Continuous and comprehensive atmospheric observations in Beijing:a station to understand the complex urban atmospheric environment

Due to profound impact on climate and human health,air quality has attracted attention from all levels of the civil society.The key step in the provision of required tools for the society to tackle the complex air quality problem is to characterize it in a comprehensive manner with a long-term perspective.Here,we describe a continuous and comprehensive observation station and its accompanying state-ofthe-art instrumentation that was established to investigate the complex urban atmospheric environment in a rapidly developing Chinese Megacity.The station,located in downtown Beijing,aims to study air quality by identifying the major atmospheric pollutants and key processes determining their formation and loss mechanisms.A few hundreds of parameters are continuously measured with the state-of-the-art instruments,including trace gas concentrations,aerosol particle size distributions,and mass concentrations,covering aerosol particle chemical composition from molecules to micrometer-sized aerosol particles.This produced long-term,comprehensive big data with around 1�10^(11)bytes per year.In this paper,we provide an overview on the facilities of the station,the instrumentation used,the workflow of continuous observations and examples of results from 2018 to 2019 and a basis for establishing a modern long-term,comprehensive atmospheric urban observation station in other megacities.

An Observational Study of the 30-50 Day Atmospheric Oscillations Part I: Structure and Propagation

Features of structure and propagation of the 30 to SO day atmospheric oscillations are investigated using the ECMWF analysis of 1980-1983. Evidence is provided to confirm the characteristics of the oscillation in the equatorial region. Those in the mid-high latitudes, however, are revealed to be very different from the tropics and pose a strong barotropic structure. Horizontal coherence shows teleconnection patterns which can be identified as EAP and PNA. The wind field of the specified time scale of the oscillation appears as long-lived vortices and vortex pairs. Mid-latitude perturbations propagate clearly westwards, especially during the winter season. In the high latitudes, they propagate westwards in the winter but eastwards in the summer. Meridional propagations are rather different from region to region.

An Observational Study of the 30-50 Day Atmospheric Oscillations Part II: Temporal Evolution and Hemispheric Interaction across the Equator

In this part, the temporal evolution and interaction across the equator of 30-50 day oscillation in the atmosphere are investigated further. The annual variation of 30-50 day oscillation is quite obvious in the mid-high latitudes. In the tropical atmosphere, the obvious interannual variation is an important property for temporal evolution of 30-50 day oscillation. The low-frequency wavetrain across the equator over the central Pacific and central Atlantic area, the movement of the long-lived low-frequency system across the equator and the meridional wind component across the equator will obviously show the interaction of 30-50 day oscillation in the atmosphere across the equator.

Solar Multi-Spectral Radiometric Observations of Atmospheric Optical Thickness over Passarlapudi Gas Well Blow-Out Site in India

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Atmospheric extinction coefficients and night sky brightness at the Xuyi Observation Station

We present measurements of the optical broadband atmospheric extinction coefficients and the night sky brightness at the Xuyi Observation Station of Purple Mountain Observatory. The measurements are based on CCD imaging data taken in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey＇s g, r and i bands with the Xuyi 1.04/1.20m Schmidt Telescope for the Xuyi Schmidt Telescope Photometric Survey of the Galactic Anticenter （XSTPS-GAC）, the photometric part of the Digital Sky Survey of the Galactic Anti-center （DSS-GAC）. The data were collected during more than 140 winter nights from 2009 to 2011. We find that the atmospheric extinction coefficients for the g, r and i bands are 0.69, 0.55 and 0.38 mag/airmass, respectively, based on observations taken on several photometric nights. The night sky brightness determined from images with good quality has median values of 21.7, 20.8 and 20.0 mag arcsec-2 and reaches 22.1, 21.2 and 20.4mag arcsec-2 under the best observing conditions for the g, r and i bands, respectively. The relatively large extinction coefficients compared with other good astronomical observing sites are mainly due to the relatively low elevation （i.e. 180 m） and high humidity at the station.

Differential measurement of atmospheric refraction using a telescope with double fields of view

For the sake of advancing theoretical research about atmospheric refrac- tion, the atmospheric refraction observed at lower angles of elevation is still worth analyzing and exploring. In some engineering applications, objects with a larger zenith distance must sometimes be observed. Carrying out observational research on atmospheric refraction at lower angles of elevation has an important significance. However, it has been considered difficult to measure the atmospheric refraction at lower angles of elevation. A new idea for determining atmospheric refraction by utilizing differential measurement with double fields of view is proposed. Taking the observational principle used by the HIPPARCOS satellite as a reference, a prototype with double fields of view was developed. In August 201 3, experimental observations were carried out and atmospheric refractions at lower angles of elevation were obtained by the prototype. The measured value of atmospheric refraction at a zenith distance of 78.8° was 240.23″±0.27″, and the feasibility of differential measurement of atmospheric refraction with double fields of view was verified. Limitations of the prototype, such as inadequate ability to gather light, lack of accurate meteorological data recording, and a low level of automation in observation and data processing, are pointed out, which need to be improved in subsequent work.

Pioneering observation of atmospheric volatile organic compounds in Hangzhou in eastern China and implications for upcoming 2022 Asian Games

Understanding the emission sources of volatile organic compounds(VOCs)is critical for air pollution mitigation.Continuous measurements of atmospheric VOCs were conducted from January to February in Hangzhou in 2021.The average measured concentration of total VOCs(TVOCs)was 38.2±20.9 ppb,>42% lower than that reported by previous studies at the urban center in Hangzhou.The VOC concentrations and proportions were similar between weekdays and weekends.During the long holidays of the Spring Festival in China,the concentrations of TVOCs were∼50% lower than those during the regular days,but their profiles showed no significant difference(p>0.05).Further,we deduced that aromatics and alkenes were the most crucial chemicals promoting the formation of O3 and secondary organic aerosol(SOA)in Hangzhou.According to interspecies correlations,combustion processes and solvent use were inferred as major VOC emission sources.This study provides implications for air quality improvements before and during the upcoming Asian Games that will be hosted in Hangzhou in 2022.

A sodium laser guide star coupling efficiency measurement method

A large telescope＇s adaptive optics （AO） system requires one or more bright artificial laser guide stars to improve its sky coverage. The recent advent of a high power sodium laser is perfect for such application. However, besides the output power, other parameters of the laser also have a significant impact on the brightness of the generated sodium laser guide star, mostly in non-linear relationships. When tuning and optimizing these parameters it is necessary to tune based on a laser guide star generation performance metric. Although return photon fluxis widely used, variability of the atmosphere and sodium layer makes it difficult to compare results from different sites or even within a short time period for the same site. A new metric, coupling efficiency, is adopted in our field tests. In this paper, we will introduce our method for measuring the coupling efficiency of a 20W class pulse sodium laser for AO application during field tests that were conducted during 2013-2015.

Chemical abundance analysis of 19 barium stars

We aim at deriving accurate atmospheric parameters and chemical abundances of 19 barium（Ba） stars, including both strong and mild Ba stars, based on the high signal-to-noise ratio and high resolution Echelle spectra obtained from the 2.16 m telescope at Xinglong station of National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences. The chemical abundances of the sample stars were obtained from an LTE, plane-parallel and line-blanketed atmospheric model by inputting the atmospheric parameters（effective temperatures Teff, surface gravities log g, metallicity [Fe/H] and microturbulence velocity ξt） and equivalent widths of stellar absorption lines. These samples of Ba stars are giants as indicated by atmospheric parameters, metallicities and kinematic analysis about UVW velocity. Chemical abundances of 17 elements were obtained for these Ba stars. Their Na, Al, α- and iron-peak elements（O, Na, Mg, Al, Si, Ca,Sc, Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Ni） are similar to the solar abundances. Our samples of Ba stars show obvious overabundances of neutron-capture（n-capture） process elements relative to the Sun. Their median abundances of[Ba/Fe], [La/Fe] and [Eu/Fe] are 0.54, 0.65 and 0.40, respectively. The Y I and Zr I abundances are lower than Ba, La and Eu, but higher than the α- and iron-peak elements for the strong Ba stars and similar to the iron-peak elements for the mild stars. There exists a positive correlation between Ba intensity and [Ba/Fe].For the n-capture elements（Y, Zr, Ba, La）, there is an anti-correlation between their [X/Fe] and [Fe/H]. We identify nine of our sample stars as strong Ba stars with [Ba/Fe]〉0.6 where seven of them have Ba intensity Ba=2-5, one has Ba=1.5 and another one has Ba=1.0. The remaining ten stars are classified as mild Ba stars with 0.17〈[Ba/Fe]〈0.54.

Study of atmospheric CO2 and CH4 at Longfengshan WMO/GAW regional station： The variations, trends, influence of local sources/sinks, and transport

Atmospheric CO_2 and CH_4 have been continuously measured since 2009 at Longfengshan WMO/GAW station(LFS) in China. Variations of the mole fractions, influence of long-distance transport, effects of local sources/sinks and the characteristics of synoptic scale variations have been studied based on the records from 2009 to 2013. Both the CO_2 and CH_4 mole fractions display increasing trends in the last five years, with growth rates of 3.1±0.02 ppm yr.1 for CO_2 and 8±0.04 ppb yr.1(standard error, 1-σ)for CH_4. In summer, the regional CO_2 mole fractions are apparently lower than the Marine Boundary Layer reference, with the lowest value of.13.6±0.7 ppm in July, while the CH_4 values are higher than the MBL reference, with the maximum of 139±6 ppb.From 9 to 17(Local time, LT) in summer, the atmospheric CO_2 mole fractions at 10 m a.g.l. are always lower than at 80 m, with a mean difference of.1.1±0.2 ppm, indicating that the flask sampling approach deployed may underestimate the background mole fractions in summer. In winter, anthropogenic emissions dominate the regional CO_2 and CH_4 mole fractions. Cluster analysis of backward trajectories shows that atmospheric CO_2 and CH_4 at LFS are influenced by anthropogenic emissions from the southwest(Changchun and Jilin city) all year. The synoptic scale variations indicate that the northeastern China plain acts as an important source of atmospheric CO_2 and CH_4 in winter.

Occurrence and characteristics of sporadic K layer observed by lidar over Beijing, China

A double-laser-beam lidar was successfully developed in 2010 to measure the K layer over Yanqing County, Beijing(40.5°N, 116.2°E). Comprehensive statistical analyses of sporadic K(Ks) layer parameters were conducted using two years of lidar data, and the parameters of the Ks layers and their distribution obtained by the analyses are described. The seasonal distribution of Ks occurrence was obtained, with two maxima observed in January and July, respectively. The seasonal distributions of sporadic E(Es) occurrence over Beijing differ from those of Ks occurrence. However, good correlations between Es and Ks in case by case study were found. We also found that four Ks events with peak altitudes lower than 90 km were associated with large and sharp temperature increases in five comparative examples.