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
Related authors
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
Short summary
Short summary
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
Short summary
Short summary
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
Short summary
Short summary
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
Short summary
Short summary
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
Short summary
Short summary
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
Short summary
Short summary
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
Short summary
Short summary
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
Short summary
Short summary
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
Short summary
Short summary
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
Short summary
Short summary
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
Short summary
Short summary
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
Short summary
Short summary
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
Short summary
Short summary
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
Short summary
Short summary
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
Short summary
Short summary
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
Short summary
Short summary
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
Short summary
Short summary
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
Short summary
Short summary
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.
Gladiola Malollari, Albert Ansmann, Holger Baars, Cristofer Jimenez, Julian Hofer, Ronny Engelmann, Nathan Skupin, and Seit Shallari
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 3937–3944, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-3937-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-3937-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
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.
Dimitri Trapon, Holger Baars, Athena Augusta Floutsi, Sebastian Bley, Moritz Haarig, Adrien Lacour, Thomas Flament, Alain Dabas, Amin R. Nehrir, Frithjof Ehlers, and Dorit Huber
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 3873–3896, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-3873-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-3873-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
The study highlights how aerosol measurements from aircraft can be used in synergy with ground-based observations to validate the European Space Agency'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 characterization of the optical properties of the observed dust particles emitted from the Sahara.
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
Short summary
Short summary
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).
Short summary
Short summary
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
Short summary
Short summary
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).
Short summary
Short summary
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
Short summary
Short summary
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
Short summary
Short summary
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
Short summary
Short summary
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
Short summary
Short summary
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).
Short summary
Short summary
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
Short summary
Short summary
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
Short summary
Short summary
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
Short summary
Short summary
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.
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
Short summary
Short summary
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
Short summary
Short summary
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
Short summary
Short summary
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
Short summary
Short summary
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
Short summary
Short summary
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
Short summary
Short summary
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
Short summary
Short summary
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
Short summary
Short summary
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
Short summary
Short summary
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
Short summary
Short summary
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
Short summary
Short summary
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
Short summary
Short summary
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
Short summary
Short summary
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
Short summary
Short summary
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
Short summary
Short summary
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
Short summary
Short summary
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
Short summary
Short summary
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
Short summary
Short summary
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
Short summary
Short summary
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
Short summary
Short summary
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
Short summary
Short summary
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
Short summary
Short summary
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
Short summary
Short summary
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
Short summary
Short summary
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
Short summary
Short summary
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
Short summary
Short summary
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
Short summary
Short summary
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
Short summary
Short summary
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
Short summary
Short summary
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
Short summary
Short summary
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
Short summary
Short summary
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
Short summary
Short summary
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
Short summary
Short summary
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
Short summary
Short summary
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
Short summary
Short summary
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
Short summary
Short summary
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
Short summary
Short summary
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
Short summary
Short summary
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
Short summary
Short summary
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
Short summary
Short summary
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
Short summary
Short summary
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
Short summary
Short summary
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
Short summary
Short summary
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
Short summary
Short summary
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
Short summary
Short summary
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
Short summary
Short summary
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
Short summary
Short summary
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
Short summary
Short summary
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
Short summary
Short summary
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
Short summary
Short summary
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
Short summary
Short summary
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
Short summary
Short summary
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
Short summary
Short summary
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
Short summary
Short summary
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
Short summary
Short summary
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
Short summary
Short summary
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
Short summary
Short summary
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
Short summary
Short summary
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.
Cited articles
Baars, H., Ansmann, A., Engelmann, R., and Althausen, D.: Continuous monitoring of the boundary-layer top with lidar, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 8, 7281–7296, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-8-7281-2008, 2008. a, b, c, d
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.:
EarthCARE's continuous radiative closure assessment: Summary and
application to data from a synthetic observing system, in preparation, 2023. a
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
Brooks, I. M.: Finding Boundary Layer Top: Application of a Wavelet Covariance Transform to Lidar Backscatter Profiles, J. Atmos. Ocean. Tech., 20, 1092–1105, https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0426(2003)020<1092:FBLTAO>2.0.CO;2, 2003. a, b
Chazette, P., Pelon, J., and Mégie, G.: Determination by spaceborne
backscatter lidar of the structural parameters of atmospheric scattering
layers, Appl. Optics, 40, 3428–3440, https://doi.org/10.1364/AO.40.003428, 2001. a
Cohn, S. A. and Angevine, W. M.: Boundary Layer Height and Entrainment Zone Thickness Measured by Lidars and Wind-Profiling Radars, J. Appl. Meteorol., 39, 1233–1247, https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0450(2000)039<1233:BLHAEZ>2.0.CO;2, 2000. a
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
Dang, R., Yang, Y., Hu, X.-M., Wang, Z., and Zhang, S.: A Review of Techniques for Diagnosing the Atmospheric Boundary Layer Height (ABLH) Using Aerosol Lidar Data, Remote Sens., 11, 1590, https://doi.org/10.3390/rs11131590, 2019. a
David, C., Bekki, S., Berdunov, N., Marchand, M., Snels, M., and Mégie, G.: Classification and scales of Antarctic polar stratospheric clouds using wavelet decomposition, J. Atmos. Sol.-Terr. Phy., 67, 293–300, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jastp.2004.07.043, 2005. a
Davis, K. J., Gamage, N., Hagelberg, C. R., Kiemle, C., Lenschow, D. H., and Sullivan, P. P.: An Objective Method for Deriving Atmospheric Structure from
Airborne Lidar Observations, J. Atmos. Ocean. Tech., 17, 1455–1468, https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0426(2000)017<1455:AOMFDA>2.0.CO;2, 2000. a
de Bruine, M., Apituley, A., Donovan, D. P., Klein Baltink, H., and de Haij, M. J.: Pathfinder: applying graph theory to consistent tracking of daytime mixed layer height with backscatter lidar, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 10, 1893–1909, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-1893-2017, 2017. a
de Haij, M., Wauben, W., and Baltink, H. K.: Determination of mixing layer height from ceilometer backscatter profiles, in: Remote Sensing of Clouds and the Atmosphere XI, edited by: Slusser, J. R., Schäfer, K., and Comerón, A., International Society for Optics and Photonics, SPIE, 6362, 158–169, https://doi.org/10.1117/12.691050, 2006. a
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
Donovan, D. P., Kollias, P., Velázquez Blázquez, A., and van Zadelhoff, G.-J.: The Generation of EarthCARE L1 Test Data sets Using Atmospheric Model Data Sets, EGUsphere [preprint], https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-384, 2023b. a, b, c
Emeis, S., Schäfer, K., and Münkel, C.: Surface-based remote sensing of the mixing-layer height – a review, Meteorol. Z., 17,
621–630, https://doi.org/10.1127/0941-2948/2008/0312, 2008. a
Engelmann, R., Kanitz, T., Baars, H., Heese, B., Althausen, D., Skupin, A., Wandinger, U., Komppula, M., Stachlewska, I. S., Amiridis, V., Marinou, E., Mattis, I., Linné, H., and Ansmann, A.: The automated multiwavelength Raman polarization and water-vapor lidar PollyXT: the neXT generation, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 9, 1767–1784, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-1767-2016, 2016. a
Haar, A.: Zur Theorie der orthogonalen Funktionensysteme, Math. Ann., 69, 331–371, https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01456326, 1910. a, b
Haarig, M., Hünerbein, A., Wandinger, U., Docter, N., Bley, S., Donovan, D., and van Zadelhoff, G.-J.: Cloud top heights and aerosol columnar properties from combined EarthCARE lidar and imager observations: the AM-CTH and AM-ACD products, EGUsphere [preprint], https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-327, 2023. a, b, c, d, e, f
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
Hünerbein, A., Bley, S., Deneke, H., Meirink, J. F., van Zadelhoff, G.-J., and Walther, A.: Cloud optical and physical properties retrieval from EarthCARE multi-spectral imager: the M-COP products, EGUsphere [preprint], https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-305, 2023a. a, b
Hünerbein, A., Bley, S., Horn, S., Deneke, H., and Walther, A.: Cloud mask algorithm from the EarthCARE Multi-Spectral Imager: the M-CM products, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 2821–2836, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-2821-2023, 2023b. a
Illingworth, A. J., Barker, H. W., Beljaars, A., Ceccaldi, M., Chepfer, H., Clerbaux, N., Cole, J., Delanoe, J., Domenech, C., Donovan, D. P., Fukuda, S., Hirakata, M., Hogan, R. J., Huenerbein, A., Kollias, P., Kubota, T., Nakajima, T., Nakajima, T. Y., Nishizawa, T., Ohno, Y., Okamoto, H., Oki, R., Sato, K., Satoh, M., Shephard, M. W., Velazquez-Blazquez, A., Wandinger, U., Wehr, T., and van Zadelhoff, G. J.: THE EARTHCARE SATELLITE The Next Step Forward in Global Measurements of Clouds, Aerosols, Precipitation, and Radiation, B. Am. Meteorol. Soc., 96, 1311–1332,
https://doi.org/10.1175/bams-d-12-00227.1, 2015. a
Irbah, A., Delanoë, J., van Zadelhoff, G.-J., Donovan, D. P., Kollias, P., Puigdomènech Treserras, B., Mason, S., Hogan, R. J., and Tatarevic, A.: The classification of atmospheric hydrometeors and aerosols from the EarthCARE radar and lidar: the A-TC, C-TC and AC-TC products, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 2795–2820, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-2795-2023, 2023. a, b
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
Kotthaus, S., Haeffelin, M., Drouin, M.-A., Dupont, J.-C., Grimmond, S., Haefele, A., Hervo, M., Poltera, Y., and Wiegner, M.: Tailored Algorithms for the Detection of the Atmospheric Boundary Layer Height from Common Automatic
Lidars and Ceilometers (ALC), Remote Sens., 12, 3259, https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12193259, 2020. a
Lammert, A. and Bösenberg, J.: Determination of the convective boundary-layer height with laser remote sensing, Bound.-Lay. Meteorol., 119, 159–170,
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10546-005-9020-x, 2006. a
Lewis, J. R., Welton, E. J., Molod, A. M., and Joseph, E.: Improved boundary layer depth retrievals from MPLNET, J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 118, 9870–9879, https://doi.org/10.1002/jgrd.50570, 2013. a
Menut, L., Flamant, C., Pelon, J., and Flamant, P. H.: Urban boundary-layer
height determination from lidar measurements over the Paris area, Appl.
Optics, 38, 945–954, https://doi.org/10.1364/AO.38.000945, 1999. a
Morille, Y., Haeffelin, M., Drobinski, P., and Pelon, J.: STRAT: An Automated Algorithm to Retrieve the Vertical Structure of the Atmosphere from Single-Channel Lidar Data, J. Atmos. Ocean. Tech., 24, 761–775, https://doi.org/10.1175/JTECH2008.1, 2007. a, b, c, d
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
Nakoudi, K., Stachlewska, I. S., and Ritter, C.: An extended lidar-based cirrus cloud retrieval scheme: first application over an Arctic site, Opt. Express, 29, 8553–8580, https://doi.org/10.1364/OE.414770, 2021. a
Pappalardo, G., Amodeo, A., Apituley, A., Comeron, A., Freudenthaler, V., Linné, H., Ansmann, A., Bösenberg, J., D'Amico, G., Mattis, I., Mona, L., Wandinger, U., Amiridis, V., Alados-Arboledas, L., Nicolae, D., and Wiegner, M.: EARLINET: towards an advanced sustainable European aerosol lidar network, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 7, 2389–2409, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-7-2389-2014, 2014. a
Qu, Z., Donovan, D. P., Barker, H. W., Cole, J. N. S., Shephard, M. W., and Huijnen, V.: Numerical Model Generation of Test Frames for Pre-launch Studies of EarthCARE’s Retrieval Algorithms and Data Management System, Atmos. Meas. Tech. Discuss. [preprint], https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2022-300, in review, 2022. a, b, c, d, e, f
Qu, Z., Barker, H. W., Cole, J. N. S., and Shephard, M. W.: Across-track extension of retrieved cloud and aerosol properties for the EarthCARE mission: the ACMB-3D product, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 2319–2331, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-2319-2023, 2023. a
Sassen, K., Wang, L., Starr, D. O., Comstock, J. M., and Quante, M.: A Midlatitude Cirrus Cloud Climatology from the Facility for Atmospheric Remote Sensing. Part V: Cloud Structural Properties, J. Atmos. Sci., 64, 2483–2501, https://doi.org/10.1175/JAS3949.1, 2007. a
Toledo, D., Córdoba-Jabonero, C., Adame, J. A., Morena, B. D. L., and Gil-Ojeda, M.: Estimation of the atmospheric boundary layer height during different atmospheric conditions: a comparison on reliability of several methods applied to lidar measurements, Int. J. Remote Sens., 38, 3203–3218, https://doi.org/10.1080/01431161.2017.1292068, 2017. a
van den Heuvel, J. C., Driesenaar, M. L., and Lerou, R. J. L.: Fractal properties and denoising of lidar signals from cirrus clouds, J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 105, 3975–3982, https://doi.org/10.1029/1999JD900972, 2000. a
van Zadelhoff, G.-J., Donovan, D. P., and Wang, P.: Detection of aerosol and cloud features for the EarthCARE atmospheric lidar (ATLID): the ATLID FeatureMask (A-FM) product, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 3631–3651, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-3631-2023, 2023a.
a, b
van Zadelhoff, G.-J., Barker, H. W., Baudrez, E., Bley, S., Clerbaux, N., Cole, J. N. S., de Kloe, J., Docter, N., Domenech, C., Donovan, D. P., Dufresne, J.-L., Eisinger, M., Fischer, J., García-Marañón, R., Haarig, M., Hogan, R. J., Hünerbein, A., Kollias, P., Koopman, R., Madenach, N., Mason, S. L., Preusker, R., Puigdomènech Treserras, B., Qu, Z., Ruiz-Saldaña, M., Shephard, M., Velázquez-Blazquez, A., Villefranque, N., Wandinger, U., Wang, P., and Wehr, T.: EarthCARE level-2 demonstration products from simulated scenes (10.10), Zenodo [data set], https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7728948, 2023b. a, b, c
Vaughan, M. A., Powell, K. A., Winker, D. M., Hostetler, C. A., Kuehn, R. E., Hunt, W. H., Getzewich, B. J., Young, S. A., Liu, Z., and McGill, M. J.: Fully Automated Detection of Cloud and Aerosol Layers in the CALIPSO Lidar Measurements, J. Atmos. Ocean. Tech., 26, 2034–2050,
https://doi.org/10.1175/2009JTECHA1228.1, 2009. a, b
Wandinger, U., Floutsi, A. A., Baars, H., Haarig, M., Ansmann, A., Hünerbein, A., Docter, N., Donovan, D., van Zadelhoff, G.-J., Mason, S., and Cole, J.: HETEAC – the Hybrid End-To-End Aerosol Classification model for EarthCARE, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 2485–2510, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-2485-2023, 2023. a, b, c, d
Wang, L. and Sassen, K.: Cirrus Mammatus Properties Derived from an Extended Remote Sensing Dataset, J. Atmos. Sci., 63, 712–725, https://doi.org/10.1175/JAS3648.1, 2006. a
Wang, L. and Sassen, K.: Wavelet Analysis of Cirrus Multiscale Structures from Lidar Backscattering: A Cirrus Uncinus Complex Case Study, J. Appl. Meteorol. Clim., 47, 2645–2658, https://doi.org/10.1175/2008JAMC1788.1, 2008. a
Wehr, T., Kubota, T., Tzeremes, G., Wallace, K., Nakatsuka, H., Ohno, Y., Koopman, R., Rusli, S., Kikuchi, M., Eisinger, M., Tanaka, T., Taga, M., Deghaye, P., Tomita, E., and Bernaerts, D.: The EarthCARE mission – science and system overview, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 3581–3608, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-3581-2023, 2023. a, b, c, d, e
Winker, D. M., Vaughan, M. A., Omar, A., Hu, Y., Powell, K. A., Liu, Z., Hunt, W. H., and Young, S. A.: Overview of the CALIPSO Mission and CALIOP Data Processing Algorithms, J. Atmos. Ocean. Tech., 26, 2310–2323, https://doi.org/10.1175/2009JTECHA1281.1, 2009. a
Zhang, N., Yang, F., and Chen, Y.: Implementation of a 2D Wavelet Method to Probe Mixed Layer Height Using Lidar Observations, Int. J. Env. Res. Pub. He., 16, 2516, https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16142516, 2019. a
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...
Special issue