Noise Suppression in AEOLUS Optical Properties Retrieval by Maximum Likelihood Estimation

The LIDAR equation contains four unknown variables in a two-component atmosphere where the effects caused by both molecules and aerosols have to be considered. The inversion of LIDAR returns to retrieve aerosol extinction profiles, thus, calls for some functional relationship to be assumed between these two. The Klett's method, assumes a functional relationship between the extinction and backscatter. In this paper, we apply a different technique, called the optical depth solution, where we made use of the total optical depth or transmittance of the atmosphere along the LIDAR-measurement range. This method provides a stable solution to the LIDAR equation. In this study, we apply this technique to the data obtained using a micro pulse LIDAR (MPL, model 1000, Science and Engineering Services Inc) to retrieve the vertical distribution of aerosol extinction coefficient. The LIDAR is equipped with Nd-YLF laser at an operating wavelength of 523.5 nm and the data were collected over Bangalore. The LIDAR data are analyzed to get to weighted extinction coefficient profiles or the weighted sum of aerosol and molecular extinction coefficient profiles. Simultaneous measurements of aerosol column optical depth (at 500 nm) using a Microtops sun photometer were used in the retrievals. The molecular extinction coefficient is determined assuming standard atmospheric conditions. The aerosol extinction coefficient profiles are determined by subtracting the molecular part from the weighted extinction coefficient profiles. The details of the method and the results obtained are presented.

The profile of aerosol extinction coefficient can help understand the air pollution transportation and development of the atmospheric boundary layer. The charge-coupled device (CCD)-laser aerosol detection system (CLADS) was widely used to measure the profile of aerosol extinction coefficient, which has excellent resolution near the ground. Traditionally, a constant aerosol scattering phase function and single scattering albedo (SSA) is assumed when retrieving the profile of aerosol extinction coefficient using the measured signals from CLADS. Sensitivity studies in this research show that aerosol scattering phase function leads to an uncertainty up to 462% of the retrieved profile of aerosol extinction coefficient, while SSA leads to an uncertainty up to 25%. A new method is proposed to derive the profile of aerosol extinction coefficient by using two CCD cameras. The aerosol scattering phase function can be determined by minimizing the difference between profiles of aerosol extinction coefficient from the two CCD cameras without any assumption. The profile of aerosol extinction coefficient can be retrieved with high accuracy by using our optimized aerosol scattering phase function. This method is validated by simulation studies where the relative difference between the pre-parameterized aerosol extinction profile and retrieved aerosol extinction profile is below 6%. This dual CCD detection system is employed in a field measurement and proved to be reliable. Our proposed method can obtain more accurate profile of aerosol extinction coefficient for further works about air pollution and atmospheric boundary layer development.

Regular aerosol extinction and backscatter measurements using a UV Raman lidar have been performed from January 2001 to December 2004 at Thessaloniki, Greece (40.5°N, 22.9°E), in the framework of the European Aerosol Research Lidar Network (EARLINET). Profiles of the aerosol extinction coefficient, backscatter coefficient, and extinction‐to‐backscatter ratio (so‐called “lidar ratio”) were acquired under nighttime conditions and have been used for statistical investigations. The statistical analysis was made both for the planetary boundary layer and for the free troposphere. It was found that the 4‐year mean boundary layer particle optical depth at 355 nm was 0.44 ± 0.18, and the total aerosol optical depth was 0.63 ± 0.27. Free tropospheric particles account on the average for 30% of the total aerosol optical depth, ranging from 5% (clean free troposphere conditions) to 55% (mainly Saharan dust events). For the cases examined, the integral of the lidar‐derived extinction coefficient was in good agreement with colocated aerosol optical depth measurements at 355 nm obtained with a Brewer spectroradiometer. The mean value of the lidar ratio at 355 nm derived, for the period of measurements at Thessaloniki, was 40 sr with a standard deviation of 21 sr. Mean height profiles of the particle lidar ratio, extinction, and backscatter coefficients are shown along with their seasonal dependence, showing a significant seasonal variability in the free troposphere. An analysis of the data using back trajectories showed also a dependence of the aerosol optical depth and the lidar ratio on the origin of the air mass, with higher values mostly corresponding to air masses originating from the northeast Balkans and eastern Europe.

Determination of the boundary value of the aerosol extinction coefficient and its effects on the extinction coefficient profile of aerosol in lower atmosphere

ESA deployed the first Doppler Wind lidar in space within its Earth Explorer Mission Aeolus. The objective of Aeolus is to provide tropospheric and lower stratospheric wind profiles globally for the improvement of weather forecasts on short and medium term. Spin-off products are profiles of atmospheric backscatter and extinction coefficients and lidar ratio that can input for air quality models. After the successful launch in late August 2018 and following commissioning phase, the Calibration and Validation phase started in Decemeber 2018. The talk will recap the highlights of these phases and present the status of the mission.

Accurately capturing cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) concentrations is key to understanding the aerosol-cloud interactions that continue to feature the highest uncertainty amongst numerous climate forcings. In situ CCN observations are sparse and most non-polarimetric passive remote sensing techniques are limited to providing column-effective CCN proxies such as total aerosol optical depth (AOD). Lidar measurements, on the other hand, resolve profiles of aerosol extinction and/or backscatter coefficients that are better suited for constraining vertically-resolved aerosol optical and microphysical properties. Here we present relationships between aerosol backscatter and extinction coefficients measured by the airborne High Spectral Resolution Lidar 2 (HSRL-2) and in situ measurements of CCN concentrations. The data were obtained during three deployments in the NASA ObseRvations of Aerosols above Clouds and their intEractionS (ORACLES) project, which took place over the Southeast Atlantic (SEA) during September 2016, August 2017, and September–October 2018. Our analysis of spatiotemporally collocated in situ CCN concentrations and HSRL-2 measurements indicates strong linear relationships between both data sets. The correlation is strongest for supersaturations greater than 0.25 % and dry ambient conditions above the stratocumulus deck, where relative humidity (RH) is less than 50 %. We find CCN – HSRL-2 Pearson correlation coefficients between 0.95–0.97 for different parts of the seasonal burning cycle that suggest fundamental similarities in biomass burning aerosol (BBA) microphysical properties. We find that ORACLES campaign-average values of in situ CCN and in situ extinction coefficients are qualitatively similar to those from other regions and aerosol types, demonstrating overall representativeness of our data set. We compute CCN – backscatter and CCN – extinction regressions that can be used to resolve vertical CCN concentrations across entire above-cloud lidar curtains. These lidar-derived CCN concentrations can be used to evaluate model performance, which we illustrate using an example CCN concentration curtain from WRF-CAM5. These results demonstrate the utility of deriving vertically-resolved CCN concentrations from lidar observations to expand the spatiotemporal coverage of limited or unavailable in situ observations.

Abstract. In September 2021, volcanic aerosol (mainly freshly formed sulfate plumes) originating from the eruption of Cumbre Vieja on La Palma, Canary Islands, Spain, crossed Cabo Verde at altitudes below 2 km. On 24 September 2021, an extraordinary large aerosol optical depth (AOD) close to 1 (daily mean at 500 nm) was observed at Mindelo, Cabo Verde. This event provided favorable conditions to obtain lidar-derived profiles of extinction and backscatter coefficients, lidar ratio, and depolarization ratio at 355, 532 and 1064 nm in the sulfate aerosol plume. A novel feature of the lidar system operated at Mindelo is the availability of extinction, lidar ratio and depolarization measurements at 1064 nm in addition to the standard wavelengths of 355 and 532 nm. Having measurements of these parameters at all three wavelengths is a major advantage for the aerosol characterization and in aerosol typing efforts as the lidar ratio and the particle linear depolarization ratio are key parameters for this purpose. In this article, we present the key results of the lidar observations obtained on one specific day, namely on 24 September 2021 at 04:38–05:57 UTC, including the first ever measurements of the particle extinction coefficient, the lidar ratio and the depolarization ratio at 1064 nm for volcanic sulfate, and discuss the findings in terms of aerosol optical properties and mass concentrations by comparison with a reference observation (16 September 2021) representing the typical background conditions before the start of the eruptions. We found an unusual high particle extinction coefficient of 721 ± 51, 549 ± 38 and 178 ± 13 Mm−1, as well as an enhanced lidar ratio of 66.9 ± 10.1, 60.2 ± 9.2 and 30.8 ± 8.7 sr at 355, 532 and 1064 nm, respectively, in the sulfate-dominated planetary boundary layer (PBL). The particle linear depolarization ratio was ≤ 0.9 % at all respective wavelengths. It is the first time that lidar-derived intensive aerosol optical properties could be derived for volcanic sulfate at all three wavelengths, and thus it is a highly valuable data set for global aerosol characterization. The lidar analysis also revealed a sulfate-related AOD of about 0.35 ± 0.03 at 532 nm of the total PBL-related AOD of 0.43. The rest of the AOD contribution was caused by a lofted Saharan dust layer extending from 1.4 to 5 km and leading to a total AOD of 0.79 at 532 nm. Volcanic ash contribution to the observed aerosol plumes could be mostly excluded based on trajectory analysis and the observed optical properties. Peak mass concentration was 178.5 ± 44.6 µg m−3 in the volcanic-influenced and sulfate-dominated polluted PBL, showing the hazardous potential of such sulfate plumes to significantly worsen local air quality even at remote locations.

Impact of CALIPSO profile data assimilation on 3-D aerosol improvement in a size-resolved aerosol model

An improved methodology for processing scanning lidar data is considered. We demonstrate a new principle of determining vertical profiles of the particulate extinction coefficient and the lidar ratio with the Kano-Hamilton multiangle solution. This technique, which is also applicable to combined elastic/inelastic lidar measurements, computes the extinction coefficient from the backscatter term rather than from optical depth, thus avoiding numerical differentiation. The inversion is based on determining the stepwise column-integrated lidar ratios that provide the best matching of the initial profile of the optical depth to that obtained after the inversion. We explore two approaches concerning the division of the column-integrated lidar ratio into different ranges: in the first case, divisions between ranges are uniformly distributed; in the second case, divisions are located using estimated uncertainty boundaries in the inverted optical depth. The inversion method was used to process the experimental data obtained in the vicinity of large wildfires with the Fire Sciences Laboratory lidar. Examples of the simulated and experimental data are presented, which illustrate the specifics and prospects of this data-processing methodology.

Recent studies utilizing satellite retrievals have shown a strong correlation between aerosol optical depth (AOD) and cloud cover. However, these retrievals from passive sensors are subject to many limitations, including cloud adjacency (or three‐dimensional) effects, possible cloud contamination, uncertainty in the AOD retrieval. Some of these limitations do not exist in High Spectral Resolution Lidar (HSRL) observations; for instance, HSRL observations are not affected by cloud adjacency effects, are less prone to cloud contamination, and offer accurate aerosol property measurements (backscatter coefficient, extinction coefficient, lidar ratio, backscatter Angstrom exponent, and aerosol optical depth) at a fine spatial resolution (<100 m) in the vicinity of clouds. Hence the HSRL provides an important data set for studying aerosol and cloud interaction. In this study, we statistically analyze aircraft‐based HSRL profiles according to their distance from the nearest cloud, assuring that all profile comparisons are subject to the same large‐scale meteorological conditions. Our results indicate that AODs from HSRL are about 8–17% higher in the proximity of clouds (∼100 m) than far away from clouds (4.5 km), which is much smaller than the reported cloud three‐dimensional effect on AOD retrievals. The backscatter and extinction coefficients also systematically increase in the vicinity of clouds, which can be explained by aerosol swelling in the high relative humidity (RH) environment and/or aerosol growth through in‐cloud processing (albeit not conclusively). On the other hand, we do not observe a systematic trend in lidar ratio; we hypothesize that this is caused by the opposite effects of aerosol swelling and aerosol in‐cloud processing on the lidar ratio. Finally, the observed backscatter Angstrom exponent (BAE) does not show a consistent trend because of the complicated relationship between BAE and RH. We demonstrate that BAE should not be used as a surrogate for Angstrom exponent, especially at high RH.

Conventional lidar methods for deriving particle optical properties suffer from the fact that two unknowns (backscatter and extinction coefficients) need to be determined from only one lidar equation. Thus, additional assumptions (constant lidar ratio or Ångström relationship) have to be introduced to settle this problem. In contrast, a single-line-extracted pure-rotational-Raman (PRR) lidar method allows the strict retrieval of backscatter and extinction coefficients without additional assumptions. Based on the observations of our single-line-extracted PRR lidar from February 2016 to December 2017, the optical properties (backscatter coefficient, extinction coefficient and lidar ratio) of continental polluted aerosols, dust aerosols, and cirrus cloud particles over Wuhan (30.5°N, 114.4°E) are well characterized. The mean values of the measured lidar ratios are respectively 60 ± 7 sr for continental polluted aerosols, 47 ± 4 sr for dust aerosols and 22 ± 4 sr for cirrus cloud particles. The backscatter and extinction coefficients measured by the single-line-extracted PRR lidar deviate as a whole by 7-13% and 13-16%, respectively, from those retrieved by the traditional Fernald method. The optical properties measured by the single-line-extracted PRR lidar can serve as observational standards for particle optical properties (backscatter/extinction coefficient and lidar ratio) at 532 nm wavelength.

Aerosol extinction coefficient profile (ECP) is important in radiative transfer modeling, however, knowledge of ECP in some area has not been clearly recognized. To get a full understanding of statistical characteristics of ECP in three Asian regions: the Mongolian Plateau, the North China Plain and the Yellow Sea, CALIPSO aerosol product in 2012 is processed by conventional statistical methods. Orbit averaged ECP turns out to be mainly exponential and Gaussian patterns. Curve fitting shows that the two ECP patterns account for more than 50 percent of all the samples, especially in the Yellow Sea where the frequency of occurrence even reaches over 80 percent. Parameters determining fitting curves are provided consequently. To be specific, Gaussian pattern is the main ECP distribution in the Mongolian Plateau and the Yellow Sea, and exponential pattern predominates in the North China Plain. Besides, aerosol scale height reaches its maximum in summer and in the Mongolian Plateau. Meanwhile, the uplifting and deposition of dust during transportation are potentially explanations to the occurrence of Gaussian ECP. The results have certain representativeness, and contribute to reducing uncertainties of aerosol model in relevant researches.

The results of multi-wavelength lidar investigating atmospheric aerosol parameters over background and industrial regions have been presented. Technical characteristics of the lidar station are described. The mean profiles of aerosol extinction and backscatter coefficient are compared with calculated ones for existing optical models of the atmosphere. Statistical characteristics of fluctuations of atmospheric optical parameters at various altitudes are estimated.

A combined Raman elastic-backscatter lidar has been developed. A XeCl excimer laser is used as the radiation source. Inelastic Raman backscatter signals are spectrally separated from the elastic signal with a filter or grating polychromator. Raman channels can be chosen to register signals from CO2, O2, N2, and H2O. Algorithms for the calculation of the water-vapor mixing ratio from the Raman signals and the particle extinction and backscatter coefficients from both elastic and inelastic backscatter signals are given. Nighttime measurements of the vertical humidity distribution up to the tropopause and of particle extinction, backscatter, and lidar ratio profiles in the boundary layer, in high-altitude water and ice clouds, and in the stratospheric aerosol layer are presented. Daytime boundary-layer measurements of moisture and particle extinction are made possible by the improved daylight suppression of the grating polychromator. Test measurements of the CO2 mixing ratio indicate the problems for the Raman lidar technique in monitoring other trace gases than water vapor.

A backscattering lidar system, the first of this kind in Brazil, has been used to provide the vertical profile of the aerosol backscatter coefficient at 532 nm up to an altitude of 4–6 km above sea level (ASL), in a suburban area in the city of São Paulo. The lidar system has been operational since September 2001. The lidar data products were obtained in a 4-yr period (2001–04) and concerned the aerosol optical thickness (AOT), the aerosol backscattering and extinction coefficients at 532 nm, cloud properties (cloud base, thickness), planetary boundary layer (PBL) heights, aerosol layering, and the structure and dynamics of the lower troposphere. The lidar data are presented and analyzed in synergy with AOT measurements obtained by a Cimel sun-tracking photometer in the visible spectral region, not only to validate the lidar data but also to provide an input value of the so-called extinction-to-backscatter ratio [lidar ratio (LR)]. A correlation between the lidar data and the data obtained by a Cimel sun-tracking photometer [belonging to the Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET)] is being made to set a temporal database of those data that were collected concomitantly and to cross correlate the information gathered by each instrument. The sun photometer data are used to provide AOT values at selected wavelengths and thus to derive the Ångström exponent (AE) values, single scattering albedo (SSA) and phase function values, and LR values. The analysis of these data showed an important trend in the seasonal signature of the LR indicating a change of the predominant type of aerosol between the dry and wet seasons. Thus, during the wet season the LR lidar values are greater (50–60 sr), which indicates that larger absorption by the aerosols takes place during this period. The corresponding AE values range between 1.3 and 2 for both periods.