Use of lidar aerosol extinction and backscatter  coefficients to estimate cloud condensation nuclei  (CCN) concentrations in the southeast Atlantic

Lenhardt, Emily D.; Gao, Lan; Redemann, Jens; Xu, Feng; Burton, Sharon P.; Cairns, Brian; Chang, Ian; Ferrare, Richard A.; Hostetler, Chris A.; Saide, Pablo E.; Howes, Calvin; Shinozuka, Yohei; Stamnes, Snorre; Kacarab, Mary; Dobracki, Amie; Wong, Jenny; Freitag, Steffen; Nenes, Athanasios

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-2037-2023

Articles | Volume 16, issue 7

https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-2037-2023

© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-2037-2023

© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 16, issue 7

Research article

|

17 Apr 2023

Research article |

| 17 Apr 2023

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

Data sets

Suite of Aerosol, Cloud, and Related Data Acquired Aboard P3 During ORACLES 2016, Version 3 ORACLES Science Team https://doi.org/10.5067/Suborbital/ORACLES/P3/2016_V3

Suite of Aerosol, Cloud, and Related Data Acquired Aboard ER2 During ORACLES 2016, Version 3 ORACLES Science Team https://doi.org/10.5067/Suborbital/ORACLES/ER2/2016_V3

Suite of Aerosol, Cloud, and Related Data Acquired Aboard P3 During ORACLES 2017, Version 3 ORACLES Science Team https://doi.org/10.5067/Suborbital/ORACLES/P3/2017_V3

Suite of Aerosol, Cloud, and Related Data Acquired Aboard P3 During ORACLES 2018, Version 3 ORACLES Science Team https://doi.org/10.5067/Suborbital/ORACLES/P3/2018_V3

Short summary

Small atmospheric particles, such as smoke from wildfires or pollutants from human activities, impact cloud properties, and clouds have a strong influence on climate. To better understand the distributions of these particles, we develop relationships to derive their concentrations from remote sensing measurements from an instrument called a lidar. Our method is reliable for smoke particles, and similar steps can be taken to develop relationships for other particle types.