Articles | Volume 16, issue 4
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-1073-2023
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-1073-2023
Research article
 | 
02 Mar 2023
Research article |  | 02 Mar 2023

Systematic analysis of virga and its impact on surface particulate matter observations

Nakul N. Karle, Ricardo K. Sakai, Rosa M. Fitzgerald, Charles Ichoku, Fernando Mercado, and William R. Stockwell

Related authors

Sensitivity of northeastern US surface ozone predictions to the representation of atmospheric chemistry in the Community Regional Atmospheric Chemistry Multiphase Mechanism (CRACMMv1.0)
Bryan K. Place, William T. Hutzell, K. Wyat Appel, Sara Farrell, Lukas Valin, Benjamin N. Murphy, Karl M. Seltzer, Golam Sarwar, Christine Allen, Ivan R. Piletic, Emma L. D'Ambro, Emily Saunders, Heather Simon, Ana Torres-Vasquez, Jonathan Pleim, Rebecca H. Schwantes, Matthew M. Coggon, Lu Xu, William R. Stockwell, and Havala O. T. Pye
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 9173–9190, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-9173-2023,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-9173-2023, 2023
Short summary
Linking gas, particulate, and toxic endpoints to air emissions in the Community Regional Atmospheric Chemistry Multiphase Mechanism (CRACMM)
Havala O. T. Pye, Bryan K. Place, Benjamin N. Murphy, Karl M. Seltzer, Emma L. D'Ambro, Christine Allen, Ivan R. Piletic, Sara Farrell, Rebecca H. Schwantes, Matthew M. Coggon, Emily Saunders, Lu Xu, Golam Sarwar, William T. Hutzell, Kristen M. Foley, George Pouliot, Jesse Bash, and William R. Stockwell
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 5043–5099, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-5043-2023,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-5043-2023, 2023
Short summary
Six global biomass burning emission datasets: intercomparison and application in one global aerosol model
Xiaohua Pan, Charles Ichoku, Mian Chin, Huisheng Bian, Anton Darmenov, Peter Colarco, Luke Ellison, Tom Kucsera, Arlindo da Silva, Jun Wang, Tomohiro Oda, and Ge Cui
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 969–994, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-969-2020,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-969-2020, 2020
Short summary
Remote sensing of PM2.5 during cloudy and nighttime periods using ceilometer backscatter
Siwei Li, Everette Joseph, Qilong Min, Bangsheng Yin, Ricardo Sakai, and Megan K. Payne
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 10, 2093–2104, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-2093-2017,https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-2093-2017, 2017
Short summary
Spatiotemporal variations of air pollutants (O3, NO2, SO2, CO, PM10, and VOCs) with land-use types
J.-M. Yoo, M.-J. Jeong, D. Kim, W. R. Stockwell, J.-H. Yang, H.-W. Shin, M.-I. Lee, C.-K. Song, and S.-D. Lee
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 15, 10857–10885, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-10857-2015,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-10857-2015, 2015
Short summary

Related subject area

Subject: Aerosols | Technique: Remote Sensing | Topic: Instruments and Platforms
Multiwavelength fluorescence lidar observations of smoke plumes
Igor Veselovskii, Nikita Kasianik, Mikhail Korenskii, Qiaoyun Hu, Philippe Goloub, Thierry Podvin, and Dong Liu
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 2055–2065, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-2055-2023,https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-2055-2023, 2023
Short summary
Use of lidar aerosol extinction and backscatter coefficients to estimate cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) concentrations in the southeast Atlantic
Emily D. Lenhardt, Lan Gao, Jens Redemann, Feng Xu, Sharon P. Burton, Brian Cairns, Ian Chang, Richard A. Ferrare, Chris A. Hostetler, Pablo E. Saide, Calvin Howes, Yohei Shinozuka, Snorre Stamnes, Mary Kacarab, Amie Dobracki, Jenny Wong, Steffen Freitag, and Athanasios Nenes
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 2037–2054, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-2037-2023,https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-2037-2023, 2023
Short summary
Earth observations from the Moon's surface: dependence on lunar libration
Nick Gorkavyi, Nickolay Krotkov, and Alexander Marshak
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 1527–1537, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-1527-2023,https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-1527-2023, 2023
Short summary
Relationship between the sub-micron fraction (SMF) and fine-mode fraction (FMF) in the context of AERONET retrievals
Norman T. O'Neill, Keyvan Ranjbar, Liviu Ivănescu, Thomas F. Eck, Jeffrey S. Reid, David M. Giles, Daniel Pérez-Ramírez, and Jai Prakash Chaubey
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 1103–1120, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-1103-2023,https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-1103-2023, 2023
Short summary
Spectrometric fluorescence and Raman lidar: absolute calibration of aerosol fluorescence spectra and fluorescence correction of humidity measurements
Jens Reichardt, Oliver Behrendt, and Felix Lauermann
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 1–13, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-1-2023,https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-1-2023, 2023
Short summary

Cited articles

Airey, M. W., Nicoll, K. A., Harrison, R. G., and Marlton, G. J.: Characteristics of Desert Precipitation in the UAE Derived from a Ceilometer Dataset, Atmosphere, 12, 1245, https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos12101245, 2021. 
Beynon, R. and Hocke, K.: Snow Virga above the Swiss Plateau Observed by a Micro Rain Radar, Remote Sensing, 14, 890, https://doi.org/10.3390/rs14040890, 2022. 
Cheng, C. and Yi, F.: Falling Mixed-Phase Ice Virga and their Liquid Parent Cloud Layers as Observed by Ground-Based Lidars, Remote Sensing, 12, 2094, https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12132094, 2020. 
Evans, E., Stewart, R. E., Henson, W., and Saunders, K.: On Precipitation and Virga over Three Locations during the 1999–2004 Canadian Prairie Drought, Atmos. Ocean, 49, 366–379, https://doi.org/10.1080/07055900.2011.608343, 2011.  
Fitzgerald, R. M., Karle, N. N., Lara, P., Polanco Gonzalez, J., and Stockwell, W. R.: Optical Measurements of Particulate Matter in the El Paso-Juarez Region: Natural Mineral Dust and Soot, EM, 6 pp., https://airandwmapa.sharepoint.com/sites/AWMA_Website/Shared%20Documents/em-do%20not%20delete/2021/10/fitzgerald.pdf (last access: 24 February 2023), 2021. 
Download
Short summary
Extensive virga research is uncommon, even though it is a common phenomenon. A systematic method was developed to characterize virga using available datasets. In total, 50 virga events were observed, appearing only during a specific time of the year, revealing a seasonal pattern. These virga events were identified and classified, and their impact on surface PM measurements was investigated. A more detailed examination of the selected events reveals that virga impacts regional air quality.