Recently, some authors have suggested that the absorption Ångström exponent (AAE) can be used to deduce the component aerosol absorption optical depths (AAODs) of carbonaceous aerosols in the AERONET ...database. This AAE approach presumes that AAE ≪ 1 for soot carbon, which contrasts the traditional small particle limit of AAE = 1 for soot carbon. Thus, we provide an overview of the AERONET retrieval, and we investigate how the microphysics of carbonaceous aerosols can be interpreted in the AERONET AAE product. We find that AAE ≪ 1 in the AERONET database requires large coarse mode fractions and/or imaginary refractive indices that increase with wavelength. Neither of these characteristics are consistent with the current definition of soot carbon, so we explore other possibilities for the cause of AAE ≪ 1. AAE is related to particle size, and coarse mode particles have a smaller AAE than fine mode particles for a given aerosol mixture of species. We also note that the mineral goethite has an imaginary refractive index that increases with wavelength, is very common in dust regions, and can easily contribute to AAE ≪ 1. We find that AAE ≪ 1 can not be caused by soot carbon, unless soot carbon has an imaginary refractive index that increases with wavelength throughout the visible and near-infrared spectrums. Finally, AAE is not a robust parameter for separating carbonaceous absorption from dust aerosol absorption in the AERONET database.
Dust storms are considered natural hazards, which affect day‐to‐day life for a short time from a few hours to a few days. They are common in India especially in the western Rajasthan Province, which ...is covered by the Thar Desert. In this paper, we present the effects of the dust events on the aerosol parameters retrieved over Kanpur (located in heart of the Indo‐Gangetic basin) from ground‐based Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) measurements. The aerosol parameters show strong seasonal variability in this region, with least spectral dependence of aerosol optical depth (AOD) during the premonsoon season, characterized by dust loading. The aerosol optical properties over the Indo‐Gangetic basin are controlled by the diurnal and seasonal cycles of urban pollutants, but the dust storms are so significant that the local cycle is completely overshadowed. A rise in AOD by more than 50% and corresponding decrease in angstrom parameter by 70–90% have been observed after each dust event. The diurnal variations of AOD during the dust events have been found to be controlled by the onset of the dust storms. The changes in the single scattering albedo (SSA) and real n(λ) and imaginary k(λ) parts of the refractive index indicate that the 27 May 2002 event influences the optical state to be absorbing, whereas for the other four events the aerosols are found to be dominantly scattering in nature. SSA has been found to increase sharply at higher wavelengths (λ > 440 nm) during the dust events, whereas n(λ) and k(λ) increase 2–3 times more at λ = 440 nm compared to those at higher wavelengths. The contrasting change in the spectral variations of the optical properties is due to the difference in the nature of the aerosols loading during the events. Aerosol volume concentration at coarse mode is found to increase three times after the dust events, whereas no significant change has been observed in the volume concentration at fine mode. Concentration of the particulate matters less than 10 μm (PM10) is also found to increase by ∼150 μg m−3 after each dust event except on the 27 May 2002 event, when heavy rainfall after the dust storm washed out the suspended particulate matters from the atmosphere, and the ground level PM10 concentration was not influenced by the advected dust particles on that day. Aerosol index values in successive Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) images over the region support the characterization of the aerosols in this region in terms of their optical properties, which are being transported over the Indo‐Gangetic basin from the western Thar Desert and the Gulf regions depending upon the size of the particles, shown by the air mass trajectories.
Automatic globally distributed networks for monitoring aerosol optical depth provide measurements of natural and anthropogenic aerosol loading, which is important in many local and regional studies ...as well as global change research investigations. The strength of such networks relies on imposing a standardization of measurement and processing, allowing multiyear and large-scale comparisons. The development of the Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) for systematic ground-based sunphotometer measurements of aerosol optical depth is an essential and evolving step in this process. The growing database requires the development of a consistent, reproducible, and system-wide cloud-screening procedure. This paper discusses the methodology and justification of the cloud-screening algorithm developed for the AERONET database. The procedure has been comprehensively tested on experimental data obtained in different geographical and optical conditions. These conditions include biomass burning events in Brazil and Zambia, hazy summer conditions in the Washington DC area, clean air advected from the Canadian Arctic, and variable cloudy conditions. For various sites our screening algorithm eliminates from ∼20% to 50% of the initial data depending on cloud conditions. Certain shortcomings of the proposed procedure are discussed.
Aerosols emitted in densely populated and industrialized Indo-Gangetic Plain, one of the most polluted regions in the world, modulate regional climate, monsoon, and Himalayan glacier retreat. Thus, ...this region is important for understanding aerosol perturbations and their resulting impacts on atmospheric changes during COVID-19 lockdown period, a natural experimental condition created by the pandemic. By analyzing 5 years (2016–2020) data of aerosols and performing a radiative transfer calculation, we found that columnar and near-surface aerosol loadings decreased, leading to reductions in radiative cooling at the surface and top of the atmosphere and atmospheric warming during lockdown period. Further, satellite data analyses showed increases in cloud optical thickness and cloud-particle effective radius and decrease in lower tropospheric air temperature during lockdown period. These results indicate critical influences of COVID-19 lockdown on regional climate and water cycle over Indo-Gangetic Plain, emphasizing need for further studies from modeling perspectives.
Sensitivity studies are conducted regarding aerosol optical property retrieval from radiances measured by ground‐based Sun‐sky scanning radiometers of the Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET). These ...studies focus on testing a new inversion concept for simultaneously retrieving aerosol size distribution, complex refractive index, and single‐scattering albedo from spectral measurements of direct and diffuse radiation. The perturbations of the inversion resulting from random errors, instrumental offsets, and known uncertainties in the atmospheric radiation model are analyzed. Sun or sky channel miscalibration, inaccurate azimuth angle pointing during sky radiance measurements, and inaccuracy in accounting for surface reflectance are considered as error sources. The effects of these errors on the characterization of three typical and optically distinct aerosols with bimodal size distributions (weakly absorbing water‐soluble aerosol, absorbing biomass‐burning aerosol, and desert dust) are considered. The aerosol particles are assumed in the retrieval to be polydispersed homogeneous spheres with the same complex refractive index. Therefore we also examined how inversions with such an assumption bias the retrievals in the case of nonspherical dust aerosols and in the case of externally or internally mixed spherical particles with different refractive indices. The analysis shows successful retrieval of all aerosol characteristics (size distribution, complex refractive index, and single‐scattering albedo), provided the inversion includes the data combination of spectral optical depth together with sky radiances in the full solar almucantar (with angular coverage of scattering angles up to 100° or more). The retrieval accuracy is acceptable for most remote sensing applications even in the presence of rather strong systematic or random uncertainties in the measurements. The major limitations relate to the characterization of low optical depth situations for all aerosol types, where high relative errors may occur in the direct radiation measurements of aerosol optical depth. Also, the results of tests indicate that a decrease of angular coverage of scattering (scattering angles of 75° or less) in the sky radiance results in the loss of practical information about refractive index. Accurate azimuth angle pointing is critical for the characterization of dust. Scattering by nonspherical dust particles requires special analysis, whereby approximation of the aerosol by spheres allows us to derive single‐scattering albedo by inverting spectral optical depth together with sky radiances in the full solar almucantar. Inverting sky radiances measured in the first 40° scattering angle only, where nonspherical effects are minor, results in accurate retrievals of aerosol size distributions of nonspherical particles.
As the most populated region of the world, Asia is a major source of aerosols with potential large impact over vast downstream areas. Papers published in this special section describe the variety of ...aerosols observed in China and their effects and interactions with the regional climate as part of the East Asian Study of Tropospheric Aerosols and their Impact on Regional Climate (EAST‐AIRC). The majority of the papers are based on analyses of observations made under three field projects, namely, the Atmospheric Radiation Measurements (ARM) Mobile Facility mission in China (AMF‐China), the East Asian Study of Tropospheric Aerosols: An International Regional Experiment (EAST‐AIRE), and the Atmospheric Aerosols of China and their Climate Effects (AACCE). The former two are U.S.‐China collaborative projects, and the latter is a part of the China's National Basic Research program (or often referred to as “973 project”). Routine meteorological data of China are also employed in some studies. The wealth of general and specialized measurements lead to extensive and close‐up investigations of the optical, physical, and chemical properties of anthropogenic, natural, and mixed aerosols; their sources, formation, and transport mechanisms; horizontal, vertical, and temporal variations; direct and indirect effects; and interactions with the East Asian monsoon system. Particular efforts are made to advance our understanding of the mixing and interaction between dust and anthropogenic pollutants during transport. Several modeling studies were carried out to simulate aerosol impact on radiation budget, temperature, precipitation, wind and atmospheric circulation, fog, etc. In addition, impacts of the Asian monsoon system on aerosol loading are also simulated.
Retrievals of aerosol optical depth (AOD) and related parameters from satellite measurements typically involve prescribed models of aerosol size and composition, and are therefore dependent on how ...well these models are able to represent the radiative behavior of real aerosols. This study uses aerosol volume size distributions retrieved from Sun‐photometer measurements at 11 Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) island sites, spread throughout the world's oceans, as a basis to define such a model for pure (unpolluted) maritime aerosol. Volume size distributions are observed to be bimodal and approximately lognormal, although the coarse mode is skewed with a long tail on the low‐radius end. The relationship of AOD and size distribution parameters to meteorological conditions is also examined. As wind speed increases, so do coarse‐mode volume and radius. The AOD and Ångström exponent show linear relationships with wind speed, although with considerable scatter. Links between aerosol properties and near‐surface relative humidity, columnar water vapor, and sea surface temperature are also explored. A recommended bimodal maritime model, which is able to reconstruct the AERONET AOD with accuracy of order 0.01–0.02, is presented for use in aerosol remote sensing applications. This accuracy holds at most sites and for wavelengths between 340 nm and 1020 nm. Calculated lidar ratios are also provided, and are in the range of other studies, although differ more strongly from those currently used in Cloud‐Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP) processing.
Key Points
Unpolluted marine aerosol properties from AERONET are globally similar
Wind speed influences aerosol properties more strongly than other factors
An aerosol model is presented for use in remote sensing applications
Aerosol variations and trends over different land and ocean regions from 1980 to 2009 are analyzed with the Goddard Chemistry Aerosol Radiation and Transport (GOCART) model and observations from ...multiple satellite sensors and available ground-based networks. Excluding time periods with large volcanic influence, aerosol optical depth (AOD) and surface concentration over polluted land regions generally vary with anthropogenic emissions, but the magnitude of this association can be dampened by the presence of natural aerosols, especially dust. Over the 30-year period in this study, the largest reduction in aerosol levels occurs over Europe, where AOD has decreased by 40–60% on average and surface sulfate concentrations have declined by a factor of up to 3–4. In contrast, East Asia and South Asia show AOD increases, but the relatively high level of dust aerosols in Asia reduces the correlation between AOD and pollutant emission trends. Over major dust source regions, model analysis indicates that the change of dust emissions over the Sahara and Sahel has been predominantly driven by the change of near-surface wind speed, but over Central Asia it has been largely influenced by the change of the surface wetness. The decreasing dust trend in the North African dust outflow region of the tropical North Atlantic and the receptor sites of Barbados and Miami is closely associated with an increase of the sea surface temperature in the North Atlantic. This temperature increase may drive the decrease of the wind velocity over North Africa, which reduces the dust emission, and the increase of precipitation over the tropical North Atlantic, which enhances dust removal during transport. Despite significant trends over some major continental source regions, the model-calculated global annual average AOD shows little change over land and ocean in the past three decades, because opposite trends in different land regions cancel each other out in the global average, and changes over large open oceans are negligible. This highlights the necessity for regional-scale assessment of aerosols and their climate impacts, as global-scale average values can obscure important regional changes.
The paper presents the current status of the Maritime Aerosol Network (MAN), which has been developed as a component of the Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET). MAN deploys Microtops handheld Sun ...photometers and utilizes the calibration procedure and data processing (Version 2) traceable to AERONET. A web site dedicated to the MAN activity is described. A brief historical perspective is given to aerosol optical depth (AOD) measurements over the oceans. A short summary of the existing data, collected on board ships of opportunity during the NASA Sensor Intercomparison and Merger for Biological and Interdisciplinary Oceanic Studies (SIMBIOS) Project is presented. Globally averaged oceanic aerosol optical depth (derived from island‐based AERONET measurements) at 500 nm is ∼0.11 and Angstrom parameter (computed within spectral range 440–870 nm) is calculated to be ∼0.6. First results from the cruises contributing to the Maritime Aerosol Network are shown. MAN ship‐based aerosol optical depth compares well to simultaneous island and near‐coastal AERONET site AOD.
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