Search Results

Now showing 1 - 7 of 7
  • Item
    Atmospheric dust modeling from meso to global scales with the online NMMB/BSC-Dust model – Part 2: Experimental campaigns in Northern Africa
    (München : European Geopyhsical Union, 2012) Haustein, K.; Pérez, C.; Baldasano, J.M.; Jorba, O.; Basart, S.; Miller, R.L.; Janjic, Z.; Black, T.; Nickovic, S.; Todd, M.C.; Washington, R.; Müller, D.; Tesche, M.; Weinzierl, B.; Esselborn, M.; Schladitz, A.
    The new NMMB/BSC-Dust model is intended to provide short to medium-range weather and dust forecasts from regional to global scales. It is an online model in which the dust aerosol dynamics and physics are solved at each model time step. The companion paper (Pérez et al., 2011) develops the dust model parameterizations and provides daily to annual evaluations of the model for its global and regional configurations. Modeled aerosol optical depth (AOD) was evaluated against AERONET Sun photometers over Northern Africa, Middle East and Europe with correlations around 0.6–0.7 on average without dust data assimilation. In this paper we analyze in detail the behavior of the model using data from the Saharan Mineral dUst experiment (SAMUM-1) in 2006 and the Bodélé Dust Experiment (BoDEx) in 2005. AOD from satellites and Sun photometers, vertically resolved extinction coefficients from lidars and particle size distributions at the ground and in the troposphere are used, complemented by wind profile data and surface meteorological measurements. All simulations were performed at the regional scale for the Northern African domain at the expected operational horizontal resolution of 25 km. Model results for SAMUM-1 generally show good agreement with satellite data over the most active Saharan dust sources. The model reproduces the AOD from Sun photometers close to sources and after long-range transport, and the dust size spectra at different height levels. At this resolution, the model is not able to reproduce a large haboob that occurred during the campaign. Some deficiencies are found concerning the vertical dust distribution related to the representation of the mixing height in the atmospheric part of the model. For the BoDEx episode, we found the diurnal temperature cycle to be strongly dependant on the soil moisture, which is underestimated in the NCEP analysis used for model initialization. The low level jet (LLJ) and the dust AOD over the Bodélé are well reproduced. The remaining negative AOD bias (due to underestimated surface wind speeds) can be substantially reduced by decreasing the threshold friction velocity in the model.
  • Item
    In situ, satellite measurement and model evidence on the dominant regional contribution to fine particulate matter levels in the Paris megacity
    (Katlenburg-Lindau : EGU, 2015) Beekmann, M.; Prévôt, A.S.H.; Drewnick, F.; Sciare, J.; Pandis, S.N.; Denier van der Gon, H.A.C.; Crippa, M.; Freutel, F.; Poulain, L.; Ghersi, V.; Rodriguez, E.; Beirle, S.; Zotter, P.; von der Weiden-Reinmüller, S.-L.; Bressi, M.; Fountoukis, C.; Petetin, H.; Szidat, S.; Schneider, J.; Rosso, A.; El Haddad, I.; Megaritis, A.; Zhang, Q.J.; Michoud, V.; Slowik, J.G.; Moukhtar, S.; Kolmonen, P.; Stohl, A.; Eckhardt, S.; Borbon, A.; Gros, V.; Marchand, N.; Jaffrezo, J.L.; Schwarzenboeck, A.; Colomb, A.; Wiedensohler, A.; Borrmann, S.; Lawrence, M.; Baklanov, A.; Baltensperger, U.
    A detailed characterization of air quality in the megacity of Paris (France) during two 1-month intensive campaigns and from additional 1-year observations revealed that about 70 % of the urban background fine particulate matter (PM) is transported on average into the megacity from upwind regions. This dominant influence of regional sources was confirmed by in situ measurements during short intensive and longer-term campaigns, aerosol optical depth (AOD) measurements from ENVISAT, and modeling results from PMCAMx and CHIMERE chemistry transport models. While advection of sulfate is well documented for other megacities, there was surprisingly high contribution from long-range transport for both nitrate and organic aerosol. The origin of organic PM was investigated by comprehensive analysis of aerosol mass spectrometer (AMS), radiocarbon and tracer measurements during two intensive campaigns. Primary fossil fuel combustion emissions constituted less than 20 % in winter and 40 % in summer of carbonaceous fine PM, unexpectedly small for a megacity. Cooking activities and, during winter, residential wood burning are the major primary organic PM sources. This analysis suggests that the major part of secondary organic aerosol is of modern origin, i.e., from biogenic precursors and from wood burning. Black carbon concentrations are on the lower end of values encountered in megacities worldwide, but still represent an issue for air quality. These comparatively low air pollution levels are due to a combination of low emissions per inhabitant, flat terrain, and a meteorology that is in general not conducive to local pollution build-up. This revised picture of a megacity only being partially responsible for its own average and peak PM levels has important implications for air pollution regulation policies.
  • Item
    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.
  • Item
    Microphysical 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, Lucas
    Strong 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.
  • Item
    Evaluation of long-range transport and deposition of desert dust with the CTM MOCAGE
    (Milton Park : Taylor & Francis, 2017) Martet, M.; Peuch, V-H.; Laurent, B.; Marticorena, B.; Bergametti, G.
    Desert dust modelling and forecasting attract growing interest, due to the numerous impacts of dusts on climate, numerical weather prediction, health, ecosystems, transportation, as well as on many industrial activities. The validation of numerical tools is a very important activity in this context, and we present here an example of such an effort, combining in situ (horizontal visibility in SYNOP messages, IMPROVE database) and remote-sensing data (satellite imagery, AERONET aerosol optical thickness data). Interestingly, these measurements are available routinely, and not only in the context of dedicated measurements campaign; thus, they can be used in an operational context to monitor the performances of operational forecasting systems. MOCAGE is the chemistry-transport model of Météo-France, used operationally to forecast the three-dimensional transport of dusts and their deposition. Two very long-range transport episodes of dust have been studied: one case of Saharan dust transported to East America through Asia and Pacific observed in November 2004 and one case of Saharan dust transported from West Africa to Caribbean Islands in May 2007. Episodes of geographical extension had seldom been studied, and they provide a very selective reference to compare the modelled desert dusts with. The representation of dusts in MOCAGE appears to be realistic in these two very different cases. In turn, the model simulations are used to make the link between the complementary information provided by the different measurements tools, providing a fully consistent picture of the entire episodes. The evolution of the aerosol size distribution during the episodes has also been studied. With no surprise, our study underlines that deposition processes are very sensitive to the size of dust particles. If the atmospheric cycle, in terms of mass, is very much under the influence of larger particles (some micrometres and above), only the finer particles actually travel over thousands of kilometres. This illustrates the need for an accurate representation of size distributions for this aerosol component in numerical models and advocates for using a size-resolved (bin) approach as sinks, and particularly, deposition do not affect the emitted log-normal distributions symmetrically on both sides of the median diameter. Overall, the results presented in this study provide an evaluation of Météo-France operational dust forecasting system MOCAGE.
  • Item
    EARLINET observations of the 14-22-May long-range dust transport event during SAMUM 2006: Validation of results from dust transport modelling
    (Milton Park : Taylor & Francis, 2017) Müller, D.; Heinold, B.; Tesche, M.; Tegen, I.; Althausen, D.; Alados Arboledas, L.; Amiridis, V.; Amodeo, A.; Ansmann, A.; Balis, D.; Comeron, A.; D’mico, G.; Gerasopoulos, E.; Guerrero-Rascado, J.L.; Freudenthaler, V.; Giannakaki, E.; Heese, B.; Iarlori, M.; Knippertz, P.; Mamouri, R.E.; Mona, L.; Papayannis, A.; Pappalardo, G.; Perrone, R-M.; Pisani, G.; Rizi, V.; Sicard, M.; Spinelli, N.; Tafuro, A.; Wiegner, M.
    We observed a long-range transport event of mineral dust from North Africa to South Europe during the Saharan Mineral Dust Experiment (SAMUM) 2006. Geometrical and optical properties of that dust plume were determined with Sun photometer of the Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) and Raman lidar near the North African source region, and with Sun photometers of AERONET and lidars of the European Aerosol Research Lidar Network (EARLINET) in the far field in Europe. Extinction-to-backscatter ratios of the dust plume over Morocco and Southern Europe do not differ. Ångstr¨om exponents increase with distance from Morocco. We simulated the transport, and geometrical and optical properties of the dust plume with a dust transport model. The model results and the experimental data show similar times regarding the appearance of the dust plume over each EARLINET site. Dust optical depth from the model agrees in most cases to particle optical depth measured with the Sun photometers. The vertical distribution of the mineral dust could be satisfactorily reproduced, if we use as benchmark the extinction profiles measured with lidar. In some cases we find differences. We assume that insufficient vertical resolution of the dust plume in the model calculations is one reason for these deviations.
  • Item
    Regional Saharan dust modelling during the SAMUM 2006 campaign
    (Milton Park : Taylor & Francis, 2017) Heinold, Bernd; Tegen, Ina; Esselborn, Michael; Kandler, Konrad; Knippertz, Peter; Müller, Detlef; Schladitz, Alexander; Tesche, Matthias; Weinzierl, Bernadett; Ansmann, Albert; Althausen, Dietrich; Laurent, Benoit; Massling, Andreas; Müller, Thomas; Petzold, Andreas; Schepanski, Kerstin; Wiedensohler, Alfred
    The regional dust model system LM-MUSCAT-DES was developed in the framework of the SAMUM project. Using the unique comprehensive data set of near-source dust properties during the 2006SAMUMfield campaign, the performance of the model system is evaluated for two time periods in May and June 2006. Dust optical thicknesses, number size distributions and the position of the maximum dust extinction in the vertical profiles agree well with the observations. However, the spatio-temporal evolution of the dust plumes is not always reproduced due to inaccuracies in the dust source placement by the model. While simulated winds and dust distributions are well matched for dust events caused by dry synoptic-scale dynamics, they are often misrepresented when dust emissions are caused by moist convection or influenced by small-scale topography that is not resolved by the model. In contrast to long-range dust transport, in the vicinity of source regions the model performance strongly depends on the correct prediction of the exact location of sources. Insufficiently resolved vertical grid spacing causes the absence of inversions in the model vertical profiles and likely explains the absence of the observed sharply defined dust layers.