Articles | Volume 16, issue 17
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-4031-2023
© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Special issue:
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-4031-2023
© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
07 Sep 2023
Research article |
| 07 Sep 2023
| 07 Sep 2023
Cloud top heights and aerosol layer properties from EarthCARE lidar observations: the A-CTH and A-ALD products
Leibniz Institute for Tropospheric Research, Leipzig, Germany
Moritz Haarig
Leibniz Institute for Tropospheric Research, Leipzig, Germany
Holger Baars
Leibniz Institute for Tropospheric Research, Leipzig, Germany
David Donovan
Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute, De Bilt, the Netherlands
Gerd-Jan van Zadelhoff
Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute, De Bilt, the Netherlands
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Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 4847–4866, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-4847-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-4847-2025, 2025
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In this study, we focus on the potential impact of wildfire smoke on cirrus formation. For the first time, state-of-the-art aerosol and cirrus observations with lidar and radar, presented in this paper (Part 1 of a series of two articles), are closely linked to the comprehensive modeling of gravity-wave-induced ice nucleation in cirrus evolution processes, presented in a companion paper (Part 2). We found a clear impact of wildfire smoke on cirrus evolution.
Benedikt Gast, Cristofer Jimenez, Albert Ansmann, Moritz Haarig, Ronny Engelmann, Felix Fritzsch, Athena A. Floutsi, Hannes Griesche, Kevin Ohneiser, Julian Hofer, Martin Radenz, Holger Baars, Patric Seifert, and Ulla Wandinger
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 3995–4011, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-3995-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-3995-2025, 2025
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In this study, we discuss the enhanced detection capabilities of a fluorescence lidar in the case of optically thin aerosol layers in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere (UTLS) region. Our results suggest that such thin aerosol layers are not so rare in the UTLS and can potentially trigger and impact cirrus cloud formation through heterogeneous ice nucleation. By altering the microphysical cloud properties, this could affect clouds' evolution and lifetime and thus their climate effect.
Cristofer Jimenez, Albert Ansmann, Kevin Ohneiser, Hannes Griesche, Ronny Engelmann, Martin Radenz, Julian Hofer, Dietrich Althausen, Daniel Alexander Knopf, Sandro Dahlke, Johannes Bühl, Holger Baars, Patric Seifert, and Ulla Wandinger
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-967, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-967, 2025
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Using advanced remote sensing on the icebreaker Polarstern, we studied mixed-phase clouds (MPCs) in the central Arctic during the 2019–2020 MOSAiC (Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate) campaign. For the first time, lidar and radar techniques tracked the year-round evolution of liquid and ice phases in MPCs. The study provides cloud statistics and explores key processes driving cloud longevity, offering new insights into Arctic cloud formation and persistence.
Sofía Gómez Maqueo Anaya, Dietrich Althausen, Julian Hofer, Moritz Haarig, Ulla Wandinger, Bernd Heinold, Ina Tegen, Matthias Faust, Holger Baars, Albert Ansmann, Ronny Engelmann, Annett Skupin, Birgit Heese, and Kerstin Schepanski
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3159, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3159, 2024
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This study investigates how hematite (an iron oxide mineral) in the Saharan Desert dust affects how dust particles interact with radiation. Using lidar data from Cabo Verde (2021–2022) and hematite content from atmospheric model simulations, the results show that higher hematite fraction leads to stronger particle backscattering at specific wavelengths. These findings can improve the representaiton of mineral dust in climate models, particularly regarding their radiative effect.
Robin J. Hogan, Anthony J. Illingworth, Pavlos Kollias, Hajime Okamoto, and Ulla Wandinger
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 3081–3083, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3081-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3081-2024, 2024
Shannon L. Mason, Howard W. Barker, Jason N. S. Cole, Nicole Docter, David P. Donovan, Robin J. Hogan, Anja Hünerbein, Pavlos Kollias, Bernat Puigdomènech Treserras, Zhipeng Qu, Ulla Wandinger, and Gerd-Jan van Zadelhoff
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 875–898, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-875-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-875-2024, 2024
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When the EarthCARE mission enters its operational phase, many retrieval data products will be available, which will overlap both in terms of the measurements they use and the geophysical quantities they report. In this pre-launch study, we use simulated EarthCARE scenes to compare the coverage and performance of many data products from the European Space Agency production model, with the intention of better understanding the relation between products and providing a compact guide to users.
Athena Augusta Floutsi, Holger Baars, and Ulla Wandinger
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 693–714, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-693-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-693-2024, 2024
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We introduce an aerosol-typing scheme (HETEAC-Flex) based on lidar-derived intensive optical properties and applicable to ground-based and spaceborne lidars. HETEAC-Flex utilizes the optimal estimation method and enables the identification of up to four different aerosol components, as well as the determination of their contribution to the aerosol mixture in terms of relative volume. The aerosol components represent common aerosol types such as dust, sea salt, smoke and pollution.
Moritz Haarig, Anja Hünerbein, Ulla Wandinger, Nicole Docter, Sebastian Bley, David Donovan, and Gerd-Jan van Zadelhoff
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 5953–5975, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-5953-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-5953-2023, 2023
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The atmospheric lidar (ATLID) and Multi-Spectral Imager (MSI) will be carried by the EarthCARE satellite. The synergistic ATLID–MSI Column Products (AM-COL) algorithm described in the paper combines the strengths of ATLID in vertically resolved profiles of aerosol and clouds (e.g., cloud top height) with the strengths of MSI in observing the complete scene beside the satellite track and in extending the lidar information to the swath. The algorithm is validated against simulated test scenes.
Rodanthi-Elisavet Mamouri, Albert Ansmann, Kevin Ohneiser, Daniel A. Knopf, Argyro Nisantzi, Johannes Bühl, Ronny Engelmann, Annett Skupin, Patric Seifert, Holger Baars, Dragos Ene, Ulla Wandinger, and Diofantos Hadjimitsis
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 14097–14114, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-14097-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-14097-2023, 2023
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For the first time, rather clear evidence is found that wildfire smoke particles can trigger strong cirrus formation. This finding is of importance because intensive and large wildfires may occur increasingly often in the future as climate change proceeds. Based on lidar observations in Cyprus in autumn 2020, we provide detailed insight into the cirrus formation at the tropopause in the presence of aged wildfire smoke (here, 8–9 day old Californian wildfire smoke).
Albert Ansmann, Kevin Ohneiser, Ronny Engelmann, Martin Radenz, Hannes Griesche, Julian Hofer, Dietrich Althausen, Jessie M. Creamean, Matthew C. Boyer, Daniel A. Knopf, Sandro Dahlke, Marion Maturilli, Henriette Gebauer, Johannes Bühl, Cristofer Jimenez, Patric Seifert, and Ulla Wandinger
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 12821–12849, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-12821-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-12821-2023, 2023
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The 1-year MOSAiC (2019–2020) expedition with the German ice breaker Polarstern was the largest polar field campaign ever conducted. The Polarstern, with our lidar aboard, drifted with the pack ice north of 85° N for more than 7 months (October 2019 to mid-May 2020). We measured the full annual cycle of aerosol conditions in terms of aerosol optical and cloud-process-relevant properties. We observed a strong contrast between polluted winter and clean summer aerosol conditions.
Holger Baars, Joshua Walchester, Elizaveta Basharova, Henriette Gebauer, Martin Radenz, Johannes Bühl, Boris Barja, Ulla Wandinger, and Patric Seifert
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 3809–3834, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-3809-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-3809-2023, 2023
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In 2018, the Aeolus satellite of the European Space Agency (ESA) was launched to improve weather forecasts through global measurements of wind profiles. Given the novel lidar technique onboard, extensive validation efforts have been needed to verify the observations. For this reason, we performed long-term validation measurements in Germany and Chile. We found significant improvement in the data products due to a new algorithm version and can confirm the general validity of Aeolus observations.
Ulla Wandinger, Athena Augusta Floutsi, Holger Baars, Moritz Haarig, Albert Ansmann, Anja Hünerbein, Nicole Docter, David Donovan, Gerd-Jan van Zadelhoff, Shannon Mason, and Jason Cole
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 2485–2510, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-2485-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-2485-2023, 2023
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We introduce an aerosol classification model that has been developed for the Earth Clouds, Aerosols and Radiation Explorer (EarthCARE). The model provides a consistent description of microphysical, optical, and radiative properties of common aerosol types such as dust, sea salt, pollution, and smoke. It is used for aerosol classification and assessment of radiation effects based on the synergy of active and passive observations with lidar, imager, and radiometer of the multi-instrument platform.
Athena Augusta Floutsi, Holger Baars, Ronny Engelmann, Dietrich Althausen, Albert Ansmann, Stephanie Bohlmann, Birgit Heese, Julian Hofer, Thomas Kanitz, Moritz Haarig, Kevin Ohneiser, Martin Radenz, Patric Seifert, Annett Skupin, Zhenping Yin, Sabur F. Abdullaev, Mika Komppula, Maria Filioglou, Elina Giannakaki, Iwona S. Stachlewska, Lucja Janicka, Daniele Bortoli, Eleni Marinou, Vassilis Amiridis, Anna Gialitaki, Rodanthi-Elisavet Mamouri, Boris Barja, and Ulla Wandinger
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 2353–2379, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-2353-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-2353-2023, 2023
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DeLiAn is a collection of lidar-derived aerosol intensive optical properties for several aerosol types, namely the particle linear depolarization ratio, the extinction-to-backscatter ratio (lidar ratio) and the Ångström exponent. The data collection is based on globally distributed, long-term, ground-based, multiwavelength, Raman and polarization lidar measurements and currently covers two wavelengths, 355 and 532 nm, for 13 aerosol categories ranging from basic aerosol types to mixtures.
Albert Ansmann, Kevin Ohneiser, Alexandra Chudnovsky, Daniel A. Knopf, Edwin W. Eloranta, Diego Villanueva, Patric Seifert, Martin Radenz, Boris Barja, Félix Zamorano, Cristofer Jimenez, Ronny Engelmann, Holger Baars, Hannes Griesche, Julian Hofer, Dietrich Althausen, and Ulla Wandinger
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 11701–11726, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-11701-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-11701-2022, 2022
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For the first time we present a systematic study on the impact of wildfire smoke on ozone depletion in the Arctic (2020) and Antarctic stratosphere (2020, 2021). Two major fire events in Siberia and Australia were responsible for the observed record-breaking stratospheric smoke pollution. Our analyses were based on lidar observations of smoke parameters (Polarstern, Punta Arenas) and NDACC Arctic and Antarctic ozone profiles as well as on Antarctic OMI satellite observations of column ozone.
Moritz Haarig, Albert Ansmann, Ronny Engelmann, Holger Baars, Carlos Toledano, Benjamin Torres, Dietrich Althausen, Martin Radenz, and Ulla Wandinger
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 355–369, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-355-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-355-2022, 2022
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The irregular shape of dust particles makes it difficult to treat them correctly in optical models. Atmospheric measurements of dust optical properties are therefore of great importance. The present study increases the space of observed parameters from 355 and 532 nm towards 1064 nm, which is of special importance for large dust particles. The lidar ratio influenced by mineralogy and the depolarization ratio influenced by shape are measured for the first time at all three wavelengths.
Ronny Engelmann, Albert Ansmann, Kevin Ohneiser, Hannes Griesche, Martin Radenz, Julian Hofer, Dietrich Althausen, Sandro Dahlke, Marion Maturilli, Igor Veselovskii, Cristofer Jimenez, Robert Wiesen, Holger Baars, Johannes Bühl, Henriette Gebauer, Moritz Haarig, Patric Seifert, Ulla Wandinger, and Andreas Macke
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 13397–13423, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-13397-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-13397-2021, 2021
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A Raman lidar was operated aboard the icebreaker Polarstern during MOSAiC and monitored aerosol and cloud layers in the central Arctic up to 30 km height. The article provides an overview of the spectrum of aerosol profiling observations and shows aerosol–cloud interaction studies for liquid-water and ice clouds. A highlight was the detection of a 10 km deep wildfire smoke layer over the North Pole up to 17 km height from the fire season of 2019, which persisted over the whole winter period.
Cristofer Jimenez, Albert Ansmann, Ronny Engelmann, David Donovan, Aleksey Malinka, Jörg Schmidt, Patric Seifert, and Ulla Wandinger
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 15247–15263, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-15247-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-15247-2020, 2020
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A novel lidar method to study cloud microphysical properties (of liquid water clouds) and to study aerosol–cloud interaction (ACI) is developed and presented in this paper. In Part 1, the theoretical framework including an error analysis is given together with an overview of the aerosol information that the same lidar system can obtain. The ACI concept based on aerosol and cloud information is also explained. Applications of the proposed approach to lidar measurements are presented in Part 2.
Cristofer Jimenez, Albert Ansmann, Ronny Engelmann, David Donovan, Aleksey Malinka, Patric Seifert, Robert Wiesen, Martin Radenz, Zhenping Yin, Johannes Bühl, Jörg Schmidt, Boris Barja, and Ulla Wandinger
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 15265–15284, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-15265-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-15265-2020, 2020
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Part 2 presents the application of the dual-FOV polarization lidar technique introduced in Part 1. A lidar system was upgraded with a second polarization telescope, and it was deployed at the southernmost tip of South America. A comparison with alternative remote sensing techniques and the evaluation of the aerosol–cloud–wind relation in a convective boundary layer in pristine marine conditions are presented in two case studies, demonstrating the potential of the approach for ACI studies.
Holger Baars, Alina Herzog, Birgit Heese, Kevin Ohneiser, Karsten Hanbuch, Julian Hofer, Zhenping Yin, Ronny Engelmann, and Ulla Wandinger
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 6007–6024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-6007-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-6007-2020, 2020
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A first validation for the European satellite Aeolus is presented. Aeolus is the first satellite that can actively measure horizontal wind profiles from space.
Radiosonde launches on board the German research vessel Polarstern have been utilized to validate Aeolus observations over the Atlantic Ocean, a region where almost no other reference measurements are available. It is shown that Aeolus is able to measure accurately atmospheric winds and thus may significantly improve weather forecasts.
Julian Hofer, Albert Ansmann, Dietrich Althausen, Ronny Engelmann, Holger Baars, Khanneh Wadinga Fomba, Ulla Wandinger, Sabur F. Abdullaev, and Abduvosit N. Makhmudov
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 9265–9280, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-9265-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-9265-2020, 2020
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For the first time, a dense data set of particle extinction-to-backscatter ratios (lidar ratios), depolarization ratios, and backscatter- and extinction-related Ångström exponents for a Central Asian site are presented. The observations were performed with a continuously running multiwavelength polarization Raman lidar at Dushanbe, Tajikistan, during an 18-month campaign. The found optical properties reflect the large range of occurring aerosol mixtures.
Kevin Ohneiser, Albert Ansmann, Holger Baars, Patric Seifert, Boris Barja, Cristofer Jimenez, Martin Radenz, Audrey Teisseire, Athina Floutsi, Moritz Haarig, Andreas Foth, Alexandra Chudnovsky, Ronny Engelmann, Félix Zamorano, Johannes Bühl, and Ulla Wandinger
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 8003–8015, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-8003-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-8003-2020, 2020
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Unique lidar observations of a strong perturbation in stratospheric aerosol conditions in the Southern Hemisphere caused by the extreme Australian bushfires in 2019–2020 are presented. One of the main goals of this article is to provide the CALIPSO and Aeolus spaceborne lidar science teams with basic input parameters (lidar ratios, depolarization ratios) for a trustworthy documentation of this record-breaking event.
Athena Augusta Floutsi, Holger Baars, Martin Radenz, Moritz Haarig, Zhenping Yin, Patric Seifert, Cristofer Jimenez, Ulla Wandinger, Ronny Engelmann, Boris Barja, Felix Zamorano, and Albert Ansmann
Atmos. Chem. Phys. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2020-453, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2020-453, 2020
Preprint withdrawn
Holger Baars, Albert Ansmann, Kevin Ohneiser, Moritz Haarig, Ronny Engelmann, Dietrich Althausen, Ingrid Hanssen, Michael Gausa, Aleksander Pietruczuk, Artur Szkop, Iwona S. Stachlewska, Dongxiang Wang, Jens Reichardt, Annett Skupin, Ina Mattis, Thomas Trickl, Hannes Vogelmann, Francisco Navas-Guzmán, Alexander Haefele, Karen Acheson, Albert A. Ruth, Boyan Tatarov, Detlef Müller, Qiaoyun Hu, Thierry Podvin, Philippe Goloub, Igor Veselovskii, Christophe Pietras, Martial Haeffelin, Patrick Fréville, Michaël Sicard, Adolfo Comerón, Alfonso Javier Fernández García, Francisco Molero Menéndez, Carmen Córdoba-Jabonero, Juan Luis Guerrero-Rascado, Lucas Alados-Arboledas, Daniele Bortoli, Maria João Costa, Davide Dionisi, Gian Luigi Liberti, Xuan Wang, Alessia Sannino, Nikolaos Papagiannopoulos, Antonella Boselli, Lucia Mona, Giuseppe D'Amico, Salvatore Romano, Maria Rita Perrone, Livio Belegante, Doina Nicolae, Ivan Grigorov, Anna Gialitaki, Vassilis Amiridis, Ourania Soupiona, Alexandros Papayannis, Rodanthi-Elisaveth Mamouri, Argyro Nisantzi, Birgit Heese, Julian Hofer, Yoav Y. Schechner, Ulla Wandinger, and Gelsomina Pappalardo
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 15183–15198, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-15183-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-15183-2019, 2019
Emmanouil Proestakis, Vassilis Amiridis, Eleni Marinou, Ioannis Binietoglou, Albert Ansmann, Ulla Wandinger, Julian Hofer, John Yorks, Edward Nowottnick, Abduvosit Makhmudov, Alexandros Papayannis, Aleksander Pietruczuk, Anna Gialitaki, Arnoud Apituley, Artur Szkop, Constantino Muñoz Porcar, Daniele Bortoli, Davide Dionisi, Dietrich Althausen, Dimitra Mamali, Dimitris Balis, Doina Nicolae, Eleni Tetoni, Gian Luigi Liberti, Holger Baars, Ina Mattis, Iwona Sylwia Stachlewska, Kalliopi Artemis Voudouri, Lucia Mona, Maria Mylonaki, Maria Rita Perrone, Maria João Costa, Michael Sicard, Nikolaos Papagiannopoulos, Nikolaos Siomos, Pasquale Burlizzi, Rebecca Pauly, Ronny Engelmann, Sabur Abdullaev, and Gelsomina Pappalardo
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 11743–11764, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-11743-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-11743-2019, 2019
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To increase accuracy and validate satellite-based products, comparison with ground-based reference observations is required. To do this, we present evaluation activity of EARLINET for the qualitative and quantitative assessment of NASA's CATS lidar operating aboard the International Space Station (ISS) while identified discrepancies are discussed. Better understanding CATS performance and limitations provides a valuable basis for scientific studies implementing the satellite-based lidar system.
Cristofer Jimenez, Albert Ansmann, Ronny Engelmann, Moritz Haarig, Jörg Schmidt, and Ulla Wandinger
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 12, 1077–1093, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-1077-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-1077-2019, 2019
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We propose an extended formalism for a full instrumental characterization of a three-channel lidar system, allowing the retrieval of highly accurate linear depolarization profiles. The results obtained at several depolarizing scenarios, the good agreement with the retrievals of a second collocated calibrated lidar system, and the long-term stability of the calibration parameters corroborate the potential and robustness of the new technique.
Nikolaos Papagiannopoulos, Lucia Mona, Aldo Amodeo, Giuseppe D'Amico, Pilar Gumà Claramunt, Gelsomina Pappalardo, Lucas Alados-Arboledas, Juan Luís Guerrero-Rascado, Vassilis Amiridis, Panagiotis Kokkalis, Arnoud Apituley, Holger Baars, Anja Schwarz, Ulla Wandinger, Ioannis Binietoglou, Doina Nicolae, Daniele Bortoli, Adolfo Comerón, Alejandro Rodríguez-Gómez, Michaël Sicard, Alex Papayannis, and Matthias Wiegner
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 15879–15901, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-15879-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-15879-2018, 2018
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A stand-alone automatic method for typing observations of the European Aerosol Research Lidar Network (EARLINET) is presented. The method compares the observations to model distributions that were constructed using EARLINET pre-classified data. The algorithm’s versatility and adaptability makes it suitable for network-wide typing studies.
Albert Ansmann, Holger Baars, Alexandra Chudnovsky, Ina Mattis, Igor Veselovskii, Moritz Haarig, Patric Seifert, Ronny Engelmann, and Ulla Wandinger
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 11831–11845, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-11831-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-11831-2018, 2018
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Extremely large light extinction coefficients of 500 Mm-1, about 20 times higher than after the Pinatubo volcanic eruptions in 1991, were observed by EARLINET lidars in the stratosphere over central Europe from 21 to 22 August, 2017. This paper provides an overview based on ground-based (lidar, AERONET) and satellite (MODIS, OMI) remote sensing.
Livio Belegante, Juan Antonio Bravo-Aranda, Volker Freudenthaler, Doina Nicolae, Anca Nemuc, Dragos Ene, Lucas Alados-Arboledas, Aldo Amodeo, Gelsomina Pappalardo, Giuseppe D'Amico, Francesco Amato, Ronny Engelmann, Holger Baars, Ulla Wandinger, Alexandros Papayannis, Panos Kokkalis, and Sérgio N. Pereira
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 1119–1141, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-1119-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-1119-2018, 2018
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This paper presents different depolarization calibration procedures used to improve the quality of the depolarization data. The results illustrate a significant improvement of the depolarization lidar products for all the selected EARLINET lidar instruments. The calibrated volume and particle depolarization profiles at 532 nm show values that fall within a range that is accepted in the literature. The depolarization accuracy estimate at 532 nm is better than ±0.03 for all cases.
Alexandra Tsekeri, Anton Lopatin, Vassilis Amiridis, Eleni Marinou, Julia Igloffstein, Nikolaos Siomos, Stavros Solomos, Panagiotis Kokkalis, Ronny Engelmann, Holger Baars, Myrto Gratsea, Panagiotis I. Raptis, Ioannis Binietoglou, Nikolaos Mihalopoulos, Nikolaos Kalivitis, Giorgos Kouvarakis, Nikolaos Bartsotas, George Kallos, Sara Basart, Dirk Schuettemeyer, Ulla Wandinger, Albert Ansmann, Anatoli P. Chaikovsky, and Oleg Dubovik
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 10, 4995–5016, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-4995-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-4995-2017, 2017
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The Generalized Aerosol Retrieval from Radiometer and Lidar Combined data algorithm (GARRLiC) and the LIdar-Radiometer Inversion Code (LIRIC) provide the opportunity to study the aerosol vertical distribution by combining ground-based lidar and sun-photometric measurements. Here, we utilize the capabilities of both algorithms for the characterization of Saharan dust and marine particles, along with their mixtures, in the south-eastern Mediterranean.
Holger Baars, Patric Seifert, Ronny Engelmann, and Ulla Wandinger
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 10, 3175–3201, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-3175-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-3175-2017, 2017
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A novel technique for multiwavelength lidars is introduced to derive information on the particle type in the tropospheric profile in analogy to the Cloudnet target classification. Four different aerosol classes and several cloud classes are defined. The technique is based on absolute calibrated lidar signals in temporally high resolution and thus is also well suited for aerosol–cloud-interaction studies. The approach was applied on a 2-month data set of the HOPE campaign in western Germany.
Eleni Marinou, Vassilis Amiridis, Ioannis Binietoglou, Athanasios Tsikerdekis, Stavros Solomos, Emannouil Proestakis, Dimitra Konsta, Nikolaos Papagiannopoulos, Alexandra Tsekeri, Georgia Vlastou, Prodromos Zanis, Dimitrios Balis, Ulla Wandinger, and Albert Ansmann
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 5893–5919, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-5893-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-5893-2017, 2017
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We provide a 3D multiyear analysis on the evolution of Saharan dust over Europe, using a dust product retrieved from the CALIPSO satellite and using EARLINET methods. The results reveal for the first time the 9-year 3D seasonal patterns of dust over its transport paths from the Sahara towards the Mediterranean. The dataset is unique with respect to its potential applications, including the evaluation of dust models and the estimation of ice nuclei concentration profiles from space.
Juan Antonio Bravo-Aranda, Livio Belegante, Volker Freudenthaler, Lucas Alados-Arboledas, Doina Nicolae, María José Granados-Muñoz, Juan Luis Guerrero-Rascado, Aldo Amodeo, Giusseppe D'Amico, Ronny Engelmann, Gelsomina Pappalardo, Panos Kokkalis, Rodanthy Mamouri, Alex Papayannis, Francisco Navas-Guzmán, Francisco José Olmo, Ulla Wandinger, Francesco Amato, and Martial Haeffelin
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 9, 4935–4953, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-4935-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-4935-2016, 2016
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This work analyses the lidar polarizing sensitivity by means of the Stokes–Müller formalism and provides a new tool to quantify the systematic error of the volume linear depolarization ration (δ) using the Monte Carlo technique. Results evidence the importance of the lidar polarizing effects which can lead to systematic errors larger than 100 %. Additionally, we demonstrate that a proper lidar characterization helps to reduce the uncertainty.
Alexander Myagkov, Patric Seifert, Ulla Wandinger, Johannes Bühl, and Ronny Engelmann
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 9, 3739–3754, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-3739-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-3739-2016, 2016
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This paper presents first quantitative estimations of ice particle shape at the top of liquid-topped clouds. The estimation is based on polarimetric measurements from a Ka-band cloud radar. 22 cases observed during the ACCEPT (Analysis of the Composition of Clouds with Extended Polarization Techniques) campaign were used. Data from a free-fall chamber were used for the comparison. A good agreement of detected shapes with known shape–temperature dependencies observed in laboratories was found.
María José Granados-Muñoz, Francisco Navas-Guzmán, Juan Luis Guerrero-Rascado, Juan Antonio Bravo-Aranda, Ioannis Binietoglou, Sergio Nepomuceno Pereira, Sara Basart, José María Baldasano, Livio Belegante, Anatoli Chaikovsky, Adolfo Comerón, Giuseppe D'Amico, Oleg Dubovik, Luka Ilic, Panos Kokkalis, Constantino Muñoz-Porcar, Slobodan Nickovic, Doina Nicolae, Francisco José Olmo, Alexander Papayannis, Gelsomina Pappalardo, Alejandro Rodríguez, Kerstin Schepanski, Michaël Sicard, Ana Vukovic, Ulla Wandinger, François Dulac, and Lucas Alados-Arboledas
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 7043–7066, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-7043-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-7043-2016, 2016
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This study provides a detailed overview of the Mediterranean region regarding aerosol microphysical properties during the ChArMEx/EMEP campaign in July 2012. An in-depth analysis of the horizontal, vertical, and temporal dimensions is performed using LIRIC, proving the algorithm's ability in automated retrieval of microphysical property profiles within a network. A validation of four dust models is included, obtaining fair good agreement, especially for the vertical distribution of the aerosol.
Ronny Engelmann, Thomas Kanitz, Holger Baars, Birgit Heese, Dietrich Althausen, Annett Skupin, Ulla Wandinger, Mika Komppula, Iwona S. Stachlewska, Vassilis Amiridis, Eleni Marinou, Ina Mattis, Holger Linné, and Albert Ansmann
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 9, 1767–1784, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-1767-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-1767-2016, 2016
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The atmospheric science community demands for autonomous and quality-assured vertically resolved measurements of aerosol and cloud properties. For this purpose, a portable lidar called Polly
was developed at TROPOS in 2003. This lidar type was continuously improved with gained experience from EARLINET, worldwide field campaigns, and institute collaborations within the last 10 years. We present recent changes to the setup of our portable multiwavelength Raman and polarization lidar PollyXT.
Holger Baars, Thomas Kanitz, Ronny Engelmann, Dietrich Althausen, Birgit Heese, Mika Komppula, Jana Preißler, Matthias Tesche, Albert Ansmann, Ulla Wandinger, Jae-Hyun Lim, Joon Young Ahn, Iwona S. Stachlewska, Vassilis Amiridis, Eleni Marinou, Patric Seifert, Julian Hofer, Annett Skupin, Florian Schneider, Stephanie Bohlmann, Andreas Foth, Sebastian Bley, Anne Pfüller, Eleni Giannakaki, Heikki Lihavainen, Yrjö Viisanen, Rakesh Kumar Hooda, Sérgio Nepomuceno Pereira, Daniele Bortoli, Frank Wagner, Ina Mattis, Lucja Janicka, Krzysztof M. Markowicz, Peggy Achtert, Paulo Artaxo, Theotonio Pauliquevis, Rodrigo A. F. Souza, Ved Prakesh Sharma, Pieter Gideon van Zyl, Johan Paul Beukes, Junying Sun, Erich G. Rohwer, Ruru Deng, Rodanthi-Elisavet Mamouri, and Felix Zamorano
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 5111–5137, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-5111-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-5111-2016, 2016
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The findings from more than 10 years of global aerosol lidar measurements with Polly systems are summarized, and a data set of optical properties for specific aerosol types is given. An automated data retrieval algorithm for continuous Polly lidar observations is presented and discussed by means of a Saharan dust advection event in Leipzig, Germany. Finally, a statistic on the vertical aerosol distribution including the seasonal variability at PollyNET locations around the globe is presented.
Anatoli Chaikovsky, Oleg Dubovik, Brent Holben, Andrey Bril, Philippe Goloub, Didier Tanré, Gelsomina Pappalardo, Ulla Wandinger, Ludmila Chaikovskaya, Sergey Denisov, Jan Grudo, Anton Lopatin, Yana Karol, Tatsiana Lapyonok, Vassilis Amiridis, Albert Ansmann, Arnoud Apituley, Lucas Allados-Arboledas, Ioannis Binietoglou, Antonella Boselli, Giuseppe D'Amico, Volker Freudenthaler, David Giles, María José Granados-Muñoz, Panayotis Kokkalis, Doina Nicolae, Sergey Oshchepkov, Alex Papayannis, Maria Rita Perrone, Alexander Pietruczuk, Francesc Rocadenbosch, Michaël Sicard, Ilya Slutsker, Camelia Talianu, Ferdinando De Tomasi, Alexandra Tsekeri, Janet Wagner, and Xuan Wang
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 9, 1181–1205, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-1181-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-1181-2016, 2016
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This paper presents a detailed description of LIRIC (LIdar-Radiometer Inversion Code) algorithm for simultaneous processing of coincident lidar and radiometric observations for the retrieval of the aerosol concentrations. As the lidar/radiometric input data we use measurements from European Aerosol Research Lidar Network (EARLINET) lidars and collocated sun-photometers of Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET). The LIRIC software package was implemented and tested at a number of EARLINET stations.
Ulla Wandinger, Volker Freudenthaler, Holger Baars, Aldo Amodeo, Ronny Engelmann, Ina Mattis, Silke Groß, Gelsomina Pappalardo, Aldo Giunta, Giuseppe D'Amico, Anatoli Chaikovsky, Fiodor Osipenko, Alexander Slesar, Doina Nicolae, Livio Belegante, Camelia Talianu, Ilya Serikov, Holger Linné, Friedhelm Jansen, Arnoud Apituley, Keith M. Wilson, Martin de Graaf, Thomas Trickl, Helmut Giehl, Mariana Adam, Adolfo Comerón, Constantino Muñoz-Porcar, Francesc Rocadenbosch, Michaël Sicard, Sergio Tomás, Diego Lange, Dhiraj Kumar, Manuel Pujadas, Francisco Molero, Alfonso J. Fernández, Lucas Alados-Arboledas, Juan Antonio Bravo-Aranda, Francisco Navas-Guzmán, Juan Luis Guerrero-Rascado, María José Granados-Muñoz, Jana Preißler, Frank Wagner, Michael Gausa, Ivan Grigorov, Dimitar Stoyanov, Marco Iarlori, Vincenco Rizi, Nicola Spinelli, Antonella Boselli, Xuan Wang, Teresa Lo Feudo, Maria Rita Perrone, Ferdinando De Tomasi, and Pasquale Burlizzi
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 9, 1001–1023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-1001-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-1001-2016, 2016
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We introduce the quality-assurance efforts of the European Aerosol Research Lidar Network (EARLINET) at instrument level. Within several campaigns, 21 EARLINET systems from 18 EARLINET stations were intercompared. A comprehensive strategy for campaign setup and data evaluation was established. The intercomparisons have reinforced our confidence in the EARLINET data quality and allowed us to draw conclusions on necessary system improvements and to identify major challenges for our future work.
Nikolaos Papagiannopoulos, Lucia Mona, Lucas Alados-Arboledas, Vassilis Amiridis, Holger Baars, Ioannis Binietoglou, Daniele Bortoli, Giuseppe D'Amico, Aldo Giunta, Juan Luis Guerrero-Rascado, Anja Schwarz, Sergio Pereira, Nicola Spinelli, Ulla Wandinger, Xuan Wang, and Gelsomina Pappalardo
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 2341–2357, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-2341-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-2341-2016, 2016
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Satellite-derived products must undergo data evaluation with reference data sets in order to identify any possible reasons of discrepancy or to assess their representativity. In that direction, data coming from CALIPSO satellite were compared with observations from the ground. We identified a CALIPSO underestimation that could be linked to an assumption in the satellites' algorithms. The proposed correction improves the performance and could enhance aerosol modeling.
A. Myagkov, P. Seifert, M. Bauer-Pfundstein, and U. Wandinger
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 9, 469–489, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-469-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-469-2016, 2016
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In this paper a newly developed scanning 35 GHz cloud radar MIRA-35 is described. The issues concerned with implementation, polarization calibration, and data processing are considered. Also, an algorithm for a characterization of shape and orientation distribution based on polarimetric observations from the cloud radar is presented. For demonstration, the developed retrieval technique is applied to a cloud system containing ice crystals with different habits.
L. Belegante, J. A. Bravo-Aranda, V. Freudenthaler, D. Nicolae, A. Nemuc, L. Alados-Arboledas, A. Amodeo, G. Pappalardo, G. D’Amico, R. Engelmann, H. Baars, U. Wandinger, A. Papayannis, P. Kokkalis, and S. N. Pereira
Atmos. Meas. Tech. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2015-337, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2015-337, 2016
Revised manuscript has not been submitted
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This study aims to present techniques developed to calibrate the lidar depolarization channels.
The experimental approach of the paper is designed to present how calibration procedures are implemented. Most of the literature is focused on the theoretical perspective of the topic and practical issues usually remain an open topic. A hands on approach for the assessment of the lidar polarization sensitivity is welcomed since most of these techniques require comprehensive practical description.
G. D'Amico, A. Amodeo, H. Baars, I. Binietoglou, V. Freudenthaler, I. Mattis, U. Wandinger, and G. Pappalardo
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 8, 4891–4916, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-4891-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-4891-2015, 2015
J. Schmidt, A. Ansmann, J. Bühl, and U. Wandinger
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 15, 10687–10700, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-10687-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-10687-2015, 2015
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I. Binietoglou, S. Basart, L. Alados-Arboledas, V. Amiridis, A. Argyrouli, H. Baars, J. M. Baldasano, D. Balis, L. Belegante, J. A. Bravo-Aranda, P. Burlizzi, V. Carrasco, A. Chaikovsky, A. Comerón, G. D'Amico, M. Filioglou, M. J. Granados-Muñoz, J. L. Guerrero-Rascado, L. Ilic, P. Kokkalis, A. Maurizi, L. Mona, F. Monti, C. Muñoz-Porcar, D. Nicolae, A. Papayannis, G. Pappalardo, G. Pejanovic, S. N. Pereira, M. R. Perrone, A. Pietruczuk, M. Posyniak, F. Rocadenbosch, A. Rodríguez-Gómez, M. Sicard, N. Siomos, A. Szkop, E. Terradellas, A. Tsekeri, A. Vukovic, U. Wandinger, and J. Wagner
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 8, 3577–3600, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-3577-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-3577-2015, 2015
V. Amiridis, E. Marinou, A. Tsekeri, U. Wandinger, A. Schwarz, E. Giannakaki, R. Mamouri, P. Kokkalis, I. Binietoglou, S. Solomos, T. Herekakis, S. Kazadzis, E. Gerasopoulos, E. Proestakis, M. Kottas, D. Balis, A. Papayannis, C. Kontoes, K. Kourtidis, N. Papagiannopoulos, L. Mona, G. Pappalardo, O. Le Rille, and A. Ansmann
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 15, 7127–7153, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-7127-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-7127-2015, 2015
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LIVAS is a 3-D multi-wavelength global aerosol and cloud optical database optimized for future space-based lidar end-to-end simulations of realistic atmospheric scenarios as well as retrieval algorithm testing activities. The global database is based on CALIPSO observations at 532nm, while for the conversion at 355nm EARLINET data are utilized.
G. Pappalardo, A. Amodeo, A. Apituley, A. Comeron, V. Freudenthaler, H. Linné, A. Ansmann, J. Bösenberg, G. D'Amico, I. Mattis, L. Mona, U. Wandinger, V. Amiridis, L. Alados-Arboledas, D. Nicolae, and M. Wiegner
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 7, 2389–2409, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-7-2389-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-7-2389-2014, 2014
T. Kanitz, A. Ansmann, A. Foth, P. Seifert, U. Wandinger, R. Engelmann, H. Baars, D. Althausen, C. Casiccia, and F. Zamorano
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 7, 2061–2072, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-7-2061-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-7-2061-2014, 2014
V. Amiridis, U. Wandinger, E. Marinou, E. Giannakaki, A. Tsekeri, S. Basart, S. Kazadzis, A. Gkikas, M. Taylor, J. Baldasano, and A. Ansmann
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 13, 12089–12106, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-12089-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-12089-2013, 2013
J. Wagner, A. Ansmann, U. Wandinger, P. Seifert, A. Schwarz, M. Tesche, A. Chaikovsky, and O. Dubovik
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 6, 1707–1724, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-6-1707-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-6-1707-2013, 2013
G. Pappalardo, L. Mona, G. D'Amico, U. Wandinger, M. Adam, A. Amodeo, A. Ansmann, A. Apituley, L. Alados Arboledas, D. Balis, A. Boselli, J. A. Bravo-Aranda, A. Chaikovsky, A. Comeron, J. Cuesta, F. De Tomasi, V. Freudenthaler, M. Gausa, E. Giannakaki, H. Giehl, A. Giunta, I. Grigorov, S. Groß, M. Haeffelin, A. Hiebsch, M. Iarlori, D. Lange, H. Linné, F. Madonna, I. Mattis, R.-E. Mamouri, M. A. P. McAuliffe, V. Mitev, F. Molero, F. Navas-Guzman, D. Nicolae, A. Papayannis, M. R. Perrone, C. Pietras, A. Pietruczuk, G. Pisani, J. Preißler, M. Pujadas, V. Rizi, A. A. Ruth, J. Schmidt, F. Schnell, P. Seifert, I. Serikov, M. Sicard, V. Simeonov, N. Spinelli, K. Stebel, M. Tesche, T. Trickl, X. Wang, F. Wagner, M. Wiegner, and K. M. Wilson
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 13, 4429–4450, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-4429-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-4429-2013, 2013
Zhaolong Wu, Patric Seifert, Yun He, Holger Baars, Haoran Li, Cristofer Jimenez, Chengcai Li, and Albert Ansmann
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 3611–3634, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-3611-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-3611-2025, 2025
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This study introduces a novel method to detect horizontally oriented ice crystals (HOICs) using two ground-based polarization lidars at different zenith angles, based on a yearlong dataset collected in Beijing. Combined with cloud radar and reanalysis data, the fine categorization results reveal HOICs occur in calm winds and moderately cold temperatures and are influenced by turbulence near cloud bases. The results enhance our understanding of cloud processes and improve atmospheric models.
Alkistis Papetta, Maria Kezoudi, Holger Baars, Athina Floutsi, Eleni Drakaki, Konrad Kandler, Elena Louca, Theodoros Christoudias, Eleni Marinou, Chris Stopford, Troy Thornberry, Vassilis Amiridis, Jean Sciare, and Franco Marenco
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-3404, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-3404, 2025
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (ACP).
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Dust in the atmosphere affects air quality, weather, and climate, but measuring it is challenging. We used drones and ground-based instruments to study how dust particles interact with light and relate this to their mass. Current methods often underestimate large dust particles, leading to errors in dust quantity. Our results show that regional differences in dust must be considered to improve climate models and satellite observations.
Moritz Haarig, Ronny Engelmann, Holger Baars, Benedikt Gast, Dietrich Althausen, and Albert Ansmann
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 7741–7763, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-7741-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-7741-2025, 2025
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The lidar ratio is an important quantity in aerosol typing. Its spectral slope contains information about the source region or transport paths of the observed aerosol. The extension to 1064 nm is a recent development led by our institute. We gathered previous observations and added new ones to provide the spectral slope for the most important aerosol types such as marine and continental aerosol, dust, smoke, and sulfate. We compared it to assumptions used for spaceborne backscatter lidars.
Victor J. H. Trees, Ping Wang, Job I. Wiltink, Piet Stammes, Daphne M. Stam, David P. Donovan, and A. Pier Siebesma
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-2197, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-2197, 2025
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Geoscientific Model Development (GMD).
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We present MONKI (Monte Carlo KNMI), an efficient and accurate radiative transfer code written in Fortran. MONKI computes total and polarised radiances reflected and transmitted by planetary atmospheres, accounting for polarisation in all scattering orders. MONKI handles both homogeneous atmospheres and 3D cloud structures. MONKI has been validated, and produces reliable results even for planets with optically thick, strongly polarising atmospheres.
Kevin Ohneiser, Patric Seifert, Willi Schimmel, Fabian Senf, Tom Gaudek, Martin Radenz, Audrey Teisseire, Veronika Ettrichrätz, Teresa Vogl, Nina Maherndl, Nils Pfeifer, Jan Henneberger, Anna J. Miller, Nadja Omanovic, Christopher Fuchs, Huiying Zhang, Fabiola Ramelli, Robert Spirig, Anton Kötsche, Heike Kalesse-Los, Maximilian Maahn, Heather Corden, Alexis Berne, Majid Hajipour, Hannes Griesche, Julian Hofer, Ronny Engelmann, Annett Skupin, Albert Ansmann, and Holger Baars
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-2482, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-2482, 2025
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This study focuses on a seeder-feeder cloud system on 8 Jan 2024 in Eriswil, Switzerland. It is shown how the interaction of these cloud systems changes the cloud microphysical properties and the precipitation patterns. A big set of advanced remote-sensing techniques and retrieval algorithms are applied, so that a detailed view on the seeder-feeder cloud system is available. The gained knowledge can be used to improve weather models and weather forecasts.
Martin de Graaf, Maarten Sneep, Mark ter Linden, L. Gijsbert Tilstra, David P. Donovan, Gerd-Jan van Zadelhoff, and J. Pepijn Veefkind
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 2553–2571, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-2553-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-2553-2025, 2025
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The aerosol layer height (ALH) from the TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) has been constantly improved since its release in 2019. Over bright surfaces, fitting the albedo improved the retrieval, as shown for a set of situations, ranging from multiple layers of smoke to thick desert dust plumes and low-altitude industrial pollution. The latest results of the operational ALH are compared to profiles from the ATmospheric LIDar (ATLID) on board the recently launched EarthCARE mission.
Albert Ansmann, Cristofer Jimenez, Johanna Roschke, Johannes Bühl, Kevin Ohneiser, Ronny Engelmann, Martin Radenz, Hannes Griesche, Julian Hofer, Dietrich Althausen, Daniel A. Knopf, Sandro Dahlke, Tom Gaudek, Patric Seifert, and Ulla Wandinger
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 4847–4866, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-4847-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-4847-2025, 2025
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In this study, we focus on the potential impact of wildfire smoke on cirrus formation. For the first time, state-of-the-art aerosol and cirrus observations with lidar and radar, presented in this paper (Part 1 of a series of two articles), are closely linked to the comprehensive modeling of gravity-wave-induced ice nucleation in cirrus evolution processes, presented in a companion paper (Part 2). We found a clear impact of wildfire smoke on cirrus evolution.
Peristera Paschou, Nikolaos Siomos, Eleni Marinou, Antonis Gkikas, Samira Moussa Idrissa, Daniel Tetteh Quaye, Désire Degbe Fiogbe Attannon, Kalliopi Artemis Voudouri, Charikleia Meleti, David Patric Donovan, George Georgoussis, Tommaso Parrinello, Thorsten Fehr, Jonas von Bismarck, and Vassilis Amiridis
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1152, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1152, 2025
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This study presents the results from a validation study on the Level 2A products (aerosol optical properties) of the European Space Agency’s Aeolus mission. Measurements from the eVe lidar, a combined linear/circular polarization and Raman lidar and ESA’s ground reference system, that have been collected during the ASKOS/JATAC campaign are compared with collocated Aeolus Level 2A profiles obtained from the latest version (Baseline 16) of the available SCA, MLE, and AEL-PRO Aeolus algorithms.
Konstantinos Rizos, Emmanouil Proestakis, Thanasis Georgiou, Antonis Gkikas, Eleni Marinou, Peristera Paschou, Kalliopi Artemis Voudouri, Athanasios Tsikerdekis, David Donovan, Gerd-Jan van Zadelhoff, Angela Benedetti, Holger Baars, Athena Augusta Floutsi, Nikos Benas, Martin Stengel, Christian Retscher, Edward Malina, and Vassilis Amiridis
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1175, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1175, 2025
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Atmospheric Measurement Techniques (AMT).
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The Aeolus satellite's lidar system had limitations in detecting certain atmospheric layers and distinguishing between aerosol and cloud types. To improve accuracy, a new dust detection product was developed. By combining data from various sources and validating it with ground-based measurements, this enhanced product performs better than the original. It helps improve dust transport models and weather predictions, making it a valuable tool for atmospheric monitoring and forecasting.
Benedikt Gast, Cristofer Jimenez, Albert Ansmann, Moritz Haarig, Ronny Engelmann, Felix Fritzsch, Athena A. Floutsi, Hannes Griesche, Kevin Ohneiser, Julian Hofer, Martin Radenz, Holger Baars, Patric Seifert, and Ulla Wandinger
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 3995–4011, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-3995-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-3995-2025, 2025
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In this study, we discuss the enhanced detection capabilities of a fluorescence lidar in the case of optically thin aerosol layers in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere (UTLS) region. Our results suggest that such thin aerosol layers are not so rare in the UTLS and can potentially trigger and impact cirrus cloud formation through heterogeneous ice nucleation. By altering the microphysical cloud properties, this could affect clouds' evolution and lifetime and thus their climate effect.
Gladiola Malollari, Albert Ansmann, Holger Baars, Cristofer Jimenez, Julian Hofer, Ronny Engelmann, Nathan Skupin, and Seit Shallari
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1386, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1386, 2025
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This study presents, for the first time, the uncertainty analysis of the Ångström exponent assumption on the full set of retrievable optical properties obtained with Raman lidar. A quantitative comparison between the pure rotational and vibrational-rotational Raman lidar approaches is presented. A minor impact of a wrong Ångström exponent on the determined aerosol optical properties is found.
Cristofer Jimenez, Albert Ansmann, Kevin Ohneiser, Hannes Griesche, Ronny Engelmann, Martin Radenz, Julian Hofer, Dietrich Althausen, Daniel Alexander Knopf, Sandro Dahlke, Johannes Bühl, Holger Baars, Patric Seifert, and Ulla Wandinger
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-967, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-967, 2025
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Using advanced remote sensing on the icebreaker Polarstern, we studied mixed-phase clouds (MPCs) in the central Arctic during the 2019–2020 MOSAiC (Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate) campaign. For the first time, lidar and radar techniques tracked the year-round evolution of liquid and ice phases in MPCs. The study provides cloud statistics and explores key processes driving cloud longevity, offering new insights into Arctic cloud formation and persistence.
Silke Groß, Volker Freudenthaler, Moritz Haarig, Albert Ansmann, Carlos Toledano, David Mateos, Petra Seibert, Rodanthi-Elisavet Mamouri, Argyro Nisantzi, Josef Gasteiger, Maximilian Dollner, Anne Tipka, Manuel Schöberl, Marilena Teri, and Bernadett Weinzierl
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 3191–3211, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-3191-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-3191-2025, 2025
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Aerosols contribute to the largest uncertainties in climate change predictions. The eastern Mediterranean is a hotspot for aerosols with natural and anthropogenic contributions. We present lidar measurements performed during A-LIFE (Absorbing aerosol layers in a changing climate: aging, lifetime and dynamics) to characterize aerosols and aerosol mixtures. We extend current lidar classification and separation schemes and compare them to classification schemes using different methods.
Dimitri Trapon, Holger Baars, Athena Floutsi, Sebastian Bley, Adrien Lacour, Thomas Flament, Alain Dabas, Amin R. Nehrir, Frithjof Ehlers, and Dorit Huber
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-462, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-462, 2025
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The study highlights how aerosol measurements from aircraft can be used in synergy with ground-based observations to validate the ESA's AEOLUS satellite aerosol product above the Tropical Atlantic. For the first time, collocated sections of the troposphere up to 626 km long are crossed. Combining measurements from satellite, aircraft, and ground-based instruments allows to characterize the optical properties of the observed dust particles emitted from the Sahara Desert.
Johanna Roschke, Jonas Witthuhn, Marcus Klingebiel, Moritz Haarig, Andreas Foth, Anton Kötsche, and Heike Kalesse-Los
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 487–508, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-487-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-487-2025, 2025
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We present a technique to discriminate between the Cloudnet target classification of "drizzle or rain" and sea salt aerosols that is applicable to marine Cloudnet sites. The method is crucial for investigating the occurrence of precipitation and significantly improves the Cloudnet target classification scheme for measurements over the Barbados Cloud Observatory (BCO). A first-ever analysis of the Cloudnet product including the new "haze echo" target over 2 years at the BCO is presented.
Victor J. H. Trees, Ping Wang, Piet Stammes, Lieuwe G. Tilstra, David P. Donovan, and A. Pier Siebesma
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 73–91, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-73-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-73-2025, 2025
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Our study investigates the impact of cloud shadows on satellite-based aerosol index measurements over Europe by TROPOMI. Using a cloud shadow detection algorithm and simulations, we found that the overall effect on the aerosol index is minimal. Interestingly, we found that cloud shadows are significantly bluer than their shadow-free surroundings, but the traditional algorithm already (partly) automatically corrects for this increased blueness.
Xiaoxia Shang, Maria Filioglou, Julian Hofer, Moritz Haarig, Qiaoyun Hu, Philippe Goloub, Sami Romakkaniemi, and Mika Komppula
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3460, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3460, 2025
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We have developed a new method to analyze the aerosol components in the atmosphere. Using depolarization information of laser light measured by lidar instruments, we can separate the three aerosol types in an aerosol mixture. This method has been applied to study the mineral dust from different regions.
Lev D. Labzovskii, Gerd-Jan van Zadelhoff, David P. Donovan, Jos de Kloe, L. Gijsbert Tilstra, Ad Stoffelen, Damien Josset, and Piet Stammes
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 7183–7208, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-7183-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-7183-2024, 2024
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The Atmospheric Laser Doppler Instrument (ALADIN) on the Aeolus satellite was the first of its kind to measure high-resolution vertical profiles of aerosols and cloud properties from space. We present an algorithm that produces Aeolus lidar surface returns (LSRs), containing useful information for measuring UV reflectivity. Aeolus LSRs matched well with existing UV reflectivity data from other satellites, like GOME-2 and TROPOMI, and demonstrated excellent sensitivity to modeled snow cover.
Sofía Gómez Maqueo Anaya, Dietrich Althausen, Julian Hofer, Moritz Haarig, Ulla Wandinger, Bernd Heinold, Ina Tegen, Matthias Faust, Holger Baars, Albert Ansmann, Ronny Engelmann, Annett Skupin, Birgit Heese, and Kerstin Schepanski
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3159, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3159, 2024
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This study investigates how hematite (an iron oxide mineral) in the Saharan Desert dust affects how dust particles interact with radiation. Using lidar data from Cabo Verde (2021–2022) and hematite content from atmospheric model simulations, the results show that higher hematite fraction leads to stronger particle backscattering at specific wavelengths. These findings can improve the representaiton of mineral dust in climate models, particularly regarding their radiative effect.
Ping Wang, David Patrick Donovan, Gerd-Jan van Zadelhoff, Jos de Kloe, Dorit Huber, and Katja Reissig
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 5935–5955, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-5935-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-5935-2024, 2024
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We describe the new feature mask (AEL-FM) and aerosol profile retrieval (AEL-PRO) algorithms developed for Aeolus lidar and present the evaluation of the Aeolus products using CALIPSO data for dust aerosols over Africa. We have found that Aeolus and CALIPSO show similar aerosol patterns in the collocated orbits and have good agreement for the extinction coefficients for the dust aerosols, especially for the cloud-free scenes. The finding is applicable to Aeolus L2A product Baseline 17.
David Patrick Donovan, Gerd-Jan van Zadelhoff, and Ping Wang
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 5301–5340, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-5301-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-5301-2024, 2024
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ATLID (atmospheric lidar) is the lidar to be flown on the Earth Clouds and Radiation Explorer satellite (EarthCARE). EarthCARE is a joint European–Japanese satellite mission that was launched in May 2024. ATLID is an advanced lidar optimized for cloud and aerosol property profile measurements. This paper describes some of the key novel algorithms being applied to this lidar to retrieve cloud and aerosol properties. Example results based on simulated data are presented and discussed.
Robin J. Hogan, Anthony J. Illingworth, Pavlos Kollias, Hajime Okamoto, and Ulla Wandinger
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 3081–3083, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3081-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3081-2024, 2024
Henriette Gebauer, Athena Augusta Floutsi, Moritz Haarig, Martin Radenz, Ronny Engelmann, Dietrich Althausen, Annett Skupin, Albert Ansmann, Cordula Zenk, and Holger Baars
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 5047–5067, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-5047-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-5047-2024, 2024
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Sulfate aerosol from the volcanic eruption at La Palma in 2021 was observed over Cabo Verde. We characterized the aerosol burden based on a case study of lidar and sun photometer observations. We compared the volcanic case to the typical background conditions (reference case) to quantify the volcanic pollution. We show the first ever measurements of the extinction coefficient, lidar ratio and depolarization ratio at 1064 nm for volcanic sulfate.
Nicole Docter, Anja Hünerbein, David P. Donovan, Rene Preusker, Jürgen Fischer, Jan Fokke Meirink, Piet Stammes, and Michael Eisinger
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 2507–2519, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2507-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2507-2024, 2024
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MSI is the imaging spectrometer on board EarthCARE and will provide across-track information on clouds and aerosol properties. The MSI solar channels exhibit a spectral misalignment effect (SMILE) in the measurements. This paper describes and evaluates how the SMILE will affect the cloud and aerosol retrievals that do not account for it.
Kangwen Sun, Guangyao Dai, Songhua Wu, Oliver Reitebuch, Holger Baars, Jiqiao Liu, and Suping Zhang
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 4389–4409, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-4389-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-4389-2024, 2024
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This paper investigates the correlation between marine aerosol optical properties and wind speeds over remote oceans using the spaceborne lidars ALADIN and CALIOP. Three remote ocean areas are selected. Pure marine aerosol optical properties at 355 nm are derived from ALADIN. The relationships between marine aerosol optical properties and wind speeds are analyzed within and above the marine atmospheric boundary layer, revealing the effect of wind speed on marine aerosols over remote oceans.
Alkistis Papetta, Franco Marenco, Maria Kezoudi, Rodanthi-Elisavet Mamouri, Argyro Nisantzi, Holger Baars, Ioana Elisabeta Popovici, Philippe Goloub, Stéphane Victori, and Jean Sciare
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 1721–1738, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-1721-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-1721-2024, 2024
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We propose a method to determine depolarization parameters using observations from a reference instrument at a nearby location, needed for systems where a priori knowledge of cross-talk parameters is not available. It uses three-parameter equations to compare VDR between two co-located lidars at dust and molecular layers. It can be applied retrospectively to existing data acquired during campaigns. Its application to Cimel CE376 corrected VDR bias at high- and low-depolarizing layers.
Sofía Gómez Maqueo Anaya, Dietrich Althausen, Matthias Faust, Holger Baars, Bernd Heinold, Julian Hofer, Ina Tegen, Albert Ansmann, Ronny Engelmann, Annett Skupin, Birgit Heese, and Kerstin Schepanski
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 1271–1295, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-1271-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-1271-2024, 2024
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Mineral dust aerosol particles vary greatly in their composition depending on source region, which leads to different physicochemical properties. Most atmosphere–aerosol models consider mineral dust aerosols to be compositionally homogeneous, which ultimately increases model uncertainty. Here, we present an approach to explicitly consider the heterogeneity of the mineralogical composition for simulations of the Saharan atmospheric dust cycle with regard to dust transport towards the Atlantic.
Shannon L. Mason, Howard W. Barker, Jason N. S. Cole, Nicole Docter, David P. Donovan, Robin J. Hogan, Anja Hünerbein, Pavlos Kollias, Bernat Puigdomènech Treserras, Zhipeng Qu, Ulla Wandinger, and Gerd-Jan van Zadelhoff
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 875–898, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-875-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-875-2024, 2024
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When the EarthCARE mission enters its operational phase, many retrieval data products will be available, which will overlap both in terms of the measurements they use and the geophysical quantities they report. In this pre-launch study, we use simulated EarthCARE scenes to compare the coverage and performance of many data products from the European Space Agency production model, with the intention of better understanding the relation between products and providing a compact guide to users.
Athena Augusta Floutsi, Holger Baars, and Ulla Wandinger
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 693–714, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-693-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-693-2024, 2024
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We introduce an aerosol-typing scheme (HETEAC-Flex) based on lidar-derived intensive optical properties and applicable to ground-based and spaceborne lidars. HETEAC-Flex utilizes the optimal estimation method and enables the identification of up to four different aerosol components, as well as the determination of their contribution to the aerosol mixture in terms of relative volume. The aerosol components represent common aerosol types such as dust, sea salt, smoke and pollution.
Anja Hünerbein, Sebastian Bley, Hartwig Deneke, Jan Fokke Meirink, Gerd-Jan van Zadelhoff, and Andi Walther
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 261–276, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-261-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-261-2024, 2024
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The ESA cloud, aerosol and radiation mission EarthCARE will provide active profiling and passive imaging measurements from a single satellite platform. The passive multi-spectral imager (MSI) will add information in the across-track direction. We present the cloud optical and physical properties algorithm, which combines the visible to infrared MSI channels to determine the cloud top pressure, optical thickness, particle size and water path.
Alexandra Tsekeri, Anna Gialitaki, Marco Di Paolantonio, Davide Dionisi, Gian Luigi Liberti, Alnilam Fernandes, Artur Szkop, Aleksander Pietruczuk, Daniel Pérez-Ramírez, Maria J. Granados Muñoz, Juan Luis Guerrero-Rascado, Lucas Alados-Arboledas, Diego Bermejo Pantaleón, Juan Antonio Bravo-Aranda, Anna Kampouri, Eleni Marinou, Vassilis Amiridis, Michael Sicard, Adolfo Comerón, Constantino Muñoz-Porcar, Alejandro Rodríguez-Gómez, Salvatore Romano, Maria Rita Perrone, Xiaoxia Shang, Mika Komppula, Rodanthi-Elisavet Mamouri, Argyro Nisantzi, Diofantos Hadjimitsis, Francisco Navas-Guzmán, Alexander Haefele, Dominika Szczepanik, Artur Tomczak, Iwona S. Stachlewska, Livio Belegante, Doina Nicolae, Kalliopi Artemis Voudouri, Dimitris Balis, Athena A. Floutsi, Holger Baars, Linda Miladi, Nicolas Pascal, Oleg Dubovik, and Anton Lopatin
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 6025–6050, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-6025-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-6025-2023, 2023
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EARLINET/ACTRIS organized an intensive observational campaign in May 2020, with the objective of monitoring the atmospheric state over Europe during the COVID-19 lockdown and relaxation period. The work presented herein focuses on deriving a common methodology for applying a synergistic retrieval that utilizes the network's ground-based passive and active remote sensing measurements and deriving the aerosols from anthropogenic activities over Europe.
Moritz Haarig, Anja Hünerbein, Ulla Wandinger, Nicole Docter, Sebastian Bley, David Donovan, and Gerd-Jan van Zadelhoff
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 5953–5975, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-5953-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-5953-2023, 2023
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The atmospheric lidar (ATLID) and Multi-Spectral Imager (MSI) will be carried by the EarthCARE satellite. The synergistic ATLID–MSI Column Products (AM-COL) algorithm described in the paper combines the strengths of ATLID in vertically resolved profiles of aerosol and clouds (e.g., cloud top height) with the strengths of MSI in observing the complete scene beside the satellite track and in extending the lidar information to the swath. The algorithm is validated against simulated test scenes.
Rodanthi-Elisavet Mamouri, Albert Ansmann, Kevin Ohneiser, Daniel A. Knopf, Argyro Nisantzi, Johannes Bühl, Ronny Engelmann, Annett Skupin, Patric Seifert, Holger Baars, Dragos Ene, Ulla Wandinger, and Diofantos Hadjimitsis
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 14097–14114, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-14097-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-14097-2023, 2023
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For the first time, rather clear evidence is found that wildfire smoke particles can trigger strong cirrus formation. This finding is of importance because intensive and large wildfires may occur increasingly often in the future as climate change proceeds. Based on lidar observations in Cyprus in autumn 2020, we provide detailed insight into the cirrus formation at the tropopause in the presence of aged wildfire smoke (here, 8–9 day old Californian wildfire smoke).
David P. Donovan, Pavlos Kollias, Almudena Velázquez Blázquez, and Gerd-Jan van Zadelhoff
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 5327–5356, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-5327-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-5327-2023, 2023
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The Earth Cloud, Aerosol and Radiation Explorer mission (EarthCARE) is a multi-instrument cloud–aerosol–radiation-oriented satellite for climate and weather applications. For this satellite mission to be successful, the development and implementation of new techniques for turning the measured raw signals into useful data is required. This paper describes how atmospheric model data were used as the basis for creating realistic high-resolution simulated data sets to facilitate this process.
Zhipeng Qu, David P. Donovan, Howard W. Barker, Jason N. S. Cole, Mark W. Shephard, and Vincent Huijnen
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 4927–4946, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-4927-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-4927-2023, 2023
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The EarthCARE satellite mission Level 2 algorithm development requires realistic 3D cloud and aerosol scenes along the satellite orbits. One of the best ways to produce these scenes is to use a high-resolution numerical weather prediction model to simulate atmospheric conditions at 250 m horizontal resolution. This paper describes the production and validation of three EarthCARE test scenes.
Albert Ansmann, Kevin Ohneiser, Ronny Engelmann, Martin Radenz, Hannes Griesche, Julian Hofer, Dietrich Althausen, Jessie M. Creamean, Matthew C. Boyer, Daniel A. Knopf, Sandro Dahlke, Marion Maturilli, Henriette Gebauer, Johannes Bühl, Cristofer Jimenez, Patric Seifert, and Ulla Wandinger
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 12821–12849, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-12821-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-12821-2023, 2023
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The 1-year MOSAiC (2019–2020) expedition with the German ice breaker Polarstern was the largest polar field campaign ever conducted. The Polarstern, with our lidar aboard, drifted with the pack ice north of 85° N for more than 7 months (October 2019 to mid-May 2020). We measured the full annual cycle of aerosol conditions in terms of aerosol optical and cloud-process-relevant properties. We observed a strong contrast between polluted winter and clean summer aerosol conditions.
Holger Baars, Joshua Walchester, Elizaveta Basharova, Henriette Gebauer, Martin Radenz, Johannes Bühl, Boris Barja, Ulla Wandinger, and Patric Seifert
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 3809–3834, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-3809-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-3809-2023, 2023
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In 2018, the Aeolus satellite of the European Space Agency (ESA) was launched to improve weather forecasts through global measurements of wind profiles. Given the novel lidar technique onboard, extensive validation efforts have been needed to verify the observations. For this reason, we performed long-term validation measurements in Germany and Chile. We found significant improvement in the data products due to a new algorithm version and can confirm the general validity of Aeolus observations.
Gerd-Jan van Zadelhoff, David P. Donovan, and Ping Wang
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 3631–3651, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-3631-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-3631-2023, 2023
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The Earth Clouds, Aerosols and Radiation (EarthCARE) satellite mission features the UV lidar ATLID. The ATLID FeatureMask algorithm provides a high-resolution detection probability mask which is used to guide smoothing strategies within the ATLID profile retrieval algorithm, one step further in the EarthCARE level-2 processing chain, in which the microphysical retrievals and target classification are performed.
Abdanour Irbah, Julien Delanoë, Gerd-Jan van Zadelhoff, David P. Donovan, Pavlos Kollias, Bernat Puigdomènech Treserras, Shannon Mason, Robin J. Hogan, and Aleksandra Tatarevic
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 2795–2820, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-2795-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-2795-2023, 2023
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The Cloud Profiling Radar (CPR) and ATmospheric LIDar (ATLID) aboard the EarthCARE satellite are used to probe the Earth's atmosphere by measuring cloud and aerosol profiles. ATLID is sensitive to aerosols and small cloud particles and CPR to large ice particles, snowflakes and raindrops. It is the synergy of the measurements of these two instruments that allows a better classification of the atmospheric targets and the description of the associated products, which are the subject of this paper.
Ulla Wandinger, Athena Augusta Floutsi, Holger Baars, Moritz Haarig, Albert Ansmann, Anja Hünerbein, Nicole Docter, David Donovan, Gerd-Jan van Zadelhoff, Shannon Mason, and Jason Cole
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 2485–2510, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-2485-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-2485-2023, 2023
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We introduce an aerosol classification model that has been developed for the Earth Clouds, Aerosols and Radiation Explorer (EarthCARE). The model provides a consistent description of microphysical, optical, and radiative properties of common aerosol types such as dust, sea salt, pollution, and smoke. It is used for aerosol classification and assessment of radiation effects based on the synergy of active and passive observations with lidar, imager, and radiometer of the multi-instrument platform.
Martin de Graaf, Karolina Sarna, Jessica Brown, Elma V. Tenner, Manon Schenkels, and David P. Donovan
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 5373–5391, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-5373-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-5373-2023, 2023
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Clouds over the oceans reflect sunlight and cool the earth. Simultaneous measurements were performed of cloud droplet sizes and smoke particles in and near the cloud base over Ascension Island, a remote island in the Atlantic Ocean, to determine the sensitivity of cloud droplets to smoke from the African continent. The smoke was found to reduce cloud droplet sizes, which makes the cloud droplets more susceptible to evaporation, reducing cloud lifetime.
Athena Augusta Floutsi, Holger Baars, Ronny Engelmann, Dietrich Althausen, Albert Ansmann, Stephanie Bohlmann, Birgit Heese, Julian Hofer, Thomas Kanitz, Moritz Haarig, Kevin Ohneiser, Martin Radenz, Patric Seifert, Annett Skupin, Zhenping Yin, Sabur F. Abdullaev, Mika Komppula, Maria Filioglou, Elina Giannakaki, Iwona S. Stachlewska, Lucja Janicka, Daniele Bortoli, Eleni Marinou, Vassilis Amiridis, Anna Gialitaki, Rodanthi-Elisavet Mamouri, Boris Barja, and Ulla Wandinger
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 2353–2379, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-2353-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-2353-2023, 2023
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DeLiAn is a collection of lidar-derived aerosol intensive optical properties for several aerosol types, namely the particle linear depolarization ratio, the extinction-to-backscatter ratio (lidar ratio) and the Ångström exponent. The data collection is based on globally distributed, long-term, ground-based, multiwavelength, Raman and polarization lidar measurements and currently covers two wavelengths, 355 and 532 nm, for 13 aerosol categories ranging from basic aerosol types to mixtures.
Antonis Gkikas, Anna Gialitaki, Ioannis Binietoglou, Eleni Marinou, Maria Tsichla, Nikolaos Siomos, Peristera Paschou, Anna Kampouri, Kalliopi Artemis Voudouri, Emmanouil Proestakis, Maria Mylonaki, Christina-Anna Papanikolaou, Konstantinos Michailidis, Holger Baars, Anne Grete Straume, Dimitris Balis, Alexandros Papayannis, Tomasso Parrinello, and Vassilis Amiridis
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 1017–1042, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-1017-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-1017-2023, 2023
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We perform an assessment analysis of the Aeolus Standard Correct Algorithm (SCA) backscatter coefficient retrievals against reference observations acquired at three Greek lidar stations (Athens, Thessaloniki and Antikythera) of the PANACEA network. Overall, 43 cases are analysed, whereas specific aerosol scenarios in the vicinity of Antikythera island (SW Greece) are emphasised. All key Cal/Val aspects and recommendations, and the ongoing related activities, are thoroughly discussed.
Konstantinos Michailidis, Maria-Elissavet Koukouli, Dimitris Balis, J. Pepijn Veefkind, Martin de Graaf, Lucia Mona, Nikolaos Papagianopoulos, Gesolmina Pappalardo, Ioanna Tsikoudi, Vassilis Amiridis, Eleni Marinou, Anna Gialitaki, Rodanthi-Elisavet Mamouri, Argyro Nisantzi, Daniele Bortoli, Maria João Costa, Vanda Salgueiro, Alexandros Papayannis, Maria Mylonaki, Lucas Alados-Arboledas, Salvatore Romano, Maria Rita Perrone, and Holger Baars
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 1919–1940, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-1919-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-1919-2023, 2023
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Comparisons with ground-based correlative lidar measurements constitute a key component in the validation of satellite aerosol products. This paper presents the validation of the TROPOMI aerosol layer height (ALH) product, using archived quality assured ground-based data from lidar stations that belong to the EARLINET network. Comparisons between the TROPOMI ALH and co-located EARLINET measurements show good agreement over the ocean.
Albert Ansmann, Kevin Ohneiser, Alexandra Chudnovsky, Daniel A. Knopf, Edwin W. Eloranta, Diego Villanueva, Patric Seifert, Martin Radenz, Boris Barja, Félix Zamorano, Cristofer Jimenez, Ronny Engelmann, Holger Baars, Hannes Griesche, Julian Hofer, Dietrich Althausen, and Ulla Wandinger
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 11701–11726, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-11701-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-11701-2022, 2022
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For the first time we present a systematic study on the impact of wildfire smoke on ozone depletion in the Arctic (2020) and Antarctic stratosphere (2020, 2021). Two major fire events in Siberia and Australia were responsible for the observed record-breaking stratospheric smoke pollution. Our analyses were based on lidar observations of smoke parameters (Polarstern, Punta Arenas) and NDACC Arctic and Antarctic ozone profiles as well as on Antarctic OMI satellite observations of column ozone.
Xianda Gong, Martin Radenz, Heike Wex, Patric Seifert, Farnoush Ataei, Silvia Henning, Holger Baars, Boris Barja, Albert Ansmann, and Frank Stratmann
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 10505–10525, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-10505-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-10505-2022, 2022
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The sources of ice-nucleating particles (INPs) are poorly understood in the Southern Hemisphere (SH). We studied INPs in the boundary layer in the southern Patagonia region. No seasonal cycle of INP concentrations was observed. The majority of INPs are biogenic particles, likely from local continental sources. The INP concentrations are higher when strong precipitation occurs. While previous studies focused on marine INP sources in SH, we point out the importance of continental sources of INPs.
Bernd Heinold, Holger Baars, Boris Barja, Matthew Christensen, Anne Kubin, Kevin Ohneiser, Kerstin Schepanski, Nick Schutgens, Fabian Senf, Roland Schrödner, Diego Villanueva, and Ina Tegen
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 9969–9985, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-9969-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-9969-2022, 2022
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The extreme 2019–2020 Australian wildfires produced massive smoke plumes lofted into the lower stratosphere by pyrocumulonimbus convection. Most climate models do not adequately simulate the injection height of such intense fires. By combining aerosol-climate modeling with prescribed pyroconvective smoke injection and lidar observations, this study shows the importance of the representation of the most extreme wildfire events for estimating the atmospheric energy budget.
Jörg Wieder, Nikola Ihn, Claudia Mignani, Moritz Haarig, Johannes Bühl, Patric Seifert, Ronny Engelmann, Fabiola Ramelli, Zamin A. Kanji, Ulrike Lohmann, and Jan Henneberger
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 9767–9797, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-9767-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-9767-2022, 2022
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Ice formation and its evolution in mixed-phase clouds are still uncertain. We evaluate the lidar retrieval of ice-nucleating particle concentration in dust-dominated and continental air masses over the Swiss Alps with in situ observations. A calibration factor to improve the retrieval from continental air masses is proposed. Ice multiplication factors are obtained with a new method utilizing remote sensing. Our results indicate that secondary ice production occurs at temperatures down to −30 °C.
Kevin Ohneiser, Albert Ansmann, Bernd Kaifler, Alexandra Chudnovsky, Boris Barja, Daniel A. Knopf, Natalie Kaifler, Holger Baars, Patric Seifert, Diego Villanueva, Cristofer Jimenez, Martin Radenz, Ronny Engelmann, Igor Veselovskii, and Félix Zamorano
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 7417–7442, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-7417-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-7417-2022, 2022
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We present and discuss 2 years of long-term lidar observations of the largest stratospheric perturbation by wildfire smoke ever observed. The smoke originated from the record-breaking Australian fires in 2019–2020 and affects climate conditions and even the ozone layer in the Southern Hemisphere. The obvious link between dense smoke occurrence in the stratosphere and strong ozone depletion found in the Arctic and in the Antarctic in 2020 can be regarded as a new aspect of climate change.
Victor J. H. Trees, Ping Wang, Piet Stammes, Lieuwe G. Tilstra, David P. Donovan, and A. Pier Siebesma
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 3121–3140, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-3121-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-3121-2022, 2022
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Cloud shadows are observed by the TROPOMI satellite instrument as a result of its high spatial resolution. These shadows contaminate TROPOMI's air quality measurements, because shadows are generally not taken into account in the models that are used for aerosol and trace gas retrievals. We present the Detection AlgoRithm for CLOud Shadows (DARCLOS) for TROPOMI, which is the first cloud shadow detection algorithm for a satellite spectrometer.
Michael Weger, Holger Baars, Henriette Gebauer, Maik Merkel, Alfred Wiedensohler, and Bernd Heinold
Geosci. Model Dev., 15, 3315–3345, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-3315-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-3315-2022, 2022
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Numerical models are an important tool to assess the air quality in cities,
as they can provide near-continouos data in time and space. In this paper,
air pollution for an entire city is simulated at a high spatial resolution of 40 m.
At this spatial scale, the effects of buildings on the atmosphere,
like channeling or blocking of the air flow, are directly represented by diffuse obstacles in the used model CAIRDIO. For model validation, measurements from air-monitoring sites are used.
Xiaoxia Shang, Holger Baars, Iwona S. Stachlewska, Ina Mattis, and Mika Komppula
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 3931–3944, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-3931-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-3931-2022, 2022
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This study reports pollen observations at four lidar stations (Hohenpeißenberg, Germany; Kuopio, Finland; Leipzig, Germany; and Warsaw, Poland) during the intensive observation campaign organized in May 2020. A novel simple method for the characterization of the pure pollen is proposed, based on lidar measurements. It was applied to evaluate the pollen depolarization ratio and for the aerosol classifications.
Birgit Heese, Athena Augusta Floutsi, Holger Baars, Dietrich Althausen, Julian Hofer, Alina Herzog, Silke Mewes, Martin Radenz, and Yoav Y. Schechner
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 1633–1648, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-1633-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-1633-2022, 2022
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The aerosol distribution over Haifa, Israel, was measured for 2 years by a laser-based vertically resolved measurement technique called lidar. From these data, the aerosol types and their percentages of the observed aerosol mixtures were identified in terms of their size and shape. We found mostly desert dust from the surrounding deserts and sea salt from the close-by Mediterranean Sea. But aerosols from anthropogenic and industrial pollution from local and far away sources were also detected.
Jerónimo Escribano, Enza Di Tomaso, Oriol Jorba, Martina Klose, Maria Gonçalves Ageitos, Francesca Macchia, Vassilis Amiridis, Holger Baars, Eleni Marinou, Emmanouil Proestakis, Claudia Urbanneck, Dietrich Althausen, Johannes Bühl, Rodanthi-Elisavet Mamouri, and Carlos Pérez García-Pando
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 535–560, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-535-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-535-2022, 2022
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We explore the benefits and consistency in adding lidar dust observations in a dust optical depth assimilation. We show that adding lidar data to a dust optical depth assimilation has valuable benefits and the dust analysis improves. We discuss the impact of the narrow satellite footprint of the lidar dust observations on the assimilation.
Frithjof Ehlers, Thomas Flament, Alain Dabas, Dimitri Trapon, Adrien Lacour, Holger Baars, and Anne Grete Straume-Lindner
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 185–203, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-185-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-185-2022, 2022
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The Aeolus satellite observes the Earth and can vertically detect any kind of particles (aerosols or clouds) in the atmosphere below it. These observations are typically very noisy, which needs to be accounted for. This work dampens the noise in Aeolus' aerosol and cloud data, which are provided publicly by the ESA, so that the scientific community can make better use of it. This makes the data potentially more useful for weather prediction and climate research.
Moritz Haarig, Albert Ansmann, Ronny Engelmann, Holger Baars, Carlos Toledano, Benjamin Torres, Dietrich Althausen, Martin Radenz, and Ulla Wandinger
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 355–369, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-355-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-355-2022, 2022
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The irregular shape of dust particles makes it difficult to treat them correctly in optical models. Atmospheric measurements of dust optical properties are therefore of great importance. The present study increases the space of observed parameters from 355 and 532 nm towards 1064 nm, which is of special importance for large dust particles. The lidar ratio influenced by mineralogy and the depolarization ratio influenced by shape are measured for the first time at all three wavelengths.
Martin Radenz, Johannes Bühl, Patric Seifert, Holger Baars, Ronny Engelmann, Boris Barja González, Rodanthi-Elisabeth Mamouri, Félix Zamorano, and Albert Ansmann
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 17969–17994, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-17969-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-17969-2021, 2021
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This study brings together long-term ground-based remote-sensing observations of mixed-phase clouds at three key locations of aerosol–cloud interactions in the Northern and Southern Hemisphere midlatitudes. The findings contribute several new aspects on the nature of the excess of supercooled liquid clouds in the Southern Hemisphere, such as a long-term lidar-based estimate of ice-nucleating particle profiles as well as the effects of boundary layer coupling and gravity waves on ice formation.
Sebastian Düsing, Albert Ansmann, Holger Baars, Joel C. Corbin, Cyrielle Denjean, Martin Gysel-Beer, Thomas Müller, Laurent Poulain, Holger Siebert, Gerald Spindler, Thomas Tuch, Birgit Wehner, and Alfred Wiedensohler
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 16745–16773, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-16745-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-16745-2021, 2021
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The work deals with optical properties of aerosol particles in dried and atmospheric states. Based on two measurement campaigns in the rural background of central Europe, different measurement approaches were compared with each other, such as modeling based on Mie theory and direct in situ or remote sensing measurements. Among others, it was shown that the aerosol extinction-to-backscatter ratio is relative humidity dependent, and refinement with respect to the model input parameters is needed.
Kevin Ohneiser, Albert Ansmann, Alexandra Chudnovsky, Ronny Engelmann, Christoph Ritter, Igor Veselovskii, Holger Baars, Henriette Gebauer, Hannes Griesche, Martin Radenz, Julian Hofer, Dietrich Althausen, Sandro Dahlke, and Marion Maturilli
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 15783–15808, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-15783-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-15783-2021, 2021
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The highlight of the lidar measurements during the 1-year MOSAiC (Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate) expedition of the German icebreaker Polarstern (October 2019–October 2020) was the detection of a persistent, 10 km deep Siberian wildfire smoke layer in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere (UTLS) from about 7–8 km to 17–18 km height that could potentially have impacted the record-breaking ozone depletion over the Arctic in the spring of 2020.
Mariana Adam, Iwona S. Stachlewska, Lucia Mona, Nikolaos Papagiannopoulos, Juan Antonio Bravo-Aranda, Michaël Sicard, Doina N. Nicolae, Livio Belegante, Lucja Janicka, Dominika Szczepanik, Maria Mylonaki, Christina-Anna Papanikolaou, Nikolaos Siomos, Kalliopi Artemis Voudouri, Luca Alados-Arboledas, Arnoud Apituley, Ina Mattis, Anatoli Chaikovsky, Constantino Muñoz-Porcar, Aleksander Pietruczuk, Daniele Bortoli, Holger Baars, Ivan Grigorov, and Zahary Peshev
Atmos. Chem. Phys. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2021-759, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2021-759, 2021
Revised manuscript not accepted
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Results over 10 years of biomass burning events measured by EARLINET are analysed by means of the intensive parameters, based on the methodology described in Part I. Smoke type is characterized for each of the four geographical regions based on continental smoke origin. Relationships between intensive parameters or colour ratios are shown. The smoke is labelled in average as aged smoke.
Ronny Engelmann, Albert Ansmann, Kevin Ohneiser, Hannes Griesche, Martin Radenz, Julian Hofer, Dietrich Althausen, Sandro Dahlke, Marion Maturilli, Igor Veselovskii, Cristofer Jimenez, Robert Wiesen, Holger Baars, Johannes Bühl, Henriette Gebauer, Moritz Haarig, Patric Seifert, Ulla Wandinger, and Andreas Macke
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 13397–13423, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-13397-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-13397-2021, 2021
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A Raman lidar was operated aboard the icebreaker Polarstern during MOSAiC and monitored aerosol and cloud layers in the central Arctic up to 30 km height. The article provides an overview of the spectrum of aerosol profiling observations and shows aerosol–cloud interaction studies for liquid-water and ice clouds. A highlight was the detection of a 10 km deep wildfire smoke layer over the North Pole up to 17 km height from the fire season of 2019, which persisted over the whole winter period.
Carmen Córdoba-Jabonero, Albert Ansmann, Cristofer Jiménez, Holger Baars, María-Ángeles López-Cayuela, and Ronny Engelmann
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 5225–5239, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-5225-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-5225-2021, 2021
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An experimental assessment of a polarized micro-pulse lidar (P-MPL) in comparison to reference lidars is presented regarding the retrieval of aerosol optical properties. The evaluation is focused on both the optimally determined overlap function and volume linear depolarization ratio. A P-MPL overlap must be regularly estimated to derive suitable aerosol products (backscatter, extinction, and particle depolarization ratio). This methodology can be easily applied to other P-MPL systems.
Karolina Sarna, David P. Donovan, and Herman W. J. Russchenberg
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 4959–4970, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-4959-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-4959-2021, 2021
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We show a method for obtaining cloud optical extinction with a lidar system. We use a scheme in which a lidar signal is inverted based on the estimated value of cloud extinction at the far end of the cloud and apply a correction for multiple scattering within the cloud and a range resolution correction. By applying our technique, we show that it is possible to obtain the cloud optical extinction with an error better than 5 % up to 90 m within the cloud.
Albert Ansmann, Kevin Ohneiser, Rodanthi-Elisavet Mamouri, Daniel A. Knopf, Igor Veselovskii, Holger Baars, Ronny Engelmann, Andreas Foth, Cristofer Jimenez, Patric Seifert, and Boris Barja
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 9779–9807, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-9779-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-9779-2021, 2021
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We present retrievals of tropospheric and stratospheric height profiles of particle mass, volume, surface area concentration of wildfire smoke layers, and related cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) and ice-nucleating particle (INP) concentrations. The new analysis scheme is applied to ground-based lidar observations of stratospheric Australian smoke over southern South America and to spaceborne lidar observations of tropospheric North American smoke.
Maria Kezoudi, Matthias Tesche, Helen Smith, Alexandra Tsekeri, Holger Baars, Maximilian Dollner, Víctor Estellés, Johannes Bühl, Bernadett Weinzierl, Zbigniew Ulanowski, Detlef Müller, and Vassilis Amiridis
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 6781–6797, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-6781-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-6781-2021, 2021
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Mineral dust concentrations in the diameter range from 0.4 to 14.0 μm were measured with the balloon-borne UCASS optical particle counter. Launches were coordinated with ground-based remote-sensing and airborne in situ measurements during a Saharan dust outbreak over Cyprus. Particle number concentrations reached 50 cm−3 for the diameter range 0.8–13.9 μm. Comparisons with aircraft data show reasonable agreement in magnitude and shape of the particle size distribution.
Ville Vakkari, Holger Baars, Stephanie Bohlmann, Johannes Bühl, Mika Komppula, Rodanthi-Elisavet Mamouri, and Ewan James O'Connor
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 5807–5820, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-5807-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-5807-2021, 2021
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The depolarization ratio is a valuable parameter for aerosol categorization from remote sensing measurements. Here, we introduce particle depolarization ratio measurements at the 1565 nm wavelength, which is substantially longer than previously utilized wavelengths and enhances our capabilities to study the wavelength dependency of the particle depolarization ratio.
Martin Radenz, Patric Seifert, Holger Baars, Athena Augusta Floutsi, Zhenping Yin, and Johannes Bühl
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 3015–3033, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-3015-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-3015-2021, 2021
Maria Mylonaki, Elina Giannakaki, Alexandros Papayannis, Christina-Anna Papanikolaou, Mika Komppula, Doina Nicolae, Nikolaos Papagiannopoulos, Aldo Amodeo, Holger Baars, and Ourania Soupiona
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 2211–2227, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-2211-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-2211-2021, 2021
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We introduce an automated aerosol type classification method, SCAN. The output of SCAN is compared with two aerosol classification methods: (1) the Mahalanobis distance automatic aerosol type classification and (2) a neural network aerosol typing algorithm. A total of 97 free tropospheric aerosol layers from four EARLINET stations in the period 2014–2018 were classified.
Cristofer Jimenez, Albert Ansmann, Ronny Engelmann, David Donovan, Aleksey Malinka, Jörg Schmidt, Patric Seifert, and Ulla Wandinger
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 15247–15263, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-15247-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-15247-2020, 2020
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A novel lidar method to study cloud microphysical properties (of liquid water clouds) and to study aerosol–cloud interaction (ACI) is developed and presented in this paper. In Part 1, the theoretical framework including an error analysis is given together with an overview of the aerosol information that the same lidar system can obtain. The ACI concept based on aerosol and cloud information is also explained. Applications of the proposed approach to lidar measurements are presented in Part 2.
Cristofer Jimenez, Albert Ansmann, Ronny Engelmann, David Donovan, Aleksey Malinka, Patric Seifert, Robert Wiesen, Martin Radenz, Zhenping Yin, Johannes Bühl, Jörg Schmidt, Boris Barja, and Ulla Wandinger
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 15265–15284, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-15265-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-15265-2020, 2020
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Part 2 presents the application of the dual-FOV polarization lidar technique introduced in Part 1. A lidar system was upgraded with a second polarization telescope, and it was deployed at the southernmost tip of South America. A comparison with alternative remote sensing techniques and the evaluation of the aerosol–cloud–wind relation in a convective boundary layer in pristine marine conditions are presented in two case studies, demonstrating the potential of the approach for ACI studies.
Anna Gialitaki, Alexandra Tsekeri, Vassilis Amiridis, Romain Ceolato, Lucas Paulien, Anna Kampouri, Antonis Gkikas, Stavros Solomos, Eleni Marinou, Moritz Haarig, Holger Baars, Albert Ansmann, Tatyana Lapyonok, Anton Lopatin, Oleg Dubovik, Silke Groß, Martin Wirth, Maria Tsichla, Ioanna Tsikoudi, and Dimitris Balis
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 14005–14021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-14005-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-14005-2020, 2020
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Stratospheric smoke particles are found to significantly depolarize incident light, while this effect is also accompanied by a strong spectral dependence. We utilize scattering simulations to show that this behaviour can be attributed to the near-spherical shape of the particles. We also examine whether an extension of the current AERONET scattering model to include the near-spherical shapes could be of benefit to the AERONET retrieval for stratospheric smoke associated with enhanced PLDR.
Holger Baars, Alina Herzog, Birgit Heese, Kevin Ohneiser, Karsten Hanbuch, Julian Hofer, Zhenping Yin, Ronny Engelmann, and Ulla Wandinger
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 6007–6024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-6007-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-6007-2020, 2020
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A first validation for the European satellite Aeolus is presented. Aeolus is the first satellite that can actively measure horizontal wind profiles from space.
Radiosonde launches on board the German research vessel Polarstern have been utilized to validate Aeolus observations over the Atlantic Ocean, a region where almost no other reference measurements are available. It is shown that Aeolus is able to measure accurately atmospheric winds and thus may significantly improve weather forecasts.
Hannes J. Griesche, Patric Seifert, Albert Ansmann, Holger Baars, Carola Barrientos Velasco, Johannes Bühl, Ronny Engelmann, Martin Radenz, Yin Zhenping, and Andreas Macke
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 5335–5358, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-5335-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-5335-2020, 2020
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In summer 2017, the research vessel Polarstern performed cruise PS106 to the Arctic north of Svalbard. In the frame of the cruise, remote-sensing observations of the atmosphere were performed on Polarstern to continuously monitor aerosol and clouds above the vessel. In our study, we present the deployed instrumentation and applied data analysis methods and provide case studies of the aerosol and cloud observations made during the cruise. Statistics of low-cloud occurrence are presented as well.
Nikolaos Papagiannopoulos, Giuseppe D'Amico, Anna Gialitaki, Nicolae Ajtai, Lucas Alados-Arboledas, Aldo Amodeo, Vassilis Amiridis, Holger Baars, Dimitris Balis, Ioannis Binietoglou, Adolfo Comerón, Davide Dionisi, Alfredo Falconieri, Patrick Fréville, Anna Kampouri, Ina Mattis, Zoran Mijić, Francisco Molero, Alex Papayannis, Gelsomina Pappalardo, Alejandro Rodríguez-Gómez, Stavros Solomos, and Lucia Mona
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 10775–10789, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-10775-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-10775-2020, 2020
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Volcanic and desert dust particles affect human activities in manifold ways; consequently, mitigation tools are important. Their early detection and the issuance of early warnings are key elements in the initiation of operational response procedures. A methodology for the early warning of these hazards using European Aerosol Research Lidar Network (EARLINET) data is presented. The tailored product is investigated during a volcanic eruption and mineral dust advected in the eastern Mediterranean.
Julian Hofer, Albert Ansmann, Dietrich Althausen, Ronny Engelmann, Holger Baars, Khanneh Wadinga Fomba, Ulla Wandinger, Sabur F. Abdullaev, and Abduvosit N. Makhmudov
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 9265–9280, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-9265-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-9265-2020, 2020
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For the first time, a dense data set of particle extinction-to-backscatter ratios (lidar ratios), depolarization ratios, and backscatter- and extinction-related Ångström exponents for a Central Asian site are presented. The observations were performed with a continuously running multiwavelength polarization Raman lidar at Dushanbe, Tajikistan, during an 18-month campaign. The found optical properties reflect the large range of occurring aerosol mixtures.
Mariana Adam, Doina Nicolae, Livio Belegante, Iwona S. Stachlewska, Lucja Janicka, Dominika Szczepanik, Maria Mylonaki, Christiana Anna Papanikolaou, Nikos Siomos, Kalliopi Artemis Voudouri, Luca Alados-Arboledas, Juan Antonio Bravo-Aranda, Arnoud Apituley, Nikolaos Papagiannopoulos, Lucia Mona, Ina Mattis, Anatoli Chaikovsky, Michaël Sicard, Constantino Muñoz-Porcar, Aleksander Pietruczuk, Daniele Bortoli, Holger Baars, Ivan Grigorov, and Zahary Peshev
Atmos. Chem. Phys. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2020-647, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2020-647, 2020
Revised manuscript not accepted
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Results over 10 years of biomass burning events measured by EARLINET are analysed by means of the intensive parameters based on the methodology described in Part I. Smoke type is characterized for each of the four geographical regions based on continental smoke origin. Relationships between intensive parameters or colour ratios are shown. The smoke is labelled in average as aged smoke. The local smoke has a smaller lidar ratio while the depolarization is smaller for long range transported smoke.
Christa Genz, Roland Schrödner, Bernd Heinold, Silvia Henning, Holger Baars, Gerald Spindler, and Ina Tegen
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 8787–8806, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-8787-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-8787-2020, 2020
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Atmospheric aerosols are the precondition for the formation of cloud droplets and thus have a large influence on cloud properties. Concentrations of cloud condensation nuclei of the period with highest aerosol concentrations over central Europe are uncertain. In this work, modeled estimates of CCN from today and the mid-1980s are compared to available in situ and remote sensing observations. A scaling factor between today and the 1980s for the CCN concentrations has been derived.
Kevin Ohneiser, Albert Ansmann, Holger Baars, Patric Seifert, Boris Barja, Cristofer Jimenez, Martin Radenz, Audrey Teisseire, Athina Floutsi, Moritz Haarig, Andreas Foth, Alexandra Chudnovsky, Ronny Engelmann, Félix Zamorano, Johannes Bühl, and Ulla Wandinger
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 8003–8015, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-8003-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-8003-2020, 2020
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Unique lidar observations of a strong perturbation in stratospheric aerosol conditions in the Southern Hemisphere caused by the extreme Australian bushfires in 2019–2020 are presented. One of the main goals of this article is to provide the CALIPSO and Aeolus spaceborne lidar science teams with basic input parameters (lidar ratios, depolarization ratios) for a trustworthy documentation of this record-breaking event.
Stefanos Samaras, Christine Böckmann, Moritz Haarig, Albert Ansmann, Adrian Walser, and Bernadett Weinzierl
Atmos. Chem. Phys. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2020-459, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2020-459, 2020
Preprint withdrawn
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We retrieve microphysical properties of Saharan dust particles after a long-range transport over the Atlantic Ocean to Barbados using three depolarization channels of a Raman lidar. The retrievals are performed with a spheroidal software tool by regularization. For the first time we retrieve simultaneously a shape- and size-dependent particle distribution and compare it with the polarization lidar-photometer networking method, ground-based photometer and airborne in situ particle counter data.
Athena Augusta Floutsi, Holger Baars, Martin Radenz, Moritz Haarig, Zhenping Yin, Patric Seifert, Cristofer Jimenez, Ulla Wandinger, Ronny Engelmann, Boris Barja, Felix Zamorano, and Albert Ansmann
Atmos. Chem. Phys. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2020-453, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2020-453, 2020
Preprint withdrawn
Montserrat Costa-Surós, Odran Sourdeval, Claudia Acquistapace, Holger Baars, Cintia Carbajal Henken, Christa Genz, Jonas Hesemann, Cristofer Jimenez, Marcel König, Jan Kretzschmar, Nils Madenach, Catrin I. Meyer, Roland Schrödner, Patric Seifert, Fabian Senf, Matthias Brueck, Guido Cioni, Jan Frederik Engels, Kerstin Fieg, Ksenia Gorges, Rieke Heinze, Pavan Kumar Siligam, Ulrike Burkhardt, Susanne Crewell, Corinna Hoose, Axel Seifert, Ina Tegen, and Johannes Quaas
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 5657–5678, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-5657-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-5657-2020, 2020
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The impact of anthropogenic aerosols on clouds is a key uncertainty in climate change. This study analyses large-domain simulations with a new high-resolution model to investigate the differences in clouds between 1985 and 2013 comparing multiple observational datasets. The differences in aerosol and in cloud droplet concentrations are clearly detectable. For other quantities, the detection and attribution proved difficult, despite a substantial impact on the Earth's energy budget.
Julian Hofer, Albert Ansmann, Dietrich Althausen, Ronny Engelmann, Holger Baars, Sabur F. Abdullaev, and Abduvosit N. Makhmudov
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 4695–4711, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-4695-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-4695-2020, 2020
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For the first time, continuous, vertically resolved long-term aerosol measurements were conducted with a state-of-the-art multiwavelength lidar over a Central Asian site. Such observations are urgently required in efforts to predict future climate and environmental conditions and to support spaceborne remote sensing (ground truth activities).
Johannes Bühl, Patric Seifert, Martin Radenz, Holger Baars, and Albert Ansmann
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 12, 6601–6617, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-6601-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-6601-2019, 2019
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In the present paper, we present a novel remote-sensing technique for the measurement of ice crystal number concentrations in clouds. The fall velocity of ice crystals measured with values from cloud radar and a radar wind profiler is used in order to derive information about ice crystal size and number concentration. In contrast to existing methods based on the combination of lidar and cloud radar, the present method can also be used in optically thick clouds.
Holger Baars, Albert Ansmann, Kevin Ohneiser, Moritz Haarig, Ronny Engelmann, Dietrich Althausen, Ingrid Hanssen, Michael Gausa, Aleksander Pietruczuk, Artur Szkop, Iwona S. Stachlewska, Dongxiang Wang, Jens Reichardt, Annett Skupin, Ina Mattis, Thomas Trickl, Hannes Vogelmann, Francisco Navas-Guzmán, Alexander Haefele, Karen Acheson, Albert A. Ruth, Boyan Tatarov, Detlef Müller, Qiaoyun Hu, Thierry Podvin, Philippe Goloub, Igor Veselovskii, Christophe Pietras, Martial Haeffelin, Patrick Fréville, Michaël Sicard, Adolfo Comerón, Alfonso Javier Fernández García, Francisco Molero Menéndez, Carmen Córdoba-Jabonero, Juan Luis Guerrero-Rascado, Lucas Alados-Arboledas, Daniele Bortoli, Maria João Costa, Davide Dionisi, Gian Luigi Liberti, Xuan Wang, Alessia Sannino, Nikolaos Papagiannopoulos, Antonella Boselli, Lucia Mona, Giuseppe D'Amico, Salvatore Romano, Maria Rita Perrone, Livio Belegante, Doina Nicolae, Ivan Grigorov, Anna Gialitaki, Vassilis Amiridis, Ourania Soupiona, Alexandros Papayannis, Rodanthi-Elisaveth Mamouri, Argyro Nisantzi, Birgit Heese, Julian Hofer, Yoav Y. Schechner, Ulla Wandinger, and Gelsomina Pappalardo
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 15183–15198, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-15183-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-15183-2019, 2019
Carlos Toledano, Benjamín Torres, Cristian Velasco-Merino, Dietrich Althausen, Silke Groß, Matthias Wiegner, Bernadett Weinzierl, Josef Gasteiger, Albert Ansmann, Ramiro González, David Mateos, David Farrel, Thomas Müller, Moritz Haarig, and Victoria E. Cachorro
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 14571–14583, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-14571-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-14571-2019, 2019
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Ground-based sun photometers have been used to analyze the properties of long-range transported Saharan dust over Barbados. The measurements were carried out as part of the Saharan Aerosol Long-Range Transport and Aerosol–Cloud-Interaction Experiment (SALTRACE), carried out in the Caribbean in 2013. A variety of instruments, ground-based and airborne, were used in this research. In this paper, the sun photometer data are presented and related to data collected from other co-located instruments.
Rebecca M. Pauly, John E. Yorks, Dennis L. Hlavka, Matthew J. McGill, Vassilis Amiridis, Stephen P. Palm, Sharon D. Rodier, Mark A. Vaughan, Patrick A. Selmer, Andrew W. Kupchock, Holger Baars, and Anna Gialitaki
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 12, 6241–6258, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-6241-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-6241-2019, 2019
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The Cloud Aerosol Transport System (CATS) demonstrated that direct calibration of 1064 nm lidar data from a spaceborne platform is possible. By normalizing the CATS signal to a modeled molecular backscatter profile the CATS data were calibrated, enabling the derivation of optical properties of clouds and aerosols. Comparisons of the calibrated signal with airborne lidar, ground-based lidar, and spaceborne lidar all show agreement within the estimated error bars of the respective instruments.
Moritz Haarig, Adrian Walser, Albert Ansmann, Maximilian Dollner, Dietrich Althausen, Daniel Sauer, David Farrell, and Bernadett Weinzierl
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 13773–13788, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-13773-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-13773-2019, 2019
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Aerosol particles are necessary in forming a cloud droplet. In order to improve studies of cloud formation, the aerosol load and type below a cloud has to be measured without disturbing the cloud. The lidar is a perfect tool for this purpose, as it provides a vertical profile of the aerosol particles from the ground. We validated the lidar retrieval of cloud-relevant aerosol properties like particle number concentrations with airborne in situ measurements in the Saharan Air Layer at Barbados.
Zhenping Yin, Albert Ansmann, Holger Baars, Patric Seifert, Ronny Engelmann, Martin Radenz, Cristofer Jimenez, Alina Herzog, Kevin Ohneiser, Karsten Hanbuch, Luc Blarel, Philippe Goloub, Gaël Dubois, Stephane Victori, and Fabrice Maupin
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 12, 5685–5698, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-5685-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-5685-2019, 2019
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A new shipborne Sun–sky–lunar photometer was validated through comparisons with collocated MICROTOPS II and multiwavelength Raman polarization lidar measurements during two trans-Atlantic cruises. A full diurnal cycle of mixed dust–smoke episode was captured by both the shipborne photometer and lidar. The coefficient of determination for the linear regression between MICROTOPS II and the shipborne photometer was 0.993 for AOD at 500 nm based on the entire dataset.
Emmanouil Proestakis, Vassilis Amiridis, Eleni Marinou, Ioannis Binietoglou, Albert Ansmann, Ulla Wandinger, Julian Hofer, John Yorks, Edward Nowottnick, Abduvosit Makhmudov, Alexandros Papayannis, Aleksander Pietruczuk, Anna Gialitaki, Arnoud Apituley, Artur Szkop, Constantino Muñoz Porcar, Daniele Bortoli, Davide Dionisi, Dietrich Althausen, Dimitra Mamali, Dimitris Balis, Doina Nicolae, Eleni Tetoni, Gian Luigi Liberti, Holger Baars, Ina Mattis, Iwona Sylwia Stachlewska, Kalliopi Artemis Voudouri, Lucia Mona, Maria Mylonaki, Maria Rita Perrone, Maria João Costa, Michael Sicard, Nikolaos Papagiannopoulos, Nikolaos Siomos, Pasquale Burlizzi, Rebecca Pauly, Ronny Engelmann, Sabur Abdullaev, and Gelsomina Pappalardo
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 11743–11764, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-11743-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-11743-2019, 2019
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To increase accuracy and validate satellite-based products, comparison with ground-based reference observations is required. To do this, we present evaluation activity of EARLINET for the qualitative and quantitative assessment of NASA's CATS lidar operating aboard the International Space Station (ISS) while identified discrepancies are discussed. Better understanding CATS performance and limitations provides a valuable basis for scientific studies implementing the satellite-based lidar system.
Albert Ansmann, Rodanthi-Elisavet Mamouri, Julian Hofer, Holger Baars, Dietrich Althausen, and Sabur F. Abdullaev
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 12, 4849–4865, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-4849-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-4849-2019, 2019
Eleni Marinou, Matthias Tesche, Athanasios Nenes, Albert Ansmann, Jann Schrod, Dimitra Mamali, Alexandra Tsekeri, Michael Pikridas, Holger Baars, Ronny Engelmann, Kalliopi-Artemis Voudouri, Stavros Solomos, Jean Sciare, Silke Groß, Florian Ewald, and Vassilis Amiridis
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 11315–11342, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-11315-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-11315-2019, 2019
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We assess the feasibility of ground-based and spaceborne lidars to retrieve profiles of cloud-relevant aerosol concentrations and ice-nucleating particles. The retrieved profiles are in good agreement with airborne in situ measurements. Our methodology will be applied to satellite observations in the future so as to provide a global 3D product of cloud-relevant properties.
Matthias Tesche, Alexei Kolgotin, Moritz Haarig, Sharon P. Burton, Richard A. Ferrare, Chris A. Hostetler, and Detlef Müller
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 12, 4421–4437, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-4421-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-4421-2019, 2019
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Today, few lidar are capable of triple-wavelength particle linear depolarization ratio (PLDR) measurements. This study is the first systematic investigation of the effect of different choices of PLDR input on the inversion of lidar measurements of mineral dust and dusty mixtures using light scattering by randomly oriented spheroids. We provide recommendations of the most suitable input parameters for use with the applied methodology, based on a relational assessment of the inversion output.
Andreas Foth, Thomas Kanitz, Ronny Engelmann, Holger Baars, Martin Radenz, Patric Seifert, Boris Barja, Michael Fromm, Heike Kalesse, and Albert Ansmann
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 6217–6233, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-6217-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-6217-2019, 2019
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In this study, we present the vertical aerosol distribution in the pristine region of the southern tip of South America determined by ground-based and spaceborne lidar observations. Most aerosol load is contained within the planetary boundary layer up to about 1200 m. The free troposphere is characterized by a very low aerosol concentration but a frequent occurrence of clouds. Lofted aerosol layers were rarely observed and, when present, were characterized by very low optical thicknesses.
Cristofer Jimenez, Albert Ansmann, Ronny Engelmann, Moritz Haarig, Jörg Schmidt, and Ulla Wandinger
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 12, 1077–1093, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-1077-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-1077-2019, 2019
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We propose an extended formalism for a full instrumental characterization of a three-channel lidar system, allowing the retrieval of highly accurate linear depolarization profiles. The results obtained at several depolarizing scenarios, the good agreement with the retrievals of a second collocated calibrated lidar system, and the long-term stability of the calibration parameters corroborate the potential and robustness of the new technique.
Michael Weger, Bernd Heinold, Christa Engler, Ulrich Schumann, Axel Seifert, Romy Fößig, Christiane Voigt, Holger Baars, Ulrich Blahak, Stephan Borrmann, Corinna Hoose, Stefan Kaufmann, Martina Krämer, Patric Seifert, Fabian Senf, Johannes Schneider, and Ina Tegen
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 17545–17572, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-17545-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-17545-2018, 2018
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The impact of desert dust on cloud formation is investigated for a major Saharan dust event over Europe by interactive regional dust modeling. Dust particles are very efficient ice-nucleating particles promoting the formation of ice crystals in clouds. The simulations show that the observed extensive cirrus development was likely related to the above-average dust load. The interactive dust–cloud feedback in the model significantly improves the agreement with aircraft and satellite observations.
Nikolaos Papagiannopoulos, Lucia Mona, Aldo Amodeo, Giuseppe D'Amico, Pilar Gumà Claramunt, Gelsomina Pappalardo, Lucas Alados-Arboledas, Juan Luís Guerrero-Rascado, Vassilis Amiridis, Panagiotis Kokkalis, Arnoud Apituley, Holger Baars, Anja Schwarz, Ulla Wandinger, Ioannis Binietoglou, Doina Nicolae, Daniele Bortoli, Adolfo Comerón, Alejandro Rodríguez-Gómez, Michaël Sicard, Alex Papayannis, and Matthias Wiegner
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 15879–15901, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-15879-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-15879-2018, 2018
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A stand-alone automatic method for typing observations of the European Aerosol Research Lidar Network (EARLINET) is presented. The method compares the observations to model distributions that were constructed using EARLINET pre-classified data. The algorithm’s versatility and adaptability makes it suitable for network-wide typing studies.
Albert Ansmann, Holger Baars, Alexandra Chudnovsky, Ina Mattis, Igor Veselovskii, Moritz Haarig, Patric Seifert, Ronny Engelmann, and Ulla Wandinger
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 11831–11845, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-11831-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-11831-2018, 2018
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Extremely large light extinction coefficients of 500 Mm-1, about 20 times higher than after the Pinatubo volcanic eruptions in 1991, were observed by EARLINET lidars in the stratosphere over central Europe from 21 to 22 August, 2017. This paper provides an overview based on ground-based (lidar, AERONET) and satellite (MODIS, OMI) remote sensing.
Moritz Haarig, Albert Ansmann, Holger Baars, Cristofer Jimenez, Igor Veselovskii, Ronny Engelmann, and Dietrich Althausen
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 11847–11861, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-11847-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-11847-2018, 2018
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The worldwide only triple-wavelength polarization/Raman lidar was used to measure optical, microphysical, and morphological properties of aged Canadian wildfire smoke occurring in the troposphere and stratosphere over Leipzig, Germany, in August 2017. A strong contrast between the tropospheric and stratospheric smoke properties was found.
Carmen Córdoba-Jabonero, Michaël Sicard, Albert Ansmann, Ana del Águila, and Holger Baars
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 4775–4795, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-4775-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-4775-2018, 2018
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The high potential of the MPLNET polarized Micro-Pulse LiDAR (P-MPL) is demonstrated in synergy with the POLIPHON (POlarization-LIdar PHOtometer Networking) method to retrieve the vertical separation of both the optical and mass features of the dust, smoke and pollen components mixed with other aerosols. This synergetic procedure can be easily applied to the worldwide MPLNET lidar systems and to space-borne lidars: the ongoing NASA CALIPSO/CALIOP and the forthcoming ESA EarthCARE/ATLID.
Daniel Moran-Zuloaga, Florian Ditas, David Walter, Jorge Saturno, Joel Brito, Samara Carbone, Xuguang Chi, Isabella Hrabě de Angelis, Holger Baars, Ricardo H. M. Godoi, Birgit Heese, Bruna A. Holanda, Jošt V. Lavrič, Scot T. Martin, Jing Ming, Mira L. Pöhlker, Nina Ruckteschler, Hang Su, Yaqiang Wang, Qiaoqiao Wang, Zhibin Wang, Bettina Weber, Stefan Wolff, Paulo Artaxo, Ulrich Pöschl, Meinrat O. Andreae, and Christopher Pöhlker
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 10055–10088, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-10055-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-10055-2018, 2018
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This study presents multiple years of aerosol coarse mode observations at the remote ATTO site in the Amazon Basin. The results are discussed in light of the frequent and episodic long-range transport of Saharan dust plumes in the early wet season as well as the persistent background bioaerosol cycling in the rain forest ecosystem. This work provides a solid basis for future studies on the dynamic coarse mode aerosol cycling and its biogeochemical relevance in the Amazon.
Stephanie Bohlmann, Holger Baars, Martin Radenz, Ronny Engelmann, and Andreas Macke
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 9661–9679, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-9661-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-9661-2018, 2018
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Lidar measurements of two expeditions across the Atlantic Ocean aboard the research vessel Polarstern are presented. In addition to Saharan dust layers and complex dust–smoke mixtures, pure marine conditions with enhanced particle depolarisation ratios on top of the marine boundary layer could be observed. A statistical analysis shows latitudinal differences in the optical properties within the marine boundary layer and illustrates the potential of these properties for aerosol classification.
Barbara Altstädter, Andreas Platis, Michael Jähn, Holger Baars, Janine Lückerath, Andreas Held, Astrid Lampert, Jens Bange, Markus Hermann, and Birgit Wehner
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 8249–8264, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-8249-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-8249-2018, 2018
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This article describes the appearance of ultrafine aerosol particles (size < 12 nm) within the atmospheric boundary layer under cloudy conditions. New particle formation (NPF) was observed with the ALADINA unmanned aerial system in relation to increased turbulence near the inversion layer. Fast mixing processes and rapid dilution of surrounding air led to an insufficient particle growth rate, seen in sporadic clusters at ground. These events might not have been classified as NPF by surface data.
Dimitra Mamali, Eleni Marinou, Jean Sciare, Michael Pikridas, Panagiotis Kokkalis, Michael Kottas, Ioannis Binietoglou, Alexandra Tsekeri, Christos Keleshis, Ronny Engelmann, Holger Baars, Albert Ansmann, Vassilis Amiridis, Herman Russchenberg, and George Biskos
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 2897–2910, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-2897-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-2897-2018, 2018
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The paper's scope is to evaluate the performance of in situ atmospheric aerosol instrumentation on board unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and the performance of algorithms used to calculate the aerosol mass from remote sensing instruments by comparing the two independent techniques to each other. Our results indicate that UAV-based aerosol measurements (using specific in situ and remote sensing instrumentation) can provide reliable ways to determine the aerosol mass throughout the atmosphere.
Livio Belegante, Juan Antonio Bravo-Aranda, Volker Freudenthaler, Doina Nicolae, Anca Nemuc, Dragos Ene, Lucas Alados-Arboledas, Aldo Amodeo, Gelsomina Pappalardo, Giuseppe D'Amico, Francesco Amato, Ronny Engelmann, Holger Baars, Ulla Wandinger, Alexandros Papayannis, Panos Kokkalis, and Sérgio N. Pereira
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 1119–1141, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-1119-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-1119-2018, 2018
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This paper presents different depolarization calibration procedures used to improve the quality of the depolarization data. The results illustrate a significant improvement of the depolarization lidar products for all the selected EARLINET lidar instruments. The calibrated volume and particle depolarization profiles at 532 nm show values that fall within a range that is accepted in the literature. The depolarization accuracy estimate at 532 nm is better than ±0.03 for all cases.
Sebastian Düsing, Birgit Wehner, Patric Seifert, Albert Ansmann, Holger Baars, Florian Ditas, Silvia Henning, Nan Ma, Laurent Poulain, Holger Siebert, Alfred Wiedensohler, and Andreas Macke
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 1263–1290, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-1263-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-1263-2018, 2018
Alexandra Tsekeri, Anton Lopatin, Vassilis Amiridis, Eleni Marinou, Julia Igloffstein, Nikolaos Siomos, Stavros Solomos, Panagiotis Kokkalis, Ronny Engelmann, Holger Baars, Myrto Gratsea, Panagiotis I. Raptis, Ioannis Binietoglou, Nikolaos Mihalopoulos, Nikolaos Kalivitis, Giorgos Kouvarakis, Nikolaos Bartsotas, George Kallos, Sara Basart, Dirk Schuettemeyer, Ulla Wandinger, Albert Ansmann, Anatoli P. Chaikovsky, and Oleg Dubovik
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 10, 4995–5016, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-4995-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-4995-2017, 2017
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The Generalized Aerosol Retrieval from Radiometer and Lidar Combined data algorithm (GARRLiC) and the LIdar-Radiometer Inversion Code (LIRIC) provide the opportunity to study the aerosol vertical distribution by combining ground-based lidar and sun-photometric measurements. Here, we utilize the capabilities of both algorithms for the characterization of Saharan dust and marine particles, along with their mixtures, in the south-eastern Mediterranean.
Albert Ansmann, Franziska Rittmeister, Ronny Engelmann, Sara Basart, Oriol Jorba, Christos Spyrou, Samuel Remy, Annett Skupin, Holger Baars, Patric Seifert, Fabian Senf, and Thomas Kanitz
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 14987–15006, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-14987-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-14987-2017, 2017
Stephanie P. Rusli, David P. Donovan, and Herman W. J. Russchenberg
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 10, 4777–4803, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-4777-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-4777-2017, 2017
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A retrieval method exploiting a synergy of radar, lidar, and microwave radiometer measurements is developed to simultaneously derive microphysical properties of cloud and drizzle in a physically consistent way. After successful tests with simulated scenes, this technique is applied to data collected in Cabauw, the Netherlands. Evaluation of the results shows that the retrieved cloud and drizzle properties are consistent with what is derived from multiple independent retrieval methods.
Julian Hofer, Dietrich Althausen, Sabur F. Abdullaev, Abduvosit N. Makhmudov, Bakhron I. Nazarov, Georg Schettler, Ronny Engelmann, Holger Baars, K. Wadinga Fomba, Konrad Müller, Bernd Heinold, Konrad Kandler, and Albert Ansmann
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 14559–14577, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-14559-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-14559-2017, 2017
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The Central Asian Dust Experiment provides unprecedented data on vertically resolved aerosol optical properties over Central Asia from continuous 18-month polarization Raman lidar observations in Dushanbe, Tajikistan. Central Asia is affected by climate change (e.g. glacier retreat) but in a large part missing vertically resolved aerosol measurements, which would help to better understand transport of dust and pollution aerosol across Central Asia and their influence on climate and health.
Moritz Haarig, Albert Ansmann, Josef Gasteiger, Konrad Kandler, Dietrich Althausen, Holger Baars, Martin Radenz, and David A. Farrell
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 14199–14217, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-14199-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-14199-2017, 2017
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The depolarization ratio and the backscatter coefficient of marine particles are correlated with the relative humidity. The measurements were performed under atmospheric conditions with a multi-wavelength lidar system in pure marine conditions over Barbados in February 2014. For RH < 50 % the sea salt particles have a cubic-like shape resulting in an enhanced depolarization ratio of up to 0.15. This agrees with model results of cubic sea salt. The extinction enhancement f(RH) factor was derived.
Maria Filioglou, Anna Nikandrova, Sami Niemelä, Holger Baars, Tero Mielonen, Ari Leskinen, David Brus, Sami Romakkaniemi, Elina Giannakaki, and Mika Komppula
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 10, 4303–4316, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-4303-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-4303-2017, 2017
Franziska Rittmeister, Albert Ansmann, Ronny Engelmann, Annett Skupin, Holger Baars, Thomas Kanitz, and Stefan Kinne
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 12963–12983, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-12963-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-12963-2017, 2017
Moritz Haarig, Albert Ansmann, Dietrich Althausen, André Klepel, Silke Groß, Volker Freudenthaler, Carlos Toledano, Rodanthi-Elisavet Mamouri, David A. Farrell, Damien A. Prescod, Eleni Marinou, Sharon P. Burton, Josef Gasteiger, Ronny Engelmann, and Holger Baars
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 10767–10794, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-10767-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-10767-2017, 2017
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Our measurements performed with a lidar on Barbados give a vertical profile of Saharan dust, which was transported over 5000 km across the Atlantic. The new triple-wavelength depolarization technique reveals more information about the shape and size of dust, which will improve our understanding of the aging process of dust in the atmosphere and its representation in dust models. Changing properties of dust particles influence the solar radiation and the cloud properties and thus our climate.
Holger Baars, Patric Seifert, Ronny Engelmann, and Ulla Wandinger
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 10, 3175–3201, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-3175-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-3175-2017, 2017
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A novel technique for multiwavelength lidars is introduced to derive information on the particle type in the tropospheric profile in analogy to the Cloudnet target classification. Four different aerosol classes and several cloud classes are defined. The technique is based on absolute calibrated lidar signals in temporally high resolution and thus is also well suited for aerosol–cloud-interaction studies. The approach was applied on a 2-month data set of the HOPE campaign in western Germany.
Nikos Benas, Stephan Finkensieper, Martin Stengel, Gerd-Jan van Zadelhoff, Timo Hanschmann, Rainer Hollmann, and Jan Fokke Meirink
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 9, 415–434, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-9-415-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-9-415-2017, 2017
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This study focuses on an evaluation of CLAAS-2 (Cloud property dAtAset using SEVIRI, Edition 2), which was created based on observations from geostationary Meteosat satellites. Using a variety of reference datasets, very good overall agreement is found. This suggests the usefulness of CLAAS-2 in applications ranging from high spatial and temporal resolution cloud process studies to the evaluation of regional climate models.
Birgit Heese, Holger Baars, Stephanie Bohlmann, Dietrich Althausen, and Ruru Deng
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 6679–6691, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-6679-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-6679-2017, 2017
Marco de Bruine, Arnoud Apituley, David Patrick Donovan, Hendrik Klein Baltink, and Marijn Jorrit de Haij
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 10, 1893–1909, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-1893-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-1893-2017, 2017
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To know how air pollution moves away from their sources, we need to know the height of the pollution. We use a laser instrument that detects particles of air pollution to precisely measure the height of the particles. Now we want to detect the layer where the pollution is. As the height of this layer changes with time it is difficult to automatically follow the correct layer. Pathfinder, which works like route planners that find the shortest way, improves this task.
Pablo Ortiz-Amezcua, Juan Luis Guerrero-Rascado, María José Granados-Muñoz, José Antonio Benavent-Oltra, Christine Böckmann, Stefanos Samaras, Iwona S. Stachlewska, Łucja Janicka, Holger Baars, Stephanie Bohlmann, and Lucas Alados-Arboledas
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 5931–5946, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-5931-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-5931-2017, 2017
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Strong events of biomass burning aerosol transported from North American forest fires were detected during July 2013 at three European stations from EARLINET. Satellite observations and models were used to estimate the smoke sources and transport paths. Using lidar techniques and regularization algorithms, the aerosol layers were optically and microphysically characterized, finding some common features among the events, concerning the similar aging processes undergone by the particles.
Eleni Marinou, Vassilis Amiridis, Ioannis Binietoglou, Athanasios Tsikerdekis, Stavros Solomos, Emannouil Proestakis, Dimitra Konsta, Nikolaos Papagiannopoulos, Alexandra Tsekeri, Georgia Vlastou, Prodromos Zanis, Dimitrios Balis, Ulla Wandinger, and Albert Ansmann
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 5893–5919, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-5893-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-5893-2017, 2017
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We provide a 3D multiyear analysis on the evolution of Saharan dust over Europe, using a dust product retrieved from the CALIPSO satellite and using EARLINET methods. The results reveal for the first time the 9-year 3D seasonal patterns of dust over its transport paths from the Sahara towards the Mediterranean. The dataset is unique with respect to its potential applications, including the evaluation of dust models and the estimation of ice nuclei concentration profiles from space.
Karl-Göran Karlsson, Kati Anttila, Jörg Trentmann, Martin Stengel, Jan Fokke Meirink, Abhay Devasthale, Timo Hanschmann, Steffen Kothe, Emmihenna Jääskeläinen, Joseph Sedlar, Nikos Benas, Gerd-Jan van Zadelhoff, Cornelia Schlundt, Diana Stein, Stefan Finkensieper, Nina Håkansson, and Rainer Hollmann
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 5809–5828, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-5809-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-5809-2017, 2017
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The paper presents the second version of a global climate data record based on satellite measurements from polar orbiting weather satellites. It describes the global evolution of cloudiness, surface albedo and surface radiation during the time period 1982–2015. The main improvements of algorithms are described together with some validation results. In addition, some early analysis is presented of some particularly interesting climate features (Arctic albedo and cloudiness + global cloudiness).
Andreas Macke, Patric Seifert, Holger Baars, Christian Barthlott, Christoph Beekmans, Andreas Behrendt, Birger Bohn, Matthias Brueck, Johannes Bühl, Susanne Crewell, Thomas Damian, Hartwig Deneke, Sebastian Düsing, Andreas Foth, Paolo Di Girolamo, Eva Hammann, Rieke Heinze, Anne Hirsikko, John Kalisch, Norbert Kalthoff, Stefan Kinne, Martin Kohler, Ulrich Löhnert, Bomidi Lakshmi Madhavan, Vera Maurer, Shravan Kumar Muppa, Jan Schween, Ilya Serikov, Holger Siebert, Clemens Simmer, Florian Späth, Sandra Steinke, Katja Träumner, Silke Trömel, Birgit Wehner, Andreas Wieser, Volker Wulfmeyer, and Xinxin Xie
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 4887–4914, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-4887-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-4887-2017, 2017
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This article provides an overview of the instrumental setup and the main results obtained during the two HD(CP)2 Observational Prototype Experiments HOPE-Jülich and HOPE-Melpitz conducted in Germany in April–May and Sept 2013, respectively. Goal of the field experiments was to provide high-resolution observational datasets for both, improving the understaning of boundary layer and cloud processes, as well as for the evaluation of the new ICON model that is run at 156 m horizontal resolution.
Jann Schrod, Daniel Weber, Jaqueline Drücke, Christos Keleshis, Michael Pikridas, Martin Ebert, Bojan Cvetković, Slobodan Nickovic, Eleni Marinou, Holger Baars, Albert Ansmann, Mihalis Vrekoussis, Nikos Mihalopoulos, Jean Sciare, Joachim Curtius, and Heinz G. Bingemer
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 4817–4835, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-4817-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-4817-2017, 2017
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In this paper we present data of ice-nucleating particles (INPs) from a 1-month campaign in the Eastern Mediterranean using unmanned aircraft systems (UASs, drones) and offline sampling with subsequent laboratory analysis. To our knowledge, this is the first time INPs were measured onboard a UAS. We find that INP concentrations were 1 magnitude higher aloft than at the ground, highlighting that surface-based measurement of INP may only be of limited significance for the situation at cloud level.
Diego A. Gouveia, Boris Barja, Henrique M. J. Barbosa, Patric Seifert, Holger Baars, Theotonio Pauliquevis, and Paulo Artaxo
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 3619–3636, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-3619-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-3619-2017, 2017
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We derive the first comprehensive statistics of cirrus clouds over a tropical rain forest. Monthly frequency of occurrence can be as high as 88 %. The diurnal cycle follows that of precipitation, and frequently cirrus is found in the tropopause layer. The mean values of cloud top, base, thickness, optical depth and lidar ratio were 14.3 km, 12.9 km, 1.4 km, 0.25, and 23 sr respectively. The high fraction (42 %) of subvisible clouds may contaminate satellite measurements to an unknown extent.
Josef Gasteiger, Silke Groß, Daniel Sauer, Moritz Haarig, Albert Ansmann, and Bernadett Weinzierl
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 297–311, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-297-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-297-2017, 2017
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To study aerosol transport in the Saharan Air Layer (SAL) from Africa to the Caribbean, we combine advanced optical models of Saharan aerosols with Stokes settling and two hypotheses about the occurrence of vertical mixing. By testing our hypotheses with lidar and in situ profiles measured near the top of the transported SAL, we find strong evidence that vertical mixing occurs in the SAL over the Atlantic with significant consequences for size distribution of the transported Saharan aerosols.
Juan Antonio Bravo-Aranda, Livio Belegante, Volker Freudenthaler, Lucas Alados-Arboledas, Doina Nicolae, María José Granados-Muñoz, Juan Luis Guerrero-Rascado, Aldo Amodeo, Giusseppe D'Amico, Ronny Engelmann, Gelsomina Pappalardo, Panos Kokkalis, Rodanthy Mamouri, Alex Papayannis, Francisco Navas-Guzmán, Francisco José Olmo, Ulla Wandinger, Francesco Amato, and Martial Haeffelin
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 9, 4935–4953, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-4935-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-4935-2016, 2016
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This work analyses the lidar polarizing sensitivity by means of the Stokes–Müller formalism and provides a new tool to quantify the systematic error of the volume linear depolarization ration (δ) using the Monte Carlo technique. Results evidence the importance of the lidar polarizing effects which can lead to systematic errors larger than 100 %. Additionally, we demonstrate that a proper lidar characterization helps to reduce the uncertainty.
Moritz Haarig, Ronny Engelmann, Albert Ansmann, Igor Veselovskii, David N. Whiteman, and Dietrich Althausen
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 9, 4269–4278, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-4269-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-4269-2016, 2016
Alexander Myagkov, Patric Seifert, Ulla Wandinger, Johannes Bühl, and Ronny Engelmann
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 9, 3739–3754, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-3739-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-3739-2016, 2016
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This paper presents first quantitative estimations of ice particle shape at the top of liquid-topped clouds. The estimation is based on polarimetric measurements from a Ka-band cloud radar. 22 cases observed during the ACCEPT (Analysis of the Composition of Clouds with Extended Polarization Techniques) campaign were used. Data from a free-fall chamber were used for the comparison. A good agreement of detected shapes with known shape–temperature dependencies observed in laboratories was found.
Ina Mattis, Giuseppe D'Amico, Holger Baars, Aldo Amodeo, Fabio Madonna, and Marco Iarlori
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 9, 3009–3029, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-3009-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-3009-2016, 2016
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We present an automated software tool for the retrieval of profiles of optical particle properties from lidar signals. This tool is one of the modules of the Single Calculus Chain of the European Aerosol Research Lidar Network (EARLINET). It allows for the analysis of the data of many different lidar systems of EARLINET in an automated, unsupervised way.
María José Granados-Muñoz, Francisco Navas-Guzmán, Juan Luis Guerrero-Rascado, Juan Antonio Bravo-Aranda, Ioannis Binietoglou, Sergio Nepomuceno Pereira, Sara Basart, José María Baldasano, Livio Belegante, Anatoli Chaikovsky, Adolfo Comerón, Giuseppe D'Amico, Oleg Dubovik, Luka Ilic, Panos Kokkalis, Constantino Muñoz-Porcar, Slobodan Nickovic, Doina Nicolae, Francisco José Olmo, Alexander Papayannis, Gelsomina Pappalardo, Alejandro Rodríguez, Kerstin Schepanski, Michaël Sicard, Ana Vukovic, Ulla Wandinger, François Dulac, and Lucas Alados-Arboledas
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 7043–7066, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-7043-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-7043-2016, 2016
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This study provides a detailed overview of the Mediterranean region regarding aerosol microphysical properties during the ChArMEx/EMEP campaign in July 2012. An in-depth analysis of the horizontal, vertical, and temporal dimensions is performed using LIRIC, proving the algorithm's ability in automated retrieval of microphysical property profiles within a network. A validation of four dust models is included, obtaining fair good agreement, especially for the vertical distribution of the aerosol.
Ronny Engelmann, Thomas Kanitz, Holger Baars, Birgit Heese, Dietrich Althausen, Annett Skupin, Ulla Wandinger, Mika Komppula, Iwona S. Stachlewska, Vassilis Amiridis, Eleni Marinou, Ina Mattis, Holger Linné, and Albert Ansmann
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 9, 1767–1784, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-1767-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-1767-2016, 2016
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The atmospheric science community demands for autonomous and quality-assured vertically resolved measurements of aerosol and cloud properties. For this purpose, a portable lidar called Polly
was developed at TROPOS in 2003. This lidar type was continuously improved with gained experience from EARLINET, worldwide field campaigns, and institute collaborations within the last 10 years. We present recent changes to the setup of our portable multiwavelength Raman and polarization lidar PollyXT.
Holger Baars, Thomas Kanitz, Ronny Engelmann, Dietrich Althausen, Birgit Heese, Mika Komppula, Jana Preißler, Matthias Tesche, Albert Ansmann, Ulla Wandinger, Jae-Hyun Lim, Joon Young Ahn, Iwona S. Stachlewska, Vassilis Amiridis, Eleni Marinou, Patric Seifert, Julian Hofer, Annett Skupin, Florian Schneider, Stephanie Bohlmann, Andreas Foth, Sebastian Bley, Anne Pfüller, Eleni Giannakaki, Heikki Lihavainen, Yrjö Viisanen, Rakesh Kumar Hooda, Sérgio Nepomuceno Pereira, Daniele Bortoli, Frank Wagner, Ina Mattis, Lucja Janicka, Krzysztof M. Markowicz, Peggy Achtert, Paulo Artaxo, Theotonio Pauliquevis, Rodrigo A. F. Souza, Ved Prakesh Sharma, Pieter Gideon van Zyl, Johan Paul Beukes, Junying Sun, Erich G. Rohwer, Ruru Deng, Rodanthi-Elisavet Mamouri, and Felix Zamorano
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 5111–5137, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-5111-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-5111-2016, 2016
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The findings from more than 10 years of global aerosol lidar measurements with Polly systems are summarized, and a data set of optical properties for specific aerosol types is given. An automated data retrieval algorithm for continuous Polly lidar observations is presented and discussed by means of a Saharan dust advection event in Leipzig, Germany. Finally, a statistic on the vertical aerosol distribution including the seasonal variability at PollyNET locations around the globe is presented.
Anatoli Chaikovsky, Oleg Dubovik, Brent Holben, Andrey Bril, Philippe Goloub, Didier Tanré, Gelsomina Pappalardo, Ulla Wandinger, Ludmila Chaikovskaya, Sergey Denisov, Jan Grudo, Anton Lopatin, Yana Karol, Tatsiana Lapyonok, Vassilis Amiridis, Albert Ansmann, Arnoud Apituley, Lucas Allados-Arboledas, Ioannis Binietoglou, Antonella Boselli, Giuseppe D'Amico, Volker Freudenthaler, David Giles, María José Granados-Muñoz, Panayotis Kokkalis, Doina Nicolae, Sergey Oshchepkov, Alex Papayannis, Maria Rita Perrone, Alexander Pietruczuk, Francesc Rocadenbosch, Michaël Sicard, Ilya Slutsker, Camelia Talianu, Ferdinando De Tomasi, Alexandra Tsekeri, Janet Wagner, and Xuan Wang
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 9, 1181–1205, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-1181-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-1181-2016, 2016
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This paper presents a detailed description of LIRIC (LIdar-Radiometer Inversion Code) algorithm for simultaneous processing of coincident lidar and radiometric observations for the retrieval of the aerosol concentrations. As the lidar/radiometric input data we use measurements from European Aerosol Research Lidar Network (EARLINET) lidars and collocated sun-photometers of Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET). The LIRIC software package was implemented and tested at a number of EARLINET stations.
Ulla Wandinger, Volker Freudenthaler, Holger Baars, Aldo Amodeo, Ronny Engelmann, Ina Mattis, Silke Groß, Gelsomina Pappalardo, Aldo Giunta, Giuseppe D'Amico, Anatoli Chaikovsky, Fiodor Osipenko, Alexander Slesar, Doina Nicolae, Livio Belegante, Camelia Talianu, Ilya Serikov, Holger Linné, Friedhelm Jansen, Arnoud Apituley, Keith M. Wilson, Martin de Graaf, Thomas Trickl, Helmut Giehl, Mariana Adam, Adolfo Comerón, Constantino Muñoz-Porcar, Francesc Rocadenbosch, Michaël Sicard, Sergio Tomás, Diego Lange, Dhiraj Kumar, Manuel Pujadas, Francisco Molero, Alfonso J. Fernández, Lucas Alados-Arboledas, Juan Antonio Bravo-Aranda, Francisco Navas-Guzmán, Juan Luis Guerrero-Rascado, María José Granados-Muñoz, Jana Preißler, Frank Wagner, Michael Gausa, Ivan Grigorov, Dimitar Stoyanov, Marco Iarlori, Vincenco Rizi, Nicola Spinelli, Antonella Boselli, Xuan Wang, Teresa Lo Feudo, Maria Rita Perrone, Ferdinando De Tomasi, and Pasquale Burlizzi
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 9, 1001–1023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-1001-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-1001-2016, 2016
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We introduce the quality-assurance efforts of the European Aerosol Research Lidar Network (EARLINET) at instrument level. Within several campaigns, 21 EARLINET systems from 18 EARLINET stations were intercompared. A comprehensive strategy for campaign setup and data evaluation was established. The intercomparisons have reinforced our confidence in the EARLINET data quality and allowed us to draw conclusions on necessary system improvements and to identify major challenges for our future work.
Nikolaos Papagiannopoulos, Lucia Mona, Lucas Alados-Arboledas, Vassilis Amiridis, Holger Baars, Ioannis Binietoglou, Daniele Bortoli, Giuseppe D'Amico, Aldo Giunta, Juan Luis Guerrero-Rascado, Anja Schwarz, Sergio Pereira, Nicola Spinelli, Ulla Wandinger, Xuan Wang, and Gelsomina Pappalardo
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 2341–2357, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-2341-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-2341-2016, 2016
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Satellite-derived products must undergo data evaluation with reference data sets in order to identify any possible reasons of discrepancy or to assess their representativity. In that direction, data coming from CALIPSO satellite were compared with observations from the ground. We identified a CALIPSO underestimation that could be linked to an assumption in the satellites' algorithms. The proposed correction improves the performance and could enhance aerosol modeling.
A. Myagkov, P. Seifert, M. Bauer-Pfundstein, and U. Wandinger
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 9, 469–489, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-469-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-469-2016, 2016
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In this paper a newly developed scanning 35 GHz cloud radar MIRA-35 is described. The issues concerned with implementation, polarization calibration, and data processing are considered. Also, an algorithm for a characterization of shape and orientation distribution based on polarimetric observations from the cloud radar is presented. For demonstration, the developed retrieval technique is applied to a cloud system containing ice crystals with different habits.
L. Belegante, J. A. Bravo-Aranda, V. Freudenthaler, D. Nicolae, A. Nemuc, L. Alados-Arboledas, A. Amodeo, G. Pappalardo, G. D’Amico, R. Engelmann, H. Baars, U. Wandinger, A. Papayannis, P. Kokkalis, and S. N. Pereira
Atmos. Meas. Tech. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2015-337, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2015-337, 2016
Revised manuscript has not been submitted
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This study aims to present techniques developed to calibrate the lidar depolarization channels.
The experimental approach of the paper is designed to present how calibration procedures are implemented. Most of the literature is focused on the theoretical perspective of the topic and practical issues usually remain an open topic. A hands on approach for the assessment of the lidar polarization sensitivity is welcomed since most of these techniques require comprehensive practical description.
M. Jähn, D. Muñoz-Esparza, F. Chouza, O. Reitebuch, O. Knoth, M. Haarig, and A. Ansmann
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 651–674, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-651-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-651-2016, 2016
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Large eddy simulations (LESs) are performed for the area of the Caribbean island Barbados to investigate island effects on boundary layer modification, cloud generation and vertical mixing of aerosols. Incoming Saharan dust layers are analyzed and effects of layer thinning, subsidence and turbulent downward transport become apparent, which are sensitive to atmospheric stability and wind shear. Comparisons of LES model output with lidar data systems are made to validate the modeling results.
G. D'Amico, A. Amodeo, H. Baars, I. Binietoglou, V. Freudenthaler, I. Mattis, U. Wandinger, and G. Pappalardo
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 8, 4891–4916, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-4891-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-4891-2015, 2015
M. Sicard, G. D'Amico, A. Comerón, L. Mona, L. Alados-Arboledas, A. Amodeo, H. Baars, J. M. Baldasano, L. Belegante, I. Binietoglou, J. A. Bravo-Aranda, A. J. Fernández, P. Fréville, D. García-Vizcaíno, A. Giunta, M. J. Granados-Muñoz, J. L. Guerrero-Rascado, D. Hadjimitsis, A. Haefele, M. Hervo, M. Iarlori, P. Kokkalis, D. Lange, R. E. Mamouri, I. Mattis, F. Molero, N. Montoux, A. Muñoz, C. Muñoz Porcar, F. Navas-Guzmán, D. Nicolae, A. Nisantzi, N. Papagiannopoulos, A. Papayannis, S. Pereira, J. Preißler, M. Pujadas, V. Rizi, F. Rocadenbosch, K. Sellegri, V. Simeonov, G. Tsaknakis, F. Wagner, and G. Pappalardo
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 8, 4587–4613, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-4587-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-4587-2015, 2015
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In the framework of the ACTRIS summer 2012 measurement campaign (8 June–17 July 2012), EARLINET organized and performed a controlled exercise of feasibility to demonstrate its potential to perform operational, coordinated measurements and deliver products in near-real time. The paper describes the measurement protocol and discusses the delivery of real-time and near-real-time lidar-derived products.
J. Schmidt, A. Ansmann, J. Bühl, and U. Wandinger
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 15, 10687–10700, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-10687-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-10687-2015, 2015
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I. Binietoglou, S. Basart, L. Alados-Arboledas, V. Amiridis, A. Argyrouli, H. Baars, J. M. Baldasano, D. Balis, L. Belegante, J. A. Bravo-Aranda, P. Burlizzi, V. Carrasco, A. Chaikovsky, A. Comerón, G. D'Amico, M. Filioglou, M. J. Granados-Muñoz, J. L. Guerrero-Rascado, L. Ilic, P. Kokkalis, A. Maurizi, L. Mona, F. Monti, C. Muñoz-Porcar, D. Nicolae, A. Papayannis, G. Pappalardo, G. Pejanovic, S. N. Pereira, M. R. Perrone, A. Pietruczuk, M. Posyniak, F. Rocadenbosch, A. Rodríguez-Gómez, M. Sicard, N. Siomos, A. Szkop, E. Terradellas, A. Tsekeri, A. Vukovic, U. Wandinger, and J. Wagner
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 8, 3577–3600, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-3577-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-3577-2015, 2015
A. Foth, H. Baars, P. Di Girolamo, and B. Pospichal
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 15, 7753–7763, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-7753-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-7753-2015, 2015
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We present a method to derive water vapour profiles from Raman lidar measurements calibrated by the integrated water vapour from a collocated microwave radiometer. These simultaneous observations provide an operational and continuous measurement of water vapour profiles. The stability of the calibration factor allows for the calibration of the lidar even in the presence of clouds. Based on this approach, water vapour profiles can be retrieved during all non-precipitating conditions.
V. Amiridis, E. Marinou, A. Tsekeri, U. Wandinger, A. Schwarz, E. Giannakaki, R. Mamouri, P. Kokkalis, I. Binietoglou, S. Solomos, T. Herekakis, S. Kazadzis, E. Gerasopoulos, E. Proestakis, M. Kottas, D. Balis, A. Papayannis, C. Kontoes, K. Kourtidis, N. Papagiannopoulos, L. Mona, G. Pappalardo, O. Le Rille, and A. Ansmann
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 15, 7127–7153, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-7127-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-7127-2015, 2015
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LIVAS is a 3-D multi-wavelength global aerosol and cloud optical database optimized for future space-based lidar end-to-end simulations of realistic atmospheric scenarios as well as retrieval algorithm testing activities. The global database is based on CALIPSO observations at 532nm, while for the conversion at 355nm EARLINET data are utilized.
E. Giannakaki, A. Pfüller, K. Korhonen, T. Mielonen, L. Laakso, V. Vakkari, H. Baars, R. Engelmann, J. P. Beukes, P. G. Van Zyl, M. Josipovic, P. Tiitta, K. Chiloane, S. Piketh, H. Lihavainen, K. E. J. Lehtinen, and M. Komppula
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 15, 5429–5442, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-5429-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-5429-2015, 2015
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In this study we summarize 1 year of Raman lidar observations over South Africa. The analyses of lidar measurements presented here could assist in bridging existing gaps in the knowledge of vertical distribution of aerosols above South Africa, since limited long-term data of this type are available for this region. For the first time, we have been able to cover the full seasonal cycle on geometrical characteristics and optical properties of free tropospheric aerosol layers in the region.
B. Altstädter, A. Platis, B. Wehner, A. Scholtz, N. Wildmann, M. Hermann, R. Käthner, H. Baars, J. Bange, and A. Lampert
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 8, 1627–1639, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-1627-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-1627-2015, 2015
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The unmanned research aircraft Carolo P360 "ALADINA" is a flexible tool for investigating the horizontal and vertical distribution of freshly formed particles in the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) combined with measurements of turbulent fluxes derived by fast meteorological sensors. First results of a feasibility study show, among others, events of particle bursts in an internal
layer of the ABL. Comparisons with ground-based instruments and a lidar present the reliability of the new system.
D. P. Donovan, H. Klein Baltink, J. S. Henzing, S. R. de Roode, and A. P. Siebesma
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 8, 237–266, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-237-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-237-2015, 2015
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Stratocumulus clouds are important for weather and climate. They contain relatively little water but are optically thick enough to turn sunny days to grey and globally they have a strong impact on the Earth's energy budget. A new lidar (laser-radar) technique has been developed that is well suited for remotely measuring stratocumulus properties in the important cloud-based region. The technique can supply information that is difficult or impossible for other remote-sensing methods to provide.
X. J. Sun, R. W. Zhang, G. J. Marseille, A. Stoffelen, D. Donovan, L. Liu, and J. Zhao
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 7, 2695–2717, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-7-2695-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-7-2695-2014, 2014
G. Pappalardo, A. Amodeo, A. Apituley, A. Comeron, V. Freudenthaler, H. Linné, A. Ansmann, J. Bösenberg, G. D'Amico, I. Mattis, L. Mona, U. Wandinger, V. Amiridis, L. Alados-Arboledas, D. Nicolae, and M. Wiegner
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 7, 2389–2409, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-7-2389-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-7-2389-2014, 2014
T. Kanitz, A. Ansmann, A. Foth, P. Seifert, U. Wandinger, R. Engelmann, H. Baars, D. Althausen, C. Casiccia, and F. Zamorano
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 7, 2061–2072, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-7-2061-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-7-2061-2014, 2014
K. Korhonen, E. Giannakaki, T. Mielonen, A. Pfüller, L. Laakso, V. Vakkari, H. Baars, R. Engelmann, J. P. Beukes, P. G. Van Zyl, A. Ramandh, L. Ntsangwane, M. Josipovic, P. Tiitta, G. Fourie, I. Ngwana, K. Chiloane, and M. Komppula
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 14, 4263–4278, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-4263-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-4263-2014, 2014
A. Skupin, A. Ansmann, R. Engelmann, H. Baars, and T. Müller
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 7, 701–712, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-7-701-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-7-701-2014, 2014
G.-J. van Zadelhoff, A. Stoffelen, P. W. Vachon, J. Wolfe, J. Horstmann, and M. Belmonte Rivas
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 7, 437–449, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-7-437-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-7-437-2014, 2014
V. Amiridis, U. Wandinger, E. Marinou, E. Giannakaki, A. Tsekeri, S. Basart, S. Kazadzis, A. Gkikas, M. Taylor, J. Baldasano, and A. Ansmann
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 13, 12089–12106, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-12089-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-12089-2013, 2013
J. Wagner, A. Ansmann, U. Wandinger, P. Seifert, A. Schwarz, M. Tesche, A. Chaikovsky, and O. Dubovik
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 6, 1707–1724, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-6-1707-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-6-1707-2013, 2013
G. Pappalardo, L. Mona, G. D'Amico, U. Wandinger, M. Adam, A. Amodeo, A. Ansmann, A. Apituley, L. Alados Arboledas, D. Balis, A. Boselli, J. A. Bravo-Aranda, A. Chaikovsky, A. Comeron, J. Cuesta, F. De Tomasi, V. Freudenthaler, M. Gausa, E. Giannakaki, H. Giehl, A. Giunta, I. Grigorov, S. Groß, M. Haeffelin, A. Hiebsch, M. Iarlori, D. Lange, H. Linné, F. Madonna, I. Mattis, R.-E. Mamouri, M. A. P. McAuliffe, V. Mitev, F. Molero, F. Navas-Guzman, D. Nicolae, A. Papayannis, M. R. Perrone, C. Pietras, A. Pietruczuk, G. Pisani, J. Preißler, M. Pujadas, V. Rizi, A. A. Ruth, J. Schmidt, F. Schnell, P. Seifert, I. Serikov, M. Sicard, V. Simeonov, N. Spinelli, K. Stebel, M. Tesche, T. Trickl, X. Wang, F. Wagner, M. Wiegner, and K. M. Wilson
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 13, 4429–4450, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-4429-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-4429-2013, 2013
Related subject area
Subject: Aerosols | Technique: Remote Sensing | Topic: Data Processing and Information Retrieval
Producing aerosol size distributions consistent with optical particle counter measurements using space-based measurements of aerosol extinction coefficient
Star photometry with all-sky cameras to retrieve aerosol optical depth at nighttime
Improvements in aerosol layer height retrievals from TROPOMI oxygen A-band measurements by surface albedo fitting in optimal estimation
Using neural networks for near-real-time aerosol retrievals from OMPS Limb Profiler measurements
Retrieval algorithm for aerosol effective height from the Geostationary Environment Monitoring Spectrometer (GEMS)
ACDL/DQ-1 calibration algorithms – Part 1: Nighttime 532 nm polarization and the high-spectral-resolution channel
Aerosol composition retrieval from a combination of three different spaceborne instruments: information content analysis
Retrieval of Black Carbon Aerosol Surface Concentration Using Integrated MODIS and AERONET Data
Compact dual-wavelength depolarization lidar for aerosol characterization over the subtropical North Atlantic
Towards gridded nighttime aerosol optical thickness retrievals using VIIRS day–night band observations over regions with artificial light sources
Ångström exponent impact on the aerosol optical properties obtained from vibrational-rotational Raman lidar observations
Towards improved retrieval of aerosol properties with the new Meteosat Third Generation-Imager geostationary satellite
Multi-layer retrieval of aerosol optical depth in the troposphere using SEVIRI data: a case study of the European continent
Machine learning data fusion for high spatio-temporal resolution PM2.5
Ground-based contrail observations: comparisons with reanalysis weather data and contrail model simulations
Retrieval of stratospheric aerosol extinction coefficients from sun-normalized Ozone Mapper and Profiler Suite Limb Profiler (OMPS-LP) measurements
Total column optical depths retrieved from CALIPSO lidar ocean surface backscatter
ALICENET – an Italian network of automated lidar ceilometers for four-dimensional aerosol monitoring: infrastructure, data processing, and applications
Post-process correction improves the accuracy of satellite PM2.5 retrievals
Increasing aerosol optical depth spatial and temporal availability by merging datasets from geostationary and sun-synchronous satellites
Synergy of active and passive airborne observations for heating rates calculation during the AEROCLO-SA field campaign in Namibia
Multi-angle aerosol optical depth retrieval method based on improved surface reflectance
Comparison of diurnal aerosol products retrieved from combinations of micro-pulse lidar and sun photometer observations over the KAUST observation site
First atmospheric aerosol-monitoring results from the Geostationary Environment Monitoring Spectrometer (GEMS) over Asia
Aerosol optical depth data fusion with Geostationary Korea Multi-Purpose Satellite (GEO-KOMPSAT-2) instruments GEMS, AMI, and GOCI-II: statistical and deep neural network methods
Stratospheric aerosol characteristics from SCIAMACHY limb observations: two-parameter retrieval
Retrieval and analysis of the composition of an aerosol mixture through Mie–Raman–fluorescence lidar observations
Transport of the Hunga volcanic aerosols inferred from Himawari-8/9 limb measurements
A near-global multiyear climate data record of the fine-mode and coarse-mode components of atmospheric pure dust
Innovative aerosol hygroscopic growth study from Mie–Raman–fluorescence lidar and microwave radiometer synergy
Evaluation of calibration performance of a low-cost particulate matter sensor using collocated and distant NO2
Geostationary aerosol retrievals of extreme biomass burning plumes during the 2019–2020 Australian bushfires
Multi-wavelength dataset of aerosol extinction profiles retrieved from GOMOS stellar occultation measurements
Deep-Pathfinder: a boundary layer height detection algorithm based on image segmentation
An iterative algorithm to simultaneously retrieve aerosol extinction and effective radius profiles using CALIOP
Cloud detection from multi-angular polarimetric satellite measurements using a neural network ensemble approach
Retrieving UV–Vis spectral single-scattering albedo of absorbing aerosols above clouds from synergy of ORACLES airborne and A-train sensors
Characterization of stratospheric particle size distribution uncertainties using SAGE II and SAGE III/ISS extinction spectra
Parameterizing spectral surface reflectance relationships for the Dark Target aerosol algorithm applied to a geostationary imager
Aerosol and cloud data processing and optical property retrieval algorithms for the spaceborne ACDL/DQ-1
Derivation of depolarization ratios of aerosol fluorescence and water vapor Raman backscatters from lidar measurements
Long-term aerosol particle depolarization ratio measurements with HALO Photonics Doppler lidar
HETEAC-Flex: an optimal estimation method for aerosol typing based on lidar-derived intensive optical properties
MAGARA: a Multi-Angle Geostationary Aerosol Retrieval Algorithm
Multi-section reference value for the analysis of horizontally scanning aerosol lidar observations
Retrieval of aerosol optical depth over the Arctic cryosphere during spring and summer using satellite observations
Quantifying particulate matter optical properties and flow rate in industrial stack plumes from the PRISMA hyperspectral imager
Aerosol retrieval over snow using the RemoTAP algorithm
Combined sun-photometer–lidar inversion: lessons learned during the EARLINET/ACTRIS COVID-19 campaign
Simultaneous retrieval of aerosol and ocean properties from PACE HARP2 with uncertainty assessment using cascading neural network radiative transfer models
Nicholas Ernest, Larry W. Thomason, and Terry Deshler
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 2957–2968, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-2957-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-2957-2025, 2025
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We use balloon-borne measurements of aerosol size distribution (ASD) made by the University of Wyoming (UW) to derive distributions which are representative of the ASDs that underlie measurements made by the Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment II (SAGE II). A simple single-mode log-normal distribution has in the past been used to derive ASD from SAGE II data; here we derive bimodal log-normal distributions, reproducing median aerosol properties measured by UW.
Roberto Román, Daniel González-Fernández, Juan Carlos Antuña-Sánchez, Celia Herrero del Barrio, Sara Herrero-Anta, África Barreto, Victoria E. Cachorro, Lionel Doppler, Ramiro González, Christoph Ritter, David Mateos, Natalia Kouremeti, Gustavo Copes, Abel Calle, María José Granados-Muñoz, Carlos Toledano, and Ángel M. de Frutos
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 2847–2875, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-2847-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-2847-2025, 2025
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This paper presents a novel technique to extract starlight signals from all-sky images and retrieve aerosol optical depth (AOD). It is validated against lunar photometry, showing a strong correlation between data series. This innovative approach will expand nocturnal AOD measurements to more locations, as all-sky cameras are a simpler and more cost-effective alternative to stellar and lunar photometers.
Martin de Graaf, Maarten Sneep, Mark ter Linden, L. Gijsbert Tilstra, David P. Donovan, Gerd-Jan van Zadelhoff, and J. Pepijn Veefkind
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 2553–2571, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-2553-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-2553-2025, 2025
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The aerosol layer height (ALH) from the TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) has been constantly improved since its release in 2019. Over bright surfaces, fitting the albedo improved the retrieval, as shown for a set of situations, ranging from multiple layers of smoke to thick desert dust plumes and low-altitude industrial pollution. The latest results of the operational ALH are compared to profiles from the ATmospheric LIDar (ATLID) on board the recently launched EarthCARE mission.
Michael D. Himes, Ghassan Taha, Daniel Kahn, Tong Zhu, and Natalya A. Kramarova
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 2523–2536, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-2523-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-2523-2025, 2025
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The Ozone Mapping and Profiler Suite's Limb Profiler (OMPS LP) yields near-global coverage and information about how aerosols from volcanic eruptions and major wildfires is vertically distributed through the atmosphere. We developed a machine learning method to characterize aerosols using OMPS LP measurements about 60 times faster than the current approach.
Sang Seo Park, Jhoon Kim, Yeseul Cho, Hanlim Lee, Junsung Park, Dong-Won Lee, Won-Jin Lee, and Deok-Rae Kim
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 2241–2259, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-2241-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-2241-2025, 2025
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An operational aerosol effective height (AEH) retrieval algorithm for the Geostationary Environment Monitoring Spectrometer (GEMS) was developed that solely uses the O2–O2 absorption band considering aerosol and surface properties. AEH retrievals are only performed when aerosol optical depth is larger than 0.3. The retrieval results show significant estimations by comparing the aerosol height from the Cloud–Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization and the Tropospheric Monitoring Instrument.
Fanqian Meng, Junwu Tang, Guangyao Dai, Wenrui Long, Kangwen Sun, Zhiyu Zhang, Xiaoquan Song, Jiqiao Liu, Weibiao Chen, and Songhua Wu
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 2021–2039, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-2021-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-2021-2025, 2025
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This paper presents a comprehensive calibration procedure for the first spaceborne high-spectral-resolution lidar with an iodine vapor absorption filter Aerosol and Carbon Detection Lidar (ACDL) on board DQ-1 by utilizing nighttime 532 nm multi-channel data. We analyzed the error sources of the multi-channel calibration coefficients and assessed the results. The results indicate that the uncertainty of the clear-air scattering ratio was within the anticipated range of 7.9 %.
Ulrike Stöffelmair, Thomas Popp, Marco Vountas, and Hartmut Bösch
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 2005–2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-2005-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-2005-2025, 2025
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Aerosol composition has a large influence on the climate system. This study uses realistic simulated scenarios to look at the information content of a combination of three satellite-based instruments (SLSTR, IASI and GOME-2). It shows that it is possible to retrieve 6 to 15 different aerosol components in addition to the aerosol optical depth (AOD) and different surface parameters. The results are used for the development of a synergistic multi-sensor retrieval algorithm.
Xingxing Jiang, Yong Xue, Mariarosaria Calvello, Shuhui Wu, and Pei Li
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-435, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-435, 2025
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A novel BC surface concentration retrieval algorithm was developed based on MODIS data. The algorithm determined the seasonal background aerosol model based on AERONET V3 daily product, calculated the complex refractive index of the internal mixed aerosol, and combined 6SV2.1 to establish lookup tables to achieve the optimal estimation of BC fraction and column concentration. Using conversion coefficient generated by MERRA-2, column concentration was converted to surface concentration.
Yenny González, María F. Sánchez-Barrero, Ioana Popovici, África Barreto, Stephane Victori, Ellsworth J. Welton, Rosa D. García, Pablo G. Sicilia, Fernando A. Almansa, Carlos Torres, and Philippe Goloub
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 1885–1908, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-1885-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-1885-2025, 2025
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We characterize the optical properties of various aerosols using a compact dual-wavelength depolarization lidar (CIMEL CE376) at 532 and 808 nm. Through a modified two-wavelength Klett inversion method, we assess the vertical distribution and temporal evolution of Saharan dust, volcanic aerosols and wildfire smoke in the subtropical North Atlantic from August 2021 to August 2023. The study confirms the CE376 lidar's effectiveness in monitoring and characterizing atmospheric aerosols over time.
Jianglong Zhang, Jeffrey S. Reid, Blake T. Sorenson, Steven D. Miller, Miguel O. Román, Zhuosen Wang, Robert J. D. Spurr, Shawn Jaker, Thomas F. Eck, and Juli I. Rubin
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 1787–1810, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-1787-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-1787-2025, 2025
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Using observations from the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite day–night band, we developed a method for constructing gridded nighttime aerosol optical thickness (AOT) data based on the spatial derivative of measured top-of-atmosphere attenuated upwelling artificial lights at night. The gridded nighttime AOT retrievals, compared against Aerosol Robotic Network data, show reasonable skill levels for potential data assimilation, air quality, and climate studies of significant events.
Gladiola Malollari, Albert Ansmann, Holger Baars, Cristofer Jimenez, Julian Hofer, Ronny Engelmann, Nathan Skupin, and Seit Shallari
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1386, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1386, 2025
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This study presents, for the first time, the uncertainty analysis of the Ångström exponent assumption on the full set of retrievable optical properties obtained with Raman lidar. A quantitative comparison between the pure rotational and vibrational-rotational Raman lidar approaches is presented. A minor impact of a wrong Ångström exponent on the determined aerosol optical properties is found.
Adèle Georgeot, Xavier Ceamanos, Jean-Luc Attié, Daniel Juncu, Josef Gasteiger, and Mathieu Compiègne
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1353, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1353, 2025
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This work investigates the aerosol remote sensing capabilities offered by the new Meteosat Third Generation-Imager geostationary satellite. First, aerosol load retrieval performance is demonstrated based on realistic synthetic data. Second, the potential for aerosol type characterization is proven, with the estimation of fine mode fraction. This work opens pathways for the future study of diurnal aerosol variations from space thanks to the high temporal resolution of geostationary satellites.
Maryam Pashayi, Mehran Satari, and Mehdi Momeni Shahraki
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 1415–1439, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-1415-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-1415-2025, 2025
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Multi-layer aerosol optical depth (AOD) is retrieved using the geostationary Spinning Enhanced Visible and Infrared Imager (SEVIRI) and machine learning, trained on Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP) data. The model provides AOD at a 3 km × 3 km spatial and 15 min temporal resolution over Europe. It accurately captured multi-layer AOD dynamics during Saharan dust transport and the Mount Etna eruption, demonstrating consistent physical accuracy.
Andrea Porcheddu, Ville Kolehmainen, Timo Lähivaara, and Antti Lipponen
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-4056, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-4056, 2025
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This study proposes a novel machine learning method to estimate pollution levels (PM2.5) on urban areas at fine scale. Our model generates hourly PM2.5 maps with high spatial resolution (100 meters), by combining satellite data, ground measurements, geophysical model data, and different geographical indicators. The model properly accounts for spatial and temporal variability of the urban pollution levels, offering relevant insights for air quality monitoring and health protection.
Jade Low, Roger Teoh, Joel Ponsonby, Edward Gryspeerdt, Marc Shapiro, and Marc E. J. Stettler
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 37–56, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-37-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-37-2025, 2025
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The radiative forcing due to contrails is of the same order of magnitude as aviation CO2 emissions but has a higher uncertainty. Observations are vital to improve our understanding of the contrail lifecycle, improve models, and measure the effect of mitigation action. Here, we use ground-based cameras combined with flight telemetry to track visible contrails and measure their lifetime and width. We evaluate model predictions and demonstrate the capability of this approach.
Alexei Rozanov, Christine Pohl, Carlo Arosio, Adam Bourassa, Klaus Bramstedt, Elizaveta Malinina, Landon Rieger, and John P. Burrows
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 6677–6695, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-6677-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-6677-2024, 2024
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We developed a new algorithm to retrieve vertical distributions of aerosol extinction coefficients in the stratosphere. The algorithm is applied to measurements of scattered solar light from the spaceborne OMPS-LP (Ozone Mapper and Profiler Suite Limb Profiler) instrument. The retrieval results are compared to data from other spaceborne instruments and used to investigate the evolution of the aerosol plume following the eruption of the Hunga Tonga–Hunga Ha'apai volcano in January 2022.
Robert A. Ryan, Mark A. Vaughan, Sharon D. Rodier, Jason L. Tackett, John A. Reagan, Richard A. Ferrare, Johnathan W. Hair, John A. Smith, and Brian J. Getzewich
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 6517–6545, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-6517-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-6517-2024, 2024
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We introduce Ocean Derived Column Optical Depth (ODCOD), a new way to estimate column optical depths using Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP) measurements from the ocean surface. ODCOD estimates include contributions from particulates in the full column, which CALIOP estimates do not, making it a complement measurement to CALIOP’s standard estimates. We find that ODCOD compares well with other established data sets in the daytime but tends to estimate higher at night.
Annachiara Bellini, Henri Diémoz, Luca Di Liberto, Gian Paolo Gobbi, Alessandro Bracci, Ferdinando Pasqualini, and Francesca Barnaba
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 6119–6144, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-6119-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-6119-2024, 2024
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We provide a comprehensive overview of the Italian Automated LIdar-CEilometer network, ALICENET, describing its infrastructure, aerosol retrievals, and main applications. The supplement covers data-processing details. We include examples of output products, comparisons with independent data, and examples of the network capability to provide near-real-time aerosol fields over Italy. ALICENET is expected to benefit the sectors of air quality, radiative budget/solar energy, and aviation safety.
Andrea Porcheddu, Ville Kolehmainen, Timo Lähivaara, and Antti Lipponen
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 5747–5764, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-5747-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-5747-2024, 2024
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This study focuses on improving the accuracy of satellite-based PM2.5 retrieval, crucial for monitoring air quality and its impact on health. It employs machine learning to correct the AOD-to-PM2.5 conversion ratio using various data sources. The approach produces high-resolution PM2.5 estimates with improved accuracy. The method is flexible and can incorporate additional training data from different sources, making it a valuable tool for air quality monitoring and epidemiological studies.
Pawan Gupta, Robert C. Levy, Shana Mattoo, Lorraine A. Remer, Zhaohui Zhang, Virginia Sawyer, Jennifer Wei, Sally Zhao, Min Oo, V. Praju Kiliyanpilakkil, and Xiaohua Pan
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 5455–5476, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-5455-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-5455-2024, 2024
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In this study, for the first time, we combined aerosol data from six satellites using a unified algorithm. The global datasets are generated at a high spatial resolution of about 25 km with an interval of 30 min. The new datasets are compared against ground truth and verified. They will be useful for various applications such as air quality monitoring, climate research, pollution diurnal variability, long-range smoke and dust transport, and evaluation of regional and global models.
Mégane Ventura, Fabien Waquet, Isabelle Chiapello, Gérard Brogniez, Frédéric Parol, Frédérique Auriol, Rodrigue Loisil, Cyril Delegove, Luc Blarel, Oleg Dubovik, Marc Mallet, Cyrille Flamant, and Paola Formenti
Atmos. Meas. Tech. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2024-121, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2024-121, 2024
Revised manuscript accepted for AMT
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Biomass burning aerosols (BBA) from Central Africa, are transported above stratocumulus clouds. The absorption of solar energy by aerosols induce warming, altering the clouds dynamics. We developed an approach that combines polarimeter and lidar to quantify it. This methodology is assessed during the AEROCLO-SA campaign. To validate it, we used flux measurements acquired during aircraft loop descents. Major perspective is the generalization of this method to the global level.
Lijuan Chen, Ren Wang, Ying Fei, Peng Fang, Yong Zha, and Haishan Chen
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 4411–4424, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4411-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4411-2024, 2024
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This study explores the problems of surface reflectance estimation from previous MISR satellite remote sensing images and develops an error correction model to obtain a higher-precision aerosol optical depth (AOD) product. High-accuracy AOD is important not only for the daily monitoring of air pollution but also for the study of energy exchange between land and atmosphere. This will help further improve the retrieval accuracy of multi-angle AOD on large spatial scales and for long time series.
Anton Lopatin, Oleg Dubovik, Georgiy Stenchikov, Ellsworth J. Welton, Illia Shevchenko, David Fuertes, Marcos Herreras-Giralda, Tatsiana Lapyonok, and Alexander Smirnov
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 4445–4470, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4445-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4445-2024, 2024
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We compare aerosol properties over the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology campus using Generalized Retrieval of Aerosol and Surface Properties (GRASP) and the Micro-Pulse Lidar Network (MPLNET). We focus on the impact of different aerosol retrieval assumptions on daytime and nighttime retrievals and analyze seasonal variability in aerosol properties, aiding in understanding aerosol behavior and improving retrieval. Our work has implications for climate and public health.
Yeseul Cho, Jhoon Kim, Sujung Go, Mijin Kim, Seoyoung Lee, Minseok Kim, Heesung Chong, Won-Jin Lee, Dong-Won Lee, Omar Torres, and Sang Seo Park
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 4369–4390, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4369-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4369-2024, 2024
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Aerosol optical properties have been provided by the Geostationary Environment Monitoring Spectrometer (GEMS), the world’s first geostationary-Earth-orbit (GEO) satellite instrument designed for atmospheric environmental monitoring. This study describes improvements made to the GEMS aerosol retrieval algorithm (AERAOD) and presents its validation results. These enhancements aim to provide more accurate and reliable aerosol-monitoring results for Asia.
Minseok Kim, Jhoon Kim, Hyunkwang Lim, Seoyoung Lee, Yeseul Cho, Yun-Gon Lee, Sujung Go, and Kyunghwa Lee
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 4317–4335, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4317-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4317-2024, 2024
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Information about aerosol loading in the atmosphere can be collected from various satellite instruments. Aerosol products from various satellite instruments have their own error characteristics. This study statistically merged aerosol optical depth datasets from multiple instruments aboard geostationary satellites considering uncertainties. Also, a deep neural network technique is adopted for aerosol data merging.
Christine Pohl, Felix Wrana, Alexei Rozanov, Terry Deshler, Elizaveta Malinina, Christian von Savigny, Landon A. Rieger, Adam E. Bourassa, and John P. Burrows
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 4153–4181, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4153-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4153-2024, 2024
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Knowledge of stratospheric aerosol characteristics is important for understanding chemical and climate aerosol feedbacks. Two particle size distribution parameters, the aerosol extinction coefficient and the effective radius, are obtained from SCIAMACHY limb observations. The aerosol characteristics show good agreement with independent data sets from balloon-borne and satellite observations. This data set expands the limited knowledge of stratospheric aerosol characteristics.
Igor Veselovskii, Boris Barchunov, Qiaoyun Hu, Philippe Goloub, Thierry Podvin, Mikhail Korenskii, Gaël Dubois, William Boissiere, and Nikita Kasianik
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 4137–4152, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4137-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4137-2024, 2024
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The paper presents a new method that categorizes atmospheric aerosols by analyzing their optical properties with a Mie–Raman–fluorescence lidar. The research specifically looks into understanding the presence of smoke, urban, and dust aerosols in the mixtures identified by this lidar. The reliability of the results is evaluated using the Monte Carlo technique. The effectiveness of this approach is successfully demonstrated through testing in ATOLL, an observatory influenced by diverse aerosols.
Fred Prata
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 3751–3764, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3751-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3751-2024, 2024
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Geostationary satellite data have been used to measure the stratospheric aerosols from the explosive Hunga volcanic eruption by using the data in a novel way. The onboard imager views part of the Earth's limb and data from this region were analysed to generate vertical cross-sections of aerosols high in the atmosphere. The analyses show the hemispheric spread of the aerosols and their vertical structure in layers from 22–28 km in the stratosphere.
Emmanouil Proestakis, Antonis Gkikas, Thanasis Georgiou, Anna Kampouri, Eleni Drakaki, Claire L. Ryder, Franco Marenco, Eleni Marinou, and Vassilis Amiridis
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 3625–3667, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3625-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3625-2024, 2024
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A new four-dimensional, multiyear, and near-global climate data record of the fine-mode (submicrometer diameter) and coarse-mode (supermicrometer diameter) components of atmospheric pure dust is presented. The dataset is considered unique with respect to a wide range of potential applications, including climatological, time series, and trend analysis over extensive geographical domains and temporal periods, validation of atmospheric dust models and datasets, and air quality.
Robin Miri, Olivier Pujol, Qiaoyun Hu, Philippe Goloub, Igor Veselovskii, Thierry Podvin, and Fabrice Ducos
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 3367–3375, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3367-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3367-2024, 2024
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This paper focuses on the use of fluorescence to study aerosols with lidar. An innovative method for aerosol hygroscopic growth study using fluorescence is presented. The paper presents case studies to showcase the effectiveness and potential of the proposed approach. These advancements will contribute to better understanding the interactions between aerosols and water vapor, with future work expected to be dedicated to aerosol–cloud interaction.
Kabseok Ko, Seokheon Cho, and Ramesh R. Rao
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 3303–3322, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3303-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3303-2024, 2024
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In our study, we examined how NO2, temperature, and relative humidity influence the calibration of PurpleAir PA-II sensors. We found that incorporating NO2 data from collocated reliable instruments enhances PM2.5 calibration performance. Due to the impracticality of collocating reliable NO2 instruments with sensors, we suggest using distant NO2 data for calibration. We demonstrated that performance improves when distant NO2 correlates highly with collocated NO2 measurements.
Daniel J. V. Robbins, Caroline A. Poulsen, Steven T. Siems, Simon R. Proud, Andrew T. Prata, Roy G. Grainger, and Adam C. Povey
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 3279–3302, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3279-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3279-2024, 2024
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Extreme wildfire events are becoming more common with climate change. The smoke plumes associated with these wildfires are not captured by current operational satellite products due to their high optical thickness. We have developed a novel aerosol retrieval for the Advanced Himawari Imager to study these plumes. We find very high values of optical thickness not observed in other operational satellite products, suggesting these plumes have been missed in previous studies.
Viktoria F. Sofieva, Monika Szelag, Johanna Tamminen, Didier Fussen, Christine Bingen, Filip Vanhellemont, Nina Mateshvili, Alexei Rozanov, and Christine Pohl
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 3085–3101, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3085-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3085-2024, 2024
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We have developed the new multi-wavelength dataset of aerosol extinction profiles, which are retrieved from the averaged transmittance spectra by the Global Ozone Monitoring by Occultation of Stars instrument aboard Envisat. The retrieved aerosol extinction profiles are provided in the altitude range 10–40 km at 400, 440, 452, 470, 500, 525, 550, 672 and 750 nm for the period 2002–2012. FMI-GOMOSaero aerosol profiles have improved quality; they are in good agreement with other datasets.
Jasper S. Wijnands, Arnoud Apituley, Diego Alves Gouveia, and Jan Willem Noteboom
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 3029–3045, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3029-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3029-2024, 2024
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The mixing of air in the lower atmosphere influences the concentration of air pollutants and greenhouse gases. Our study developed a new method, Deep-Pathfinder, to estimate mixing layer height. Deep-Pathfinder analyses imagery with aerosol observations using artificial intelligence techniques for computer vision. Compared to existing methods, it improves temporal consistency and resolution and can be used in real time, which is valuable for aviation, forecasting, and air quality monitoring.
Liang Chang, Jing Li, Jingjing Ren, Changrui Xiong, and Lu Zhang
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 2637–2648, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2637-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2637-2024, 2024
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We described a modified lidar inversion algorithm to retrieve aerosol extinction and size distribution simultaneously from two-wavelength elastic lidar measurements. Its major advantage is that the lidar ratio of each layer is determined iteratively by a lidar ratio–Ångström exponent lookup table. The algorithm was applied to the Raman lidar and CALIOP measurements. The retrieved results by our method are in good agreement with those achieved by Raman method.
Zihao Yuan, Guangliang Fu, Bastiaan van Diedenhoven, Hai Xiang Lin, Jan Willem Erisman, and Otto P. Hasekamp
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 2595–2610, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2595-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2595-2024, 2024
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Currently, aerosol properties from spaceborne multi-angle polarimeter (MAP) instruments can only be retrieved in cloud-free areas or in areas where an aerosol layer is located above a cloud. Therefore, it is important to be able to identify cloud-free pixels for which an aerosol retrieval algorithm can provide meaningful output. The developed neural network cloud screening demonstrates that cloud masking for MAP aerosol retrieval can be based on the MAP measurements themselves.
Hiren T. Jethva, Omar Torres, Richard A. Ferrare, Sharon P. Burton, Anthony L. Cook, David B. Harper, Chris A. Hostetler, Jens Redemann, Vinay Kayetha, Samuel LeBlanc, Kristina Pistone, Logan Mitchell, and Connor J. Flynn
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 2335–2366, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2335-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2335-2024, 2024
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We introduce a novel synergy algorithm applied to ORALCES airborne measurements of above-cloud aerosol optical depth and UV–Vis satellite observations from OMI and MODIS to retrieve spectral aerosol single-scattering albedo of lofted layers of carbonaceous smoke aerosols over clouds. The development of the proposed aerosol–cloud algorithm implies a possible synergy of CALIOP and OMI–MODIS passive sensors to deduce a global product of AOD and SSA of absorbing aerosols above clouds.
Travis N. Knepp, Mahesh Kovilakam, Larry Thomason, and Stephen J. Miller
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 2025–2054, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2025-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2025-2024, 2024
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An algorithm is presented to derive a new SAGE III/ISS (Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment III on the International Space Station) Level-2 product: the size distribution of stratospheric particles. This is a significant improvement over previous techniques in that we now provide uncertainty estimates for all inferred parameters. We also evaluated the stability of this method in retrieving bimodal distribution parameters. We present a special application to the 2022 eruption of Hunga Tonga.
Mijin Kim, Robert C. Levy, Lorraine A. Remer, Shana Mattoo, and Pawan Gupta
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 1913–1939, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-1913-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-1913-2024, 2024
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The study focused on evaluating and modifying the surface reflectance parameterization (SRP) of the Dark Target (DT) algorithm for geostationary observation. When using the DT SRP with the ABIs sensor on GOES-R, artificial diurnal signatures were present in AOD retrieval. To overcome this issue, a new SRP was developed, incorporating solar zenith angle and land cover type. The revised SRP resulted in improved AOD retrieval, demonstrating reduced bias around local noon.
Guangyao Dai, Songhua Wu, Wenrui Long, Jiqiao Liu, Yuan Xie, Kangwen Sun, Fanqian Meng, Xiaoquan Song, Zhongwei Huang, and Weibiao Chen
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 1879–1890, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-1879-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-1879-2024, 2024
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An overview is given of the main algorithms applied to derive the aerosol and cloud optical property product of the Aerosol and Carbon Detection Lidar (ACDL), which is capable of globally profiling aerosol and cloud optical properties with high accuracy. The paper demonstrates the observational capabilities of ACDL for aerosol and cloud vertical structure and global distribution through two optical property product measurement cases and global aerosol optical depth profile observations.
Igor Veselovskii, Qiaoyun Hu, Philippe Goloub, Thierry Podvin, William Boissiere, Mikhail Korenskiy, Nikita Kasianik, Sergey Khaykyn, and Robin Miri
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 1023–1036, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-1023-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-1023-2024, 2024
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Measurements of transported smoke layers were performed with a lidar in Lille and a five-channel fluorescence lidar in Moscow. Results show the peak of fluorescence in the boundary layer is at 438 nm, while in the smoke layer it shifts to longer wavelengths. The fluorescence depolarization is 45 % to 55 %. The depolarization ratio of the water vapor channel is low (2 ± 0.5 %) in the absence of fluorescence and can be used to evaluate the contribution of fluorescence to water vapor signal.
Viet Le, Hannah Lobo, Ewan J. O'Connor, and Ville Vakkari
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 921–941, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-921-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-921-2024, 2024
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This study offers a long-term overview of aerosol particle depolarization ratio at the wavelength of 1565 nm obtained from vertical profiling measurements by Halo Doppler lidars during 4 years at four different locations across Finland. Our observations support the long-term usage of Halo Doppler lidar depolarization ratio such as the detection of aerosols that may pose a safety risk for aviation. Long-range Saharan dust transport and pollen transport are also showcased here.
Athena Augusta Floutsi, Holger Baars, and Ulla Wandinger
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 693–714, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-693-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-693-2024, 2024
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We introduce an aerosol-typing scheme (HETEAC-Flex) based on lidar-derived intensive optical properties and applicable to ground-based and spaceborne lidars. HETEAC-Flex utilizes the optimal estimation method and enables the identification of up to four different aerosol components, as well as the determination of their contribution to the aerosol mixture in terms of relative volume. The aerosol components represent common aerosol types such as dust, sea salt, smoke and pollution.
James A. Limbacher, Ralph A. Kahn, Mariel D. Friberg, Jaehwa Lee, Tyler Summers, and Hai Zhang
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 471–498, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-471-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-471-2024, 2024
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We present the new Multi-Angle Geostationary Aerosol Retrieval Algorithm (MAGARA) that fuses observations from GOES-16 and GOES-17 to retrieve information about aerosol loading (at 10–15 min cadence) and aerosol particle properties (daily), all at pixel-level resolution. We present MAGARA results for three case studies: the 2018 California Camp Fire, the 2019 Williams Flats Fire, and the 2019 Kincade Fire. We also compare MAGARA aerosol loading and particle properties with AERONET.
Juseon Shin, Gahyeong Kim, Dukhyeon Kim, Matthias Tesche, Gahyeon Park, and Youngmin Noh
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 397–406, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-397-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-397-2024, 2024
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We introduce the multi-section method, a novel approach for stable extinction coefficient retrievals in horizontally scanning aerosol lidar measurements, in this study. Our method effectively removes signal–noise-induced irregular peaks and derives a reference extinction coefficient, αref, from multiple scans, resulting in a strong correlation (>0.74) with PM2.5 mass concentrations. Case studies demonstrate its utility in retrieving spatio-temporal aerosol distributions and PM2.5 concentrations.
Basudev Swain, Marco Vountas, Adrien Deroubaix, Luca Lelli, Yanick Ziegler, Soheila Jafariserajehlou, Sachin S. Gunthe, Andreas Herber, Christoph Ritter, Hartmut Bösch, and John P. Burrows
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 359–375, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-359-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-359-2024, 2024
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Aerosols are suspensions of particles dispersed in the air. In this study, we use a novel retrieval of satellite data to investigate an optical property of aerosols, the aerosol optical depth, in the high Arctic to assess their direct and indirect roles in climate change. This study demonstrates that the presented approach shows good quality and very promising potential.
Gabriel Calassou, Pierre-Yves Foucher, and Jean-François Léon
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 57–71, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-57-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-57-2024, 2024
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We propose analyzing the aerosol composition of plumes emitted by different industrial stacks using PRISMA satellite hyperspectral observations. Three industrial sites have been observed: a coal-fired power plant in South Africa, a steel plant in China, and gas flaring at an oil extraction site in Algeria. Aerosol optical thickness and particle radius are retrieved within the plumes. The mass flow rate of particulate matter is estimated in the plume using the integrated mass enhancement method.
Zihan Zhang, Guangliang Fu, and Otto Hasekamp
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 6051–6063, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-6051-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-6051-2023, 2023
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In order to conduct accurate aerosol retrieval over snow, the Remote Sensing of Trace Gases and Aerosol Products (RemoTAP) algorithm is extended with a bi-directional reflection distribution function for snow surfaces. The experiments with both synthetic and real data show that the extended RemoTAP maintains capability for snow-free pixels and has obvious advantages in accuracy and the fraction of successful retrievals for retrieval over snow, especially over surfaces with snow cover > 75 %.
Alexandra Tsekeri, Anna Gialitaki, Marco Di Paolantonio, Davide Dionisi, Gian Luigi Liberti, Alnilam Fernandes, Artur Szkop, Aleksander Pietruczuk, Daniel Pérez-Ramírez, Maria J. Granados Muñoz, Juan Luis Guerrero-Rascado, Lucas Alados-Arboledas, Diego Bermejo Pantaleón, Juan Antonio Bravo-Aranda, Anna Kampouri, Eleni Marinou, Vassilis Amiridis, Michael Sicard, Adolfo Comerón, Constantino Muñoz-Porcar, Alejandro Rodríguez-Gómez, Salvatore Romano, Maria Rita Perrone, Xiaoxia Shang, Mika Komppula, Rodanthi-Elisavet Mamouri, Argyro Nisantzi, Diofantos Hadjimitsis, Francisco Navas-Guzmán, Alexander Haefele, Dominika Szczepanik, Artur Tomczak, Iwona S. Stachlewska, Livio Belegante, Doina Nicolae, Kalliopi Artemis Voudouri, Dimitris Balis, Athena A. Floutsi, Holger Baars, Linda Miladi, Nicolas Pascal, Oleg Dubovik, and Anton Lopatin
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 6025–6050, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-6025-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-6025-2023, 2023
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EARLINET/ACTRIS organized an intensive observational campaign in May 2020, with the objective of monitoring the atmospheric state over Europe during the COVID-19 lockdown and relaxation period. The work presented herein focuses on deriving a common methodology for applying a synergistic retrieval that utilizes the network's ground-based passive and active remote sensing measurements and deriving the aerosols from anthropogenic activities over Europe.
Meng Gao, Bryan A. Franz, Peng-Wang Zhai, Kirk Knobelspiesse, Andrew M. Sayer, Xiaoguang Xu, J. Vanderlei Martins, Brian Cairns, Patricia Castellanos, Guangliang Fu, Neranga Hannadige, Otto Hasekamp, Yongxiang Hu, Amir Ibrahim, Frederick Patt, Anin Puthukkudy, and P. Jeremy Werdell
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 5863–5881, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-5863-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-5863-2023, 2023
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This study evaluated the retrievability and uncertainty of aerosol and ocean properties from PACE's HARP2 instrument using enhanced neural network models with the FastMAPOL algorithm. A cascading retrieval method is developed to improve retrieval performance. A global set of simulated HARP2 data is generated and used for uncertainty evaluations. The performance assessment demonstrates that the FastMAPOL algorithm is a viable approach for operational application to HARP2 data after PACE launch.
Cited articles
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Baars, H., Kanitz, T., Engelmann, R., Althausen, D., Heese, B., Komppula, M., Preißler, J., Tesche, M., Ansmann, A., Wandinger, U., Lim, J.-H., Ahn, J. Y., Stachlewska, I. S., Amiridis, V., Marinou, E., Seifert, P., Hofer, J., Skupin, A., Schneider, F., Bohlmann, S., Foth, A., Bley, S., Pfüller, A., Giannakaki, E., Lihavainen, H., Viisanen, Y., Hooda, R. K., Pereira, S. N., Bortoli, D., Wagner, F., Mattis, I., Janicka, L., Markowicz, K. M., Achtert, P., Artaxo, P., Pauliquevis, T., Souza, R. A. F., Sharma, V. P., van Zyl, P. G., Beukes, J. P., Sun, J., Rohwer, E. G., Deng, R., Mamouri, R.-E., and Zamorano, F.: An overview of the first decade of PollyNET: an emerging network of automated Raman-polarization lidars for continuous aerosol profiling, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 5111–5137, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-5111-2016, 2016. a
Barker, H. W., Cole, J. N. S., Qu, Z., Villefranque, N., and Shephard, M.:
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Berthier, S., Chazette, P., Pelon, J., and Baum, B.: Comparison of cloud statistics from spaceborne lidar systems, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 8, 6965–6977, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-8-6965-2008, 2008. a
Bravo-Aranda, J. A., de Arruda Moreira, G., Navas-Guzmán, F., Granados-Muñoz, M. J., Guerrero-Rascado, J. L., Pozo-Vázquez, D., Arbizu-Barrena, C., Olmo Reyes, F. J., Mallet, M., and Alados Arboledas, L.: A new methodology for PBL height estimations based on lidar depolarization measurements: analysis and comparison against MWR and WRF model-based results, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 6839–6851, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-6839-2017, 2017. a
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Cole, J. N. S., Barker, H. W., Qu, Z., Villefranque, N., and Shephard, M. W.: Broadband Radiative Quantities for the EarthCARE Mission: The ACM-COM and ACM-RT Products, Atmos. Meas. Tech. Discuss. [preprint], https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2022-304, in review, 2022. a
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Docter, N., Preusker, R., Filipitsch, F., Kritten, L., Schmidt, F., and Fischer, J.: Aerosol optical depth retrieval from the EarthCARE Multi-Spectral Imager: the M-AOT product, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 3437–3457, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-3437-2023, 2023. a, b, c
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Haeffelin, M., Angelini, F., Morille, Y., Martucci, G., Frey, S., Gobbi, G. P., Lolli, S., O'Dowd, C. D., Sauvage, L., Xueref-Rémy, I., Wastine, B., and Feist, D. G.: Evaluation of Mixing-Height Retrievals from Automatic Profiling Lidars and Ceilometers in View of Future Integrated Networks in Europe, Bound.-Lay. Meteorol., 143, 49–75, https://doi.org/10.1127/0941-2948/2008/0312, 2012. a
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Kollias, P., Puidgomènech Treserras, B., Battaglia, A., Borque, P. C., and Tatarevic, A.: Processing reflectivity and Doppler velocity from EarthCARE's cloud-profiling radar: the C-FMR, C-CD and C-APC products, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 1901–1914, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-1901-2023, 2023. a
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Mroz, K., Treserras, B. P., Battaglia, A., Kollias, P., Tatarevic, A., and Tridon, F.: Cloud and precipitation microphysical retrievals from the EarthCARE Cloud Profiling Radar: the C-CLD product, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 2865–2888, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-2865-2023, 2023. a
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Short summary
We introduce the algorithms that have been developed to derive cloud top height and aerosol layer products from observations with the Atmospheric Lidar (ATLID) onboard the Earth Cloud, Aerosol and Radiation Explorer (EarthCARE). The products provide information on the uppermost cloud and geometrical and optical properties of aerosol layers in an atmospheric column. They can be used individually but also serve as input for algorithms that combine observations with EarthCARE’s lidar and imager.
We introduce the algorithms that have been developed to derive cloud top height and aerosol...
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