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    Effect of heatwave conditions on aerosol optical properties derived from satellite and ground-based remote sensing over Poland
    (Basel : MDPI, 2017) Stachlewska, Iwona S.; Zawadzka, Olga; Engelmann, Ronny
    During an exceptionally warm September in 2016, unique and stable weather conditions contributed to a heat wave over Poland, allowing for observations of aerosol optical properties, using a variety of ground-based and satellite remote sensors. The data set collected during 11–16 September 2016 was analysed in terms of aerosol transport (HYbrid Single-Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory model (HYSPLIT)), aerosol load model simulations (Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS), Navy Aerosol Analysis and Prediction System (NAAPS), Global Environmental Multiscale-Air Quality (GEM-AQ), columnar aerosol load measured at ground level (Aerosol Robotic NETwork (AERONET), Polish Aerosol Research Network (PolandAOD)) and from satellites (Spinning Enhanced Visible and Infrared Imager (SEVIRI), Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS)), as well as with 24/7 PollyXT Raman Lidar observations at the European Aerosol Research Lidar Network (EARLINET) site in Warsaw. Analyses revealed a single day of a relatively clean background aerosol related to an Arctic air-mass inflow, surrounded by a few days with a well increased aerosol load of differing origin: pollution transported from Germany and biomass burning from Ukraine. Such conditions proved excellent to test developed-in-house algorithms designed for near real-time aerosol optical depth (AOD) derivation from the SEVIRI sensor. The SEVIRI AOD maps derived over the territory of Poland, with an exceptionally high resolution (every 15 min; 5.5 × 5.5 km2), revealed on an hourly scale, very low aerosol variability due to heat wave conditions. Comparisons of SEVIRI with NAAPS and CAMS AOD maps show strong qualitative similarities; however, NAAPS underestimates AOD and CAMS tends to underestimate it on relatively clean days (<0.2), and overestimate it for a high aerosol load (>0.4). A slight underestimation of the SEVIRI AOD is reported for pixel-to-column comparisons with AODs of several radiometers (AERONET, PolandAOD) and Lidar (EARLINET) with high correlation coefficients (r2 of 0.8–0.91) and low root-mean-square error (RMSE of 0.03–0.05). A heat wave driven increase of the boundary layer height of 10% is accompanied with the AOD increase of 8–12% for an urban site dominated by anthropogenic pollution. Contrary trend, with an AOD decrease of around 4% for a rural site dominated by a long-range transported biomass burning aerosol is reported. There is a positive feedback of heat wave conditions on local and transported pollution and an extenuating effect on transported biomass burning aerosol. The daytime mean SEVIRI PM2.5 converted from the SEVIRI AODs at a pixel representative for Warsaw is in agreement with the daily mean PM2.5 surface measurements, whereby SEVIRI PM2.5 and Lidar-derived Ångström exponent are anti-correlated.
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    Advection of Biomass Burning Aerosols towards the Southern Hemispheric Mid-Latitude Station of Punta Arenas as Observed with Multiwavelength Polarization Raman Lidar
    (Basel : MDPI AG, 2021) Floutsi, Athena Augusta; Baars, Holger; Radenz, Martin; Haarig, Moritz; Yin, Zhenping; Seifert, Patric; Jimenez, Cristofer; Ansmann, Albert; Engelmann, Ronny; Barja, Boris; Zamorano, Felix; Wandinger, Ulla
    In this paper, we present long-term observations of the multiwavelength Raman lidar PollyXT conducted in the framework of the DACAPO-PESO campaign. Regardless of the relatively clean atmosphere in the southern mid-latitude oceans region, we regularly observed events of long-range transported smoke, originating either from regional sources in South America or from Australia. Two case studies will be discussed, both identified as smoke events that occurred on 5 February 2019 and 11 March 2019. For the first case considered, the lofted smoke layer was located at an altitude between 1.0 and 4.2 km, and apart from the predominance of smoke particles, particle linear depolarization values indicated the presence of dust particles. Mean lidar ratio values at 355 and 532 nm were 49 ± 12 and 24 ± 18 sr respectively, while the mean particle linear depolarization was 7.6 ± 3.6% at 532 nm. The advection of smoke and dust particles above Punta Arenas affected significantly the available cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) and ice nucleating particles (INP) in the lower troposphere, and effectively triggered the ice crystal formation processes. Regarding the second case, the thin smoke layers were observed at altitudes 5.5–7.0, 9.0 and 11.0 km. The particle linear depolarization ratio at 532 nm increased rapidly with height, starting from 2% for the lowest two layers and increasing up to 9.5% for the highest layer, indicating the possible presence of non-spherical coated soot aggregates. INP activation was effectively facilitated. The long-term analysis of the one year of observations showed that tropospheric smoke advection over Punta Arenas occurred 16 times (lasting from 1 to 17 h), regularly distributed over the period and with high potential to influence cloud formation in the otherwise pristine environment of the region.