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    Sun photometer retrievals of Saharan dust properties over Barbados during SALTRACE
    (Katlenburg-Lindau : EGU, 2019) Toledano, Carlos; Torres, Benjamín; Velasco-Merino, Cristian; Althausen, Dietrich; Groß, Silke; Wiegner, Matthias; Weinzierl, Bernadett; Gasteiger, Josef; Ansmann, Albert; González, Ramiro; Mateos, David; Farrel, David; Müller, Thomas; Haarig, Moritz; Cachorro, Victoria E.
    The Saharan Aerosol Long-Range Transport and Aerosol-Cloud-Interaction Experiment (SALTRACE) was devoted to the investigation of Saharan dust properties over the Caribbean. The campaign took place in June-July 2013. A wide set of ground-based and airborne aerosol instrumentation was deployed at the island of Barbados for a comprehensive experiment. Several sun photometers performed measurements during this campaign: two AERONET (Aerosol Robotic Network) Cimel sun photometers and the Sun and Sky Automatic Radiometer (SSARA). The sun photometers were co-located with the ground-based multi-wavelength lidars BERTHA (Backscatter Extinction lidar Ratio Temperature Humidity profiling Apparatus) and POLIS (Portable Lidar System). Aerosol properties derived from direct sun and sky radiance observations are analyzed, and a comparison with the co-located lidar and in situ data is provided. The time series of aerosol optical depth (AOD) allows identifying successive dust events with short periods in between in which the marine background conditions were observed. The moderate aerosol optical depth in the range of 0.3 to 0.6 was found during the dust periods. The sun photometer infrared channel at the 1640nm wavelength was used in the retrieval to investigate possible improvements to aerosol size retrievals, and it was expected to have a larger sensitivity to coarse particles. The comparison between column (aerosol optical depth) and surface (dust concentration) data demonstrates the connection between the Saharan Air Layer and the boundary layer in the Caribbean region, as is shown by the synchronized detection of the successive dust events in both datasets. However the differences of size distributions derived from sun photometer data and in situ observations reveal the difficulties in carrying out a column closure study. © 2019 All rights reserved.
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    Potential of polarization/Raman lidar to separate fine dust, coarse dust, maritime, and anthropogenic aerosol profiles
    (München : European Geopyhsical Union, 2017) Mamouri, Rodanthi-Elisavet; Ansmann, Albert
    We applied the recently introduced polarization lidar–photometer networking (POLIPHON) technique for the first time to triple-wavelength polarization lidar measurements at 355, 532, and 1064 nm. The lidar observations were performed at Barbados during the Saharan Aerosol Long-Range Transport and Aerosol-Cloud-Interaction Experiment (SALTRACE) in the summer of 2014. The POLIPHON method comprises the traditional lidar technique to separate mineral dust and non-dust backscatter contributions and the new, extended approach to separate even the fine and coarse dust backscatter fractions. We show that the traditional and the advanced method are compatible and lead to a consistent set of dust and non-dust profiles at simplified, less complex aerosol layering and mixing conditions as is the case over the remote tropical Atlantic. To derive dust mass concentration profiles from the lidar observations, trustworthy extinction-to-volume conversion factors for fine, coarse, and total dust are needed and obtained from an updated, extended Aerosol Robotic Network sun photometer data analysis of the correlation between the fine, coarse and total dust volume concentration and the respective fine, coarse, and total dust extinction coefficient for all three laser wavelengths. Conversion factors (total volume to extinction) for pure marine aerosol conditions and continental anthropogenic aerosol situations are presented in addition. As a new feature of the POLIPHON data analysis, the Raman lidar method for particle extinction profiling is used to identify the aerosol type (marine or anthropogenic) of the non-dust aerosol fraction. The full POLIPHON methodology was successfully applied to a SALTRACE case and the results are discussed. We conclude that the 532 nm polarization lidar technique has many advantages in comparison to 355 and 1064 nm polarization lidar approaches and leads to the most robust and accurate POLIPHON products.
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    Vertical profiling of Saharan dust with Raman lidars and airborne HSRL in southern Morocco during SAMUM
    (Milton Park : Taylor & Francis, 2017) Tesche, Matthias; Ansmann, Albert; MüLLER, Detlef; Althausen, Dietrich; Mattis, Ina; Heese, Birgit; Freudenthaler, Volker; Wiegner, Matthias; Esselborn, Michael; Pisani, Gianluca; Knippertz, Peter
    Three ground-based Raman lidars and an airborne high-spectral-resolution lidar (HSRL) were operated duringSAMUM 2006 in southern Morocco to measure height profiles of the volume extinction coefficient, the extinction-to-backscatter ratio and the depolarization ratio of dust particles in the Saharan dust layer at several wavelengths. Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) Sun photometer observations and radiosoundings of meteorological parameters complemented the ground-based activities at the SAMUM station of Ouarzazate. Four case studies are presented. Two case studies deal with the comparison of observations of the three ground-based lidars during a heavy dust outbreak and of the ground-based lidars with the airborne lidar. Two further cases show profile observations during satellite overpasses on 19 May and 4 June 2006. The height resolved statistical analysis reveals that the dust layer top typically reaches 4–6 km height above sea level (a.s.l.), sometimes even 7 km a.s.l.. Usually, a vertically inhomogeneous dust plume with internal dust layers was observed in the morning before the evolution of the boundary layer started. The Saharan dust layer was well mixed in the early evening. The 500 nm dust optical depth ranged from 0.2–0.8 at the field site south of the High Atlas mountains, Ångström exponents derived from photometer and lidar data were between 0–0.4. The volume extinction coefficients (355, 532 nm) varied from 30–300Mm−1 with a mean value of 100Mm−1 in the lowest 4 km a.s.l.. On average, extinction-to-backscatter ratios of 53–55 sr (±7–13 sr) were obtained at 355, 532 and 1064 nm.