Articles | Volume 19, issue 9
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-19-3031-2026
© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-19-3031-2026
© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
08 May 2026
Research article |
| 08 May 2026
| 08 May 2026
Uncertainty estimation of aerosol properties from a Vaisala CT25k ceilometer based on in situ aerosol measurements
Marcus G. Müller
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Institute of Climate and Energy Systems: Troposphere (ICE-3), Jülich, Germany
Birger Bohn
Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Institute of Climate and Energy Systems: Troposphere (ICE-3), Jülich, Germany
Ulrich Löhnert
Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Institute of Climate and Energy Systems: Troposphere (ICE-3), Jülich, Germany
Institute for Geophysics and Meteorology, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
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Atmos. Chem. Phys., 26, 11309–11338, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-11309-2026, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-11309-2026, 2026
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Costanza Civale, Maria Dolores Andrés Hernández, Jean-Philippe Putaud, Francesca Barnaba, Henri Diémoz, Johannes Schneider, Helmut Ziereis, Katharina Kaiser, Jörg Schmidt, Ovid Oktavian Krüger, Bruna Holanda, Robert Baumann, Benjamin Weyland, Eric Förster, Midhun George, Yangzhuoran Liu, Daniel Sauer, Jennifer Wolf, Annachiara Bellini, Birger Bohn, Klaus Pfeilsticker, and John Philip Burrows
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 26, 9827–9855, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-9827-2026, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-9827-2026, 2026
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Moritz Löffler, Christine Knist, Bernhard Pospichal, and Ulrich Löhnert
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Benjamin Weyland, Simon Rosanka, Domenico Taraborrelli, Birger Bohn, Andreas Zahn, Florian Obersteiner, Eric Förster, Mariano Mertens, Patrick Jöckel, Helmut Ziereis, Katharina Kaiser, Horst Fischer, John N. Crowley, Nijing Wang, Achim Edtbauer, Jonathan Williams, Maria Dolores Andrés Hernández, John P. Burrows, Flora Kluge, Meike K. Rotermund, Andre Butz, and Klaus Pfeilsticker
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 26, 6825–6856, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-6825-2026, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-6825-2026, 2026
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The destruction by sunlight of nitrous acid (HONO) produces the so-called detergent of the atmosphere. HONO has been measured in concentrations which exceed predictions based on known chemistry for decades. Several reactions have been proposed which may explain this excess HONO. This study reports on airborne measurements of HONO; the observations exceed predictions and form a C-shaped profile in the troposphere. Together with a host of other measurements, various reactions are investigated.
Lu Liu, Thorsten Hohaus, Andreas Hofzumahaus, Frank Holland, Hendrik Fuchs, Ralf Tillmann, Birger Bohn, Stefanie Andres, Zhaofeng Tan, Franz Rohrer, Vlassis A. Karydis, Vaishali Vardhan, Philipp Franke, Anne C. Lange, Anna Novelli, Benjamin Winter, Changmin Cho, Iulia Gensch, Sergej Wedel, Andreas Wahner, and Astrid Kiendler-Scharr
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 16189–16213, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-16189-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-16189-2025, 2025
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We measured air particles at a rural site in Germany over a year to understand how their sources and properties change with the seasons. Particles from natural sources peaked in summer, especially during heatwaves, while those from burning activities like residential heating and wildfires dominated in colder months. Winds carrying air from other regions also influenced particle levels. These findings link air quality to climate change and energy transitions.
Tobias Böck, Moritz Löffler, Tobias Marke, Bernhard Pospichal, Christine Knist, and Ulrich Löhnert
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Marc von Hobe, Domenico Taraborrelli, Sascha Alber, Birger Bohn, Hans-Peter Dorn, Hendrik Fuchs, Yun Li, Chenxi Qiu, Franz Rohrer, Roberto Sommariva, Fred Stroh, Zhaofeng Tan, Sergej Wedel, and Anna Novelli
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The trace gas carbonyl sulfide (OCS) transports sulfur from the troposphere to the stratosphere, where sulfate aerosols are formed that influence climate and stratospheric chemistry. An uncertain OCS source in the troposphere is chemical production form dimethyl sulfide (DMS), a gas released in large quantities from the oceans. We carried out experiments in a large atmospheric simulation chamber to further elucidate the chemical mechanism of OCS production from DMS.
Midhun George, Maria Dolores Andrés Hernández, Vladyslav Nenakhov, Yangzhuoran Liu, John Philip Burrows, Birger Bohn, Eric Förster, Florian Obersteiner, Andreas Zahn, Theresa Harlaß, Helmut Ziereis, Hans Schlager, Benjamin Schreiner, Flora Kluge, Katja Bigge, and Klaus Pfeilsticker
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Nils Eingrüber, Wolfgang Korres, Ulrich Löhnert, and Karl Schneider
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Zaneta Hamryszczak, Dirk Dienhart, Bettina Brendel, Roland Rohloff, Daniel Marno, Monica Martinez, Hartwig Harder, Andrea Pozzer, Birger Bohn, Martin Zöger, Jos Lelieveld, and Horst Fischer
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 5929–5943, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-5929-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-5929-2023, 2023
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Kezia Lange, Andreas Richter, Anja Schönhardt, Andreas C. Meier, Tim Bösch, André Seyler, Kai Krause, Lisa K. Behrens, Folkard Wittrock, Alexis Merlaud, Frederik Tack, Caroline Fayt, Martina M. Friedrich, Ermioni Dimitropoulou, Michel Van Roozendael, Vinod Kumar, Sebastian Donner, Steffen Dörner, Bianca Lauster, Maria Razi, Christian Borger, Katharina Uhlmannsiek, Thomas Wagner, Thomas Ruhtz, Henk Eskes, Birger Bohn, Daniel Santana Diaz, Nader Abuhassan, Dirk Schüttemeyer, and John P. Burrows
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 1357–1389, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-1357-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-1357-2023, 2023
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We present airborne imaging DOAS and ground-based stationary and car DOAS measurements conducted during the S5P-VAL-DE-Ruhr campaign in the Rhine-Ruhr region. The measurements are used to validate spaceborne NO2 data products from the Sentinel-5 Precursor TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI). Auxiliary data of the TROPOMI NO2 retrieval, such as spatially higher resolved a priori NO2 vertical profiles, surface reflectivity, and cloud treatment are investigated to evaluate their impact.
Chuan-Yao Lin, Wan-Chin Chen, Yi-Yun Chien, Charles C. K. Chou, Chian-Yi Liu, Helmut Ziereis, Hans Schlager, Eric Förster, Florian Obersteiner, Ovid O. Krüger, Bruna A. Holanda, Mira L. Pöhlker, Katharina Kaiser, Johannes Schneider, Birger Bohn, Klaus Pfeilsticker, Benjamin Weyland, Maria Dolores Andrés Hernández, and John P. Burrows
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 2627–2647, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-2627-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-2627-2023, 2023
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During the EMeRGe campaign in Asia, atmospheric pollutants were measured on board the HALO aircraft. The WRF-Chem model was employed to evaluate the biomass burning (BB) plume transported from Indochina and its impact on the downstream areas. The combination of BB aerosol enhancement with cloud water resulted in a reduction in incoming shortwave radiation at the surface in southern China and the East China Sea, which potentially has significant regional climate implications.
Changmin Cho, Hendrik Fuchs, Andreas Hofzumahaus, Frank Holland, William J. Bloss, Birger Bohn, Hans-Peter Dorn, Marvin Glowania, Thorsten Hohaus, Lu Liu, Paul S. Monks, Doreen Niether, Franz Rohrer, Roberto Sommariva, Zhaofeng Tan, Ralf Tillmann, Astrid Kiendler-Scharr, Andreas Wahner, and Anna Novelli
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 2003–2033, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-2003-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-2003-2023, 2023
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With this study, we investigated the processes leading to the formation, destruction, and recycling of radicals for four seasons in a rural environment. Complete knowledge of their chemistry is needed if we are to predict the formation of secondary pollutants from primary emissions. The results highlight a still incomplete understanding of the paths leading to the formation of the OH radical, which has been observed in several other environments as well and needs to be further investigated.
Birger Bohn and Insa Lohse
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 209–233, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-209-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-209-2023, 2023
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Optical receivers for solar spectral actinic radiation are designed for angle-independent sensitivities within a hemisphere. Remaining imperfections can be compensated for by receiver-specific corrections based on laboratory characterizations and radiative transfer calculations of spectral radiance distributions. The corrections cover a wide range of realistic atmospheric conditions and were applied to ground-based and airborne measurements in a wavelength range 280–660 nm.
Zhaofeng Tan, Hendrik Fuchs, Andreas Hofzumahaus, William J. Bloss, Birger Bohn, Changmin Cho, Thorsten Hohaus, Frank Holland, Chandrakiran Lakshmisha, Lu Liu, Paul S. Monks, Anna Novelli, Doreen Niether, Franz Rohrer, Ralf Tillmann, Thalassa S. E. Valkenburg, Vaishali Vardhan, Astrid Kiendler-Scharr, Andreas Wahner, and Roberto Sommariva
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 13137–13152, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-13137-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-13137-2022, 2022
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During the 2019 JULIAC campaign, ClNO2 was measured at a rural site in Germany in different seasons. The highest ClNO2 level was 1.6 ppbv in September. ClNO2 production was more sensitive to the availability of NO2 than O3. The average ClNO2 production efficiency was up to 18 % in February and September and down to 3 % in December. These numbers are at the high end of the values reported in the literature, indicating the importance of ClNO2 chemistry in rural environments in midwestern Europe.
Jan H. Schween, Camilo del Rio, Juan-Luis García, Pablo Osses, Sarah Westbrook, and Ulrich Löhnert
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 12241–12267, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-12241-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-12241-2022, 2022
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Marine stratocumulus clouds of the eastern Pacific play an essential role in the Earth's climate. These clouds form the major source of water to parts of the extreme dry Atacama Desert at the northern coast of Chile. For the first time these clouds are observed over a whole year with three remote sensing instruments. It is shown how these clouds are influenced by the land–sea wind system and the distribution of ocean temperatures.
Simon F. Reifenberg, Anna Martin, Matthias Kohl, Sara Bacer, Zaneta Hamryszczak, Ivan Tadic, Lenard Röder, Daniel J. Crowley, Horst Fischer, Katharina Kaiser, Johannes Schneider, Raphael Dörich, John N. Crowley, Laura Tomsche, Andreas Marsing, Christiane Voigt, Andreas Zahn, Christopher Pöhlker, Bruna A. Holanda, Ovid Krüger, Ulrich Pöschl, Mira Pöhlker, Patrick Jöckel, Marcel Dorf, Ulrich Schumann, Jonathan Williams, Birger Bohn, Joachim Curtius, Hardwig Harder, Hans Schlager, Jos Lelieveld, and Andrea Pozzer
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 10901–10917, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-10901-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-10901-2022, 2022
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In this work we use a combination of observational data from an aircraft campaign and model results to investigate the effect of the European lockdown due to COVID-19 in spring 2020. Using model results, we show that the largest relative changes to the atmospheric composition caused by the reduced emissions are located in the upper troposphere around aircraft cruise altitude, while the largest absolute changes are present at the surface.
Zaneta T. Hamryszczak, Andrea Pozzer, Florian Obersteiner, Birger Bohn, Benedikt Steil, Jos Lelieveld, and Horst Fischer
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 9483–9497, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-9483-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-9483-2022, 2022
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Hydrogen peroxide plays a pivotal role in the chemistry of the atmosphere. Together with organic hydroperoxides, it forms a reservoir for peroxy radicals, which are known to be the key contributors to the self-cleaning processes of the atmosphere. Hydroperoxides were measured over Europe during the BLUESKY campaign in May–June 2020. The paper gives an overview of the distribution of the species in the troposphere and investigates the impact of wet scavenging and deposition on the budget of H2O2.
Jacky Yat Sing Pang, Anna Novelli, Martin Kaminski, Ismail-Hakki Acir, Birger Bohn, Philip T. M. Carlsson, Changmin Cho, Hans-Peter Dorn, Andreas Hofzumahaus, Xin Li, Anna Lutz, Sascha Nehr, David Reimer, Franz Rohrer, Ralf Tillmann, Robert Wegener, Astrid Kiendler-Scharr, Andreas Wahner, and Hendrik Fuchs
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 8497–8527, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-8497-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-8497-2022, 2022
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This study investigates the radical chemical budget during the limonene oxidation at different atmospheric-relevant NO concentrations in chamber experiments under atmospheric conditions. It is found that the model–measurement discrepancies of HO2 and RO2 are very large at low NO concentrations that are typical for forested environments. Possible additional processes impacting HO2 and RO2 concentrations are discussed.
Julian Steinheuer, Carola Detring, Frank Beyrich, Ulrich Löhnert, Petra Friederichs, and Stephanie Fiedler
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 3243–3260, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-3243-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-3243-2022, 2022
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Doppler wind lidars (DWLs) allow the determination of wind profiles with high vertical resolution and thus provide an alternative to meteorological towers. We address the question of whether wind gusts can be derived since they are short-lived phenomena. Therefore, we compare different DWL configurations and develop a new method applicable to all of them. A fast continuous scanning mode that completes a full observation cycle within 3.4 s is found to be the best-performing configuration.
M. Dolores Andrés Hernández, Andreas Hilboll, Helmut Ziereis, Eric Förster, Ovid O. Krüger, Katharina Kaiser, Johannes Schneider, Francesca Barnaba, Mihalis Vrekoussis, Jörg Schmidt, Heidi Huntrieser, Anne-Marlene Blechschmidt, Midhun George, Vladyslav Nenakhov, Theresa Harlass, Bruna A. Holanda, Jennifer Wolf, Lisa Eirenschmalz, Marc Krebsbach, Mira L. Pöhlker, Anna B. Kalisz Hedegaard, Linlu Mei, Klaus Pfeilsticker, Yangzhuoran Liu, Ralf Koppmann, Hans Schlager, Birger Bohn, Ulrich Schumann, Andreas Richter, Benjamin Schreiner, Daniel Sauer, Robert Baumann, Mariano Mertens, Patrick Jöckel, Markus Kilian, Greta Stratmann, Christopher Pöhlker, Monica Campanelli, Marco Pandolfi, Michael Sicard, José L. Gómez-Amo, Manuel Pujadas, Katja Bigge, Flora Kluge, Anja Schwarz, Nikos Daskalakis, David Walter, Andreas Zahn, Ulrich Pöschl, Harald Bönisch, Stephan Borrmann, Ulrich Platt, and John P. Burrows
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 5877–5924, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-5877-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-5877-2022, 2022
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EMeRGe provides a unique set of in situ and remote sensing airborne measurements of trace gases and aerosol particles along selected flight routes in the lower troposphere over Europe. The interpretation uses also complementary collocated ground-based and satellite measurements. The collected data help to improve the current understanding of the complex spatial distribution of trace gases and aerosol particles resulting from mixing, transport, and transformation of pollution plumes over Europe.
Clara M. Nussbaumer, John N. Crowley, Jan Schuladen, Jonathan Williams, Sascha Hafermann, Andreas Reiffs, Raoul Axinte, Hartwig Harder, Cheryl Ernest, Anna Novelli, Katrin Sala, Monica Martinez, Chinmay Mallik, Laura Tomsche, Christian Plass-Dülmer, Birger Bohn, Jos Lelieveld, and Horst Fischer
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 18413–18432, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-18413-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-18413-2021, 2021
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HCHO is an important atmospheric trace gas influencing the photochemical processes in the Earth’s atmosphere, including the budget of HOx and the abundance of tropospheric O3. This research presents the photochemical calculations of HCHO and O3 based on three field campaigns across Europe. We show that HCHO production via the oxidation of only four volatile organic compound precursors, i.e., CH4, CH3CHO, C5H8 and CH3OH, can balance the observed loss at all sites well.
Zhaofeng Tan, Luisa Hantschke, Martin Kaminski, Ismail-Hakki Acir, Birger Bohn, Changmin Cho, Hans-Peter Dorn, Xin Li, Anna Novelli, Sascha Nehr, Franz Rohrer, Ralf Tillmann, Robert Wegener, Andreas Hofzumahaus, Astrid Kiendler-Scharr, Andreas Wahner, and Hendrik Fuchs
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 16067–16091, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-16067-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-16067-2021, 2021
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The photo-oxidation of myrcene, a monoterpene species emitted by plants, was investigated at atmospheric conditions in the outdoor simulation chamber SAPHIR. The chemical structure of myrcene is partly similar to isoprene. Therefore, it can be expected that hydrogen shift reactions could play a role as observed for isoprene. In this work, their potential impact on the regeneration efficiency of hydroxyl radicals is investigated.
Clara M. Nussbaumer, Uwe Parchatka, Ivan Tadic, Birger Bohn, Daniel Marno, Monica Martinez, Roland Rohloff, Hartwig Harder, Flora Kluge, Klaus Pfeilsticker, Florian Obersteiner, Martin Zöger, Raphael Doerich, John N. Crowley, Jos Lelieveld, and Horst Fischer
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 6759–6776, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-6759-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-6759-2021, 2021
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NO2 plays a central role in atmospheric photochemical processes and requires accurate measurements. This research presents NO2 data obtained via chemiluminescence using a photolytic converter from airborne studies around Cabo Verde and laboratory investigations. We show the limits and error-proneness of a conventional blue light converter in aircraft measurements affected by humidity and NO levels and suggest the use of an alternative quartz converter for more reliable results.
Cited articles
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Short summary
We present an uncertainty estimation for the retrieval of aerosol properties from a Vaisala CT25k ceilometer at JOYCE (Jülich Observatory for Cloud Evolution) with a forward inversion method. Ceilometer aerosol mass concentrations and extinction coefficients were compared to in situ observations (optical particle sizer) from a close-by tower at 120 m, showing a mean absolute percentage error of 39 % when deriving aerosol mass concentrations from ceilometer aerosol extinction coefficients.
We present an uncertainty estimation for the retrieval of aerosol properties from a Vaisala...
