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- ItemDesign and performance of a three-wavelength LED-based total scatter and backscatter integrating nephelometer(München : European Geopyhsical Union, 2011) Müller, T.; Laborde, M.; Kassell, G.; Wiedensohler, A.Integrating nephelometers are instruments that directly measure a value close to the light scattering coefficient of airborne particles. Different models of nephelometers have been used for decades for monitoring and research applications. Now, a series of nephelometers (Ecotech models M9003, Aurora 1000 and Aurora 3000) with newly designed light sources based on light emitting diodes are available. This article reports on the design of these integrating nephelometers and a comparison of the Aurora 3000 to another commercial instrument (TSI model 3563) that uses an incandescent lamp. Both instruments are three-wavelength, total and backscatter integrating nephelometers. We present a characterization of the new light source design of the Aurora 3000 and provide parameterizations for its angular sensitivity functions. These parameterizations facilitate to correct for measurement artefacts using Mie-theory. Furthermore, correction factors are provided as a function of the Ångström exponent. Comparison measurements against the TSI 3563 with laboratory generated white particles and ambient air are also shown and discussed. Both instruments agree well within the calibration uncertainties and detection limit for total scattering with differences less than 5 %. Differences for backscattering are higher by up to 11 %. Highest differences were found for the longest wavelengths, where the signal to noise ratio is lowest. Differences at the blue and green wavelengths are less than 4 % and 3 %, respectively, for both total and backscattering.
- ItemThe automated multiwavelength Raman polarization and water-vapor lidar PollyXT: The neXT generation(München : European Geopyhsical Union, 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, AlbertThe 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.
- ItemDoppler Rayleigh/Mie/Raman lidar for wind and temperature measurements in the middle atmosphere up to 80 km(München : European Geopyhsical Union, 2010) Baumgarten, GerdA direct detection Doppler lidar for measuring wind speed in the middle atmosphere up to 80 km with 2 h resolution was implemented in the ALOMAR Rayleigh/Mie/Raman lidar (69° N, 16° E). The random error of the line of sight wind is about 0.6 m/s and 10 m/s at 49 km and 80 km, respectively. We use a Doppler Rayleigh Iodine Spectrometer (DoRIS) at the iodine line 1109 (~532.260 nm). DoRIS uses two branches of intensity cascaded channels to cover the dynamic range from 10 to 100 km altitude. The wind detection system was designed to extend the existing multi-wavelength observations of aerosol and temperature performed at wavelengths of 355 nm, 532 nm and 1064 nm. The lidar uses two lasers with a mean power of 14 W at 532 nm each and two 1.8 m diameter tiltable telescopes. Below about 49 km altitude the accuracy and time resolution is limited by the maximum count rate of the detectors used and not by the number of photons available. We report about the first simultaneous Rayleigh temperature and wind measurements by lidar in the strato- and mesosphere on 17 and 23 January 2009.
- ItemCeilometer lidar comparison: Backscatter coefficient retrieval and signal-to-noise ratio determination(München : European Geopyhsical Union, 2010) Heese, B.; Flentje, H.; Althausen, D.; Ansmann, A.; Frey, S.The potential of a new generation of ceilometer instruments for aerosol monitoring has been studied in the Ceilometer Lidar Comparison (CLIC) study. The used ceilometer was developed by Jenoptik, Germany, and is designed to find both thin cirrus clouds at tropopause level and aerosol layers at close ranges during day and night-time. The comparison study was performed to determine up to which altitude the ceilometers are capable to deliver particle backscatter coefficient profiles. For this, the derived ceilometer profiles are compared to simultaneously measured lidar profiles at the same wavelength. The lidar used for the comparison was the multi-wavelengths Raman lidar PollyXT. To demonstrate the capabilities and limits of ceilometers for the derivation of particle backscatter coefficient profiles from their measurements two examples of the comparison results are shown. Two cases, a daytime case with high background noise and a less noisy night-time case, are chosen. In both cases the ceilometer profiles compare well with the lidar profiles in atmospheric structures like aerosol layers or the boundary layer top height. However, the determination of the correct magnitude of the particle backscatter coefficient needs a calibration of the ceilometer data with an independent measurement of the aerosol optical depth by a sun photometer. To characterizes the ceilometers signal performance with increasing altitude a comprehensive signal-to-noise ratio study was performed. During daytime the signal-to-noise ratio is higher than 1 up to 4–5 km depending on the aerosol content. In our night-time case the SNR is higher than 1 even up to 8.5 km, so that also aerosol layers in the upper troposphere had been detected by the ceilometer.
- ItemAerosol particle number size distributions and particulate light absorption at the ZOTTO tall tower (Siberia), 2006–2009(München : European Geopyhsical Union, 2011) Heintzenberg, J.; Birmili, W.; Otto, R.; Andreae, M.O.; Mayer, J.-C.; Chi, X.; Panov, A.This paper analyses aerosol particle number size distributions, particulate absorption at 570 nm wavelength and carbon monoxide (CO) measured between September 2006 and January 2010 at heights of 50 and 300 m at the Zotino Tall Tower Facility (ZOTTO) in Siberia (60.8° N; 89.35° E). Average number, surface and volume concentrations are broadly comparable to former studies covering shorter observation periods. Fits of multiple lognormal distributions yielded three maxima in probability distribution of geometric mean diameters in the Aitken and accumulation size range and a possible secondary maximum in the nucleation size range below 25 nm. The seasonal cycle of particulate absorption shows maximum concentrations in high winter (December) and minimum concentrations in mid-summer (July). The 90th percentile, however, indicates a secondary maximum in July/August that is likely related to forest fires. The strongly combustion derived CO shows a single winter maximum and a late summer minimum, albeit with a considerably smaller seasonal swing than the particle data due to its longer atmospheric lifetime. Total volume and even more so total number show a more complex seasonal variation with maxima in winter, spring, and summer. A cluster analysis of back trajectories and vertical profiles of the pseudo-potential temperature yielded ten clusters with three levels of particle number concentration: Low concentrations in Arctic air masses (400–500 cm−3), mid-level concentrations for zonally advected air masses from westerly directions between 55° and 65° N (600–800 cm−3), and high concentrations for air masses advected from the belt of industrial and population centers in Siberia and Kazakhstan (1200 cm−3). The observational data is representative for large parts of the troposphere over Siberia and might be particularly useful for the validation of global aerosol transport models.
- ItemIn situ observations of meteor smoke particles (MSP) during the Geminids 2010: Constraints on MSP size, work function and composition(München : European Geopyhsical Union, 2012) Rapp, M.; Plane, J.M.C.; Strelnikov, B.; Stober, G.; Ernst, S.; Hedin, J.; Friedrich, M.; Hoppe, U.-P.The ECOMA sounding rocket campaign in 2010 was performed to investigate the charge state and number density of meteoric smoke particles during the Geminids meteor shower in December 2010. The ALOMAR Na lidar contributed to the campaign with measurements of sodium number density, temperature and line-of-sight wind between 80 and 110 km altitude over Andøya in northern Norway. This paper investigates a possible connection between the Geminids meteor shower and the mesospheric sodium layer. We compare with data from a meteor radar and from a rocket-borne in situ particle instrument on three days. Our main result is that the sodium column density is smaller during the Geminids meteor shower than the winter average at the same latitude. Moreover, during two of the three years considered, the sodium column density decreased steadily during these three weeks of the year. Both the observed decrease of Na column density by 30% and of meteoric smoke particle column density correlate well with a corresponding decrease of sporadic meteor echoes. We found no correlation between Geminids meteor flux rates and sodium column density, nor between sporadic meteors and Na column density (R = 0.25). In general, we found the Na column density to be at very low values for winter, between 1.8 and 2.6 × 1013 m−2. We detected two meteor trails containing sodium, on 13 December 2010 at 87.1 km and on 19 December 2010 at 84 km. From these meteor trails, we estimate a global meteoric Na flux of 121 kg d−1 and a global total meteoric influx of 20.2 t d−1.
- ItemInertia gravity waves in the upper troposphere during the MaCWAVE winter campaign - Part I: Observations with collocated radars(München : European Geopyhsical Union, 2006) Hoffmann, P.; Serafimovich, A.; Peters, D.; Dalin, P.; Goldberg, R.; Latteck, R.During the {MaCWAVE} campaign, combined rocket, radiosonde and ground-based measurements have been performed at the Norwegian Andøya Rocket Range (ARR) near Andenes and the Swedish Rocket Range (ESRANGE) near Kiruna in January 2003 to study gravity waves in the vicinity of the Scandinavian mountain ridge. The investigations presented here are mainly based on the evaluation of continuous radar measurements with the ALWIN VHF radar in the upper troposphere/ lower stratosphere at Andenes (69.3° N, 16.0° E) and the ESRAD VHF radar near Kiruna (67.9° N, 21.9° E). Both radars are separated by about 260 km. Based on wavelet transformations of both data sets, the strongest activity of inertia gravity waves in the upper troposphere has been detected during the first period from 24–26 January 2003 with dominant vertical wavelengths of about 4–5 km as well as with dominant observed periods of about 13–14 h for the altitude range between 5 and 8 km under the additional influence of mountain waves. The results show the appearance of dominating inertia gravity waves with characteristic horizontal wavelengths of ~200 km moving in the opposite direction than the mean background wind. The results show the appearance of dominating inertia gravity waves with intrinsic periods in the order of ~5 h and with horizontal wavelengths of 200 km, moving in the opposite direction than the mean background wind. From the derived downward energy propagation it is supposed, that these waves are likely generated by a jet streak in the upper troposphere. The parameters of the jet-induced gravity waves have been estimated at both sites separately. The identified gravity waves are coherent at both locations and show higher amplitudes on the east-side of the Scandinavian mountain ridge, as expected by the influence of mountains.
- Item1064nm rotational Raman lidar for particle extinction and lidar-ratio profiling: Cirrus case study(München : European Geopyhsical Union, 2016) Haarig, Moritz; Engelmann, Ronny; Ansmann, Albert; Veselovskii, Igor; Whiteman, David N.; Althausen, DietrichFor 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.
- ItemPotential of polarization/Raman lidar to separate fine dust, coarse dust, maritime, and anthropogenic aerosol profiles(München : European Geopyhsical Union, 2017) Mamouri, Rodanthi-Elisavet; Ansmann, AlbertWe 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.
- ItemOptical properties of long-range transported Saharan dust over Barbados as measured by dual-wavelength depolarization Raman lidar measurements(München : European Geopyhsical Union, 2015) Groß, S.; Freudenthaler, V.; Schepanski, K.; Toledano, C.; Schäfler, A.; Ansmann, A.; Weinzierl, B.Dual-wavelength Raman and depolarization lidar observations were performed during the Saharan Aerosol Long-range Transport and Aerosol-Cloud interaction Experiment in Barbados in June and July 2013 to characterize the optical properties and vertical distribution of long-range transported Saharan dust after transport across the Atlantic Ocean. Four major dust events were studied during the measurements from 15 June to 13 July 2013 with aerosol optical depths at 532 nm of up to 0.6. The vertical aerosol distribution was characterized by a three-layer structure consisting of the boundary layer, the entrainment or mixing layer and the pure Saharan dust layer. The upper boundary of the pure dust layer reached up to 4.5 km in height. The contribution of the pure dust layer was about half of the total aerosol optical depth at 532 nm. The total dust contribution was about 50–70 % of the total aerosol optical depth at 532 nm. The lidar ratio within the pure dust layer was found to be wavelength independent with mean values of 53 ± 5 sr at 355 nm and 56 ± 7 sr at 532 nm. For the particle linear depolarization ratio, wavelength-independent mean values of 0.26 ± 0.03 at 355 nm and 0.27 ± 0.01 at 532 nm have been found.