2016, Engelmann, Ronny, Kanitz, Thomas, Baars, Holger, Heese, Birgit, Althausen, Dietrich, Skupin, Annett, Wandinger, Ulla, Komppula, Mika, Stachlewska, Iwona S., Amiridis, Vassilis, Marinou, Eleni, Mattis, Ina, Linné, Holger, Ansmann, Albert

The atmospheric science community demands autonomous and quality-assured vertically resolved measurements of aerosol and cloud properties. For this purpose, a portable lidar called Polly was developed at TROPOS in 2003. The lidar system was continuously improved with gained experience from the EARLINET community, involvement in worldwide field campaigns, and international institute collaborations within the last 10 years. Here we present recent changes of the setup of the portable multiwavelength Raman and polarization lidar PollyXT and discuss the improved capabilities of the system by means of a case study. The latest system developments include an additional near-range receiver unit for Raman measurements of the backscatter and extinction coefficient down to 120 m above ground, a water-vapor channel, and channels for simultaneous measurements of the particle linear depolarization ratio at 355 and 532 nm. Quality improvements were achieved by systematically following the EARLINET guidelines and the international PollyNET quality assurance developments. A modified ship radar ensures measurements in agreement with air-traffic safety regulations and allows for 24∕7 monitoring of the atmospheric state with PollyXT.

2017, Heese, Birgit, Baars, Holger, Bohlmann, Stephanie, Althausen, Dietrich, Deng, Ruru

A dataset of particle optical properties of the highly polluted atmosphere over the Pearl River Delta (PRD), Guangzhou, China, is presented in this paper. The data were derived from the measurements of a multiwavelength Raman and depolarization lidar PollyXT and a co-located AERONET sun photometer. The measurement campaign was conducted from November 2011 to mid-June 2012. These are the first Raman lidar measurements in the PRD that lasted for several months. A mean value of aerosol optical depth (AOD) of 0.54±0.33 was observed by the sun photometer at 500 nm in the polluted atmosphere over this megacity for the whole measurement period. The lidar profiles frequently show lofted aerosol layers, which reach altitudes of up to 2 to 3 km and, especially during the spring season, up to 5 km. These layers contain between 12 and 56% of the total AOD, with the highest values in spring. The aerosol types in these lofted layers are classified by their optical properties. The observed lidar ratio values range from 30 to 80 sr with a mean value of 48.0±10.7 sr at 532 nm. The linear particle depolarization ratio at 532 nm lies mostly below 5 %, with a mean value of 3.6±3.7 %. The majority of the Ångström exponents lie between 0.5 and 1.5, indicating a mixture of fine- and coarsemode aerosols. These results reveal that mostly urban pollution particles mixed with particles produced from biomass and industrial burning are present in the atmosphere above the Pearl River Delta. Trajectory analyses show that these pollution mixtures arise mainly from local and regional sources.

2016, Haarig, Moritz, Engelmann, Ronny, Ansmann, Albert, Veselovskii, Igor, Whiteman, David N., Althausen, Dietrich

For the first time, vertical profiles of the 1064 nm particle extinction coefficient obtained from Raman lidar observations at 1058 nm (nitrogen and oxygen rotational Raman backscatter) are presented. We applied the new technique in the framework of test measurements and performed several cirrus observations of particle backscatter and extinction coefficients, and corresponding extinction-to-backscatter ratios at the wavelengths of 355, 532, and 1064 nm. The cirrus backscatter coefficients were found to be equal for all three wavelengths keeping the retrieval uncertainties in mind. The multiple-scattering-corrected cirrus extinction coefficients at 355 nm were on average about 20–30 % lower than the ones for 532 and 1064 nm. The cirrus-mean extinction-to-backscatter ratio (lidar ratio) was 31 ± 5 sr (355 nm), 36 ± 5 sr (532 nm), and 38 ± 5 sr (1064 nm) in this single study. We further discussed the requirements needed to obtain aerosol extinction profiles in the lower troposphere at 1064 nm with good accuracy (20 % relative uncertainty) and appropriate temporal and vertical resolution.

2018, Dai, Guangyao, Althausen, Dietrich, Hofer, Julian, Engelmann, Ronny, Seifert, Patric, Bühl, Johannes, Mamouri, Rodanthi-Elisavet, Wu, Songhua, Ansmann, Albert

We present a practical method to continuously calibrate Raman lidar observations of water vapor mixing ratio profiles. The water vapor profile measured with the multiwavelength polarization Raman lidar PollyXT is calibrated by means of co-located AErosol RObotic NETwork (AERONET) sun photometer observations and Global Data Assimilation System (GDAS) temperature and pressure profiles. This method is applied to lidar observations conducted during the Cyprus Cloud Aerosol and Rain Experiment (CyCARE) in Limassol, Cyprus. We use the GDAS temperature and pressure profiles to retrieve the water vapor density. In the next step, the precipitable water vapor from the lidar observations is used for the calibration of the lidar measurements with the sun photometer measurements. The retrieved calibrated water vapor mixing ratio from the lidar measurements has a relative uncertainty of 11 % in which the error is mainly caused by the error of the sun photometer measurements. During CyCARE, nine measurement cases with cloud-free and stable meteorological conditions are selected to calculate the precipitable water vapor from the lidar and the sun photometer observations. The ratio of these two precipitable water vapor values yields the water vapor calibration constant. The calibration constant for the PollyXT Raman lidar is 6.56 g kg−1 ± 0.72 g kg−1 (with a statistical uncertainty of 0.08 g kg−1 and an instrumental uncertainty of 0.72 g kg−1). To check the quality of the water vapor calibration, the water vapor mixing ratio profiles from the simultaneous nighttime observations with Raman lidar and Vaisala radiosonde sounding are compared. The correlation of the water vapor mixing ratios from these two instruments is determined by using all of the 19 simultaneous nighttime measurements during CyCARE. Excellent agreement with the slope of 1.01 and the R2 of 0.99 is found. One example is presented to demonstrate the full potential of a well-calibrated Raman lidar. The relative humidity profiles from lidar, GDAS (simulation) and radiosonde are compared, too. It is found that the combination of water vapor mixing ratio and GDAS temperature profiles allow us to derive relative humidity profiles with the relative uncertainty of 10–20 %.

2017, Haarig, Moritz, Ansmann, Albert, Althausen, Dietrich, Klepel, André, Groß, Silke, Freudenthaler, Volker, Toledano, Carlos, Mamouri, Rodanthi-Elisavet, Farrell, David A., Prescod, Damien A., Marinou, Eleni, Burton, Sharon P., Gasteiger, Josef, Engelmann, Ronny, Baars, Holger

Triple-wavelength polarization lidar measurements in Saharan dust layers were performed at Barbados (13.1°N, 59.6°W), 5000-8000km west of the Saharan dust sources, in the framework of the Saharan Aerosol Long-range Transport and Aerosol-Cloud-Interaction Experiment (SALTRACE-1, June-July 2013, SALTRACE-3, June-July 2014). Three case studies are discussed. High quality was achieved by comparing the dust linear depolarization ratio profiles measured at 355, 532, and 1064nm with respective dual-wavelength (355, 532nm) depolarization ratio profiles measured with a reference lidar. A unique case of long-range transported dust over more than 12000km is presented. Saharan dust plumes crossing Barbados were measured with an airborne triple-wavelength polarization lidar over Missouri in the midwestern United States 7 days later. Similar dust optical properties and depolarization features were observed over both sites indicating almost unchanged dust properties within this 1 week of travel from the Caribbean to the United States. The main results of the triple-wavelength polarization lidar observations in the Caribbean in the summer seasons of 2013 and 2014 are summarized. On average, the particle linear depolarization ratios for aged Saharan dust were found to be 0.252±0.030 at 355nm, 0.280±0.020 at 532nm, and 0.225±0.022 at 1064nm after approximately 1 week of transport over the tropical Atlantic. Based on published simulation studies we present an attempt to explain the spectral features of the depolarization ratio of irregularly shaped mineral dust particles, and conclude that most of the irregularly shaped coarse-mode dust particles (particles with diameters > 1μm) have sizes around 1.5-2μm. The SALTRACE results are also set into the context of the SAMUM-1 (Morocco, 2006) and SAMUM-2 (Cabo Verde, 2008) depolarization ratio studies. Again, only minor changes in the dust depolarization characteristics were observed on the way from the Saharan dust sources towards the Caribbean.

2019, Haarig, Moritz, Walser, Adrian, Ansmann, Albert, Dollner, Maximilian, Althausen, Dietrich, Sauer, Daniel, Farrell, David, Weinzierl, Bernadett

The present study aims to evaluate lidar retrievals of cloud-relevant aerosol properties by using polarization lidar and coincident airborne in situ measurements in the Saharan Air Layer (SAL) over the Barbados region. Vertical profiles of the number concentration of cloud condensation nuclei (CCN), large particles (diameter d > 500 nm), surface area, mass, and ice-nucleating particle (INP) concentration are derived from the lidar measurements and compared with CCN concentrations and the INP-relevant aerosol properties measured in situ with aircraft. The measurements were performed in the framework of the Saharan Aerosol Longrange Transport and Aerosol-Cloud-Interaction Experiment (SALTRACE) in summer 2013. The CCN number concentrations derived from lidar observations were up to a factor of 2 higher than the ones measured in situ aboard the research aircraft Falcon. Possible reasons for the difference are discussed. The number concentration of particles with a dry radius of more than 250 nm and the surface-area concentration obtained from the lidar observations and used as input for the INP parameterizations agreed well (< 30 %-50 % deviation) with the aircraft measurements. In a pronounced lofted dust layer during summer (10 July 2013), the lidar retrieval yielded 100-300 CCN per cubic centimeter at 0.2 % water supersaturation and 10-200 INPs per liter at-25?C. Excellent agreement was also obtained in the comparison of mass concentration profiles. During the SALTRACE winter campaign (March 2014), the dust layer from Africa was mixed with smoke particles which dominated the CCN number concentration. This example highlights the unique lidar potential to separate smoke and dust contributions to the CCN reservoir and thus to identify the sensitive role of smoke in trade wind cumuli developments over the tropical Atlantic during the winter season. © 2017 Georg Thieme Verlag. All rights reserved.

2019, Proestakis, Emmanouil, Amiridis, Vassilis, Marinou, Eleni, Binietoglou, Ioannis, Ansmann, Albert, Wandinger, Ulla, Hofer, Julian, Yorks, John, Nowottnick, Edward, Makhmudov, Abduvosit, Papayannis, Alexandros, Pietruczuk, Aleksander, Gialitaki, Anna, Apituley, Arnoud, Szkop, Artur, Muñoz Porcar, Constantino, Bortoli, Daniele, Dionisi, Davide, Althausen, Dietrich, Mamali, Dimitra, Balis, Dimitris, Nicolae, Doina, Tetoni, Eleni, Liberti, Gian Luigi, Baars, Holger, Mattis, Ina, Stachlewska, Iwona Sylwia, Voudouri, Kalliopi Artemis, Mona, Lucia, Mylonaki, Maria, Perrone, Maria Rita, Costa, Maria João, Sicard, Michael, Papagiannopoulos, Nikolaos, Siomos, Nikolaos, Burlizzi, Pasquale, Pauly, Rebecca, Engelmann, Ronny, Abdullaev, Sabur, Pappalardo, Gelsomina

We present the evaluation activity of the European Aerosol Research Lidar Network (EARLINET) for the quantitative assessment of the Level 2 aerosol backscatter coefficient product derived by the Cloud-Aerosol Transport System (CATS) aboard the International Space Station (ISS; Rodier et al., 2015). The study employs correlative CATS and EARLINET backscatter measurements within a 50km distance between the ground station and the ISS overpass and as close in time as possible, typically with the starting time or stopping time of the EARLINET performed measurement time window within 90min of the ISS overpass, for the period from February 2015 to September 2016. The results demonstrate the good agreement of the CATS Level 2 backscatter coefficient and EARLINET. Three ISS overpasses close to the EARLINET stations of Leipzig, Germany; Évora, Portugal; and Dushanbe, Tajikistan, are analyzed here to demonstrate the performance of the CATS lidar system under different conditions. The results show that under cloud-free, relative homogeneous aerosol conditions, CATS is in good agreement with EARLINET, independent of daytime and nighttime conditions. CATS low negative biases are observed, partially attributed to the deficiency of lidar systems to detect tenuous aerosol layers of backscatter signal below the minimum detection thresholds; these are biases which may lead to systematic deviations and slight underestimations of the total aerosol optical depth (AOD) in climate studies. In addition, CATS misclassification of aerosol layers as clouds, and vice versa, in cases of coexistent and/or adjacent aerosol and cloud features, occasionally leads to non-representative, unrealistic, and cloud-contaminated aerosol profiles. Regarding solar illumination conditions, low negative biases in CATS backscatter coefficient profiles, of the order of 6.1%, indicate the good nighttime performance of CATS. During daytime, a reduced signal-to-noise ratio by solar background illumination prevents retrievals of weakly scattering atmospheric layers that would otherwise be detectable during nighttime, leading to higher negative biases, of the order of 22.3%. © Author(s) 2019.

2016, Baars, Holger, Kanitz, Thomas, Engelmann, Ronny, Althausen, Dietrich, Heese, Birgit, Komppula, Mika, Preißler, Jana, Tesche, Matthias, Ansmann, Albert, Wandinger, Ulla, Lim, Jae-Hyun, Ahn, Joon Young, Stachlewska, Iwona S., Amiridis, Vassilis, Marinou, Eleni, Seifert, Patric, Hofer, Julian, Skupin, Annett, Schneider, Florian, Bohlmann, Stephanie, Foth, Andreas, Bley, Sebastian, Pfüller, Anne, Giannakaki, Eleni, Lihavainen, Heikki, Viisanen, Yrjö, Hooda, Rakesh Kumar, Pereira, Sérgio Nepomuceno, Bortol, Daniele, Wagner, Frank, Mattis, Ina, Janicka, Lucja, Markowicz, Krzysztof M., Achtert, Peggy, Artaxo, Paulo, Pauliquevis, Theotonio, Souza, Rodrigo A.F., Sharma, Ved Prakesh, van Zyl, Pieter Gideon, Beukes, Johan Paul, Sun, Junying, Rohwer, Erich G., Deng, Ruru, Mamouri, Rodanthi-Elisavet, Zamorano, Felix

A global vertically resolved aerosol data set covering more than 10 years of observations at more than 20 measurement sites distributed from 63° N to 52° S and 72° W to 124° E has been achieved within the Raman and polarization lidar network PollyNET. This network consists of portable, remote-controlled multiwavelength-polarization-Raman lidars (Polly) for automated and continuous 24/7 observations of clouds and aerosols. PollyNET is an independent, voluntary, and scientific network. All Polly lidars feature a standardized instrument design with different capabilities ranging from single wavelength to multiwavelength systems, and now apply unified calibration, quality control, and data analysis. The observations are processed in near-real time without manual intervention, and are presented online at http://polly.tropos.de/. The paper gives an overview of the observations on four continents and two research vessels obtained with eight Polly systems. The specific aerosol types at these locations (mineral dust, smoke, dust-smoke and other dusty mixtures, urban haze, and volcanic ash) are identified by their Ångström exponent, lidar ratio, and depolarization ratio. The vertical aerosol distribution at the PollyNET locations is discussed on the basis of more than 55 000 automatically retrieved 30 min particle backscatter coefficient profiles at 532 nm as this operating wavelength is available for all Polly lidar systems. A seasonal analysis of measurements at selected sites revealed typical and extraordinary aerosol conditions as well as seasonal differences. These studies show the potential of PollyNET to support the establishment of a global aerosol climatology that covers the entire troposphere.

2021, Baars, Holger, Radenz, Martin, Floutsi, Athena Augusta, Engelmann, Ronny, Althausen, Dietrich, Heese, Birgit, Ansmann, Albert, Flament, Thomas, Dabas, Alain, Trapon, Dimitri, Reitebuch, Oliver, Bley, Sebastian, Wandinger, Ulla

In September 2020, extremely strong wildfires in the western United States of America (i.e., mainly in California) produced large amounts of smoke, which was lifted into the free troposphere. These biomass-burning-aerosol (BBA) layers were transported from the US west coast toward central Europe within 3–4 days turning the sky milky and receiving high media attention. The present study characterizes this pronounced smoke plume above Leipzig, Germany, using a ground-based multiwavelength-Raman-polarization lidar and the aerosol/cloud product of ESA’s wind lidar mission Aeolus. An exceptional high smoke-AOT >0.4 was measured, yielding to a mean mass concentration of 8 μg m−3. The 355 nm lidar ratio was moderate at around 40–50 sr. The Aeolus-derived backscatter, extinction and lidar ratio profiles agree well with the observations of the ground-based lidar PollyXT considering the fact that Aeolus’ aerosol and cloud products are still preliminary and subject to ongoing algorithm improvements.