Aerosol vertical distribution, optical properties and transport over Corsica (western Mediterranean)

Abstract. This paper presents the aerosol vertical distribution observed in the western Mediterranean between February and April 2011 and between February 2012 and August 2013. An elastic backscattering lidar was continuously operated at a coastal site in the northern part of Corsica Island (Cap Corse) for a total of more than 14 000 h of observations. The aerosol extinction coefficient retrieved from cloud-free lidar profiles are analyzed along with the SEVIRI satellite aerosol optical depth (AOD). The SEVIRI AOD was used to constrain the retrieval of the aerosol extinction profiles from the lidar range-corrected signal and to detect the presence of dust or pollution aerosols. The daily average AOD at 550 nm is 0.16 (±0.09) and ranges between 0.05 and 0.80. A seasonal cycle is observed with minima in winter and maxima in spring–summer. High AOD days (above 0.3 at 550 nm) represent less than 10% of the totality of daily observations and correspond to the large scale advection of desert dust from Northern Africa or pollution aerosols from Europe. The respective origin of the air masses is confirmed using FLEXPART simulations in the backward mode. Dust events are characterized by a large turbid layer between 2 and 5 km height while pollution events show a lower vertical development with a thick layer below 3 km in altitude. However low level dust transport is also reported during spring while aerosol pollution layer between 2 and 4 km height has been also observed. We report an effective lidar ratio at 355 nm for pollution aerosols 68 (±13) Sr while it is 63 (±18) Sr for dust. The daily mean AOD at 355 nm for dust events is 0.61 (±0.14) and 0.71 (±0.16) for pollution aerosols events.