Particle Size Distributions Based on a Multipopulation Genetic Algorithm Used in Multiwavelength Lidar

Aerosols influence the radiation budget of the Earth’s atmospheric system. Aerosol particle size distribution is one of the major parameters used for characterizing aerosol influence on radiative forcing. The optical and microphysical properties of aerosol particles over Yinchuan, China, were measured with a multiwavelength lidar developed at Beifang University of Nationalities using backscatter and extinction coefficients at wavelengths of 1064, 532, and 355 nm. These data were used to retrieve particle size distributions. Given the disadvantages of the traditional regularization method, the innovative multipopulation genetic algorithm (MPGA) was used to retrieve the particle size distribution from the lidar data. To verify the feasibility of using the MPGA on multiwavelength lidar data, experiments were carried out under different atmospheric conditions, including a background sunny day, a cloudy day, and a foggy day. The particle size distributions obtained from the multiwavelength lidar data were compared with results retrieved from direct irradiance data from a sun photometer. Results showed that the MPGA is suitable for retrieving particle size distributions from multiwavelength lidar data.     

团簇自然气溶胶散射相函数的数值分析

针对不同比例的灰尘和海盐团簇自然气溶胶,利用离散偶极子近似(DDA)法,通过考察成分的影响,使用波长为0.55 m,尺度参数变化范围为0.1~25时,研究了散射相函数和激光雷达比的影响,结果表明二者的变化趋势大体相同。尺度参数为13~24时,团簇自然气溶胶散射相函数有明显的后向散射加强,其中尺度参数为18附近,后向散射加强效应最明显。灰尘比海盐对散射相函数影响更大,二者的影响主要集中在尺度参数为15~25范围内,但除了散射角为180附近的后向外,影响的散射角方向略有不同。不同比例下的团簇自然气溶胶激光雷达比在尺度参数为3左右有最大值,其值约为180。在尺度参数为0.2~25范围内,成分对激光雷达比的影响不大,相对偏差小于10%,特别是尺度参数为0.5~2时的影响可以忽略,相对偏差小于1%。     

New dust aerosol identification method for spaceborne lidar measurements

Classification is a critical step in the backscatter lidar data processing to accurately retrieve extinction and backscatter profiles of atmospheric aerosols and clouds. Different schemes, such as the probability distribution functions (PDFs) method, have been used in the cloud and aerosol classification. In this paper, we attempt to use the support vector machine (SVM) to discriminate aerosols from clouds, with a focus on dust aerosol classification in China. To demonstrate the feasibility of the SVM classifier, we chose dust storms that occurred in the Gobi and Taklimakan deserts and observed by the CALIPSO lidar in spring time 2007. The results show that the SVM can correctly identify the dust storms.     

Evidence for particle size–shape correlations in the optical properties of silicate clay aerosol

Accurate modeling of the optical properties of atmospheric mineral dust is important for climate modeling calculations and remote sensing data retrievals. Atmospheric mineral dust in the accumulation mode size range is often rich in silicate clays including kaolinite and illite. This is important because dust optical properties depend on particle shape, and fundamental clay particles are known to consist of very thin flakes.In this combined laboratory and modeling study, we investigate the optical properties (IR extinction and visible light scattering) of two samples of silicate clay dust aerosol, kaolinite and illite. Particle size distributions are measured simultaneously with the optical properties. T-Matrix theory based simulations using a spheroidal particle approximation are compared with experimental data. We find that the full range of visible scattering and polarimetry data, and IR extinction profiles are not well fit by assuming a single size–shape distribution for the aerosol. In contrast, a simple bimodal distribution model that treats small particles (fundamental clay flakes) in the distribution as highly eccentric oblate spheroids with axial ratio parameters ≥5, but approximates larger particles by a more moderate shape distribution with axial ratio parameters <3, gives better agreement with the full range of experimental data. These conclusions are consistent with mineralogical data on the dimensions of fundamental clay particles.     

一种无需定标的地基激光雷达气溶胶消光系数精确反演方法

如何对低云下雾霾的激光雷达探测数据进行准确定标,一直是米散射激光雷达数据反演中一个有待解决的问题.对于低云和雾霾同时出现的天气,激光很难穿透云层,不能利用大气清洁层对激光雷达信号定标.而对于探测高度小于6 km的便携式米散射激光雷达,由于探测高度较低,也很难利用大气清洁层对激光雷达数据进行定标.本文根据Fernald前向积分方程的特点,提出了一种气溶胶消光系数迭代算法.通过对反演过程进行特定设置,每经过一次迭代,利用气溶胶消光系数迭代算法得到的气溶胶消光系数反演值与其真实值之间的差值就会相应减小.经过几次迭代后,气溶胶消光系数反演值与真实值之间的差值就会小到可以忽略不计.初步反演结果表明:利用气溶胶消光系数迭代算法,无需对激光雷达探测数据定标就能精确反演出气溶胶消光系数廓线.     

An iterative calculation to derive extinction-to-backscatter ratio based on lidar measurements

The aerosol optical thickness (AOT) is an important parameter for understanding the radiative impact of aerosols. AOT based on lidar measurements is often limited by its finite detection range. In this paper, we have reported a method of fitting and iterative calculation to derive the extinction profile of background aerosols from 0 to 30 km at 532 nm, which is virtually the AOT of the entire atmosphere. The mean extinction derived from this method at the ground level tallies with visibility measurement and it is also consistent with the sun-photometer data, within experimental error. These data have been further treated to study the dust cases. For most of the cases, transmission losses were determined to estimate the extinction as well as lidar ratio. The result of the analysis shows that for background aerosols, a mean lidar ratio of 47±15 sr was found. For dust layers, a mean lidar ratio of 44±19 sr and an optical thickness of 0.53±0.49 were determined at 532 nm.     

Application of mobile vehicle lidar for urban air pollution monitoring

A mobile vehicle lidar system has been developed and applied to detect urban air quality. On September 21 and22, 2015, particulate matter observation with mobile vehicle lidar was carried out in the Binhai New Area of Tianjin. Combined with the latitude and longitude information acquired by a GPS, the three-dimensional distribution of the aerosol extinction coefficient was presented in the experimental area. Furthermore, the source,distribution, and the transportation path of the aerosols in the area were investigated based on lidar data, local meteorological data, and backward trajectory analysis. The results show that mobile vehicle lidar can detect the atmospheric aerosols and reflect the stereoscopic distribution properties of aerosols. The potential of this vehicle lidar system provides a new scientific basis for the study of the source, distribution, and transportation of atmospheric particles.     

Algorithms to retrieve optical properties of three component aerosols from two-wavelength backscatter and one-wavelength polarization lidar measurements considering nonsphericity of dust

We developed backward and forward types of algorithms for estimating the vertical profiles of extinction coefficients at 532 nm for three component aerosols (water-soluble, dust, and sea salt) using three-channel Mie-scattering lidar data of the backscatter (β) at 532 and 1064 nm and the depolarization ratio (δ) at 532 nm. While the water-soluble and sea-salt particles were reasonably assumed to be spherical, the dust particles were treated as randomly oriented spheroids to account for their nonsphericity. The introduction of spheroid models enabled us to more effectively use the three-channel data (i.e., 2β+1δ data) and to reduce the uncertainties caused by the assumption of spherical dust particles in our previously developed algorithms. We also performed an extensive sensitivity study to estimate retrieval errors, which showed that the errors in the extinction coefficient for each aerosol component were smaller than 30% (60%) for the backward (forward) algorithm when the measurement errors were ±5%. We demonstrated the ability of the algorithms to partition aerosol layers consisting of three aerosol components by applying them to shipborne lidar data. Comparisons with sky radiometer measurements revealed that the retrieved optical thickness and angstrom exponent of aerosols using the algorithms developed in this paper agreed well with the sky radiometer measurements (within 6%).     

利用紫外Mie散射激光雷达探测澳门地区沙尘暴事件

研制了一台工作波长为355nm的紫外高能Mie散射激光雷达,并利用该激光雷达在2010年一次沙尘暴事件期间对澳门上空的大气进行了探测,得到了澳门地区不同时刻的气溶胶消光系数垂直廓线。利用Fernald方法反演得到的气溶胶近地面消光系数随时间的变化与当地气象数据具有较好的一致性,气溶胶消光系数与当地可吸入颗粒物浓度的相关性达到了0.93。气溶胶垂直廓线显示,在沙尘暴来临期间存在明显的沙尘气溶胶凝集层。通过气溶胶轨迹倒推,分析了沙尘气溶胶的来源及路径。观测结果表明,该激光雷达可以在特殊天气条件下对澳门地区气溶胶进行有效探测,这将有助于深化对澳门上空气溶胶特性的研究。     

Multiwavelength lidar for measurements of atmospheric aerosol

We represent the results of our investigations on size distribution of atmospheric aerosol particles by means of a multiwavelength lidar based on Nd : YAG and Ti : Sa lasers equipped with frequency multipliers. The measurements were performed in mountainous areas.     

The composition and optical absorption coefficient of atmospheric particulate matter

The optical absorption spectra of atmospheric dust as determined by transmission and diffuse reflectance spectroscopic methods is discussed in the 0.4 to 40 um wavelength range. Quantitative measurements are presented which show the imaginary refractive index to be about 0.007i, with little wavelength dependence, in the 0.4 to 1.3 μm spectral interval. The absorption coefficients of individual materials found in atmospheric dust are also given. This work suggests that atmospheric dust may be composed mainly of weakly absorbing particles contaminated with small amounts of very strongly absorbing materials such as free carbon. The implications of this are discussed from the point of view of laser beam attenuation and lidar return signals. Mie theory computations for ruby lidar wavelengths are shown which suggest that for some models of atmospheric dust, the concept of an average imaginary refractive index may be misleading. Thus, it may be necessary to consider the individual complex refractive indices and size distributions of more than one constituent material present in the dust. This implies that anthropogenic contributions to the atmospheric aerosol, such as free carbon and other strong absorbers, may be of greater optical significance than their relative concentrations might indicate.     

Iteration method for the inversion of simulated multiwavelength lidar signals to determine aerosol size distribution

A new method is proposed to derive the size distribution of aerosol from the simulated multiwavelength lidar extinction coefficients. The basis for this iteration is to consider the extinction efficiency factor of particles as a set of weighting function covering the entire radius region of a distribution. The weighting functions are calculated exactly from Mie theory. This method extends the inversion region by subtracting some extinction coefficient. The radius range of simulated size distribution is 0.1－10.0μm, the inversion radius range is 0.1－2.0μm, but the inverted size distributions are in good agreement with the simulated one.     

Influence of the vertical profile of Saharan dust on the visible direct radiative forcing

The vertical profile of Saharan dust in the atmosphere is generally characterized by a large aerosol concentration in the mid troposphere, differently from the climatological distribution of other types of particles, that show a peak at the surface and a rapid decrease with height. Saharan dust is also characterized by particles of relatively large size of irregular shape, and variable values of the single scattering albedo (the ratio between radiation scattering and extinction). The dust's peculiar vertical distribution is expected to produce an effect on the calculation of the direct aerosol radiative forcing at the surface and at the top of the atmosphere. This effect is investigated by comparing estimates of aerosol direct visible radiative forcing at the surface and at the top of the atmosphere for dust vertical profiles measured in the Mediterranean, and for the climatological profile. The radiative forcing is estimated by means of an accurate radiative transfer model, and for the ocean surface. The sensitivity of the results on the solar zenith angle, aerosol optical depth, and aerosol absorption is also investigated. The aerosol radiative forcing at the surface shows a very small dependency on the aerosol vertical profile. At the top of the atmosphere, the radiative forcing is weakly dependent on the vertical profile (up to 10% variation on the daily average forcing) for low absorbing particles; conversely, it shows a strong dependency (the daily radiative forcing may vary up to 100%) for absorbing particles. The top of the atmosphere visible radiative forcing efficiency produced by dust having single scattering albedo <0.7 is higher by 4 W m⁻² when the observed vertical profile instead of the standard profile is used in the calculations (i.e. it produces a lower cooling). For values of the single scattering albedo around 0.67, the sign of the forcing depends on the vertical profile. The influence of the vertical distribution on the radiative forcing is largest at small values of the solar zenith angle, and at short wavelengths.     

银川上空大气气溶胶光学特性激光雷达探测研究

小型米散射激光雷达是广泛使用的探测大气气溶胶光学特性的有效工具。作者研制了一台小型米散射激光雷达,并利用该激光雷达于2009年4月1日至4月10日期间对宁夏银川地区(北纬38°29′, 东经106°06′)上空的大气气溶胶光学特性以及时空分布进行了观测。系统选用532 nm波长激光作为光源,采用Fernald法对接收到的大气回波信号进行反演,得到了气溶胶消光系数的高度分布廓线及24 h内气溶胶消光系数相对浓度的时空变化特性;并对期间一次明显的沙尘天气进行了观测和分析。观测结果表明,该小型米散射激光雷达能够对大气气溶胶及其时空分布情况进行有效、连续的观测,其观测结果有利于分析该地区气溶胶及沙尘天气的变化趋势。     

双扫描激光雷达精细探测低层大气气溶胶方法

为实现水平非均匀分布的低层大气气溶胶光学特性的遥感探测,提出一种基于双扫描激光雷达的气溶胶精细探测方法.该方法以扫描激光雷达为遥感探测工具,通过双激光雷达相向交叉扫描工作模式,实现对同一空域近地表气溶胶全视野剖面的交叉探测,从而提供双激光雷达方程组以精确求解气溶胶消光和后向散射系数.在数据反演过程中,通过对交叉扫描区域进行坐标化和网格化处理、网格像素单元的初值预设,以及双扫描激光雷达方程组的数值逼近反演得到气溶胶消光.利用长距离扫描激光雷达的数据对该方法进行验证,结果表明,该方法与多角度方法反演所得到的结果随高度变化的趋势具有高度的一致性;同时双扫描激光雷达可提供交叉扫描区域剖面的气溶胶浓度分布,相比于单条廓线具有较大的优势.     

Suggestion for qualitative lidar identification of different types of aerosol using the two-wavelength rotational Raman and elastic lidar

Aerosols are important parameters in the meteorological and environmental fields, and remote aerosol identification is extremely desirable. We have proposed and designed a two-wavelength (355 and 532 nm) rotational Raman and elastic lidar that can measure the wavelength dependence of the aerosol backscattering coefficient without any assumptions about the Angstr?m coefficient or the overlapping function from low (100 m) to high (10 km) altitude, depending on the weather conditions. We have measured the differences in the backscattering ratios (BRs) among a cloud, aerosol in the boundary layer, and Asian dust. The ratio of the aerosol backscattering coefficients between two wavelengths is a fingerprint of an aerosol, which is similar to the Angstr?m coefficient. The BR value for a typical aerosol ranged from 0.56 to 0.4 in the boundary layer and from 0.5 to 0.1 for Asian dust. The BR value of water droplet was not unique but was spread over a wide range because of its size distributions.     

随机取向非球形沙尘气溶胶粒子的光学特性

利用离散偶极子近似法分析了一种随机取向旋转椭球体沙尘气溶胶粒子模型在尺度参数变化范围为0.1~23时(波长0.55!m对应有效半径为0.01~2!m)的光学特性,研究了沙尘粒子非球形性程度对其光学特性的影响,并考察了非球形粒子的随机取向能否用等体积球体来代替。就随机取向单分散和多分散旋转椭球体沙尘气溶胶而言,粒子非球形特征越明显,消光效率因子、不对称因子和单次散射反照率基本上偏离其等体积球体越大;对于相同的非球形,不对称因子偏离其等体积球体的相对偏差要比消光效率因子和单次散射反照率要大。非球形粒子的随机取向并不能使其光学特性严格等效为其等体积球体的光学特性。如果粒子形状偏离球体较小,则非球形粒子的随机取向的平均效果能使其消光效率因子、不对称因子和单次散射反照率近似用等体积球体的对应光学参量来等效;而如果粒子形状偏离球形较大,仅有单次散射反照率可以近似用等体积球体的单次散射反照率来等效,例如,轴半径比为16的旋转椭球体沙尘粒子的单次散射反照率偏离其等体积球体仅在3%以内。     

The impact of Martian aerosols on the retrieval of temperature profiles from PFS measurements

Our purpose was a qualitative assessment of the impact of dust and water ice aerosols on the retrieved temperature profiles and the retrieval process itself in the Martian atmosphere. It aims to quantify the related uncertainties in the atmospheric temperature profiles derived from radiance measurements of the Planetary Fourier Spectrometer (PFS), currently operating on the Mars Express orbiter. In this study the effects of aerosol opacities on simulated data and retrieved temperature profiles were also investigated.From the analysis of the model atmosphere including dust and water ice with different size distributions it results that the dust component affects weighting functions and brightness temperatures less than water ice. A similar situation is also observed when different vertical distributions are considered. Unlike dust, water ice with different sizes of crystals evidently influences weighting functions and brightness temperatures. The impact of the considered water ice vertical distributions on brightness temperatures is noticeable only near 840 cm⁻¹.Considering different dust opacities, the largest differences—5 K maximum—between retrieved temperature profiles were observed close to the surface, regardless assumptions on a size distribution or the refractive indices. Contrary to dust, the different sizes of water ice particles assumed during retrieval stronger affected the retrieved temperature profiles than water ice opacities. Moreover, the differences in the retrieved temperature profiles were amplified while wrong optical properties for dust as well as for water ice aerosol were assumed instead of the nominal case. This means that the wrong assumption can induce an additional source of the retrieval error and lead to unreasonable temperature profiles. In the cases of expected heavily loads water ice crystals, their size distribution in the Martian atmosphere should be known from other observations before the retrieval of the temperature profile is attempted.For the analyzed examples of real PFS measurements the impact of different dust vertical distributions on the retrieval of temperature profile is prominent only in layers close to the surface. However, these differences remain comparable with retrieval errors. All influences of dust on weighting functions, brightness temperatures and during retrieval can be neglected if the noise equivalent radiance (NER) of PFS is taken into account.     

气溶胶消光系数与质量浓度的相关性研究

为了利用激光雷达探测的消光系数垂直分布来反演气溶胶质量浓度的垂直分布,研究气溶胶消光系数与质量浓度之间的关系就显得十分重要.根据Mie散射理论,分析了气溶胶的质量消光系数、消光系数和质量浓度之间的关系,引进了等效参数,分析了Junge指数对等效参数的影响.用实际测量的粒子谱分布、能见度、相对湿度和气溶胶质量浓度验证了气溶胶消光系数和质晕浓度之间的关系.这对利用激光雷达测量的气溶胶消光系数垂直分布来反演气溶胶质量浓度的垂直分布是很有实用价值和指导意义的.     

利用APD对大气气溶胶空气动力学直径测量分析

详细介绍了气溶胶大气粒子经过两个激光束后通过雪崩二极管（APD）探测其形成的双峰信号,从而得到气溶胶粒子飞行时间的方法,利用标准粒子对飞行时间进行校准后,实现了对大气气溶胶粒子直径的实时监测.通过不同粒径多组的实验数据进行分析组成专家模式,代入系统进行空气测量或标准粒子测量,得到的实验值与理论值一致.