Retrieval of the Single Scattering Albedo of Asian Dust Mixed with Pollutants Using Lidar Observations

The vertical distribution of single scattering albedos （SSAs） of Asian dust mixed with pollutants was derived using the multi-wavelength Raman lidar observation system at Gwangju （35.10°N,126.53°E）.Vertical profiles of both backscatter and extinction coefficients for dust and non-dust aerosols were extracted from a mixed Asian dust plume using the depolarization ratio from lidar observations.Vertical profiles of backscatter and extinction coefficients of non-dust particles were input into an inversion algorithm to retrieve the SSAs of non-dust aerosols.Atmospheric aerosol layers at different heights had different light-absorbing characteristics.The SSAs of non-dust particles at each height varied with aerosol type,which was either urban/industrial pollutants from China transported over long distances at high altitude,or regional/local pollutants from the Korean peninsula.Taking advantage of independent profiles of SSAs of non-dust particles,vertical profiles of SSAs of Asian dust mixed with pollutants were estimated for the first time,with a new approach suggested in this study using an empirical determination of the SSA of pure dust.The SSAs of the Asian dust-pollutants mixture within the planetary boundary layer （PBL） were in the range 0.88-0.91,while the values above the PBL were in the range 0.76-0.87,with a very low mean value of 0.76 ± 0.05.The total mixed dust plume SSAs in each aerosol layer were integrated over height for comparison with results from the Aerosol Robotics Network （AERONET） measurements.Values of SSA retrieved from lidar observations of 0.92 ± 0.01 were in good agreement with the results from AERONET measurements.

Comparison of Aerosol Single Scattering Albedo Derived from the Ozone Monitoring Instrument with Aerosol Robotic Network Observations

The single-scattering albedo （SSA）, which quantifies radiative absorption capability, is an important optical property of aerosols. Ground-based methods have been extensively exploited to determine aerosol SSA but there were no satellite-based SSA measurements available until the advent of advanced remote sensing techniques, such as the Ozone Monitoring Instrument （OMI）. Although the overall accuracy of OMI SSA is estimated to approach 0.1, its regional availability is unclear. Four-year SSA daily measurements from three Aerosol Robotic Network （AERONET） sites in China （Xianghe, Taihu, and Hong Kong） are chosen to determine the accuracy of OMI SSA in specific locations. The results show that on a global scale, the OMI SSA is systematically higher （with a mean relative bias of 3.5% and a RMS difference of ~0.06） and has poor correlation with the AERONET observations. In the Xianghe, Taihu, and Hong Kong sites, the correlation coefficients are 0.16, 0.47, and 0.44, respectively, suggesting that the distinct qualities of OMI SSA depend on geographic locations and/or dominant aerosol environments. The two types of SSA data yield the best agreement in Taihu and the worst in Hong Kong; the differing behavior is likely caused by varying levels of cloud contamination. The good consistency of the aerosol variation between the two SSA datasets on a seasonal scale is promising. These findings suggest that the current-version OMI SSA product can be applied to qualitatively characterize climatological variations of aerosol properties despite its limited accuracy as an instantaneous measurement.

Estimating single scattering albedo of winter wheat over the North China Plain using AMSR-E data

We proposed a method to estimate single scattering albedo of winter wheat over the North China Plain with AMSR-E passive microwave imagery. The relationships of single scattering albedo and optical depth between 6. 925 GHz and 10. 65 GHz were derived from simulations. To retrieve the single scattering albedo,the relationships were combined with the physical expressions of microwave vegetation indices derived from the first-order parameterized emission model. Comparisons with normalized difference vegetation index( NDVI) obtained from daily MODIS reflectance product showed that the variations in winter wheat single scattering albedo were similar to those of winter wheat NDVI. However,several differences were observed. NDVI showed saturation from the heading stage to the milky stage of winter wheat,whereas single scattering albedo remained sensitive to the growth of winter wheat. Single scattering albedo offers certain advantages in reflecting the growth status of winter wheat.

The Seasonal Variations of Aerosols over East Asia as Jointly Inferred from MODIS and OMI

Data on aerosol optical thickness(AOT) and single scattering albedo(SSA) derived from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer(MODIS) and Ozone Monitoring Instrument(OMI) measurements,respectively,are used jointly to examine the seasonal variations of aerosols over East Asia.The seasonal signals of the total AOT are well defined and nearly similar over the land and over the ocean.These findings indicate a natural cycle of aerosols that originate primarily from natural emissions. In contrast,the small-sized aerosols represented by the fine-mode AOT,which are primarily generated over the land by human activities,do not have evident seasonalscale fluctuations.A persistent maximum of aerosol loadings centered over the Sichuan basin is associated with considerable amounts of fine-mode aerosols throughout the year.Most regions exhibit a general spring maximum. During the summer,however,the aerosol loadings are the most marked over north central China.This occurrence may result from anthropogenic fine particles,such as sulfate and nitrate.Four typical regions were selected to perform a covariation analysis of the monthly gridded AOT and SSA.Over southwestern and southeastern China,if the aerosol loadings are small to moderate they are composed primarily of the highly absorptive aerosols. However,more substantial aerosol loadings probably represent less-absorptive aerosols.The opposite covariation pattern occurring over the coastal-adjacent oceans suggests that the polluted oceanic atmosphere is closely correlated with the windward terrestrial aerosols.North central China is strongly affected by dust aerosols that show moderate absorption.This finding may explain the lower variability in the SSA that accompanies increasing aerosol loadings in this region.

Absorption Properties of Urban/Suburban Aerosols in China

The broadband diffuse radiation method is improved to retrieve the aerosol refractive index imaginary part （AIP） and broadband （400-1000 nm mean） single scattering albedo （SSA）. In this method, four sets of SSA selection criteria are proposed for quality control. The method is used to retrieve AIP, SSA and absorptive optical thickness （AbOT） from routine hourly-exposed pyrheliometer and paranometer measurements over 11 sites （meteorological observatories） in China during 1998-2003. Apart from one suburban site （Ejin Qi）, the other urban sites are all located around big or medium cities. As shown in the retrieval results, annual mean SSA during 1998-2003 changes from 0.941 （Wuhan） to 0.849 （Lanzhou）, and AIP from 0.0054 to 0.0203. The 11-site average annual mean SSA and AIP are 0.898 and 0.0119, respectively. SSA during winter is smaller for most sites. There is an evidently positive correlation between SSA and aerosol optical thickness （AOT） for all sites. There is also a positive correlation between SSA and relative humidity for most sites, but a negative correlation for a few sites, such as Kashi and ǚrǚmqi in Northwest China.

Aerosol Direct Radiative Forcing over Shandong Peninsula in East Asia from 2004 to 2011

Recent vigorous industrialization and urbanization in Shandong Peninsula,China,have resulted in the emission of heavy anthropogenic aerosols over the region.The annual means of aerosol optical depth(AOD),Angstrom exponent(α),single-scattering albedo(SSA),aerosol direct radiative forcing(ARF),surface radiative forcing(SRF),and top-of-the atmospheric radiative forcing(TOA) recorded during 2004–2011 were respectively 0.67±0.19,1.25±0.24,0.93±0.03,47±9 W m-2,-61±9 W m-2,and-14±8 W m-2.The aerosol optical properties and ARF characteristics showed remarkable seasonal variations due to cycle changes in the aerosol components and dominance type.The atmosphere-surface system was cooled by ARF in all years of the study due to anthropogenic sulfate and nitrate emission and sea salt aerosols.The magnitude of TOA cooling was larger in summer(-15±17 W m-2) and autumn(-12±7 W m-2) than that in spring(-8±4 W m-2) and winter(-9±10 W m-2).

Aerosol optical properties and its direct radiative forcing over Tibetan Plateau from 2006 to 2017

Studies on optical properties of aerosols can reduce the uncertainty for modelling direct radiative forcing(DRF)and improve the accuracy for discussing aerosols effects on the Tibetan Plateau(TP)climate.This study investigated the spatiotemporal variation of aerosol optical and microphysical properties over TP based on OMI and MERRA2,and assessed the influence of aerosol optical properties on DRF at NamCo station(30°46.44′N,90°59.31′E,4730 m)in the central TP from 2006 to 2017 based on a long measurement of AERONET and the modelling of SBDART model.The results show that aerosol optical depth(AOD)exhibits obvious seasonal variation over TP,with higher AOD500nm(>0.75)during spring and summer,and lower value(<0.25)in autumn and winter.The aerosol concentrations show a fluctuated rising from 1980 to 2000,significant increasing from 2000 to 2010 and slight declining trend after 2013.Based on sensitivity experiments,it is found that AOD and single scattering albedo(SSA)have more important impact on the DRF compared withαvalues and ASY.When AOD440nm increases by 60%,DRF at the TOA and ATM is increased by 57.2%and 60.2%,respectively.When SSA440nm increases by 20%,DRF at the TOA and ATM decreases by 121%and 96.7%,respectively.

An intensive study on aerosol optical properties and affecting factors in Nanjing,China

The optical properties of aerosol as well as their impacting factors were investigated at a suburb site in Nanjing during autumn from 14 to 28 November 2012. More severe pollution was found together with lower visibility. The average scattering and absorption coefficients（B sca and B abs） were 375.7 ± 209.5 and 41.6 ± 18.7 Mm^（-1）, respectively. Higher ？ngstr？m absorption and scattering exponents were attributed to the presence of more aged aerosol with smaller particles. Relative humidity（RH） was a key factor affecting aerosol extinction. High RH resulted in the impairment of visibility, with hygroscopic growth being independent of the dry extinction coefficient. The hygroscopic growth factor was 1.8 ± 1.2 with RH from 19% to 85%.Light absorption was enhanced by organic carbon（OC）, elemental carbon（EC） and EC coatings,with contributions of 26%, 44% and 75%（532 nm）, respectively. The B sca and B abs increased with increasing N_（100）（number concentration of PM_（2.5）with diameter above 100 nm）, PM_1 surface concentration and PM_（2.5）mass concentration with good correlation.

A method to estimate crop effects at higher frequencies by modeling and microwave radiometric data

To use the 0th-order τ-ω model to retrieve soil moisture from radiometric data at frequencies higher than the C band, the characteristics of the effective single scattering albedo ω and the opacity rof vegetation must be studied. In this paper, the co and r values of corn for the C, X, and Ku bands were retrieved by matching the simulations of a high-order matrix-doubling model to the τ-ω model. First, the brightness temperature of the matrix-doubling was validated by a truck-mounted radiometer in a field experiment, where the vegetation emission contributions were validated with aluminum foil to mask the soil emission. Then an emissivity database of corn fields for different growing seasons was established for a variety of soil conditions. With the transmissivity of corn determined from the database, the effective single scattering albedos of corn for different heights at the C, X, and Ku bands and at a 55° viewing angle were derived. To verify the accuracy of the derived co and τ values, we used SMEX02/PSR aircraft data and the Qp model to retrieve the soil moisture; the RMSE between the retrieval and the measurements was 4.76% at the C band and 5.36% at the X band.

Direct radiative forcing of urban aerosols over Pretoria(25.75°S, 28.28°E) using AERONET Sunphotometer data:First scientific results and environmental impact

The present study uses the data collected from Cimel Sunphotometer of Aerosol Robotic Network（AERONET） for the period from January to December, 2012 over an urban site,Pretoria（PTR; 25.75°S, 28.28°E, 1449 m above sea level）, South Africa. We found that monthly mean aerosol optical depth（AOD, τa） exhibits two maxima that occurred in summer（February） and winter（August） having values of 0.36 ± 0.19 and 0.25 ± 0.14,respectively, high-to-moderate values in spring and thereafter, decreases from autumn with a minima in early winter（June） 0.12 ± 0.07. The Angstrom exponents（α440–870） likewise,have its peak in summer（January） 1.70 ± 0.21 and lowest in early winter（June） 1.38 ± 0.26,while the columnar water vapor（CWV） followed AOD pattern with high values（summer） at the beginning of the year（February, 2.10 ± 0.37 cm） and low values（winter） in the middle of the year（July, 0.66 ± 0.21 cm）. The volume size distribution（VSD） in the fine-mode is higher in the summer and spring seasons, whereas in the coarse mode the VSD is higher in the winter and lower in the summer due to the hygroscopic growth of aerosol particles.The single scattering albedo（SSA） ranged from 0.85 to 0.96 at 440 nm over PTR for the entire study period. The averaged aerosol radiative forcing（ARF） computed using SBDART model at the top of the atmosphere（TOA） was- 8.78 ± 3.1 W/m2, while at the surface it was- 25.69 ± 8.1 W/m2 leading to an atmospheric forcing of ＋ 16.91 ± 6.8 W/m2, indicating significant heating of the atmosphere with a mean of 0.47 K/day.

Observation Study of Aerosol Radiative Properities over China

With a simplified radiation balance model, study is performed of aerosol direct radiation forcing in relation to its optical properties and surface reflectance, indicating that with the thickened aerosol layer the earth-atmosphere system may increase or weaken the solar radiation albedo, depending upon different combinations of aerosol single scattering albedo （SSA, ω^-o）, asymmetry factor （g）, and surface albedo （ag） rather than relying directly on the aerosol optical depth （δ）, which has its value just in proportion to the changed range of albedo alone. As indicated by the model results, systematic observations of aerosol radiative properties are required to make quantitative study of aerosol direct radiative forcing. Observational research of the properties has been undertaken based on ground and space measurements over China, including ground-based sunphotometeraerosol optical depth （AOD）, nephelometer-aerosol scattering coefficients, aethalometer-aerosol absorption coefficients, and MODIS products-retrieved AOD. The satellite retrieved AOD is validated against in situ sun photometer measured AOD, indicating that for eastern China remote sensing given AODs are acceptable owing mainly to lower surface reflectance there whereas for poor vegetation in the north of China the surface reflectance may be underestimated in AOD retrieval. However, appropriate modification of the scheme of aerosol remote sensing is likely to improve the retrieval accuracy. The aerosol single scattering albedo in dry condition is around 0.80 from surface-measured scattering and absorption coefficients. It requires further studies based on more observations to improve our understanding of the issue.

Aerosol properties over an urban site in central East China derived from ground sun-photometer measurements

Sun-photometer measurements at Hefei,an urban site located in central East China,were examined to investigate the variations of aerosol loading and optical properties.It is found that aerosol optical thickness(AOT)keeps higher in winter/spring and gets relatively lower in summer/autumn.The large AOT in winter is caused by anthropogenic sulfate/nitrate aerosols,while in spring dust particles elevate the background aerosol loading and the excessive fine-mode particles eventually lead to severe pollution.There is a dramatic decline of AOT during summer,with monthly averaged AOT reaching the maximum in June and soon the minimum in August.Meanwhile,aerosol size decreases consistently and single scattering albedo(SSA)reaches its minimum in July.During summertime large-sized particles play a key role to change the air from clean to mild-pollution situation,while the presence of massive small-sized particles makes the air being even more polluted.These complicated summer patterns are possibly related to the three key processes that are active in the high temperature/humidity environment concentrating on sulfate/nitrate aerosols,i.e.,gas-to-particle transformation,hygroscopic growth,and wet scavenging.Regardless of season,the increase of SSA with increasing AOT occurs across the visible and near-infrared bands,suggesting the dominant negative/cooling effect with the elevated aerosol loading.The SSA spectra under varying AOT monotonically decrease with wavelength.The relatively large slope arises in summer,reinforcing the dominance of sulfate/nitrate aerosols that induce severe pollution in summer season around this city.

PARAMETERIZATION OF SOLAR RADIATIVE FLUX CALCULATION IN THE ATMOSPHERE

Based on the two-stream approximation a broad-band parameterization scheme for solar radiative flux calculation is presented.The whole solar spectral region from 0.2 to 3.58 μm is divided into three broad spectral intervals.The effec- tive broad-band optical depths and single scattering albedos in the atmosphere in each spectral interval can be obtained using parameterized formulae from known atmospheric parameters.The overlapping scattering and/or absorption ef- fects of two atmospheric constituents are considered properly.In the consideration of radiative effect of clouds in the atmosphere the single scattering albedos and backscattering parameters of clouds in each broad spectral interval are giv- en preliminarily and the cloud optical depths are determined according to the cloud liquid water content.