2017, Nichman, Leonid, Järvinen, Emma, Dorsey, James, Connolly, Paul, Duplissy, Jonathan, Fuchs, Claudia, Ignatius, Karoliina, Sengupta, Kamalika, Stratmann, Frank, Möhler, Ottmar, Schnaiter, Martin, Gallagher, Martin

Optical probes are frequently used for the detection of microphysical cloud particle properties such as liquid and ice phase, size and morphology. These properties can eventually influence the angular light scattering properties of cirrus clouds as well as the growth and accretion mechanisms of single cloud particles. In this study we compare four commonly used optical probes to examine their response to small cloud particles of different phase and asphericity. Cloud simulation experiments were conducted at the Cosmics Leaving OUtdoor Droplets (CLOUD) chamber at European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN). The chamber was operated in a series of multi-step adiabatic expansions to produce growth and sublimation of ice particles at super- and subsaturated ice conditions and for initial temperatures of -30, -40 and -50°C. The experiments were performed for ice cloud formation via homogeneous ice nucleation. We report the optical observations of small ice particles in deep convection and in situ cirrus simulations. Ice crystal asphericity deduced from measurements of spatially resolved single particle light scattering patterns by the Particle Phase Discriminator mark 2 (PPD-2K, Karlsruhe edition) were compared with Cloud and Aerosol Spectrometer with Polarisation (CASPOL) measurements and image roundness captured by the 3View Cloud Particle Imager (3V-CPI). Averaged path light scattering properties of the simulated ice clouds were measured using the Scattering Intensity Measurements for the Optical detectioN of icE (SIMONE) and single particle scattering properties were measured by the CASPOL. We show the ambiguity of several optical measurements in ice fraction determination of homogeneously frozen ice in the case where sublimating quasi-spherical ice particles are present. Moreover, most of the instruments have difficulties of producing reliable ice fraction if small aspherical ice particles are present, and all of the instruments cannot separate perfectly spherical ice particles from supercooled droplets. Correlation analysis of bulk averaged path depolarisation measurements and single particle measurements of these clouds showed higher R2 values at high concentrations and small diameters, but these results require further confirmation. We find that none of these instruments were able to determine unambiguously the phase of the small particles. These results have implications for the interpretation of atmospheric measurements and parametrisations for modelling, particularly for low particle number concentration clouds.

2017, Filioglou, Maria, Nikandrova, Anna, Niemelä, Sami, Baars, Holger, Mielonen, Tero, Leskinen, Ari, Brus, David, Romakkaniemi, Sami, Giannakaki, Elina, Komppula, Mika

We present tropospheric water vapor profiles measured with a Raman lidar during three field campaigns held in Finland. Co-located radio soundings are available throughout the period for the calibration of the lidar signals. We investigate the possibility of calibrating the lidar water vapor profiles in the absence of co-existing on-site soundings using water vapor profiles from the combined Advanced InfraRed Sounder (AIRS) and the Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit (AMSU) satellite product; the Aire Limitée Adaptation dynamique Développement INternational and High Resolution Limited Area Model (ALADIN/HIRLAM) numerical weather prediction (NWP) system, and the nearest radio sounding station located 100 km away from the lidar site (only for the permanent location of the lidar). The uncertainties of the calibration factor derived from the soundings, the satellite and the model data are < 2.8, 7.4 and 3.9 %, respectively. We also include water vapor mixing ratio intercomparisons between the radio soundings and the various instruments/model for the period of the campaigns. A good agreement is observed for all comparisons with relative errors that do not exceed 50 % up to 8 km altitude in most cases. A 4-year seasonal analysis of vertical water vapor is also presented for the Kuopio site in Finland. During winter months, the air in Kuopio is dry (1.15±0.40 †kg-1); during summer it is wet (5.54±1.02 †kg-1); and at other times, the air is in an intermediate state. These are averaged values over the lowest 2 km in the atmosphere. Above that height a quick decrease in water vapor mixing ratios is observed, except during summer months where favorable atmospheric conditions enable higher mixing ratio values at higher altitudes. Lastly, the seasonal change in disagreement between the lidar and the model has been studied. The analysis showed that, on average, the model underestimates water vapor mixing ratios at high altitudes during spring and summer.

2017, Tsekeri, Alexandra, Lopatin, Anton, Amiridis, Vassilis, Marinou, Eleni, Igloffstein, Julia, Siomos, Nikolaos, Solomos, Stavros, Kokkalis, Panagiotis, Engelmann, Ronny, Baars, Holger, Gratsea, Myrto, Raptis, Panagiotis I., Binietoglou, Ioannis, Mihalopoulos, Nikolaos, Kalivitis, Nikolaos, Kouvarakis, Giorgos, Bartsotas, Nikolaos, Kallos, George, Basart, Sara, Schuettemeyer, Dirk, Wandinger, Ulla, Ansmann, Albert, Chaikovsky, Anatoli P., Dubovik, Oleg

The Generalized Aerosol Retrieval from Radiometer and Lidar Combined data algorithm (GARRLiC) and the LIdar-Radiometer Inversion Code (LIRIC) provide the opportunity to study the aerosol vertical distribution by combining ground-based lidar and sun-photometric measurements. Here, we utilize the capabilities of both algorithms for the characterization of Saharan dust and marine particles, along with their mixtures, in the south-eastern Mediterranean during the CHARacterization of Aerosol mixtures of Dust and Marine origin Experiment (CHARADMExp). Three case studies are presented, focusing on dust-dominated, marinedominated and dust-marine mixing conditions. GARRLiC and LIRIC achieve a satisfactory characterization for the dust-dominated case in terms of particle microphysical properties and concentration profiles. The marine-dominated and the mixture cases are more challenging for both algorithms, although GARRLiC manages to provide more detailed microphysical retrievals compared to AERONET, while LIRIC effectively discriminates dust and marine particles in its concentration profile retrievals. The results are also compared with modelled dust and marine concentration profiles and surface in situ measurements.

2017, Witthuhn, Jonas, Deneke, Hartwig, Macke, Andreas, Bernhard, Germar

The 19-channel rotating shadowband radiometer GUVis-3511 built by Biospherical Instruments provides automated shipborne measurements of the direct, diffuse and global spectral irradiance components without a requirement for platform stabilization. Several direct sun products, including spectral direct beam transmittance, aerosol optical depth, Ångström exponent and precipitable water, can be derived from these observations. The individual steps of the data analysis are described, and the different sources of uncertainty are discussed. The total uncertainty of the observed direct beam transmittances is estimated to be about 4% for most channels within a 95% confidence interval for shipborne operation. The calibration is identified as the dominating contribution to the total uncertainty. A comparison of direct beam transmittance with those obtained from a Cimel sunphotometer at a land site and a manually operated Microtops II sunphotometer on a ship is presented. Measurements deviate by less than 3 and 4% on land and on ship, respectively, for most channels and in agreement with our previous uncertainty estimate. These numbers demonstrate that the instrument is well suited for shipborne operation, and the applied methods for motion correction work accurately. Based on spectral direct beam transmittance, aerosol optical depth can be retrieved with an uncertainty of 0.02 for all channels within a 95% confidence interval. The different methods to account for Rayleigh scattering and gas absorption in our scheme and in the Aerosol Robotic Network processing for Cimel sunphotometers lead to minor deviations. Relying on the cross calibration of the 940 nm water vapor channel with the Cimel sunphotometer, the column amount of precipitable water can be estimated with an uncertainty of ±0.034 cm.

2017, Baars, Holger, Seifert, Patric, Engelmann, Ronny, Wandinger, Ulla

Absolute calibrated signals at 532 and 1064 nm and the depolarization ratio from a multiwavelength lidar are used to categorize primary aerosol but also clouds in high temporal and spatial resolution. Automatically derived particle backscatter coefficient profiles in low temporal resolution (30 min) are applied to calibrate the lidar signals. From these calibrated lidar signals, new atmospheric parameters in temporally high resolution (quasi-particle-backscatter coefficients) are derived. By using thresholds obtained from multiyear, multisite EARLINET (European Aerosol Research Lidar Network) measurements, four aerosol classes (small; large, spherical; large, non-spherical; mixed, partly nonspherical) and several cloud classes (liquid, ice) are defined. Thus, particles are classified by their physical features (shape and size) instead of by source. The methodology is applied to 2 months of continuous observations (24 h a day, 7 days a week) with the multiwavelength-Raman-polarization lidar PollyXT during the High-Definition Clouds and Precipitation for advancing Climate Prediction (HD(CP)2) Observational Prototype Experiment (HOPE) in spring 2013. Cloudnet equipment was operated continuously directly next to the lidar and is used for comparison. By discussing three 24 h case studies, it is shown that the aerosol discrimination is very feasible and informative and gives a good complement to the Cloudnet target categorization. Performing the categorization for the 2-month data set of the entire HOPE campaign, almost 1 million pixel (5 min×30 m) could be analysed with the newly developed tool. We find that the majority of the aerosol trapped in the planetary boundary layer (PBL) was composed of small particles as expected for a heavily populated and industrialized area. Large, spherical aerosol was observed mostly at the top of the PBL and close to the identified cloud bases, indicating the importance of hygroscopic growth of the particles at high relative humidity. Interestingly, it is found that on several days non-spherical particles were dispersed from the ground into the atmosphere.

2017, Liao, Jin, Brock, Charles A., Murphy, Daniel M., Sueper, Donna T., Welti, André, Middlebrook, Ann M.

A light-scattering module was coupled to an airborne, compact time-of-flight aerosol mass spectrometer (LS-AMS) to investigate collection efficiency (CE) while obtaining nonrefractory aerosol chemical composition measurements during the Southeast Nexus (SENEX) campaign. In this instrument, particles scatter light from an internal laser beam and trigger saving individual particle mass spectra. Nearly all of the single-particle data with mass spectra that were triggered by scattered light signals were from particles larger than ĝ1/4 280ĝ€nm in vacuum aerodynamic diameter. Over 33ĝ€000 particles are characterized as either prompt (27ĝ€%), delayed (15ĝ€%), or null (58ĝ€%), according to the time and intensity of their total mass spectral signals. The particle mass from single-particle spectra is proportional to that derived from the light-scattering diameter (dva-LS) but not to that from the particle time-of-flight (PToF) diameter (dva-MS) from the time of the maximum mass spectral signal. The total mass spectral signal from delayed particles was about 80ĝ€% of that from prompt ones for the same dva-LS. Both field and laboratory data indicate that the relative intensities of various ions in the prompt spectra show more fragmentation compared to the delayed spectra. The particles with a delayed mass spectral signal likely bounced off the vaporizer and vaporized later on another surface within the confines of the ionization source. Because delayed particles are detected by the mass spectrometer later than expected from their dva-LS size, they can affect the interpretation of particle size (PToF) mass distributions, especially at larger sizes. The CE, measured by the average number or mass fractions of particles optically detected that had measurable mass spectra, varied significantly (0.2-0.9) in different air masses. The measured CE agreed well with a previous parameterization when CE > 0.5 for acidic particles but was sometimes lower than the minimum parameterized CE of 0.5.