instruments, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 8, 5245–5261,
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-8-5245-2008, 2008. a
Kinne, S., Schulz, M., Textor, C., Guibert, S., Balkanski, Y., Bauer, S. E.,
Berntsen, T., Berglen, T. F., Boucher, O., Chin, M., Collins, W., Dentener,
F., Diehl, T., Easter, R., Feichter, J., Fillmore, D., Ghan, S., Ginoux, P.,
Gong, S., Grini, A., Hendricks, J., Herzog, M., Horowitz, L., Isaksen, I.,
Iversen, T., Kirkevåg, A., Kloster, S., Koch, D., Kristjansson, J. E.,
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Short summary
The main transportation route of Saharan mineral dust particles leads over the subtropical Atlantic Ocean and is subject to a seasonal variation. This study investigates the characteristics of wintertime transatlantic dust transport towards the Caribbean by means of airborne lidar measurements. It is found that dust particles are transported at low atmospheric altitudes (<3.5 km) embedded in a relatively moist mixture with two other particle types, namely marine and biomass-burning particles.
The main transportation route of Saharan mineral dust particles leads over the subtropical...
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