Articles | Volume 15, issue 24
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-7259-2022
© 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/amt-15-7259-2022
© Author(s) 2022. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
19 Dec 2022
Research article |
| 19 Dec 2022
| 19 Dec 2022
A new method for calculating average visibility from the relationship between extinction coefficient and visibility
Zefeng Zhang
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Key Laboratory for Aerosol-Cloud-Precipitation of China Meteorological
Administration, Nanjing University of Information Science & Technology,
Nanjing 210044, China
Hengnan Guo
Key Laboratory for Aerosol-Cloud-Precipitation of China Meteorological
Administration, Nanjing University of Information Science & Technology,
Nanjing 210044, China
Hanqing Kang
Key Laboratory for Aerosol-Cloud-Precipitation of China Meteorological
Administration, Nanjing University of Information Science & Technology,
Nanjing 210044, China
Jing Wang
Key Laboratory for Aerosol-Cloud-Precipitation of China Meteorological
Administration, Nanjing University of Information Science & Technology,
Nanjing 210044, China
Junlin An
Key Laboratory for Aerosol-Cloud-Precipitation of China Meteorological
Administration, Nanjing University of Information Science & Technology,
Nanjing 210044, China
Xingna Yu
Key Laboratory for Aerosol-Cloud-Precipitation of China Meteorological
Administration, Nanjing University of Information Science & Technology,
Nanjing 210044, China
Jingjing Lv
Key Laboratory for Aerosol-Cloud-Precipitation of China Meteorological
Administration, Nanjing University of Information Science & Technology,
Nanjing 210044, China
Bin Zhu
Key Laboratory for Aerosol-Cloud-Precipitation of China Meteorological
Administration, Nanjing University of Information Science & Technology,
Nanjing 210044, China
Related authors
Hengnan Guo, Zefeng Zhang, Lin Jiang, Junlin An, Bin Zhu, Hanqing Kang, and Jing Wang
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 2441–2450, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-2441-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-2441-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Visibility is an indicator of atmospheric transparency and is widely used in many research fields. Although efforts have been made to improve the performance of visibility meters, a significant error exists in measured visibility data. This is because current methods of visibility measurement include a false assumption, which leads to the long-term neglect of an important source of visibility errors. Without major adjustments to current methods, it is not possible to obtain reliable data.
Defeng Zhao, Xiaojuan Song, Tong Zhu, Zefeng Zhang, Yingjun Liu, and Jing Shang
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 2481–2493, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-2481-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-2481-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
The oxidation of SO2 directly by NO2 on solid/liquid particles is proposed to be a major pathway of particle sulfate formation in the polluted atmosphere. We found that the reaction of SO2 and NO2 on CaCO3 particles produced Ca(NO3)2 aqueous droplets, providing a site for the multiphase oxidation of SO2. The direct multiphase oxidation of SO2 by NO2 led to a reactive uptake coefficient of SO2 on the order of 10-8, which is unlikely to be an important source of sulfate in the ambient atmosphere.
Zefeng Zhang, Yan Shen, Yanwei Li, Bin Zhu, and Xingna Yu
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 4147–4157, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-4147-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-4147-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
Aerosol particles and relative humidity are the main factors that affect atmospheric visibility. Due to the complexity of the physicochemical properties of aerosol particles, more and more instruments and cost were put into research, which limited the development of large area observation research. Thus, it is especially important to find the key parameters which affect the visibility and to establish the observation scheme.
Xuewei Hou, Oliver Wild, Bin Zhu, and James Lee
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 15395–15411, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-15395-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-15395-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
In response to the climate crisis, many countries have committed to net zero in a certain future year. The impacts of net-zero scenarios on tropospheric O3 are less well studied and remain unclear. In this study, we quantified the changes of tropospheric O3 budgets, spatiotemporal distributions of future surface O3 in east Asia and regional O3 source contributions for 2060 under a net-zero scenario using the NCAR Community Earth System Model (CESM) and online O3-tagging methods.
Naifu Shao, Chunsong Lu, Xingcan Jia, Yuan Wang, Yubin Li, Yan Yin, Bin Zhu, Tianliang Zhao, Duanyang Liu, Shengjie Niu, Shuxian Fan, Shuqi Yan, and Jingjing Lv
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 9873–9890, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-9873-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-9873-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Fog is an important meteorological phenomenon that affects visibility. Aerosols and the planetary boundary layer (PBL) play critical roles in the fog life cycle. In this study, aerosol-induced changes in fog properties become more remarkable in the second fog (Fog2) than in the first fog (Fog1). The reason is that aerosol–cloud interaction (ACI) delays Fog1 dissipation, leading to the PBL meteorological conditions being more conducive to Fog2 formation and to stronger ACI in Fog2.
Chenwei Fang, Jim M. Haywood, Ju Liang, Ben T. Johnson, Ying Chen, and Bin Zhu
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 8341–8368, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-8341-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-8341-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
The responses of Asian summer monsoon duration and intensity to air pollution mitigation are identified given the net-zero future. We show that reducing scattering aerosols makes the rainy season longer and stronger across South Asia and East Asia but that absorbing aerosol reduction has the opposite effect. Our results hint at distinct monsoon responses to emission controls that target different aerosols.
Wen Lu, Bin Zhu, Shuqi Yan, Jie Li, and Zifa Wang
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-1089, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-1089, 2023
Preprint archived
Short summary
Short summary
Parameterized the minimum turbulent diffusivity (Kzmin) by sensible heat flux and latent heat flux and embedded it into the WRF-Chem model. New scheme improved the underestimation of turbulence diffusion underestimation and overestimation of surface PM2.5 under stable boundary layer simulation over eastern China. The physical relationship between Kzmin and two factors was discussed. Process analysis showed that vertical mixing is the key process to improve surface PM2.5 simulations.
Shuqi Yan, Bin Zhu, Shuangshuang Shi, Wen Lu, Jinhui Gao, Hanqing Kang, and Duanyang Liu
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 5177–5190, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-5177-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-5177-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
We analyze ozone response to aerosol mixing states in the vertical direction by WRF-Chem simulations. Aerosols generally lead to turbulent suppression, precursor accumulation, low-level photolysis reduction, and upper-level photolysis enhancement under different underlying surface and pollution conditions. Thus, ozone decreases within the entire boundary layer during the daytime, and the decrease is the least in aerosol external mixing states compared to internal and core shell mixing states.
Jinjin Sun, Momei Qin, Xiaodong Xie, Wenxing Fu, Yang Qin, Li Sheng, Lin Li, Jingyi Li, Ishaq Dimeji Sulaymon, Lei Jiang, Lin Huang, Xingna Yu, and Jianlin Hu
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 12629–12646, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-12629-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-12629-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
NO3- has become the dominant and the least reduced chemical component of fine particulate matter in China. NO3- formation is mostly in the NH3-rich regime in the Yangtze River Delta (YRD). OH + NO2 contributes 60 %–83 % of the TNO3 production rates, and the N2O5 heterogeneous pathway contributes 10 %–36 %. The N2O5 heterogeneous pathway becomes more important in cold seasons. Local emissions and regional transportation contribute 50 %–62 % and 38 %–50 % to YRD NO3- concentrations, respectively.
Hanqing Kang, Bin Zhu, Gerrit de Leeuw, Bu Yu, Ronald J. van der A, and Wen Lu
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 10623–10634, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-10623-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-10623-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
This study quantified the contribution of each urban-induced meteorological effect (temperature, humidity, and circulation) to aerosol concentration. We found that the urban heat island (UHI) circulation dominates the UHI effects on aerosol. The UHI circulation transports aerosol and its precursor gases from the warmer lower boundary layer to the colder lower free troposphere and promotes the secondary formation of ammonium nitrate aerosol in the cold atmosphere.
Zhenbin Wang, Bin Zhu, Hanqing Kang, Wen Lu, Shuqi Yan, Delong Zhao, Weihang Zhang, and Jinhui Gao
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 15555–15567, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-15555-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-15555-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
In this paper, by using WRF-Chem with a black carbon (BC) tagging technique, we investigate the formation mechanism and regional sources of a BC peak in the free troposphere observed by aircraft flights. Local sources dominated BC from the surface to about 700 m (78.5 %), while the BC peak in the free troposphere was almost entirely imported from external sources (99.8 %). Our results indicate that cyclone systems can quickly lift BC up to the free troposphere, as well as extend its lifetime.
Meng Gao, Yang Yang, Hong Liao, Bin Zhu, Yuxuan Zhang, Zirui Liu, Xiao Lu, Chen Wang, Qiming Zhou, Yuesi Wang, Qiang Zhang, Gregory R. Carmichael, and Jianlin Hu
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 11405–11421, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-11405-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-11405-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Light absorption and radiative forcing of black carbon (BC) is influenced by both BC itself and its interactions with other aerosol chemical compositions. In this study, we used the online coupled WRF-Chem model to examine how emission control measures during the Asian-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) conference affect the mixing state and light absorption of BC and the associated implications for BC-PBL interactions.
Hengnan Guo, Zefeng Zhang, Lin Jiang, Junlin An, Bin Zhu, Hanqing Kang, and Jing Wang
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 2441–2450, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-2441-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-2441-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Visibility is an indicator of atmospheric transparency and is widely used in many research fields. Although efforts have been made to improve the performance of visibility meters, a significant error exists in measured visibility data. This is because current methods of visibility measurement include a false assumption, which leads to the long-term neglect of an important source of visibility errors. Without major adjustments to current methods, it is not possible to obtain reliable data.
Jinhui Gao, Ying Li, Bin Zhu, Bo Hu, Lili Wang, and Fangwen Bao
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 10831–10844, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-10831-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-10831-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Light extinction of aerosols can decease surface ozone mainly via reducing photochemical production of ozone. However, it also leads to high levels of ozone aloft being entrained down to the surface which partly counteracts the reduction in surface ozone. The impact of aerosols is more sensitive to local ozone, which suggests that while controlling the levels of aerosols, controlling the local ozone precursors is an effective way to suppress the increase of ozone over China at present.
Zhaobing Guo, Mingyi Xu, Yuxuan He, Shuo Gao, Chenmin Xu, Bin Zhu, Qingjun Guo, Xiaoyu Shen, Shuang Zhao, and Pengxiang Qiu
Atmos. Chem. Phys. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2020-506, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2020-506, 2020
Revised manuscript not accepted
Short summary
Short summary
In order to gain insight into the formation mechanism of sulfate, stable sulfur isotope and Rayleigh distillation were applied to investigate the isotopic fractionations controlled by the oxidation pathways. The processes of SO2 oxidation on the surface of α-Fe2O3 with different chemical condition (NOX, O3 and NH3) were conducted in laboratory to study mechanism of SO2 oxidation. It was found that nitrogen oxides contributed primarily to the formation of sulfate among NOX, O3 and NH3 pathways.
Chao Yu, Tianliang Zhao, Yongqing Bai, Lei Zhang, Shaofei Kong, Xingna Yu, Jinhai He, Chunguang Cui, Jie Yang, Yinchang You, Guoxu Ma, Ming Wu, and Jiacheng Chang
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 7217–7230, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-7217-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-7217-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
This study investigated the ambient PM2.5 variations over Wuhan, a typical urban Yangtze River middle basin (YRMB) region in central eastern China in January 2016. Through an analysis of observational data of the environment and meteorology, as well as via a FLEXPART-WRF simulation, it heavy air pollution is revealed with the unique “non-stagnant” atmospheric boundary layer in the YRMB region aggravated by regional transport of PM2.5 over central and eastern China.
Shuqi Yan, Bin Zhu, Yong Huang, Jun Zhu, Hanqing Kang, Chunsong Lu, and Tong Zhu
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 5559–5572, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-5559-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-5559-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
The development of China has caused rapid urbanization and severe air pollution. However, the extent of their individual and combined effects on fog is not well understood. Through numerical experiments, we find that urbanization suppresses low-level fog but probably promotes upper-level fog. Additional aerosols generally promote fog. Urbanization affects fog to a much larger extent than aerosols do.
Meng Gao, Jinhui Gao, Bin Zhu, Rajesh Kumar, Xiao Lu, Shaojie Song, Yuzhong Zhang, Beixi Jia, Peng Wang, Gufran Beig, Jianlin Hu, Qi Ying, Hongliang Zhang, Peter Sherman, and Michael B. McElroy
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 4399–4414, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-4399-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-4399-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
A regional fully coupled meteorology–chemistry model, Weather Research and Forecasting model with Chemistry (WRF-Chem), was employed to study the seasonality of ozone (O3) pollution and its sources in both China and India.
Jun Zhu, Xiangao Xia, Huizheng Che, Jun Wang, Zhiyuan Cong, Tianliang Zhao, Shichang Kang, Xuelei Zhang, Xingna Yu, and Yanlin Zhang
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 14637–14656, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-14637-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-14637-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
The long-term temporal–spatial variations of the aerosol optical properties over the Tibetan Plateau (TP) based on the multiple ground-based sun photometer sites and the MODIS product are presented. Besides, the aerosol pollution and aerosol transport processes over the TP are also analyzed by the observations and models. The results in this region could help reduce the assessment uncertainties of aerosol radiative forcing and provide more information on aerosol transportation.
Z. B. Zhou, J. J. Lv, and S. J. Niu
Int. Arch. Photogramm. Remote Sens. Spatial Inf. Sci., XLII-3-W9, 245–250, https://doi.org/10.5194/isprs-archives-XLII-3-W9-245-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/isprs-archives-XLII-3-W9-245-2019, 2019
Ka Lok Chan, Zhuoru Wang, Aijun Ding, Klaus-Peter Heue, Yicheng Shen, Jing Wang, Feng Zhang, Yining Shi, Nan Hao, and Mark Wenig
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 10051–10071, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-10051-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-10051-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
The paper presents long-term observations of atmospheric nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and formaldehyde (HCHO) in Nanjing using a MAX-DOAS instrument. The measurements were performed from April 2013 to February 2017. The MAX-DOAS measurements of NO2 and HCHO are used to validate OMI satellite observations and to investigate the influences of region transport of air pollutants on the air quality in Nanjing.
Hanqing Kang, Bin Zhu, Jinhui Gao, Yao He, Honglei Wang, Jifeng Su, Chen Pan, Tong Zhu, and Bu Yu
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 3673–3685, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-3673-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-3673-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
In this study, we found that a cold front can transport air pollutants from the polluted North China Plain to the Yangtze River Delta (YRD), thereby deteriorating air quality over the YRD. Before the cold frontal passage, a warm and polluted air mass over YRD climbed to the free troposphere (1.0–2.0 km) along the frontal surface. After the cold frontal passage, high pressure behind the frontal zone resulted in a synoptic subsidence that trapped PM2.5 in the surface.
Jinhui Gao, Bin Zhu, Hui Xiao, Hanqing Kang, Chen Pan, Dongdong Wang, and Honglei Wang
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 7081–7094, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-7081-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-7081-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
This model study is about the effect of black carbon (BC) and the boundary layer interactions on surface ozone in an area of severe haze and ozone pollution in China. It shows the following: BC not only reduces photolysis rate, but also suppresses boundary layer (BL) development, then confines more ozone precursors. The BL suppression leads to less ozone aloft being entrained downward and finally leading to surface ozone reduction before noon.
Defeng Zhao, Xiaojuan Song, Tong Zhu, Zefeng Zhang, Yingjun Liu, and Jing Shang
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 2481–2493, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-2481-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-2481-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
The oxidation of SO2 directly by NO2 on solid/liquid particles is proposed to be a major pathway of particle sulfate formation in the polluted atmosphere. We found that the reaction of SO2 and NO2 on CaCO3 particles produced Ca(NO3)2 aqueous droplets, providing a site for the multiphase oxidation of SO2. The direct multiphase oxidation of SO2 by NO2 led to a reactive uptake coefficient of SO2 on the order of 10-8, which is unlikely to be an important source of sulfate in the ambient atmosphere.
Zefeng Zhang, Yan Shen, Yanwei Li, Bin Zhu, and Xingna Yu
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 4147–4157, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-4147-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-4147-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
Aerosol particles and relative humidity are the main factors that affect atmospheric visibility. Due to the complexity of the physicochemical properties of aerosol particles, more and more instruments and cost were put into research, which limited the development of large area observation research. Thus, it is especially important to find the key parameters which affect the visibility and to establish the observation scheme.
Chen Pan, Bin Zhu, Jinhui Gao, and Hanqing Kang
Geosci. Model Dev., 10, 673–688, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-10-673-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-10-673-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
This paper describes the implementation of the atmospheric water tracer (AWT) method in the NCAR Community Atmosphere Model version 5.1 (CAM5.1). Compared to other source apportionment methods, the AWT method was developed based on detailed physical parameterisations, and can therefore trace the behaviour of atmospheric water substances directly and exactly. Using this method, we quantitatively identify the dominant sources of precipitation and water vapour over East Asia.
Chunpeng Leng, Junyan Duan, Chen Xu, Hefeng Zhang, Yifan Wang, Yanyu Wang, Xiang Li, Lingdong Kong, Jun Tao, Renjian Zhang, Tiantao Cheng, Shuping Zha, and Xingna Yu
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 9221–9234, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-9221-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-9221-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
Meteorological conditions, local anthropogenic emissions and aerosol properties played major roles in this historic winter haze weather formation. Aerosols the size of 600–1400 nm are mostly responsible for the impairment of atmospheric visibility. This study was performed by combining many on-line measurement techniques which were calibrated regularly to ensure reliability, and can act as a reference for forecasting and eliminating the occurrences of regional atmospheric pollutions in China.
Related subject area
Subject: Aerosols | Technique: In Situ Measurement | Topic: Data Processing and Information Retrieval
Spatial analysis of PM2.5 using a concentration similarity index applied to air quality sensor networks
A novel probabilistic source apportionment approach: Bayesian auto-correlated matrix factorization
Towards a hygroscopic growth calibration for low-cost PM2.5 sensors
Enhancing characterization of organic nitrogen components in aerosols and droplets using high-resolution aerosol mass spectrometry
Machine learning approaches for automatic classification of single-particle mass spectrometry data
A searchable database and mass spectral comparison tool for the Aerosol Mass Spectrometer (AMS) and the Aerosol Chemical Speciation Monitor (ACSM)
Numerical investigation on retrieval errors of mixing states of fractal black carbon aerosols using single-particle soot photometer based on Mie scattering and the effects on radiative forcing estimation
Performance evaluation of MOMA (MOment MAtching) – a remote network calibration technique for PM2.5 and PM10 sensors
Mapping the performance of a versatile water-based condensation particle counter (vWCPC) with numerical simulation and experimental study
Development and evaluation of an improved offline aerosol mass spectrometry technique
SMEARcore – modular data infrastructure for atmospheric measurement stations
A multiple-charging correction algorithm for a broad-supersaturation scanning cloud condensation nuclei (BS2-CCN) system
An evaluation of the U.S. EPA's correction equation for PurpleAir sensor data in smoke, dust, and wintertime urban pollution events
Typhoon-associated air quality over the Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macao Greater Bay Area, China: machine-learning-based prediction and assessment
Quantification of primary and secondary organic aerosol sources by combined factor analysis of extractive electrospray ionisation and aerosol mass spectrometer measurements (EESI-TOF and AMS)
In situ particle sampling relationships to surface and turbulent fluxes using large eddy simulations with Lagrangian particles
The effect of the averaging period for PMF analysis of aerosol mass spectrometer measurements during offline applications
Calibrating networks of low-cost air quality sensors
Source apportionment resolved by time of day for improved deconvolution of primary source contributions to air pollution
Information content and aerosol property retrieval potential for different types of in situ polar nephelometer data
Rolling vs. seasonal PMF: real-world multi-site and synthetic dataset comparison
Comprehensive detection of analytes in large chromatographic datasets by coupling factor analysis with a decision tree
Combined organic and inorganic source apportionment on yearlong ToF-ACSM dataset at a suburban station in Athens
Retrieval of the sea spray aerosol mode from submicron particle size distributions and supermicron scattering during LASIC
Automated identification of local contamination in remote atmospheric composition time series
Ch3MS-RF: a random forest model for chemical characterization and improved quantification of unidentified atmospheric organics detected by chromatography–mass spectrometry techniques
Regularized inversion of aerosol hygroscopic growth factor probability density function: application to humidity-controlled fast integrated mobility spectrometer measurements
A systematic re-evaluation of methods for quantification of bulk particle-phase organic nitrates using real-time aerosol mass spectrometry
Revisiting matrix-based inversion of scanning mobility particle sizer (SMPS) and humidified tandem differential mobility analyzer (HTDMA) data
Data imputation in in situ-measured particle size distributions by means of neural networks
Analysis of mobile monitoring data from the microAeth® MA200 for measuring changes in black carbon on the roadside in Augsburg
New correction method for the scattering coefficient measurements of a three-wavelength nephelometer
Estimating mean molecular weight, carbon number, and OM∕OC with mid-infrared spectroscopy in organic particulate matter samples from a monitoring network
Modeled source apportionment of black carbon particles coated with a light-scattering shell
Estimation of particulate organic nitrates from thermodenuder–aerosol mass spectrometer measurements in the North China Plain
Aerosol pH indicator and organosulfate detectability from aerosol mass spectrometry measurements
Determination of equivalent black carbon mass concentration from aerosol light absorption using variable mass absorption cross section
Effects of multi-charge on aerosol hygroscopicity measurement by a HTDMA
A new method for long-term source apportionment with time-dependent factor profiles and uncertainty assessment using SoFi Pro: application to 1 year of organic aerosol data
Estimation of pollen counts from light scattering intensity when sampling multiple pollen taxa – establishment of an automated multi-taxa pollen counting estimation system (AME system)
A novel lidar gradient cluster analysis method of nocturnal boundary layer detection during air pollution episodes
Assessment of particle size magnifier inversion methods to obtain the particle size distribution from atmospheric measurements
A global analysis of climate-relevant aerosol properties retrieved from the network of Global Atmosphere Watch (GAW) near-surface observatories
Development of an automatic linear calibration method for high-resolution single-particle mass spectrometry: improved chemical species identification for atmospheric aerosols
A hybrid method for reconstructing the historical evolution of aerosol optical depth from sunshine duration measurements
The influence of the baseline drift on the resulting extinction values of a cavity attenuated phase shift-based extinction monitor (CAPS PMex)
Evaluation of equivalent black carbon source apportionment using observations from Switzerland between 2008 and 2018
Analysis of functional groups in atmospheric aerosols by infrared spectroscopy: method development for probabilistic modeling of organic carbon and organic matter concentrations
Filling the gaps of in situ hourly PM2.5 concentration data with the aid of empirical orthogonal function analysis constrained by diurnal cycles
Gaussian process regression model for dynamically calibrating and surveilling a wireless low-cost particulate matter sensor network in Delhi
Rósín Byrne, John C. Wenger, and Stig Hellebust
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 5129–5146, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-5129-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-5129-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
This study presents the concentration similarity index (CSI) for a quantitative and robust comparison of PM2.5 measurements within air quality sensor networks. Developed and tested on two Irish sensor networks, the CSI revealed real spatial variations in PM2.5 and enables assessment of the representativeness of regulatory monitoring locations. It underscores the impact of solid fuel combustion on PM2.5 and highlights the importance of wintertime data for accurate exposure assessments.
Anton Rusanen, Anton Björklund, Manousos I. Manousakas, Jianhui Jiang, Markku T. Kulmala, Kai Puolamäki, and Kaspar R. Daellenbach
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 1251–1277, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-1251-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-1251-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
We present a Bayesian non-negative matrix factorization model that performs better on our test datasets than currently widely used models. Its advantages are better use of time information and providing a direct error estimation. We believe this could lead to better estimates of emission sources from measurements.
Milan Y. Patel, Pietro F. Vannucci, Jinsol Kim, William M. Berelson, and Ronald C. Cohen
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 1051–1060, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-1051-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-1051-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Low-cost particulate matter (PM) sensors are becoming increasingly common in community monitoring and atmospheric research, but these sensors require proper calibration to provide accurate reporting. Here, we propose a hygroscopic growth calibration scheme that evolves in time to account for seasonal changes in hygroscopic growth. In San Francisco and Los Angeles, CA, applying a seasonal hygroscopic growth calibration can account for sensor biases driven by the seasonal cycles in PM composition.
Xinlei Ge, Yele Sun, Justin Trousdell, Mindong Chen, and Qi Zhang
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 423–439, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-423-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-423-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
This study aims to enhance the application of the Aerodyne high-resolution aerosol mass spectrometer (HR-AMS) in characterizing organic nitrogen (ON) species within aerosol particles and droplets. A thorough analysis was conducted on 75 ON standards that represent a diverse spectrum of ambient ON types. The results underscore the capacity of the HR-AMS in examining the concentration and chemistry of atmospheric ON compounds, thereby offering insights into their sources and environmental impacts.
Guanzhong Wang, Heinrich Ruser, Julian Schade, Johannes Passig, Thomas Adam, Günther Dollinger, and Ralf Zimmermann
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 299–313, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-299-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-299-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
This research aims to develop a novel warning system for the real-time monitoring of pollutants in the atmosphere. The system is capable of sampling and investigating airborne aerosol particles on-site, utilizing artificial intelligence to learn their chemical signatures and to classify them in real time. We applied single-particle mass spectrometry for analyzing the chemical composition of aerosol particles and suggest several supervised algorithms for highly reliable automatic classification.
Sohyeon Jeon, Michael J. Walker, Donna T. Sueper, Douglas A. Day, Anne V. Handschy, Jose L. Jimenez, and Brent J. Williams
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 6075–6095, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-6075-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-6075-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
A searchable database tool for the Aerosol Mass Spectrometer (AMS) and Aerosol Chemical Speciation Monitor (ACSM) mass spectral datasets was built to improve the efficiency of data analysis using Igor Pro. The tool incorporates the published mass spectra (MS) and sample information uploaded on the website. The tool allows users to compare their own mass spectrum with the reference MS in the database.
Jia Liu, Guangya Wang, Cancan Zhu, Donghui Zhou, and Lin Wang
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 4961–4974, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-4961-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-4961-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Single-particle soot photometer (SP2) employs the core-shell model to represent coated BC particles, which introduces retrieval errors in the mixing state (Dp/Dc) of BC. We construct fractal models to represent thinly and thickly coated BC particles, and the retrieval errors of the mixing state are investigated from the numerical aspect. We find that errors in Dp/Dc are noteworthy, and the errors in Dp/Dc can further affect the evaluation accuracy of the radiative forcing of BC.
Lena Francesca Weissert, Geoff Steven Henshaw, David Edward Williams, Brandon Feenstra, Randy Lam, Ashley Collier-Oxandale, Vasileios Papapostolou, and Andrea Polidori
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 4709–4722, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-4709-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-4709-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
We apply a previously developed remote calibration framework to a network of particulate matter (PM) sensors deployed in Southern California. Our results show that a remote calibration can improve the accuracy of PM data, which was particularly visible for PM10. We highlight that sensor drift was mostly due to differences in particle composition than monitor operational factors. Thus, PM sensors may require frequent calibration if PM sources vary with different wind conditions or seasons.
Weixing Hao, Fan Mei, Susanne Hering, Steven Spielman, Beat Schmid, Jason Tomlinson, and Yang Wang
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 3973–3986, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-3973-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-3973-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Airborne aerosol instrumentation plays a crucial role in understanding the spatial distribution of ambient aerosol particles. This study investigates a versatile water-based condensation particle counter through simulations and experiments. It provides valuable insights to improve versatile water-based condensation particle counter (vWCPC) aerosol measurement and operation for the community.
Christina N. Vasilakopoulou, Kalliopi Florou, Christos Kaltsonoudis, Iasonas Stavroulas, Nikolaos Mihalopoulos, and Spyros N. Pandis
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 2837–2850, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-2837-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-2837-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
The offline aerosol mass spectrometry technique is a useful tool for the source apportionment of organic aerosol in areas and periods during which an aerosol mass spectrometer is not available. In this work, an improved offline technique was developed and evaluated in an effort to capture most of the partially soluble and insoluble organic aerosol material, reducing the uncertainty of the corresponding source apportionment significantly.
Anton Rusanen, Kristo Hõrrak, Lauri R. Ahonen, Tuomo Nieminen, Pasi P. Aalto, Pasi Kolari, Markku Kulmala, Tuukka Petäjä, and Heikki Junninen
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 2781–2793, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-2781-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-2781-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
We present a framework for setting up SMEAR (Station for Measuring Ecosystem–Atmosphere Relations) type measurement station data flows. This framework, called SMEARcore, consists of modular open-source software components that can be chosen to suit various station configurations. The benefits of using this framework are automation of routine operations and real-time monitoring of measurement results.
Najin Kim, Hang Su, Nan Ma, Ulrich Pöschl, and Yafang Cheng
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 2771–2780, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-2771-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-2771-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
We propose a multiple-charging correction algorithm for a broad-supersaturation scanning cloud condensation nuclei (BS2-CCN) system which can obtain high time-resolution aerosol hygroscopicity and CCN activity. The correction algorithm aims at deriving the activation fraction's true value for each particle size. The meaningful differences between corrected and original κ values (single hygroscopicity parameter) emphasize the correction algorithm's importance for ambient aerosol measurement.
Daniel A. Jaffe, Colleen Miller, Katie Thompson, Brandon Finley, Manna Nelson, James Ouimette, and Elisabeth Andrews
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 1311–1322, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-1311-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-1311-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
PurpleAir sensors (PASs) are low-cost tools to measure fine particulate matter (PM) concentrations. However, the raw PAS data have significant biases, so the sensors must be corrected. We analyzed data from numerous sites and found that the standard correction to the PAS Purple Air data is accurate in urban pollution events and smoke events but leads to a 6-fold underestimate in the PM2.5 concentrations in dust events. We propose a new correction algorithm to address this problem.
Yilin Chen, Yuanjian Yang, and Meng Gao
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 1279–1294, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-1279-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-1279-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
The Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macao Greater Bay Area suffers from summertime air pollution events related to typhoons. The present study leverages machine learning to predict typhoon-associated air quality over the area. The model evaluation shows that the model performs excellently. Moreover, the change in meteorological drivers of air quality on typhoon days and non-typhoon days suggests that air pollution control strategies should have different focuses on typhoon days and non-typhoon days.
Yandong Tong, Lu Qi, Giulia Stefenelli, Dongyu Simon Wang, Francesco Canonaco, Urs Baltensperger, André Stephan Henry Prévôt, and Jay Gates Slowik
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 7265–7291, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-7265-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-7265-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
We present a method for positive matrix factorisation (PMF) analysis on a single dataset that includes measurements from both EESI-TOF and AMS in Zurich, Switzerland. For the first time, we resolved and quantified secondary organic aerosol (SOA) sources. Meanwhile, we also determined the retrieved EESI-TOF factor-dependent sensitivities. This method provides a framework for exploiting semi-quantitative, high-resolution instrumentation for quantitative source apportionment.
Hyungwon John Park, Jeffrey S. Reid, Livia S. Freire, Christopher Jackson, and David H. Richter
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 7171–7194, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-7171-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-7171-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
We use numerical models to study field measurements of sea spray aerosol particles and conclude that both the atmospheric state and the methods of instrument sampling are causes for the variation in the production rate of aerosol particles: a critical metric to learn the aerosol's effect on processes like cloud physics and radiation. This work helps field observers improve their experimental design and interpretation of measurements because of turbulence in the atmosphere.
Christina Vasilakopoulou, Iasonas Stavroulas, Nikolaos Mihalopoulos, and Spyros N. Pandis
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 6419–6431, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-6419-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-6419-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Offline aerosol mass spectrometer (AMS) measurements can provide valuable information about ambient organic aerosols when online AMS measurements are not available. In this study, we examine whether and how the low time resolution (usually 24 h) of the offline technique affects source apportionment results. We concluded that use of the daily averages resulted in estimated average contributions that were within 8 % of the total OA compared with the high-resolution analysis.
Priyanka deSouza, Ralph Kahn, Tehya Stockman, William Obermann, Ben Crawford, An Wang, James Crooks, Jing Li, and Patrick Kinney
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 6309–6328, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-6309-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-6309-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
How sensitive are the spatial and temporal trends of PM2.5 derived from a network of low-cost sensors to the calibration adjustment used? How transferable are calibration equations developed at a few co-location sites to an entire network of low-cost sensors? This paper attempts to answer this question and offers a series of suggestions on how to develop the most robust calibration function for different end uses. It uses measurements from the Love My Air network in Denver as a test case.
Sahil Bhandari, Zainab Arub, Gazala Habib, Joshua S. Apte, and Lea Hildebrandt Ruiz
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 6051–6074, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-6051-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-6051-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
We present a new method to conduct source apportionment resolved by time of day using the underlying approach of positive matrix factorization. We report results for four example time periods in two seasons (winter and monsoon 2017) in Delhi, India. Compared to the traditional approach, we extract a larger number of factors that represent the expected sources of primary organic aerosol. This method can capture diurnal time series patterns of sources at low computational cost.
Alireza Moallemi, Rob L. Modini, Tatyana Lapyonok, Anton Lopatin, David Fuertes, Oleg Dubovik, Philippe Giaccari, and Martin Gysel-Beer
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 5619–5642, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-5619-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-5619-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Aerosol properties (size distributions, refractive indices) can be retrieved from in situ, angularly resolved light scattering measurements performed with polar nephelometers. We apply an established framework to assess the aerosol property retrieval potential for different instrument configurations, target applications, and assumed prior knowledge. We also demonstrate how a reductive greedy algorithm can be used to determine the optimal placements of the angular sensors in a polar nephelometer.
Marta Via, Gang Chen, Francesco Canonaco, Kaspar R. Daellenbach, Benjamin Chazeau, Hasna Chebaicheb, Jianhui Jiang, Hannes Keernik, Chunshui Lin, Nicolas Marchand, Cristina Marin, Colin O'Dowd, Jurgita Ovadnevaite, Jean-Eudes Petit, Michael Pikridas, Véronique Riffault, Jean Sciare, Jay G. Slowik, Leïla Simon, Jeni Vasilescu, Yunjiang Zhang, Olivier Favez, André S. H. Prévôt, Andrés Alastuey, and María Cruz Minguillón
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 5479–5495, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-5479-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-5479-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
This work presents the differences resulting from two techniques (rolling and seasonal) of the positive matrix factorisation model that can be run for organic aerosol source apportionment. The current state of the art suggests that the rolling technique is more accurate, but no proof of its effectiveness has been provided yet. This paper tackles this issue in the context of a synthetic dataset and a multi-site real-world comparison.
Sungwoo Kim, Brian M. Lerner, Donna T. Sueper, and Gabriel Isaacman-VanWertz
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 5061–5075, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-5061-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-5061-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Atmospheric samples can be complex, and current analysis methods often require substantial human interaction and discard potentially important information. To improve analysis accuracy and computational cost of these large datasets, we developed an automated analysis algorithm that utilizes a factor analysis approach coupled with a decision tree. We demonstrate that this algorithm cataloged approximately 10 times more analytes compared to a manual analysis and in a quarter of the analysis time.
Olga Zografou, Maria Gini, Manousos I. Manousakas, Gang Chen, Athina C. Kalogridis, Evangelia Diapouli, Athina Pappa, and Konstantinos Eleftheriadis
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 4675–4692, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-4675-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-4675-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
A yearlong ToF-ACSM dataset was used to characterize ambient aerosols over a suburban Athenian site, and innovative software for source apportionment was implemented in order to distinguish the sources of the total non-refractory species of PM1. A comparison between the methodology of combined organic and inorganic PMF analysis and the conventional organic PMF took place.
Jeramy L. Dedrick, Georges Saliba, Abigail S. Williams, Lynn M. Russell, and Dan Lubin
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 4171–4194, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-4171-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-4171-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
A new method is presented to retrieve the sea spray aerosol size distribution by combining submicron size and nephelometer scattering based on Mie theory. Using available sea spray tracers, we find that this approach serves as a comparable substitute to supermicron size distribution measurements, which are limited in availability at marine sites. Application of this technique can expand sea spray observations and improve the characterization of marine aerosol impacts on clouds and climate.
Ivo Beck, Hélène Angot, Andrea Baccarini, Lubna Dada, Lauriane Quéléver, Tuija Jokinen, Tiia Laurila, Markus Lampimäki, Nicolas Bukowiecki, Matthew Boyer, Xianda Gong, Martin Gysel-Beer, Tuukka Petäjä, Jian Wang, and Julia Schmale
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 4195–4224, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-4195-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-4195-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
We present the pollution detection algorithm (PDA), a new method to identify local primary pollution in remote atmospheric aerosol and trace gas time series. The PDA identifies periods of contaminated data and relies only on the target dataset itself; i.e., it is independent of ancillary data such as meteorological variables. The parameters of all pollution identification steps are adjustable so that the PDA can be tuned to different locations and situations. It is available as open-access code.
Emily B. Franklin, Lindsay D. Yee, Bernard Aumont, Robert J. Weber, Paul Grigas, and Allen H. Goldstein
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 3779–3803, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-3779-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-3779-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
The composition of atmospheric aerosols are extremely complex, containing hundreds of thousands of estimated individual compounds. The majority of these compounds have never been catalogued in widely used databases, making them extremely difficult for atmospheric chemists to identify and analyze. In this work, we present Ch3MS-RF, a machine-learning-based model to enable characterization of complex mixtures and prediction of structure-specific properties of unidentifiable organic compounds.
Jiaoshi Zhang, Yang Wang, Steven Spielman, Susanne Hering, and Jian Wang
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 2579–2590, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-2579-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-2579-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
New nonparametric, regularized methods are developed to invert the growth factor probability density function (GF-PDF) from humidity-controlled fast integrated mobility spectrometer measurements. These algorithms are computationally efficient, require no prior assumptions of the GF-PDF distribution, and reduce the error in inverted GF-PDF. They can be applied to humidified tandem differential mobility analyzer data. Among all algorithms, Twomey’s method retrieves GF-PDF with the smallest error.
Douglas A. Day, Pedro Campuzano-Jost, Benjamin A. Nault, Brett B. Palm, Weiwei Hu, Hongyu Guo, Paul J. Wooldridge, Ronald C. Cohen, Kenneth S. Docherty, J. Alex Huffman, Suzane S. de Sá, Scot T. Martin, and Jose L. Jimenez
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 459–483, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-459-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-459-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Particle-phase nitrates are an important component of atmospheric aerosols and chemistry. In this paper, we systematically explore the application of aerosol mass spectrometry (AMS) to quantify the organic and inorganic nitrate fractions of aerosols in the atmosphere. While AMS has been used for a decade to quantify nitrates, methods are not standardized. We make recommendations for a more universal approach based on this analysis of a large range of field and laboratory observations.
Markus D. Petters
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 7909–7928, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-7909-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-7909-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Inverse methods infer physical properties from a measured instrument response. Measurement noise often interferes with the inversion. This work presents a general, domain-independent, accessible, and computationally efficient software implementation of a common class of statistical inversion methods. In addition, a new method to invert data from humidified tandem differential mobility analyzers is introduced. Results show that the approach is suitable for inversion of large-scale datasets.
Pak Lun Fung, Martha Arbayani Zaidan, Ola Surakhi, Sasu Tarkoma, Tuukka Petäjä, and Tareq Hussein
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 5535–5554, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-5535-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-5535-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Aerosol size distribution measurements rely on a variety of techniques to classify the aerosol size and measure the size distribution. However, due to the instrumental insufficiency and inversion limitations, the raw dataset contains missing gaps or negative values, which hinder further analysis. With a merged particle size distribution in Jordan, this paper suggests a neural network method to estimate number concentrations at a particular size bin by the number concentration at other size bins.
Xiansheng Liu, Hadiatullah Hadiatullah, Xun Zhang, L. Drew Hill, Andrew H. A. White, Jürgen Schnelle-Kreis, Jan Bendl, Gert Jakobi, Brigitte Schloter-Hai, and Ralf Zimmermann
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 5139–5151, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-5139-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-5139-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
A monitoring campaign was conducted in Augsburg to determine a suitable noise reduction algorithm for the MA200 Aethalometer. Results showed that centred moving average (CMA) post-processing effectively removed spurious negative concentrations without major bias and reliably highlighted effects from local sources, effectively increasing spatio-temporal resolution in mobile measurements. Evaluation of each method on peak sample reduction and background correction further supports the reliability.
Jie Qiu, Wangshu Tan, Gang Zhao, Yingli Yu, and Chunsheng Zhao
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 4879–4891, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-4879-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-4879-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Considering nephelometers' major problems of a nonideal Lambertian light source and angle truncation, a new correction method based on a machine learning model is proposed. Our method has the advantage of obtaining data with high accuracy while achieving self-correction, which means that researchers can get more accurate scattering coefficients without the need for additional observation data. This method provides a more precise estimation of the aerosol’s direct radiative forcing.
Amir Yazdani, Ann M. Dillner, and Satoshi Takahama
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 4805–4827, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-4805-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-4805-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
We propose a spectroscopic method for estimating several mixture-averaged molecular properties (carbon number and molecular weight) in particulate matter relevant for understanding its chemical origins. This estimation is enabled by calibration models built and tested using laboratory standards containing molecules with known structure, and can be applied to filter samples of PM2.5 currently collected in existing air pollution monitoring networks and field campaigns.
Aki Virkkula
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 3707–3719, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-3707-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-3707-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
The Aethalometer model is used widely for estimating the contributions of fossil fuel emissions and biomass burning to black carbon. The calculation is based on measured absorption Ångström exponents, which is ambiguous since it not only depends on the dominant absorber but also on the size and internal structure of the particles, core size, and shell thickness. The uncertainties of the fractions of absorption by eBC from fossil fuel and biomass burning are evaluated with a core–shell Mie model.
Weiqi Xu, Masayuki Takeuchi, Chun Chen, Yanmei Qiu, Conghui Xie, Wanyun Xu, Nan Ma, Douglas R. Worsnop, Nga Lee Ng, and Yele Sun
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 3693–3705, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-3693-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-3693-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Here we developed a method for estimation of particulate organic nitrates (pON) from the measurements of a high-resolution aerosol mass spectrometer coupled with a thermodenuder based on the volatility differences between inorganic nitrate and pON. The results generally had improvements in reducing negative values due to the influences of a high concentration of inorganic nitrate and a constant ratio of NO+ to NO2+ of organic nitrates (RON).
Melinda K. Schueneman, Benjamin A. Nault, Pedro Campuzano-Jost, Duseong S. Jo, Douglas A. Day, Jason C. Schroder, Brett B. Palm, Alma Hodzic, Jack E. Dibb, and Jose L. Jimenez
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 2237–2260, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-2237-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-2237-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
This work focuses on two important properties of the aerosol, acidity, and sulfate composition, which is important for our understanding of aerosol health and environmental impacts. We explore different methods to understand the composition of the aerosol with measurements from a specific instrument and apply those methods to a large dataset. These measurements are confounded by other factors, making it challenging to predict aerosol sulfate composition; pH estimations, however, show promise.
Weilun Zhao, Wangshu Tan, Gang Zhao, Chuanyang Shen, Yingli Yu, and Chunsheng Zhao
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 1319–1331, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-1319-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-1319-2021, 2021
Chuanyang Shen, Gang Zhao, and Chunsheng Zhao
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 1293–1301, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-1293-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-1293-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Aerosol hygroscopicity measured by the humidified tandem differential mobility analyzer (HTDMA) is affected by multiply charged particles from two aspects: (1) number contribution and (2) the weakening effect. An algorithm is proposed to do the multi-charge correction and applied to a field measurement. Results show that the difference between corrected and measured size-resolved κ can reach 0.05, highlighting that special attention needs to be paid to the multi-charge effect when using HTDMA.
Francesco Canonaco, Anna Tobler, Gang Chen, Yulia Sosedova, Jay Gates Slowik, Carlo Bozzetti, Kaspar Rudolf Daellenbach, Imad El Haddad, Monica Crippa, Ru-Jin Huang, Markus Furger, Urs Baltensperger, and André Stephan Henry Prévôt
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 923–943, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-923-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-923-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Long-term ambient aerosol mass spectrometric data were analyzed with a statistical model (PMF) to obtain source contributions and fingerprints. The new aspects of this paper involve time-dependent source fingerprints by a rolling technique and the replacement of the full visual inspection of each run by a user-defined set of criteria to monitor the quality of each of these runs more efficiently. More reliable sources will finally provide better instruments for political mitigation strategies.
Kenji Miki and Shigeto Kawashima
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 685–693, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-685-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-685-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Laser optics have long been used in pollen counting systems. To clarify the limitations and potential new applications of laser optics for automatic pollen counting and discrimination, we determined the light scattering patterns of various pollen types, tracked temporal changes in these distributions, and introduced a new theory for automatic pollen discrimination.
Yinchao Zhang, Su Chen, Siying Chen, He Chen, and Pan Guo
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 6675–6689, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-6675-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-6675-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Air pollution has an important impact on human health, climatic patterns, and the ecological environment. The complexity of the nocturnal boundary layer (NBL), combined with its strong physio-chemical effect, induces worse polluted episodes. Therefore, we present a new approach named cluster analysis of gradient method (CA-GM) to overcome the multilayer structure and remove the fluctuation of NBL height using raw data resolution.
Tommy Chan, Runlong Cai, Lauri R. Ahonen, Yiliang Liu, Ying Zhou, Joonas Vanhanen, Lubna Dada, Yan Chao, Yongchun Liu, Lin Wang, Markku Kulmala, and Juha Kangasluoma
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 4885–4898, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-4885-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-4885-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Using a particle size magnifier (PSM; Airmodus, Finland), we determined the particle size distribution using four inversion methods and compared each method to the others to establish their strengths and weaknesses. Furthermore, we provided a step-by-step procedure on how to invert measured data using the PSM. Finally, we provided recommendations, code and data related to the data inversion. This is an important paper, as no operating procedure exists regarding how to process measured PSM data.
Paolo Laj, Alessandro Bigi, Clémence Rose, Elisabeth Andrews, Cathrine Lund Myhre, Martine Collaud Coen, Yong Lin, Alfred Wiedensohler, Michael Schulz, John A. Ogren, Markus Fiebig, Jonas Gliß, Augustin Mortier, Marco Pandolfi, Tuukka Petäja, Sang-Woo Kim, Wenche Aas, Jean-Philippe Putaud, Olga Mayol-Bracero, Melita Keywood, Lorenzo Labrador, Pasi Aalto, Erik Ahlberg, Lucas Alados Arboledas, Andrés Alastuey, Marcos Andrade, Begoña Artíñano, Stina Ausmeel, Todor Arsov, Eija Asmi, John Backman, Urs Baltensperger, Susanne Bastian, Olaf Bath, Johan Paul Beukes, Benjamin T. Brem, Nicolas Bukowiecki, Sébastien Conil, Cedric Couret, Derek Day, Wan Dayantolis, Anna Degorska, Konstantinos Eleftheriadis, Prodromos Fetfatzis, Olivier Favez, Harald Flentje, Maria I. Gini, Asta Gregorič, Martin Gysel-Beer, A. Gannet Hallar, Jenny Hand, Andras Hoffer, Christoph Hueglin, Rakesh K. Hooda, Antti Hyvärinen, Ivo Kalapov, Nikos Kalivitis, Anne Kasper-Giebl, Jeong Eun Kim, Giorgos Kouvarakis, Irena Kranjc, Radovan Krejci, Markku Kulmala, Casper Labuschagne, Hae-Jung Lee, Heikki Lihavainen, Neng-Huei Lin, Gunter Löschau, Krista Luoma, Angela Marinoni, Sebastiao Martins Dos Santos, Frank Meinhardt, Maik Merkel, Jean-Marc Metzger, Nikolaos Mihalopoulos, Nhat Anh Nguyen, Jakub Ondracek, Noemi Pérez, Maria Rita Perrone, Jean-Eudes Petit, David Picard, Jean-Marc Pichon, Veronique Pont, Natalia Prats, Anthony Prenni, Fabienne Reisen, Salvatore Romano, Karine Sellegri, Sangeeta Sharma, Gerhard Schauer, Patrick Sheridan, James Patrick Sherman, Maik Schütze, Andreas Schwerin, Ralf Sohmer, Mar Sorribas, Martin Steinbacher, Junying Sun, Gloria Titos, Barbara Toczko, Thomas Tuch, Pierre Tulet, Peter Tunved, Ville Vakkari, Fernando Velarde, Patricio Velasquez, Paolo Villani, Sterios Vratolis, Sheng-Hsiang Wang, Kay Weinhold, Rolf Weller, Margarita Yela, Jesus Yus-Diez, Vladimir Zdimal, Paul Zieger, and Nadezda Zikova
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 4353–4392, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-4353-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-4353-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
The paper establishes the fiducial reference of the GAW aerosol network providing the fully characterized value chain to the provision of four climate-relevant aerosol properties from ground-based sites. Data from almost 90 stations worldwide are reported for a reference year, 2017, providing a unique and very robust view of the variability of these variables worldwide. Current gaps in the GAW network are analysed and requirements for the Global Climate Monitoring System are proposed.
Shengqiang Zhu, Lei Li, Shurong Wang, Mei Li, Yaxi Liu, Xiaohui Lu, Hong Chen, Lin Wang, Jianmin Chen, Zhen Zhou, Xin Yang, and Xiaofei Wang
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 4111–4121, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-4111-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-4111-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Single-particle aerosol mass spectrometry (SPAMS) is widely used to detect chemical compositions and sizes of individual aerosol particles. However, it has a major issue: the mass accuracy of high-resolution SPAMS is relatively low. Here we developed an automatic linear calibration method to greatly improve the mass accuracy of SPAMS spectra so that the elemental compositions of organic peaks, such as Cx, CxHy, CxHyOz and CxHyNO peaks, can be directly identified just based on their m / z values.
William Wandji Nyamsi, Antti Lipponen, Arturo Sanchez-Lorenzo, Martin Wild, and Antti Arola
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 3061–3079, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-3061-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-3061-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
This paper proposes a novel and accurate method for estimating and reconstructing aerosol optical depth from sunshine duration measurements under cloud-free conditions at any place and time since the late 19th century. The method performs very well when compared to AErosol RObotic NETwork measurements and operates an efficient detection of signals from massive volcanic eruptions. Reconstructed long-term aerosol optical depths are in agreement with the dimming/brightening phenomenon.
Sascha Pfeifer, Thomas Müller, Andrew Freedman, and Alfred Wiedensohler
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 2161–2167, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-2161-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-2161-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
The effect of the baseline drift on the resulting extinction values of three CAPS PMex monitors with different wavelengths was analysed for an urban background station. A significant baseline drift was observed, which leads to characteristic measurement artefacts for particle extinction. Two alternative methods for recalculating the baseline are shown. With these methods the extinction artefacts are diminished and the effective scattering of the resulting extinction values is reduced.
Stuart K. Grange, Hanspeter Lötscher, Andrea Fischer, Lukas Emmenegger, and Christoph Hueglin
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 1867–1885, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-1867-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-1867-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Black carbon (BC) is an important atmospheric pollutant and can be monitored by instruments called aethalometers. A pragmatic data processing technique called the
aethalometer modelcan be used to apportion aethalometer observations into traffic and woodburning components. We present an exploratory data analysis evaluating the aethalometer model and use the outputs for BC trend analysis across Switzerland. The aethalometer model's robustness and utility for such analyses is discussed.
Charlotte Bürki, Matteo Reggente, Ann M. Dillner, Jenny L. Hand, Stephanie L. Shaw, and Satoshi Takahama
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 1517–1538, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-1517-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-1517-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Infrared spectroscopy is a chemically informative method for particulate matter characterization. However, recent work has demonstrated that predictions depend heavily on the choice of calibration model parameters. We propose a means for managing parameter uncertainties by combining available data from laboratory standards, molecular databases, and collocated ambient measurements to provide useful characterization of atmospheric organic matter on a large scale.
Kaixu Bai, Ke Li, Jianping Guo, Yuanjian Yang, and Ni-Bin Chang
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 1213–1226, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-1213-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-1213-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
A novel gap-filling method called the diurnal-cycle-constrained empirical orthogonal function (DCCEOF) is proposed. Cross validation indicates that this method gives high accuracy in predicting missing values in daily PM2.5 time series by accounting for the local diurnal phases, especially by reconstructing daily extrema that cannot be accurately restored by other approaches. The DCCEOF method can be easily applied to other data sets because of its self-consistent capability.
Tongshu Zheng, Michael H. Bergin, Ronak Sutaria, Sachchida N. Tripathi, Robert Caldow, and David E. Carlson
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 12, 5161–5181, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-5161-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-5161-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
Here we present a simultaneous Gaussian process regression (GPR) and linear regression pipeline to calibrate and monitor dense wireless low-cost particulate matter sensor networks (WLPMSNs) on the fly by using all available reference monitors across an area. Our approach can achieve an overall 30 % prediction error at a 24 h scale, can differentiate malfunctioning nodes, and track drift. Our solution can substantially reduce manual labor for managing WLPMSNs and prolong their lifetimes.
Cited articles
An, Z., Huang, R.-J., Zhang, R., Tie, X., Li, G., Cao, J., Zhou, W., Shi,
Z., Han, Y., Gu, Z., and Ji, Y.: Severe haze in northern China: A synergy of
anthropogenic emissions and atmospheric processes, P. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 116, 8657–8666, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1900125116, 2019.
Ashley, W. S., Strader, S., Dziubla, D. C., and Haberlie, A.: Driving blind:
Weather-related vision hazards and fatal motor vehicle crashes, B. Am.
Meteorol. Soc., 96, 755–778, https://doi.org/10.1175/bams-d-14-00026.1, 2015.
Che, H., Zhang, X., Li, Y., Zhou, Z., and Qu, J. J.: Horizontal visibility
trends in China 1981–2005, Geophys. Res. Lett., 34, L24706,
https://doi.org/10.1029/2007gl031450, 2007.
Chen, L. H., Knutsen, S. F., Shavlik, D., Beeson, W. L., Petersen, F.,
Ghamsary, M., and Abbey, D.: The Association between Fatal Coronary Heart
Disease and Ambient Particulate Air Pollution: Are Females at Greater Risk?,
Environ. Health Persp., 113, 1723–1729, https://doi.org/10.1289/ehp.8190, 2005.
Debortoli, N. S., Clark, D. G., Ford, J. D., Sayles, J. S., and Diaconescu, E. P.: An integrative climate change vulnerability index for Arctic aviation
and marine transportation, Nat. Commun., 10, 2596,
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-10347-1, 2019.
Field, R. D., van der Werf, G. R., and Shen, S. S. P.: Human amplification
of drought-induced biomass burning in Indonesia since 1960, Nat. Geosci., 2,
185–188, https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo443, 2009.
Gunthe, S. S., Liu, P., Panda, U., Raj, S. S., Sharma, A., Darbyshire, E.,
Reyes-Villegas, E., Allan, J., Chen, Y., Wang, X., Song, S., Pöhlker, M. L., Shi, L., Wang, Y., Kommula, S. M., Liu, T., Ravikrishna, R., McFiggans, G., Mickley, L. J., Martin, S. T., Pöschl, U., Andreae, M. O., and Coe, H.: Enhanced aerosol particle growth sustained by high continental chlorine emission in India, Nat. Geosci., 14, 77–84, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-020-00677-x, 2021.
Ferger, W. F.: The Nature and Use of the Harmonic Mean, J. Am. Stat. Assoc.,
26, 36–40, https://doi.org/10.1080/01621459.1931.10503148, 1931.
Herzegh, P., Wiener, G., Bateman, R., Cowie, J., and Black, J.: Data fusion
enables better recognition of ceiling and visibility hazards in aviation, B.
Am. Meteorol. Soc., 96, 526–532, https://doi.org/10.1175/bams-d-13-00111.1, 2015.
Huang, W., Tan, J., Kan, H., Zhao, N., Song, W., Song, G., Chen, G., Jiang,
L., Jiang, C., Chen, R., and Chen, B.: Visibility, air quality and daily
mortality in Shanghai, China, Sci. Total Environ., 407, 3295–3300,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2009.02.019, 2009.
Kessner, A. L., Wang, J., Levy, R. C., and Colarco, P. R.: Remote sensing of
surface visibility from space: A look at the United States East Coast, Atmos. Environ., 81, 136–147, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2013.08.050, 2013.
Koschmieder, H.: Theorie der horizontalen sichtweite, Beiträge zur
Physik der freien Atmosphäre, Meteorol. Z., 12, 33–55, 1924.
Laden, F., Schwartz, J., Speizer, F. E., and Dockery, D. W.: Reduction in
fine particulate air pollution and mortality, Am. J. Resp. Crit. Care, 173, 667–672, https://doi.org/10.1164/rccm.200503-443OC, 2006.
Peng, Y., Abdel-Aty, M., Shi, Q., and Yu, R.: Assessing the impact of
reduced visibility on traffic crash risk using microscopic data and
surrogate safety measures, Transport. Res. C-Emer., 74, 295–305,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trc.2016.11.022, 2017.
Pitchford, M., Malm, W., Schichtel, B., Kumar, N., Lowenthal, D., and Hand,
J.: Revised algorithm for estimating light extinction from IMPROVE particle
speciation data, J. Air Waste Manag. Assoc., 57, 1326–1336,
https://doi.org/10.3155/1047-3289.57.11.1326, 2007.
Rosenfeld, D., Dai, J., Yu, X., Yao, Z., Xu, X., Yang, X., and Du, C.:
Inverse relations between amounts of air pollution and orographic
precipitation, Science, 315, 1396–1398, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1137949, 2007.
Singh, A., Bloss, W. J., and Pope, F. D.: 60 years of UK visibility measurements: impact of meteorology and atmospheric pollutants on visibility, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 2085–2101, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-2085-2017, 2017.
Vautard, R., Yiou, P., and van Oldenborgh, G. J.: Decline of fog, mist and
haze in Europe over the past 30 years, Nat. Geosci., 2, 115–119,
https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo414, 2009.
Wang, K., Dickinson, R. E., and Liang, S.: Clear sky visibility has
decreased over land globally from 1973 to 2007, Science, 323, 1468–1470,
2009.
WMO: Ninth Session of the Executive Committee: Abridged Report with
Resolutions, World Meteorological Organization, Geneva,
Switzerland, WMO-No. 67, 335 pp., 1957.
WMO: Guide to instruments and methods of observation, Volume I –
Measurement of Meteorological Variables, World Meteorological Organization,
Geneva, Switzerland, WMO-No. 8, 581 pp., ISBN 978-92-63-10008-5, https://library.wmo.int/doc_num.php?explnum_id=11386 (last access: 15 December 2022), 2018.
Wu, J., Luo, J., Zhang, L., Xia, L., Zhao, D., and Tang, J.: Improvement of
aerosol optical depth retrieval using visibility data in China during the
past 50 years, J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 119, 13370–13387,
https://doi.org/10.1002/2014jd021550, 2014.
Yang, Y., Russell, L. M., Lou, S., Liao, H., Guo, J., Liu, Y., Singh, B.,
and Ghan, S. J.: Dust-wind interactions can intensify aerosol pollution over
eastern China, Nat. Commun., 8, 15333, https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms15333, 2017.
Zhang, Q. H., Zhang, J. P., and Xue, H. W.: The challenge of improving visibility in Beijing, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 10, 7821–7827, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-10-7821-2010, 2010.
Zhang, Z.: Average Visibility Data, Version 1, Zenodo [data set], https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5025882, 2021.
Zhang, Z., Shen, Y., Li, Y., Zhu, B., and Yu, X.: Analysis of extinction properties as a function of relative humidity using a κ-EC-Mie model in Nanjing, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 4147–4157, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-4147-2017, 2017.
Short summary
In this study, we first analyze the relationship between the visibility, the extinction coefficient, and atmospheric compositions. Then we propose to use the harmonic average of visibility data as the average visibility, which can better reflect changes in atmospheric extinction coefficients and aerosol concentrations. It is recommended to use the harmonic average visibility in the studies of climate change, atmospheric radiation, air pollution, environmental health, etc.
In this study, we first analyze the relationship between the visibility, the extinction...
