Preliminary results of a non-spherical aerosol method for the retrieval of the atmospheric aerosol optical properties

There is experimental evidence that the non-sphericity of certain atmospheric particles can cause scattering properties different from those predicted by standard Mie theory. Numerous studies indicate the need to consider the presence of non-spherical particles in modeling the optical properties of atmospheric aerosols. On the other hand, natural aerosols show a great variety of shapes, making difficult a realistic choice of a particle shape (or shape mixture) model. In this paper, we test a parameterization of the particle shape in the retrieval of size distribution, phase function, single scattering albedo and asymmetry parameter from direct and sky-radiance measurements. For this purpose we have substituted the Kernel based on the Mie theory included in the model SKYRAD.PACK by one derived for non-spherical particles. The method is applied under different atmospheric conditions, including Saharan dust outbreak, polluted and local mineral episodes. We compare the results with those obtained by the well known spheroids algorithm used in the AERONET network.     

Improvements for ground-based remote sensing of atmospheric aerosol properties by additional polarimetric measurements

We discuss the improvements in the aerosol properties characterization resulting from the additional multi-wavelength polarization measurements measured by a new CIMEL polarized sun/sky-photometer, CE318-DP. In order to process direct-sun, sky and polarization measurements in a wide spectral range (340–1640 nm), we developed new calibration methods and strategies, e.g. using the Langley plot method to calibrate both direct-sun irradiance and sky radiance, as well as combining laboratory facilities with a vicarious method to calibrate the polarized sky measurements. For studying the impact of new polarimetric measurements on the retrievals of aerosol properties, we have processed an extensive record of field measurements using an updated Dubovik and King retrieval algorithm [Dubovik O, Sinyuk A, Lapyonok T, Holben BN, Mishchenko MI, et al. Application of spheroid models to account for aerosol particle nonsphericity in remote sensing of desert dust. J Geophys Res 2006;111:D11208.]. A preliminary analysis shows that adding polarization in the inversion can reduce possible errors (notably for about 30% of our field cases) in the fine mode size distribution, real part of refractive index and particle shape parameter retrievals, especially for small particles.     

大气气溶胶偏振遥感研究进展

POLDER-1是国际上第一个可以获取偏振光观测的星载对地探测器, 随着POLDER/PARASOL等偏振仪器的应用, 偏振遥感在国际上已成为一个快速发展的研究领域, 并在大气气溶胶监测等方面发挥了重要的作用, 取得了一系列研究成果。从POLDER/PARASOL,APS(aerosol polarimetry sensor)和航空偏振相机、地基偏振观测平台三个方面综述了大气气溶胶偏振遥感近20年(1993-2013)的研究进展, 重点介绍: (1)POLDER/PARASOL陆地上空和海洋上空气溶胶参数反演算法; POLDER/PARASOL气溶胶光学厚度(AOD)产品精度验证、应用以及与MODIS等卫星AOD产品的对比分析。(2)MICROPOL,RSP和APS陆地上空和海洋上空气溶胶参数反演算法; 国产多角度航空偏振相机(directional polarimetric camera, DPC)的气溶胶参数反演算法。(3)CE318-2和CE318-DP的气溶胶地基偏振反演算法。其中卫星、航空和地面气溶胶参数反演的结果包括总的AOD、细粒子AOD、粗粒子AOD、粒子谱分布、粒子形状、复折射指数、单次散射反射率、散射相函数、偏振相函数以及云顶AOD。在以上研究基础上, 提出了大气气溶胶偏振遥感研究存在的问题及展望, 为大气气溶胶偏振遥感研究提供有价值的参考。     

A method for estimating optical properties of dusty cloud

Based on the scattering properties of nonspherical dust aerosol, a new method is developed for retrieving dust aerosol optical depths of dusty clouds. The dusty clouds are defined as the hybrid system of dust plume and cloud. The new method is based on transmittance measurements from surface-based instruments multi-filter rotating shadowband radiometer （MFRSR） and cloud parameters from lidar measurements. It uses the difference of absorption between dust aerosols and water droplets for distinguishing and estimating the optical properties of dusts and clouds, respectively. This new retrieval method is not sensitive to the retrieval error of cloud properties and the maximum absolute deviations of dust aerosol and total optical depths for thin dusty cloud retrieval algorithm are only 0.056 and 0.1, respectively, for given possible uncertainties. The retrieval error for thick dusty cloud mainly depends on lidar-based total dusty cloud properties.     

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.     

Epidemic outbreaks on two-dimensional quasiperiodic lattices

We present a novel kinetic Monte Carlo technique to study the susceptible-infected-removed model in order to simulate epidemic outbreaks on two quasiperiodic lattices, namely, Penrose and Ammann-Beenker. Our analysis around criticality is performed by investigating the order parameter, which is defined as the probability of growing a spanning cluster formed by removed sites, evolving from an initial system configuration with a single random chosen infective site. This system is studied by means of the cluster size distribution, obtained by the Newman-Ziff algorithm. Additionally, we obtained the mean cluster size, and a cumulant ratio to estimate the epidemic threshold. In spite of the quasiperiodic order moves the transition point, compared to periodic lattices, this is not able to alter the universality class of the model, leading to the same critical exponents. In addition, our technique can be generalized to study epidemic outbreaks in networks and diffusing populations.     

Retrieval of ozone profile from ground-based measurements with polarization: A synthetic study

We perform a retrieval based on optimal estimation theory to retrieve the vertical distribution of ozone from simulated spectra in the Huggins bands. The model atmosphere includes scattering by aerosol as well as Rayleigh scattering. The virtual instrument is ground-based and zenith-viewing. Using this algorithm, we show that it is possible to retrieve the ozone profile provided that the spectral resolution is at least 0.2 nm and the signal to noise ratio greater than 500. Our synthetic retrievals suggest that if we are able to measure the Stokes parameters Q, U and V with accuracy comparable to that of the intensity, the information contained in the measurements, and therefore the inversion, will improve. Furthermore, we find that the measurement of the full Stokes vector from the ground-based instrument will especially enhance the retrieval of tropospheric ozone. Utilizing concepts from information theory, our arguments are confirmed by increases in the degrees of freedom and the Shannon information content in the simulated measurements.     

高分五号卫星多角度偏振相机最优化估计反演:角度依赖与后验误差分析

多角度偏振相机(directional polarimetric camera, DPC)随高分五号卫星已经成功发射并持续获取全球观测数据.针对DPC在陆地气溶胶反演领域的应用需求,本研究基于多参数最优化估计反演框架,引入信息量和后验误差分析工具,讨论了DPC观测信息量对角度的依赖,给出了地表和气溶胶参数的后验误差,并分析了后验误差的影响因素.研究表明:1)卫星观测信息量随观测角度个数的增加显著提升, DPC多角度观测比单角度观测的总DFS(degree of freedom for signal)平均提高了5.45; 2)气溶胶反演比地表更依赖于卫星观测几何,散射角覆盖范围越大,观测包含的气溶胶信息量越多; 3)反演参数的后验误差随观测角度个数的增加显著降低,而气溶胶模型误差对后验误差的影响并不显著.总体来说,观测误差是影响反演结果不确定性的主要因素.本研究对DPC多角度偏振观测的反演能力以及反演不确定性进行了系统的定量评估,为DPC在轨测试及反演算法开发提供参考.     

Seasonal variation of tropospheric aerosol properties by direct and scattered solar radiation spectroscopy

Long-term characterization of tropospheric aerosol has been carried out at Chiba, Japan, using a compact, stand-alone spectroradiometer under clear-sky conditions between August 2007 and March 2009. The spectra of direct solar radiation, aureole, and scattered solar radiation in various directions are observed in a wavelength range between 350 and 1050 nm with an optical resolution of 10 nm. Radiative transfer calculation using the MODTRAN4 code is employed to retrieve aerosol optical parameters such as aerosol optical depth (AOD), extinction coefficient, single-scattering albedo, scattering phase function, and asymmetry parameter, as well as water vapor column amount. The retrieved value of AOD varies in the range 0.1-0.5, while the water vapor column amount changes from 0.2 to 4 g/cm², showing reasonable agreements with the concurrent measurements with a sunphotometer and a microwave radiometer, respectively. The seasonal variation of the retrieved parameters indicates the major impacts of dust particles in spring, sea salt particles in summer, and anthropogenic fine particles in winter.     

Information operator approach and iterative regularization methods for atmospheric remote sensing

In this study, we present the main features of the information operator approach for solving linear inverse problems arising in atmospheric remote sensing. This method is superior to the stochastic version of the Tikhonov regularization (or the optimal estimation method) due to its capability to filter out the noise-dominated components of the solution generated by an inappropriate choice of the regularization parameter. We extend this approach to iterative methods for nonlinear ill-posed problems and derive the truncated versions of the Gauss-Newton and Levenberg-Marquardt methods. Although the paper mostly focuses on discussing the mathematical details of the inverse method, retrieval results have been provided, which exemplify the performances of the methods. These results correspond to the NO₂ retrieval from SCIAMACHY limb scatter measurements and have been obtained by using the retrieval processors developed at the German Aerospace Center Oberpfaffenhofen and Institute of Environmental Physics of the University of Bremen.     

Saharan dust electrification perceived by a triangle of atmospheric electricity stations in Southern Portugal

Atmospheric Electric Potential Gradient (PG) measurements were carried out in three sites forming a triangular array in Southern Portugal. The campaign was performed during the summer, characterized by Saharan dust outbreaks; 16th–17th July 2014 dust event is considered. Short time-scale oscillations of the PG at two of the stations and a mid time-scale suppression of the PG in the three stations are found. Results are interpreted as evidencing long-range dust electrification; attributed to the air-Earth electrical current creating a bipolar charge distribution inside of the dust layer. The relevance of using arrays of sensors, instead of single sited, is highlighted.     

激光雷达观测北京大气气溶胶的垂直分布

利用激光雷达对北京2005年4月26-30日大气气溶胶进行了连续观测,对气溶胶光学特性进行了测量和分析,讨论了大气污染物气溶胶和沙尘气溶胶的垂直分布,以及沙尘气溶胶的传输和沉降过程.因此,激光雷达是研究阴霾天气和沙尘天气特征的有效手段.     

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。     

Visible light scattering study at 470, 550, and 660 nm of components of mineral dust aerosol: Hematite and goethite

Iron oxides, usually in the form of hematite or goethite, comprise an important component of atmospheric mineral dust aerosol. Because these minerals are strong visible absorbers they play a critical role in determining the overall impact of dust aerosol on climate forcing. In this work, results from light scattering measurements from hematite and goethite dust aerosol are presented for three visible wavelengths, λ=470, 550, and 660 nm. We observe important systematic differences in the scattering between these different iron oxide samples, as well as significant wavelength dependence across the visible region of the spectrum. Aerosol size distributions are measured simultaneously with the light scattering, enabling a rigorous comparison between theoretical light scattering models and experimental data. Theoretical simulations of the scattering are carried out using both Mie and T-Matrix theories. Simulations are in reasonably good agreement with experimental data for hematite; thus, our data offer a useful check on tabulated optical constants for hematite. However, simulations show very poor agreement for goethite. The poor agreement in the goethite case is likely the result of particle shape effects related to the rod-like morphology of the goethite particles. This study demonstrates how particle mineralogy and morphology play an important role in dictating the optical properties of mineral dust aerosol, a major component of tropospheric dust.     

基于多角度多光谱Stokes参数Q和U测量反演气溶胶偏振相函数

偏振相函数是气溶胶重要的光学参数之一,它对气溶胶复折射指数、粒子尺度和形状都十分敏感。多角度多光谱偏振遥感可以有效获取气溶胶偏振相函数信息。新一代CIMEL太阳-天空偏振辐射计CE318-DP作为高精度地基气溶胶偏振遥感仪器已被引入全球气溶胶自动观测网AERONET(AErosol RObotic NETwork),并作为扩展多波长偏振测量的太阳-天空辐射计观测网SONET(Sun/sky-radiometer Observation NETwork)的主要仪器,已在不同类型气溶胶观测站点积累了多年的偏振数据。但目前偏振反演仅能利用线偏振度或偏振辐亮度。与线偏振度和偏振辐亮度相比,Stokes参数Q和U不仅包含天空光线偏振强度信息还包含偏振方向信息。利用CE318-DP多光谱多角度测量的天空光Stokes参数Q和U反演气溶胶偏振相函数的方法。针对CE318-DP标准主平面偏振观测模式PPP(Polarized Principal Plane)下Stokes参数U对气溶胶特性变化不敏感、信息难以利用的不足,测试了新的平纬圈偏振扫描模式ALMP(ALMucantar Polarization)获取Stokes参数Q和U,并成功应用于偏振相函数的反演。系统分析了340～1 640 nm多光谱通道上典型生物质燃烧型气溶胶和水溶性气溶胶的-P₁₂/P₁₁反演结果并测试了反演方法在晴朗和灰霾不同大气条件下的适用性。无论在主平面还是平纬圈观测几何下,反演结果在可见光和近红外通道上均与真实值具有较好的一致性。进一步讨论了模型中基于气溶胶参数初始值和大气气溶胶参数真实值计算的“大气单次散射/大气散射”的比值近似相等的假设条件在短波通道不能很好地满足是造成紫外波段反演结果偏差较大的原因之一。后续有待进一步提高反演模型在短波通道的适用性,为利用不同光谱通道上-P₁₂/P₁₁的变化特征改进气溶胶微物理参数反演奠定了基础。     

耦合京津冀气溶胶模式的HJ-1卫星CCD数据大气校正

针对目前HJ-1 CCD大气校正没有考虑中国地区气溶胶模式的问题,提出一种耦合中国地区局部气溶胶模式的大气校正方法。以京津冀地区作为研究区域,该方法对地基北京城区和香河站点反演的气溶胶模式参数进行聚类,得到京津冀地区具有代表性的四类气溶胶模式,并根据四类气溶胶模式来建立查找表进行气溶胶光学厚度的反演。HJ-1 CCD数据没有短波红外波段(2.12 μm),无法采用MODIS的气溶胶算法中获得地表反射率的方法来计算蓝红波段的反射率,本文在气溶胶光学厚度的反演中采用HJ-1卫星的蓝色(0.43~0.52 μm)和红色(0.63~0.69 μm)波段的反射率比值作为误差方程的依据,不需要输入地表目标的反射率。基于反演后的光学厚度对HJ-1 CCD数据进行大气校正,并与ASD光谱辐射计测量数据以及MODIS地表产品数据(MOD09)进行对比。结果表明,该方法得到的大气校正结果与ASD测量结果接近,并与MOD09有较强的相关性,红色波段的平均相关系数达到了0.8以上,受气溶胶影响最大的蓝色波段平均的相关系数也达到了0.75左右。     

Pulsed differential optical absorption spectroscopy applied to air pollution measurement in urban troposphere

Differential optical absorption spectroscopy (DOAS) is useful for various types of trace gas measurements in the lower troposphere. In this paper, we report the DOAS measurement conducted in Chiba, Japan during 2009 and 2010. An optical path length of 5.5 km is employed to measure the average concentration of NO₂ using a xenon aviation obstruction light that flashes every 1.5 s. By virtue of the high stability of the light source intensity, the intensity measurement enables the retrieval of aerosol extinction coefficient averaged over the optical path. The results are compared with the concurrent results of ground sampling and sunphotometer measurements.     

Effective lidar ratios of dense dust layers over North Africa derived from the CALIOP measurements

Lidar ratio (i.e., extinction-to-backscatter ratio) is a key parameter required for retrieving extinction profiles and optical depths from elastic backscatter lidar measurements, and the quality of any extinction retrieval depends critically on the accuracy of the assumed or measured lidar ratio. In this study, we analyze the first two and a half years of the Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP) data acquired during nighttime. Distributions of the effective lidar ratio (ELR), which is the product of the lidar ratio and an instrument-dependent multiple scattering factor, are derived for opaque dust layers observed by CALIOP over the North Africa. The median and mean ELR values are, respectively, 36.4 and 38.5 sr at 532 nm and 47.7 and 50.3 sr at 1064 nm. For these opaque dust layers, the derived ELR decreases as the volume depolarization ratio (VDR) increases, reflecting the impact of multiple scattering within the dense layers. The particulate depolarization ratio is typically ∼0.3 at 532 nm for African dust observed by CALIOP. This ratio can increase to ∼0.4 in the presence of significant multiple scattering. Correspondingly, the calculated ELR will decrease to ∼20 sr at 532 nm and to ∼30 sr at 1064 nm. The median and mean effective lidar ratio values approach, respectively, to 38 and 40 sr at 532 nm and 52 and 55 sr at 1064 nm for smaller VDR values measured in less dense layers where the multiple scattering is relatively insignificant. These values are very close to those derived in previous case studies for moderately dense dust. Case studies are also performed to examine the impacts of multiple scattering. The results obtained are generally consistent with Monte-Carlo simulations.     

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.