Comparison of the optical properties of pure and transported anthropogenic dusts measured by ground-based Lidar

Abstract. In this study, the optical properties of pure dust (PDU) and transported anthropogenic dust (TDU) (also defined as polluted dust) are compared by using ground-based Lidar data for the period from October 2009 to June 2013. The total attenuated backscattering coefficient at 532 nm, the linear volume depolarization ratio and the color ratio are derived from the L2S-SM-II dual-band polarization Lidar. We found that the TDU has a spherical shape, a small linear volume depolarization ratio and a large color ratio which representing its large particle sizes. The threshold value delineating PDU and TDU was approximately 0.2, which is the same as the threshold value used in the CALIPSO CAD algorithm. The histogram of the attenuated backscattering coefficients and the color ratios of pure dust shows two peaks, but that for the transported anthropogenic dust shows no significant peak and a nearly uniform distribution. The ground-based Lidar results confirm that both the transported anthropogenic dust and pure dust can be detected by air-borne or ground-based Lidar measurements.