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- ItemA global study of hygroscopicity-driven light-scattering enhancement in the context of other in situ aerosol optical properties(Katlenburg-Lindau : European Geosciences Union, 2021) Titos, Gloria; Burgos, María A.; Zieger, Paul; Alados-Arboledas, Lucas; Baltensperger, Urs; Jefferson, Anne; Sherman, James; Weingartner, Ernest; Henzing, Bas; Luoma, Krista; O'Dowd, Colin; Wiedensohler, Alfred; Andrews, ElisabethThe scattering and backscattering enhancement factors (f (RH) and fb(RH)) describe how aerosol particle light scattering and backscattering, respectively, change with relative humidity (RH). They are important parameters in estimating direct aerosol radiative forcing (DARF). In this study we use the dataset presented in Burgos et al. (2019) that compiles f (RH) and fb(RH) measurements at three wavelengths (i.e., 450, 550 and 700 nm) performed with tandem nephelometer systems at multiple sites around the world. We present an overview of f (RH) and fb(RH) based on both long-term and campaign observations from 23 sites representing a range of aerosol types. The scattering enhancement shows a strong variability from site to site, with no clear pattern with respect to the total scattering coefficient. In general, higher f (RH) is observed at Arctic and marine sites, while lower values are found at urban and desert sites, although a consistent pattern as a function of site type is not observed. The backscattering enhancement fb(RH) is consistently lower than f (RH) at all sites, with the difference between f (RH) and fb(RH) increasing for aerosol with higher f (RH). This is consistent with Mie theory, which predicts higher enhancement of the light scattering in the forward than in the backward direction as the particle takes up water. Our results show that the scattering enhancement is higher for PM1 than PM10 at most sites, which is also supported by theory due to the change in scattering efficiency with the size parameter that relates particle size and the wavelength of incident light. At marine-influenced sites this difference is enhanced when coarse particles (likely sea salt) predominate. For most sites, f (RH) is observed to increase with increasing wavelength, except at sites with a known dust influence where the spectral dependence of f (RH) is found to be low or even exhibit the opposite pattern. The impact of RH on aerosol properties used to calculate radiative forcing (e.g., single-scattering albedo, w0, and backscattered fraction, b) is evaluated. The single-scattering albedo generally increases with RH, while b decreases. The net effect of aerosol hygroscopicity on radiative forcing efficiency (RFE) is an increase in the absolute forcing effect (negative sign) by a factor of up to 4 at RH D 90 % compared to dry conditions (RH < 40 %). Because of the scarcity of scattering enhancement measurements, an attempt was made to use other more commonly available aerosol parameters (i.e., w0 and scattering Ångström exponent, asp) to parameterize f (RH). The majority of sites (75 %) showed a consistent trend with w0 (higher f (RH D 85 %) for higher w0), while no clear pattern was observed between f (RH D 85 %) and asp. This suggests that aerosol w0 is more promising than asp as a surrogate for the scattering enhancement factor, although neither parameter is ideal. Nonetheless, the qualitative relationship observed between w0 and f (RH) could serve as a constraint on global model simulations. © 2021 The Author(s).
- ItemChanges in black carbon emissions over Europe due to COVID-19 lockdowns(Katlenburg-Lindau : European Geosciences Union, 2021) Evangeliou, Nikolaos; Platt, Stephen M.; Eckhardt, Sabine; Lund Myhre, Cathrine; Laj, Paolo; Alados-Arboledas, Lucas; Backman, John; Brem, Benjamin T.; Fiebig, Markus; Flentje, Harald; Marinoni, Angela; Pandolfi, Marco; Yus-Dìez, Jesus; Prats, Natalia; Putaud, Jean P.; Sellegri, Karine; Sorribas, Mar; Eleftheriadis, Konstantinos; Vratolis, Stergios; Wiedensohler, Alfred; Stohl, AndreasFollowing the emergence of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) responsible for COVID-19 in December 2019 in Wuhan (China) and its spread to the rest of the world, the World Health Organization declared a global pandemic in March 2020. Without effective treatment in the initial pandemic phase, social distancing and mandatory quarantines were introduced as the only available preventative measure. In contrast to the detrimental societal impacts, air quality improved in all countries in which strict lockdowns were applied, due to lower pollutant emissions. Here we investigate the effects of the COVID-19 lockdowns in Europe on ambient black carbon (BC), which affects climate and damages health, using in situ observations from 17 European stations in a Bayesian inversion framework. BC emissions declined by 23 kt in Europe (20 % in Italy, 40 % in Germany, 34 % in Spain, 22 % in France) during lockdowns compared to the same period in the previous 5 years, which is partially attributed to COVID-19 measures. BC temporal variation in the countries enduring the most drastic restrictions showed the most distinct lockdown impacts. Increased particle light absorption in the beginning of the lockdown, confirmed by assimilated satellite and remote sensing data, suggests residential combustion was the dominant BC source. Accordingly, in central and Eastern Europe, which experienced lower than average temperatures, BC was elevated compared to the previous 5 years. Nevertheless, an average decrease of 11 % was seen for the whole of Europe compared to the start of the lockdown period, with the highest peaks in France (42 %), Germany (21 %), UK (13 %), Spain (11 %) and Italy (8 %). Such a decrease was not seen in the previous years, which also confirms the impact of COVID-19 on the European emissions of BC.
- ItemAn EARLINET early warning system for atmospheric aerosol aviation hazards(Katlenburg-Lindau : EGU, 2020) Papagiannopoulos, Nikolaos; D’Amico, Giuseppe; Gialitaki, Anna; Ajtai, Nicolae; Alados-Arboledas, Lucas; Amodeo, Aldo; Amiridis, Vassilis; Baars, Holger; Balis, Dimitris; Binietoglou, Ioannis; Comerón, Adolfo; Dionisi, Davide; Falconieri, Alfredo; Fréville, Patrick; Kampouri, Anna; Mattis, Ina; Mijić, Zoran; Molero, Francisco; Papayannis, Alex; Pappalardo, Gelsomina; Rodríguez-Gómez, Alejandro; Solomos, Stavros; Mona, LuciaA stand-alone lidar-based method for detecting airborne hazards for aviation in near real time (NRT) is presented. A polarization lidar allows for the identification of irregular-shaped particles such as volcanic dust and desert dust. The Single Calculus Chain (SCC) of the European Aerosol Research Lidar Network (EARLINET) delivers high-resolution preprocessed data: the calibrated total attenuated backscatter and the calibrated volume linear depolarization ratio time series. From these calibrated lidar signals, the particle backscatter coefficient and the particle depolarization ratio can be derived in temporally high resolution and thus provide the basis of the NRT early warning system (EWS). In particular, an iterative method for the retrieval of the particle backscatter is implemented. This improved capability was designed as a pilot that will produce alerts for imminent threats for aviation. The method is applied to data during two diverse aerosol scenarios: first, a record breaking desert dust intrusion in March 2018 over Finokalia, Greece, and, second, an intrusion of volcanic particles originating from Mount Etna, Italy, in June 2019 over Antikythera, Greece. Additionally, a devoted observational period including several EARLINET lidar systems demonstrates the network's preparedness to offer insight into natural hazards that affect the aviation sector. © 2020 Author(s).
- ItemAn automatic observation-based aerosol typing method for EARLINET(Katlenburg-Lindau : EGU, 2018) Papagiannopoulos, Nikolaos; Mona, Lucia; Amodeo, Aldo; D'Amico, Giuseppe; Gumà Claramunt, Pilar; Pappalardo, Gelsomina; Alados-Arboledas, Lucas; Guerrero-Rascado, Juan Luís; Amiridis, Vassilis; Kokkalis, Panagiotis; Apituley, Arnoud; Baars, Holger; Schwarz, Anja; Wandinger, Ulla; Binietoglou, Ioannis; Nicolae, Doina; Bortoli, Daniele; Comerón, Adolfo; Rodríguez-Gómez, Alejandro; Sicard, Michaël; Papayannis, Alex; Wiegner, MatthiasWe present an automatic aerosol classification method based solely on the European Aerosol Research Lidar Network (EARLINET) intensive optical parameters with the aim of building a network-wide classification tool that could provide near-real-time aerosol typing information. The presented method depends on a supervised learning technique and makes use of the Mahalanobis distance function that relates each unclassified measurement to a predefined aerosol type. As a first step (training phase), a reference dataset is set up consisting of already classified EARLINET data. Using this dataset, we defined 8 aerosol classes: clean continental, polluted continental, dust, mixed dust, polluted dust, mixed marine, smoke, and volcanic ash. The effect of the number of aerosol classes has been explored, as well as the optimal set of intensive parameters to separate different aerosol types. Furthermore, the algorithm is trained with literature particle linear depolarization ratio values. As a second step (testing phase), we apply the method to an already classified EARLINET dataset and analyze the results of the comparison to this classified dataset. The predictive accuracy of the automatic classification varies between 59% (minimum) and 90% (maximum) from 8 to 4 aerosol classes, respectively, when evaluated against pre-classified EARLINET lidar. This indicates the potential use of the automatic classification to all network lidar data. Furthermore, the training of the algorithm with particle linear depolarization values found in the literature further improves the accuracy with values for all the aerosol classes around 80%. Additionally, the algorithm has proven to be highly versatile as it adapts to changes in the size of the training dataset and the number of aerosol classes and classifying parameters. Finally, the low computational time and demand for resources make the algorithm extremely suitable for the implementation within the single calculus chain (SCC), the EARLINET centralized processing suite.
- ItemA European aerosol phenomenology - 6: Scattering properties of atmospheric aerosol particles from 28 ACTRIS sites(Katlenburg-Lindau : EGU, 2018) Pandolfi, Marco; Alados-Arboledas, Lucas; Alastuey, Andrés; Andrade, Marcos; Angelov, Christo; Artiñano, Begoña; Backman, John; Baltensperger, Urs; Bonasoni, Paolo; Bukowiecki, Nicolas; Collaud Coen, Martine; Conil, Sébastien; Coz, Esther; Crenn, Vincent; Dudoitis, Vadimas; Ealo, Marina; Eleftheriadis, Kostas; Favez, Olivier; Fetfatzis, Prodromos; Fiebig, Markus; Flentje, Harald; Ginot, Patrick; Gysel, Martin; Henzing, Bas; Hoffer, Andras; Holubova Smejkalova, Adela; Kalapov, Ivo; Kalivitis, Nikos; Kouvarakis, Giorgos; Kristensson, Adam; Kulmala, Markku; Lihavainen, Heikki; Lunder, Chris; Luoma, Krista; Lyamani, Hassan; Marinoni, Angela; Mihalopoulos, Nikos; Moerman, Marcel; Nicolas, José; O'Dowd, Colin; Petäjä, Tuukka; Petit, Jean-Eudes; Pichon, Jean Marc; Prokopciuk, Nina; Putaud, Jean-Philippe; Rodríguez, Sergio; Sciare, Jean; Sellegri, Karine; Swietlicki, Erik; Titos, Gloria; Tuch, Thomas; Tunved, Peter; Ulevicius, Vidmantas; Vaishya, Aditya; Vana, Milan; Virkkula, Aki; Vratolis, Stergios; Weingartner, Ernest; Wiedensohler, Alfred; Laj, PaoloThis paper presents the light-scattering properties of atmospheric aerosol particles measured over the past decade at 28 ACTRIS observatories, which are located mainly in Europe. The data include particle light scattering (σsp) and hemispheric backscattering (σbsp) coefficients, scattering Ångström exponent (SAE), backscatter fraction (BF) and asymmetry parameter (g). An increasing gradient of σsp is observed when moving from remote environments (arctic/mountain) to regional and to urban environments. At a regional level in Europe, σsp also increases when moving from Nordic and Baltic countries and from western Europe to central/eastern Europe, whereas no clear spatial gradient is observed for other station environments. The SAE does not show a clear gradient as a function of the placement of the station. However, a west-to-east-increasing gradient is observed for both regional and mountain placements, suggesting a lower fraction of fine-mode particle in western/south-western Europe compared to central and eastern Europe, where the fine-mode particles dominate the scattering. The g does not show any clear gradient by station placement or geographical location reflecting the complex relationship of this parameter with the physical properties of the aerosol particles. Both the station placement and the geographical location are important factors affecting the intraannual variability. At mountain sites, higher σsp and SAE values are measured in the summer due to the enhanced boundary layer influence and/or new particle-formation episodes. Conversely, the lower horizontal and vertical dispersion during winter leads to higher σsp values at all low-altitude sites in central and eastern Europe compared to summer. These sites also show SAE maxima in the summer (with corresponding g minima). At all sites, both SAE and g show a strong variation with aerosol particle loading. The lowest values of g are always observed together with low σsp values, indicating a larger contribution from particles in the smaller accumulation mode. During periods of high σsp values, the variation of g is less pronounced, whereas the SAE increases or decreases, suggesting changes mostly in the coarse aerosol particle mode rather than in the fine mode. Statistically significant decreasing trends of σsp are observed at 5 out of the 13 stations included in the trend analyses. The total reductions of σsp are consistent with those reported for PM2.5 and PM10 mass concentrations over similar periods across Europe.
- ItemExperimental techniques for the calibration of lidar depolarization channels in EARLINET(Katlenburg-Lindau : Copernicus, 2018) Belegante, Livio; Bravo-Aranda, Juan Antonio; Freudenthaler, Volker; Nicolae, Doina; Nemuc, Anca; Ene, Dragos; Alados-Arboledas, Lucas; Amodeo, Aldo; Pappalardo, Gelsomina; D'Amico, Giuseppe; Amato, Francesco; Engelmann, Ronny; Baars, Holger; Wandinger, Ulla; Papayannis, Alexandros; Kokkalis, Panos; Pereira, Sérgio N.Particle depolarization ratio retrieved from lidar measurements are commonly used for aerosol-typing studies, microphysical inversion, or mass concentration retrievals. The particle depolarization ratio is one of the primary parameters that can differentiate several major aerosol components but only if the measurements are accurate enough. The accuracy related to the retrieval of particle depolarization ratios is the driving factor for assessing and improving the uncertainties of the depolarization products. This paper presents different depolarization calibration procedures used to improve the quality of the depolarization data. The results illustrate a significant improvement of the depolarization lidar products for all the selected lidar stations that have implemented depolarization calibration procedures. The calibrated volume and particle depolarization profiles at 532-nm show values that fall within a range that is generally accepted in the literature.
- ItemThe unprecedented 2017–2018 stratospheric smoke event: decay phase and aerosol properties observed with the EARLINET(Katlenburg-Lindau : EGU, 2019) Baars, Holger; Ansmann, Albert; Ohneiser, Kevin; Haarig, Moritz; Engelmann, Ronny; Althausen, Dietrich; Hanssen, Ingrid; Gausa, Michael; Pietruczuk, Aleksander; Szkop, Artur; Stachlewska, Iwona S.; Wang, Dongxiang; Reichardt, Jens; Skupin, Annett; Mattis, Ina; Trickl, Thomas; Vogelmann, Hannes; Navas-Guzmán, Francisco; Haefele, Alexander; Acheson, Karen; Ruth, Albert A.; Tatarov, Boyan; Müller, Detlef; Hu, Qiaoyun; Podvin, Thierry; Goloub, Philippe; Veselovskii, Igor; Pietras, Christophe; Haeffelin, Martial; Fréville, Patrick; Sicard, Michaël; Comerón, Adolfo; García, Alfonso Javier Fernández; Molero Menéndez, Francisco; Córdoba-Jabonero, Carmen; Guerrero-Rascado, Juan Luis; Alados-Arboledas, Lucas; Bortoli, Daniele; Costa, Maria João; Dionisi, Davide; Liberti, Gian Luigi; Wang, Xuan; Sannino, Alessia; Papagiannopoulos, Nikolaos; Boselli, Antonella; Mona, Lucia; D’Amico, Guiseppe; Romano, Salvatore; Perrone, Maria Rita; Belegante, Livio; Nicolae, Doina; Grigorov, Ivan; Gialitaki, Anna; Amiridis, Vassilis; Soupiona, Ourania; Papayannis, Alexandros; Mamouri, Rodanthi-Elisaveth; Nisantzi, Argyro; Heese, Birgit; Hofer, Julian; Schechner, Yoav Y.; Wandinger, Ulla; Pappalardo, GelsominaSix months of stratospheric aerosol observations with the European Aerosol Research Lidar Network (EARLINET) from August 2017 to January 2018 are presented. The decay phase of an unprecedented, record-breaking stratospheric perturbation caused by wildfire smoke is reported and discussed in terms of geometrical, optical, and microphysical aerosol properties. Enormous amounts of smoke were injected into the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere over fire areas in western Canada on 12 August 2017 during strong thunderstorm–pyrocumulonimbus activity. The stratospheric fire plumes spread over the entire Northern Hemisphere in the following weeks and months. Twenty-eight European lidar stations from northern Norway to southern Portugal and the eastern Mediterranean monitored the strong stratospheric perturbation on a continental scale. The main smoke layer (over central, western, southern, and eastern Europe) was found at heights between 15 and 20 km since September 2017 (about 2 weeks after entering the stratosphere). Thin layers of smoke were detected at heights of up to 22–23 km. The stratospheric aerosol optical thickness at 532 nm decreased from values > 0.25 on 21–23 August 2017 to 0.005–0.03 until 5–10 September and was mainly 0.003–0.004 from October to December 2017 and thus was still significantly above the stratospheric background (0.001–0.002). Stratospheric particle extinction coefficients (532 nm) were as high as 50–200 Mm−1 until the beginning of September and on the order of 1 Mm−1 (0.5–5 Mm−1) from October 2017 until the end of January 2018. The corresponding layer mean particle mass concentration was on the order of 0.05–0.5 µg m−3 over these months. Soot particles (light-absorbing carbonaceous particles) are efficient ice-nucleating particles (INPs) at upper tropospheric (cirrus) temperatures and available to influence cirrus formation when entering the tropopause from above. We estimated INP concentrations of 50–500 L−1 until the first days in September and afterwards 5–50 L−1 until the end of the year 2017 in the lower stratosphere for typical cirrus formation temperatures of −55 ∘C and an ice supersaturation level of 1.15. The measured profiles of the particle linear depolarization ratio indicated a predominance of nonspherical smoke particles. The 532 nm depolarization ratio decreased slowly with time in the main smoke layer from values of 0.15–0.25 (August–September) to values of 0.05–0.10 (October–November) and < 0.05 (December–January). The decrease of the depolarization ratio is consistent with aging of the smoke particles, growing of a coating around the solid black carbon core (aggregates), and thus change of the shape towards a spherical form. We found ascending aerosol layer features over the most southern European stations, especially over the eastern Mediterranean at 32–35∘ N, that ascended from heights of about 18–19 to 22–23 km from the beginning of October to the beginning of December 2017 (about 2 km per month). We discuss several transport and lifting mechanisms that may have had an impact on the found aerosol layering structures.
- ItemMicrophysical characterization of long-range transported biomass burning particles from North America at three EARLINET stations(Katlenburg-Lindau : EGU, 2017) Ortiz-Amezcua, Pablo; Guerrero-Rascado, Juan Luis; Granados-Muñoz, María José; Benavent-Oltra, José Antonio; Böckmann, Christine; Samaras, Stefanos; Stachlewska, Iwona S.; Janicka, Łucja; Baars, Holger; Bohlmann, Stephanie; Alados-Arboledas, LucasStrong events of long-range transported biomass burning aerosol were detected during July 2013 at three EARLINET (European Aerosol Research Lidar Network) stations, namely Granada (Spain), Leipzig (Germany) and Warsaw (Poland). Satellite observations from MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) and CALIOP (Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization) instruments, as well as modeling tools such as HYSPLIT (Hybrid Single-Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory) and NAAPS (Navy Aerosol Analysis and Prediction System), have been used to estimate the sources and transport paths of those North American forest fire smoke particles. A multiwavelength Raman lidar technique was applied to obtain vertically resolved particle optical properties, and further inversion of those properties with a regularization algorithm allowed for retrieving microphysical information on the studied particles. The results highlight the presence of smoke layers of 1-2 km thickness, located at about 5 km a.s.l. altitude over Granada and Leipzig and around 2.5 km a.s.l. at Warsaw. These layers were intense, as they accounted for more than 30 % of the total AOD (aerosol optical depth) in all cases, and presented optical and microphysical features typical for different aging degrees: Color ratio of lidar ratios (LR532/LR355) around 2, α-related ängström exponents of less than 1, effective radii of 0.3 μm and large values of single scattering albedos (SSA), nearly spectrally independent. The intensive microphysical properties were compared with columnar retrievals form co-located AERONET (Aerosol Robotic Network) stations. The intensity of the layers was also characterized in terms of particle volume concentration, and then an experimental relationship between this magnitude and the particle extinction coefficient was established.
- ItemAn automatic aerosol classification for earlinet: Application and results(Les Ulis : EDP Sciences, 2018) Papagiannopoulos, Nikolaos; Mona, Lucia; Amiridis, Vassilis; Binietoglou, Ioannis; D’Amico, Giuseppe; Guma-Claramunt, P.; Schwarz, Anja; Alados-Arboledas, Lucas; Amodeo, Aldo; Apituley, Arnoud; Baars, Holger; Bortoli, Daniele; Comeron, Adolfo; Guerrero-Rascado, Juan Luis; Kokkalis, Panos; Nicolae, Doina; Papayannis, Alex; Pappalardo, Gelsomina; Wandinger, Ulla; Wiegner, Matthias; Nicolae, D.; Makoto, A.; Vassilis, A.; Balis, D.; Behrendt, A.; Comeron, A.; Gibert, F.; Landulfo, E.; McCormick, M.P.; Senff, C.; Veselovskii, I.; Wandinger, U.Aerosol typing is essential for understanding the impact of the different aerosol sources on climate, weather system and air quality. An aerosol classification method for EARLINET (European Aerosol Research Lidar Network) measurements is introduced which makes use the Mahalanobis distance classifier. The performance of the automatic classification is tested against manually classified EARLINET data. Results of the application of the method to an extensive aerosol dataset will be presented.