Atmospheric NO_2 Concentration Measurements Using Differential Absorption Lidar Technique

Using the Differential Absorption Lidar (DIAL) technique, two types of approaches, namely, reflection from retroreflector / topographic target and backscatter from atmosphere, are available for studying remotely the atmospheric NO, concentration. The Argon ion lidar system at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), Pune, India has been used for the measurements by following both the path-averaged and range-resolved approaches. For the former, a topographic target (hill) is used for determining path-averaged surface concentration. In the latter, spectral properties of atmospheric attenuation is used for making range-resolved measurements in the surface layer. The results of the observations collected by following both approaches are presented. The average surface NO2 concentration was found to vary between 0.01 and 0.105 ppm and the range-resolved measurements exhibited higher values suggesting treatment of the lidar data for scattering and extinction effects due to atmospheric aerosols and air molecules, and atmospheric turbulence. Certain modifications that are suggested to the experimental set-up, data acquisition and analysis to improve the measurements are briefly described.

Spectral Measurement of Atmospheric Pressure Plasma by Means of Digital Camera

A digital camera measuring system has been used successfully to measure the space fluctuation behaviors of Induced Dielectric Barrier Discharge (IDBD) plasma at atmospheric pres- sure. The experimental results showed that: (1) The uniformity of electron temperature in space depends on discharge condition and structure of web electrode. For a certain web electrode the higher the discharge voltage is, the more uniform distribution of electron temperature in space will be. For a certain discharge the finer and denser the holes on web electrode are, the more uniform distribution of electron temperature in space will be (2). Digital camera is an available equipment to measure some behaviors of the plasma working at atmospheric pressure.

Observation of atmospheric nitrous acid with DOAS in Beijing, China

Measurements of nitrous acid （HONO） and nitrogen dioxide （NO2） in Beijing City have been performed by means of a developed differential optical absorption spectroscopy （DOAS） system based on photodiode array （PDA）, during the autumn of 2004. HONO and NO2 were simultaneously identified by their characteristic absorption bands in the spectral region between 337 nm and 372 nm with high sensibility and time resolution. The concentrations of HONO exhibit obviously diurnal variation with a nocturnal maximum and a daytime minimum. The highest HONO value up to 11.8 μg/m^3 was observed during the night of 2/3 September. Possible sources of the observed HONO were discussed. Good correlation to NO2 indicates that NO2 is a main source component. The measurement also shows direct emission of HONO is an imnortant source in strongly polluted urban area.

Dependence of interferogram phase on incident wavenumber and phase stability of Doppler asymmetric spatial heterodyne spectroscopy

Instrument drifts introduce additional phase errors into atmospheric wind measurement of Doppler asymmetric spatial heterodyne spectroscopy (DASH). Aiming at the phase sensitivity of DASH to instrument drifts, in this paper we calculate the optical path difference (OPD) and present an accurate formula of DASH interferogram. By controlling variables in computational ray-tracing simulations and laboratory experiments, it is indicated that initial phase is directly determined by incident wavenumber, OPD offset and field of view (FOV). Accordingly, it is indicated that retrieved phase of DASH is sensitive to slight structural change caused by instrument drift, which provides the proof of necessary-to-track and -correct phase errors from instrument drifts.

Altitude Correction for Breakdown Voltages of Long Air-Gaps

The breakdown voltage of long air-gaps in high-voltage transmission systems depends on not only the waveform of the applied voltage, but also the atmospheric conditions. Based on the results of the research project on the minimum air clearance for 800-kV HVDC substations at high altitudes, and also on the monthly and yearly statistics of the atmospheric data of last ten years and the altitude correction of the atmospheric data of last ten years, the altitude correction of the air-gaps for the 800-kV DC system under plan, 500-kV AC system to be built, and 1000-kV AC system under plan in the Inner Mongolia Plateau and the Yungui Plateau in China were studied with parameter G method. Correction factors for switching and lightning impulses were calculatod and then compared with those achieved according to IEC 71. It is shown that IEC 71 is appropriate for damp regions, and correction factors differ between plateau regions in China because of different atmospheric conditions.

Measurements and analyses of infrasound noise field in the atmosphere

Methods for measuring and analyzing the infrasound noise field in the atmosphere have been expounded. A set of space correlation radii of noise corresponding to wind speed 4 m/ s has been obtained, which can be taken as the tentative basis for an acoustical array design. At the same time, the wind speed-sound pressure relation curves have been measured and calculated, and the anti-jamming ability of the array receiving infrasonic signals is obtained.

Real-time measurement of atmospheric parameters for the 127-element adaptive optics system of 1.8-m telescope

A real-time method for measuring atmospheric parameters based on co-processor field-programmable gate array （FPGA） and main processor digital signal processing （DSP） is proposed for ground-based telescopes with adaptive optics （AO） systems. Coherence length, outer scale, average wind speed, and coherence time are estimated according to closed-loop data on the residual slopes and the corrected voltages of AO systems. This letter introduces the principle and architecture design of the proposed method, which is successfully applied in the 127-element AO system of the 1.8-m telescope of Yunnan Astronomical Observatory. The method enables real-time atmospheric observations with the same object and path of the AO system. This method is also applicable to extended objects.

NitroMAC：An instrument for the measurement of HONO and intercomparison with a long-path absorption photometer

Nitro MAC（French acronym for continuous atmospheric measurements of nitrogenous compounds） is an instrument which has been developed for the semi-continuous measurement of atmospheric nitrous acid（HONO）. This instrument relies on wet chemical sampling and detection using high performance liquid chromatography（HPLC）-visible absorption at540 nm. Sampling proceeds by dissolution of gaseous HONO in a phosphate buffer solution followed by derivatization with sulfanilamide/N-（1-naphthyl）-ethylenediamine. The performance of this instrument was found to be as follows： a detection limit of around 3 ppt with measurement uncertainty of 10% over an analysis time of 10 min. Intercomparison was made between the instrument and a long-path absorption photometer（LOPAP） during two experiments in different environments. First, air was sampled in a smog chamber with concentrations up to 18 ppb of nitrous acid. Nitro MAC and LOPAP measurements showed very good agreement. Then, in a second experiment, ambient air with HONO concentrations below250 ppt was sampled. While Nitro MAC showed its capability of measuring HONO in moderate and highly polluted environments, the intercomparison results in ambient air highlighted that corrections must be made for minor interferences when low concentrations are measured.

Measurement and Analyses of Atmospheric Ozone Profile in Qinghai Plateau

The ozone profiles from August 1991 to December 1993 in Qinghai Gonghe Station (the altitude:3000 m,latitude: 36°16.45’N, longitude: 100°37.11’E) have been got through the measurement with a Brewer Ozone spectrophotometer and Umkehr retrieval program of AES. The method we used is the short Umkehr method

MEASUREMENTS OF THE ABSORPTION COEFFICIENT OF ATMOSPHERIC AEROSOLS

This paper discusses the measurement of the absorption coefficient of atmospheric aerosols and its meas- uring system based on the principle of integrating plate. Measurements in Beijing show that the absorption coefficient of atmospheric aerosols in the heating period varies in a range of 10to 10mand in the non-heating period, its values are near 10m.

Measuring boundary-layer height under clear and cloudy conditions using three instruments

Boundary-layer height （BLH） under clear, altostratus and low stratus cloud conditions were measured by GPS sounding, wind profiler radar, and micro-pulse lidar during the atmospheric radiation measurement experiment from Sep. to Dec. 2008 in Shouxian, Anhui, China. Results showed that during daytime or nighttime, regardless of cloud conditions, the GPS sounding was the most accurate method for measuring BLH. Unfortunately, because of the long time gap between launchings, sounding data did not capture the diurnal evolution of the BLH. Thus, wind profile radar emerged as a promising instrument for direct and continuous measurement of the mixing height during the daytime, accurately determining BLH using the structure parameter of the electromagnetic refractive index. However, during nighttime, radar was limited by weak signal extraction and did not work well for determining the BLH of the stable boundary layer, often recording the BLH of the residual layer. While micro-pulse lidar recorded the evolution of BLH, it overestimated the BLH of the stable boundary layer. This method also failed to work under cloudy conditions because of the influence of water vapor. Future work needs to develop a method to determine BLH that combines the complimentary features of all three algorithms.