Search results for "Optical"

EARLINET observations of the 14-22-may long-range dust transport event during SAMUM 2006: validation of results from dust transport modelling

2009

We observed a long-range transport event of mineral dust from North Africa to South Europe during the Saharan Mineral Dust Experiment (SAMUM) 2006. Geometrical and optical properties of that dust plume were determined with Sun photometer of the Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) and Raman lidar near the North African source region, and with Sun photometers of AERONET and lidars of the European Aerosol Research Lidar Network (EARLINET) in the far field in Europe. Extinction-to-backscatter ratios of the dust plume over Morocco and Southern Europe do not differ. Ångstr¨om exponents increase with distance from Morocco. We simulated the transport, and geometrical and optical properties of the dus…

Obtaining the three-dimensional structure of tree orchards from remote 2D terrestrial LIDAR scanning

2009

In recent years, LIDAR (light detection and ranging) sensors have been widely used to measure environmental parameters such as the structural characteristics of trees, crops and forests. Knowledge of the structural characteristics of plants has a high scientific value due to their influence in many biophysical processes including, photosynthesis, growth, CO2-sequestration and evapotranspiration, playing a key role in the exchange of matter and energy between plants and the atmosphere, and affecting terrestrial, above-ground, carbon storage. In this work, we report the use of a 2D LIDAR scanner in agriculture to obtain three-dimensional (3D) structural characteristics of plants. LIDAR allows…

2018

Abstract. Air traffic affects cloudiness, and thus climate, by emitting exhaust gases and particles. The study of the evolution of contrail properties is very challenging due to the complex interplay of vortex dynamics and the atmospheric environment (e.g. temperature, supersaturation). Despite substantial progress in recent years, the optical, microphysical, and macrophysical properties of contrails and ambient cirrus during contrail formation and subsequent ageing are still subject to large uncertainties due to instrumental and observational limitations and the large number of variables influencing the contrail life cycle. In this study, various contrail cases corresponding to different a…

A new method to retrieve the aerosol layer absorption coefficient from airborne flux density and actinic radiation measurements

2010

A new method is presented to derive the mean value of the spectral absorption coefficient of an aerosol layer from combined airborne measurements of spectral net irradiance and actinic flux density. While the method is based on a theoretical relationship of radiative transfer theory, it is applied to atmospheric radiation measurements for the first time. The data have been collected with the Spectral Modular Airborne Radiation Measurement System (SMARTA¢Â€ÂAlbedometer), the Solar Spectral Flux Radiometer (SSFR), and the Actinic Flux Spectroradiometer (AFSR) during four field campaigns between 2002 and 2008 (the Saharan Mineral Dust Experiment (SAMUM), the Influence of Clouds on the Spectra…

2021

Abstract. Sustainable aviation fuels can reduce contrail ice numbers and radiative forcing by contrail cirrus. We measured apparent ice emission indices for fuels with varying aromatic content at altitude ranges of 9.1–9.8 and 11.4–11.6 km. Measurement data were collected during the ECLIF II/NDMAX flight experiment in January 2018. The fuels varied in both aromatic quantity and type. Between a sustainable aviation fuel blend and a reference fuel Jet A-1, a maximum reduction in apparent ice emission indices of 40 % was found. We show vertical ice number and extinction distributions for three different fuels and calculate representative contrail optical depths. Optical depths of contrails (0.…

Depolarization�ratio profiling at several wavelengths in pure Saharan dust during SAMUM 2006

2009

Vertical profiles of the linear particle depolarization ratio of pure dust clouds were measured during the Saharan Mineral Dust Experiment (SAMUM) at Ouarzazate, Morocco (30.9°N, –6.9°E), close to source regions in May–June 2006, with four lidar systems at four wavelengths (355, 532, 710 and 1064 nm). The intercomparison of the lidar systems is accompanied by a discussion of the different calibration methods, including a new, advanced method, and a detailed error analysis. Over the whole SAMUM periode pure dust layers show a mean linear particle depolarization ratio at 532 nm of 0.31, in the range between 0.27 and 0.35, with a mean Ångström exponent (AE, 440–870 nm) of 0.18 (range 0.04–0.34…

Hygroscopic properties and extinction of aerosol particles at ambient relative humidity in South-Eastern China

2008

Abstract During the “Program of Regional Integrated Experiments of Air Quality over Pearl River Delta 2004 (PRIDE-PRD2004)” hygroscopic properties of particles in the diameter range 22 nm to 10 μ m were determined. For that purpose, a Humidifying Differential Mobility Particle Sizer (H-DMPS) and a Micro-Orifice Uniform Deposition Impactor (MOUDI) were operated. The derived size-dependent particle hygroscopic growth factors were interpolated to ambient relative humidity (RH) and used to calculate the particle number size distributions (PNSDs) at ambient conditions. A comparison between the modeled particle extinction coefficients ( σ ext , Mie ) and those observed with a Raman lidar was made…

Data flow of spectral UV measurements at Sodankylä and Jokioinen

2016

Abstract. The data flow involved in a long-term continuous solar spectral UV irradiance monitoring program is investigated and structured to provide an overall view on the multiphase process from data acquisition to the final products. The program employing Brewer spectrophotometers as measuring instruments is maintained by the Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI) ever since the 1990s at two sites in Finland: Sodankylä (67° N) and Jokioinen (61° N). It is built upon rigorous operation routines, processing procedures, and tools for quality control (QC) and quality analysis (QA) under continuous development and evaluation. Three distinct levels of data emerge, each after certain phase in th…

A study on the sensitivities of simulated aerosol optical properties to composition and size distribution using airborne measurements

2014

We present a flexible framework to calculate the optical properties of atmospheric aerosols at a given relative humidity based on their composition and size distribution. The similarity of this framework to climate model parameterisations allows rapid and extensive sensitivity tests of the impact of uncertainties in data or of new measurements on climate relevant aerosol properties. The data collected by the FAAM BAe-146 aircraft during the EUCAARI-LONGREX and VOCALS-REx campaigns have been used in a closure study to analyse the agreement between calculated and measured aerosol optical properties for two very different aerosol types. The agreement achieved for the EUCAARI-LONGREX flights is…

Relationship between the effective cloud optical depth and different atmospheric transmission factors

2015

This study examines the sensitivity of cloud optical depth (COD) for overcast conditions to radiation transmission using data collected in Valencia, Spain. These relationships are provided as simple empirical functions, therefore avoiding the need to apply complex model minimisation schemes to obtain COD. Comparisons are presented between COD obtained by a minimization method and several radiation transmission factors comprising a clearness index (kt), a modified version (kt'), a cloud modification factor (CMF) and its modified version (CMF'). Additionally, a statistical model of COD proposed by J.C. Barnard and C.N. Long (2004) is tested with our data. Statistical relationships between COD…