Climatology of Cloud-base Height from Long-term Radiosonde Measurements in China

Clouds are critical to the global radiation budget and hydrological cycle, but knowledge is still poor concerning the observed climatology of cloud-base height （CBH） in China. Based on fine-resolution sounding observations from the China Radiosonde Network （CRN）, the method used to estimate CBH was modified, and uncertainty analyses indicated that the CBH is good enough. The accuracy of CBH estimation is verified by the comparison between the sounding-derived CBHs and those estimated from the micro-pulse lidar and millimeter-wave cloud radar. As such, the CBH climatology was compiled for the period 2006-16. Overall, the CBH exhibits large geographic variability across China, at both 0800 Local Standard Time （LST） and 2000 LST, irrespective of season. In addition, the summertime cloud base tends to be elevated to higher altitudes in dry regions [i.e., Inner Mongolia and the North China Plain （NCP）]. By comparison, the Tibetan Plateau （TP）, Pearl River Delta （PRD） and Sichuan Basin （SCB） have relatively low CBHs （〈 2.4 km above ground level）. In terms of seasonality, the CBH reaches its maximum in summer and minimum in winter. A low cloud base tends to occur frequently （〉 70%） over the TP, PRD and SCB. In contrast, at most sites over the Yangtze River Delta （YRD） and the NCP, about half the cloud belongs to the high-cloud category. The CBH does not exhibit marked diurnal variation in summer, throughout all CRN sites, probably due to the persistent cloud coverage caused by the East Asia Summer Monsson. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first CBH climatology produced from sounding measurements in China, and provides a useful reference for obtaining observational cloud base information.

Seasonal variations and size distributions of water-soluble ions in atmospheric aerosols in Beijing, 2012

The characteristics of water-soluble ions in airborne particulate matter in Beijing were investigated using ion chromatography. The results showed that the total concentrations of ions were 83.7 ± 48.9 μg/m3 in spring, 54.0 ± 17.0 μg/m3 in summer, 54.1 ± 42.9 μg/m3 in autumn, and 88.8 ± 47.7 μg/m3 in winter, respectively. Furthermore, out of all the ions, NO3-,SO42-and NH4＋accounted for 81.2% in spring, 78.5% in summer, 74.6% in autumn, and 76.3%in winter. Mg2＋and Ca2＋were mainly associated with coarse particles, with a peak that ranged from 5.8 to 9.0 μm. Na＋, NH4＋and Cl-had a multi-mode distribution with peaks that ranged from 0.43 to 1.1 μm and 4.7 to 9.0 μm. K＋, NO3-, and SO42-were mainly associated with fine particles, with a peak that ranged from 0.65 to 2.1 μm. The concentrations of Na＋, K＋,Mg2＋, Ca2＋, NH4＋, Cl-, NO3-and SO42-were 2.69, 2.32, 1.01, 4.84, 16.9, 11.8, 42.0, and 44.1 μg/m3 in particulate matter（PM） on foggy days, respectively, which were 1.4 to 7.3 times higher than those on clear days. The concentrations of these ions were 2.40, 1.66, 0.92, 4.95, 17.5,7.00, 32.6, and 34.7 μg/m3 in PM on hazy days, respectively, which were 1.2–5.7 times higher than those on clear days.