Identification of Aerosol Types and Their Optical Properties in the North China Plain Based on Long-Term AERONET Data

Characterization of aerosols is required to reduce uncertainties in satellite retrievals of global aerosols and for modeling the effects of these aerosols on climate.Aerosols in the North China Plain(NCP) are complex,which provides a good opportunity to study key aerosol optical properties for various aerosol types.A cluster analysis of key optical properties obtained from Aerosol Robotic Network(AERONET) data in Beijing and Xianghe during 2001-11 was performed to identify dominant aerosol types and their associated optical properties.Five dominant aerosol types were identified.The results show that the urban/industrial aerosol of moderate absorption was dominant in the region and that this type varied little with season.Urban/industrial aerosol of weak absorption was the next most common type and mainly occurs in summer,followed by that strong aerosols occurring mainly in winter.All were predominantly fine mode particles.Mineral dust(MD) and polluted dust(PD) occurred mainly in spring,followed by winter,and their absorption decreased with wavelength.In addition,aerosol dynamics and optical parameters such as refractive index and asymmetry factor were examined.Results show that the size of coarse mode particles decreased with AOD indicating the domination of external mixing between aerosols.

The Spatial and Temporal Variability of Tropospheric NO_(2) during 2005–14 over China Observed by the OMI

As improved and accumulated satellite records become available,it is significant to provide up-to-date perspectives on the spatiotemporal signatures of tropospheric nitrogen dioxide(NO2)over China,the knowledge of which is helpful for air pollution control.In this study,the Ozone Monitoring Instrument NO2 dataset for the last 10 years(2005–14)was retrieved to examine multiple aspects of NO2 columns,including distributions,trends,and seasonal cycle.The pattern of average NO2suggests five hotspots with column density higher than 20×1015 molec cm-2:Jing-Jin-Tang;combined southern Hebei and northern Henan;Jinan;the Yangtze River Delta;and the Pearl River Delta.Furthermore,substantial and widespread NO2 growths are distributed over the North China Plain.By contrast,downward trends in NO2 amounts prevail in the megacities of Beijing,Shanghai,and Guangzhou,despite generally high loading levels.Except for the Pearl River Delta,there appears to be temporally consistent behaviors across all regions considered,where NO2 had an abrupt decline during 2008 to 2009,then a drastic increase up to 2013,before beginning to reduce again after 2013.However,the NO2 over the Pearl River Delta is not coevolving with the rest,having experienced a moderate rise from 2005 to 2007,followed by a reduction thereafter.A marked seasonality is apparent,with a maximum in winter and a minimum in summer,regardless of the region.The annual amplitude of NO2 is less pronounced over the Pearl River Delta,whereas the largest range is observed over the combined Southern Hebei and Northern Henan region,induced by enhanced NO2emission in wintertime due to intense domestic heating.

Surface Trace Gases at a Rural Site between the Megacities of Beijing and Tianjin

The North China Plain(NCP) has recently faced serious air quality problems as a result of enhanced gas pollutant emissions due to the process of urbanization and rapid economic growth.To explore regional air pollution in the NCP,measurements of surface ozone(O3),nitrogen oxides(NOx),and sulfur dioxide(SO2) were carried out from May to November 2013 at a rural site(Xianghe) between the twin megacities of Beijing and Tianjin.The highest hourly ozone average was close to 240 ppbv in May,followed by around 160 ppbv in June and July.High ozone episodes were more notable than in 2005 and were mainly associated with air parcels from the city cluster in the hinterland of the polluted NCP to the southwest of the site.For NOx,an important ozone precursor,the concentrations ranged from several ppbv to nearly 180 ppbv in the summer and over 400 ppbv in the fall.The occurrence of high NOx concentrations under calm conditions indicated that local emissions were dominant in Xianghe.The double-peak diurnal pattern found in NOxconcentrations and NO/NOx ratios was probably shaped by local emissions,photochemical removal,and dilution resulting from diurnal variations of surface wind speed and the boundary layer height.A pronounced SO2 daytime peak was noted and attributed to downward mixing from an SO2-rich layer above,while the SO2-polluted air mass transported from possible emission sources,which differed between the non-heating(September and October) and heating(November) periods,was thought to be responsible for night-time high concentrations.

Variability and Long-Term Trend of Total Cloud Cover in China Derived from ISCCP, ERA-40, CRU3, and Ground Station Datasets

Total Cloud Cover (TCC) over China determined from four climate datasets including the International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project (ISCCP), the 40-year Re-Analysis Project of the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ERA-40), Climate Research Unit Time Series 3.0 (CRU3), and ground station datasets are used to show spatial and temporal variation of TCC and their differences. It is demonstrated that the four datasets show similar spatial pattern and seasonal variation. The maximum value is derived from ISCCP. TCC value in North China derived from ERA-40 is 50% larger than that from the station dataset; however, the value is 50% less than that in South China. The annual TCC of ISCCP, ERA-40, and ground station datasets shows a decreasing trend during 1984-2002; however, an increasing trend is derived from CRU3. The results of this study imply remarkable differences of TCC derived from surface and satellite observations as well as model simulations. The potential effects of these differences on cloud climatology and associated climatic issues should be carefully considered.

An Evidence of Aerosol Indirect Effect on Stratus Clouds from the Integrated Ground-Based Measurements at the ARM Shouxian Site

The aerosol effect on clouds was explored using remote sensing of aerosol and cloud data at Shouxian, China. Non-precipitation, ice-free, and overcast clouds were firstly chosen by a combination of sky images from the Total Sky Imager (TSI), cloud base heights from the Ceilometer, and vertical temperature profiles from the Balloon-Borne Sounding System (BBSS). Six cases were chosen in summer, and seven in autumn. The averaged cloud effective radii (re), cloud optical depth (COD), aerosol total light scattering coefficient (σ), and liquid water path (LWP) are, respectivey, 6.47 μm, 35.4, 595.9 mm-1, 0.19 mm in summer, and 6.07 μm, 96.0, 471.7 mm-1, 0.37 mm in autumn. The correlation coefficient between re and σ was found to change from negative to positive value as LWP increases.

Spatial Distributions of Atmospheric Radiative Fluxes and Heating Rates over China during Summer

The latitude-altitude distributions of radiative fluxes and heating rates are investigated by utilizing CloudSat satellite data over China during summer. The Tibetan Plateau causes the downward shortwave fluxes of the lower atmosphere over central China to be smaller than the fluxes over southern and northern China by generating more clouds. The existence of a larger quantity of clouds over central China reflects a greater amount of solar radiation back into space. The vertical gradients of upward shortwave radiative fluxes in the atmosphere below 8 km are greater than those above 8 km. The latitudinal-altitude distributions of downward longwave radiative fluxes show a slantwise decreasing trend from low latitudes to high latitudes that gradually weaken in the downward direction. The upward longwave radiative fluxes also weaken in the upward direction but with larger gradients. The maximum heating rates by solar radiation and cooling rates by longwave infrared radiation are located over 28 40°N at 7 8 km mean sea level (MSL), and they are larger than the rates in the northern and southern regions. The heating and cooling rates match well both vertically and geographically.

Impact of Different Aerosols on the Evolution of the Atmospheric Boundary Layer

The present work analyzes the effect of aerosols on the evolution of the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) over Shangdianzi in Beijing.A one-dimensional ABL model and a radiative transfer scheme are incorporated to develop the structure of the ABL.The diurnal variation of the atmospheric radiative budget,atmospheric heating rate,sensible and latent heat fluxes,surface and the 2 m air temperatures as well as the ABL height,and its perturbations due to the aerosols with different single-scattering albedo (SSA) are studied by comparing the aerosol-laden atmosphere to the clean atmosphere.The results show that the absorbing aerosols cause less reduction in surface evaporation relative to that by scatting aerosols,and both surface temperature and 2 m temperature decrease from the clean atmosphere to the aerosol-laden atmosphere.The greater the aerosol absorption,the more stable the surface layer.After 12:00 am,the 2 m temperature increases for strong absorption aerosols.In the meantime,there is a slight decrease in the 2 m temperature for purely scattering aerosols due to radiative cooling.The purely scattering aerosols decrease the ABL temperature and enhance the capping inversion,further reducing the ABL height.

Variation Trend and Characteristics of Anthropogenic CO Column Content in the Atmosphere over Beijing and Moscow

The anthropogenic CO column content in the atmosphere is derived from measurements with infrared grating spectrometers in Beijing,China,and Moscow,Russia,during 1992–2012.Some specific variation characteristics and long-term variation trends of the CO column content in the atmosphere in these regions are discussed.An evident variation trend of anthropogenic CO in the atmosphere for the Beijing region is not observed during 1992–2012,while for the Moscow region,it decreases yearly by about 1.4% for the same period.High CO concentrations appear quite frequently in Beijing,but much less frequently in Moscow,except during the natural fire events in summer 2010.From back trajectory analysis,the high CO concentration observed in Beijing can be attributed to the intensive CO emission sources in its surrounding areas.

Polarimetric Study of the Fine Aerosol Fraction in Beijing

Measurements of aerosol optical characteristics were carried out with a Photoelectric Aerosol Nephelometer(PhAN)in Beijing and at Xinglong Observatory,which is located 150 km northeast of Beijing.Aerosol size distributions were retrieved by means of the inverse problem solution.Mean volume size distributions of the fine aerosol fraction were unimodal with the maximum radius in the range 0.11–0.15μm.Accumulation of aerosol matter in the air basin of Beijing takes place mainly due to the growth of particle size,but not their number.A simple optical method to detect aerosol nonsphericity is proposed.

Characterization of Stratospheric Aerosol Distributions during the Volcanically Quiescent Period of 1998–2004

The Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment(SAGE) Ⅱ aerosol extinction profiles at 1020 nm were used to study the distribution characteristics of stratospheric aerosols during the volcanically quiescent period of 1998–2004. The stratospheric aerosol distributions exhibited hemispheric asymmetry between the Northern Hemisphere(NH) and the Southern Hemisphere(SH). In the lower stratosphere below 20 km, the zonal averaged aerosol optical depths in the NH were higher than those of the corresponding SH; whereas at higher altitudes above 20 km, the optical depths in the SH— except the equatorial region—were higher than those of the NH. At 0–10°N and 10–20°N, the stratospheric aerosol optical depth(SAOD) exhibited larger values in boreal winter and lower values in the spring and summer; at 0–10°S and 10–20°S, the SAOD presented small seasonal variations. At 30–40°N, the SAOD presented larger values in the boreal fall and winter and lower values in the spring and summer; while at 30–40°S, the SAOD exhibited larger values in the austral winter and early spring and lower values in the summer and fall. These characteristics can mainly be attributed to the seasonal cycle of the dynamic transport, and the effects of the buildup and breakdown of the polar vortex. At 50–60°S, the SAOD exhibited extremely high values during austral winter associated with the Antarctic polar vortex boundary; at 50–60°N, the SAOD also exhibited larger values during the boreal winter, but it was much less obvious than that of its southern counterpart.