Method to retrieve cloud condensation nuclei number concentrations using lidar measurements

Tan, Wangshu; Zhao, Gang; Yu, Yingli; Li, Chengcai; Li, Jian; Kang, Ling; Zhu, Tong; Zhao, Chunsheng

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-3825-2019

Articles | Volume 12, issue 7

https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-3825-2019

© Author(s) 2019. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-3825-2019

© Author(s) 2019. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 12, issue 7

Research article

|

12 Jul 2019

Research article |

| 12 Jul 2019

Method to retrieve cloud condensation nuclei number concentrations using lidar measurements

Wangshu Tan, Gang Zhao, Yingli Yu, Chengcai Li, Jian Li, Ling Kang, Tong Zhu, and Chunsheng Zhao

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Final revised paper (published on 12 Jul 2019)
Supplement to the final revised paper
Preprint (discussion started on 04 Feb 2019)
Supplement to the preprint

Interactive discussion

Status: closed

AC: Author comment | RC: Referee comment | SC: Short comment | EC: Editor comment

- Printer-friendly version

- Supplement

RC1: 'Anonymous Review', Anonymous Referee #1, 11 Mar 2019
- AC1: 'Reply to Anonymous Referee #1', Chengcai Li, 27 Apr 2019
RC2: 'review of reviewer #2', Anonymous Referee #2, 26 Mar 2019
- AC2: 'Reply to Anonymous Referee #2', Chengcai Li, 27 Apr 2019

Peer-review completion

AR: Author's response | RR: Referee report | ED: Editor decision

AR by Chengcai Li on behalf of the Authors (27 Apr 2019) Author's response Manuscript

ED: Referee Nomination & Report Request started (29 Apr 2019) by Ulla Wandinger

RR by Anonymous Referee #1 (13 May 2019)

RR by Anonymous Referee #2 (24 May 2019)

Suggestions for revision or reasons for rejection

The manuscript is greatly improved. However, it is still not easy to read and one has to be an expert in the field to understand the approach. All in all, it is a very complex and complicated paper.

Some recommendations:

One should discuss the two recently published CCN-lidar approaches (Lv et al., JGR 2018, Mamouri and Ansmann, ACP 2016) in more detail in the introduction. What is the idea in these two foregoing papers? How do the ideas presented here differ from the foregoing methods.

The paper of Mamouri and Ansmann is based on single-wavelength polarization lidar (and not on multiwavelength lidar), and applicable to marine, dust, and pollution aerosol types.

One should also clearly state …. right in the beginning and thus in the introduction: The new method is only applicable to well mixed aerosol layers with large changes in the relative humidity, and thus only in the case of the planetary boundary layer. Furthermore, the method works only in the absence of dust (non spherical particles).

You could compare your AR values with published ones in Mamouri and Ansmann 2016 and
Shinozuka, Y., et al. : The relationship between cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) concentration and light extinction of dried particles: indications of underlying aerosol processes and implications for satellite-based CCN estimates, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 15, 7585-7604, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-7585-2015, 2015.

If your RH is retrieved by using microwave radiometer (no water vapour Raman lidar) then relative uncertainties in the range of 10-20% are much more realistic as your 5% (in all your simulations).

Figure4: very confusing y-axis and x-axis parameters:

For ‘model-predicted extinction-related CCN activation ratio…’

may be simply use ‘AR applied in the retrieval’ or simply ‘retrieval AR’

and for

‘theoretical calculated extinction-related CCN activation ratio…’

take ‘true AR’ or ‘modelled AR’

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ED: Publish subject to minor revisions (review by editor) (08 Jun 2019) by Ulla Wandinger

AR by Chengcai Li on behalf of the Authors (12 Jun 2019) Author's response Manuscript

ED: Publish as is (24 Jun 2019) by Ulla Wandinger

AR by Chengcai Li on behalf of the Authors (25 Jun 2019) Manuscript

Short summary

A new method to retrieve CCN number concentrations using multiwavelength Raman lidars is proposed. The method implements hygroscopic enhancements of backscatter and extinction with relative humidity to represent particle hygroscopicity. The retrieved CCN number concentrations are in good agreement with theoretical calculated values. Sensitivity tests indicate that retrieval error in CCN arises mostly from uncertainties in extinction coefficients and RH profiles.