The vertical stratification and optical characteristics of aloft aerosol plumes are critical to evaluate their influences on climate radiation and air quality. In this study, we demonstrate the synergistic measurements of aloft aerosol plumes by a ground-based NOAA-CREST lidar network (CLN) along the US East Coast, the AERONET-sun/sky radiometer network at lidar sites, and satellite observations. During the plume intrusion period on March 6, 2012, the CLN and AERONET measurements were consistent in illustrating the onset of dust aerosol plumes. We observed two-layers of aerosol located at 1.0 ~ 8.0 km altitude. The column-average volume size distributions show increasing concentration of both fine- and coarse-modes aerosols, but are dominated by the coarse-mode. Direct lidar inversions illustrate that the aerosol plume layers contributed up to 70% of the total AOD. NOAA-HYSPLIT back-trajectories and CALIPSO observations indicate the trans-Pacific transport of Asian-dust at 3 - 8 km altitude to the US East Coast. Meanwhile, the NOAA-HMS fire and smoke products illustrate the transport and possible mixture of dust with fine-mode smoke particles from the middle and southwestern US. The small Angstrom exponents of MODIS/Aqua in the US East Coast imply the dominance of coarse-mode particles. Accordingly, the upper layer of coarse mode aerosols is most likely transported from the East Asia, while the lower layer at 1-3 km altitude probably consists of continental dust particles from the western US mixed with fine-mode smoke particles. In addition, the transport and vertical structure of aerosol are investigated with the NAAPS global aerosol transport model.
We present a special high spectral resolution lidar (HSRL) by using a novel tunable fiber based transmitter. The transmitter can produce 50μJ pulse energy at 1064nm and >25μJ pulse energy at 532nm with 10 kHz repetition rate, 5ns pulse width, respectively. A key advantage of the transmitter is the frequency-tunability. The laser can be tuned over the Iodine absorption lines from 1111 to 1104. The laser has a ~130MHz linewidth at 1064nm close to the transform limit linewidth ~ 88MHz for a pulse width of 5ns. Even though it was not frequency locked, the laser has very good frequency stability, which is on the order of ~200MHz over minutes. The beam quality M2 is less than 1.5. All the preliminary transmitter parameters meet the basic requirements of a HSRL. The transmitter was implemented in UMBC’s lidar lab that includes a ceiling hatch to enable vertical propagation and viewing of transmitted laser beams into the atmosphere. The atmospheric measurement demonstrates good agreement of the signal to the model Rayleigh decay over the profile range with no significant deviations. Most importantly, these results show that the measurement successfully suppresses the Mie scattering from clouds while recovering the full molecular signal as expected.
The determination of the depth of daytime and nighttime Planetary Boundary Layer Height (PBLH) must be
known very accurately to relate boundary layer concentrations of gases or particles to upstream fluxes. Moreover, the air
quality forecasts rely upon semi-empirical parameterizations within numerical models for the description of dispersion,
formation and fate of pollutants influenced by the spatial and temporal distribution of emissions in cities, topography,
and weather. The particulate matter (PM) mass measured at the ground level is a common way to quantify the amount of
aerosol particles in the atmosphere and is the standard used to evaluate air quality. Remote sensing of atmospheric
aerosols in the lower troposphere that affect air quality is done at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County
(UMBC) by the Atmospheric Lidar Group, that supported the joint NOAA/ARL and NCEP ad hoc field study. These
campaigns launched radiosondes from Howard University (HU) (26.6km south of UMBC) and RFK Stadium (29.15 km
south of UMBC) during September 14-22, 2009 to develop a database to investigate the evolution and spatial variability
of the PBLH. In this paper, we examined the potential for continual observation of PBLH by performing a statistical
comparison of the spatial and temporal resolution of PBLH from lidars, wind profiler, and radiosonde measurements
The NOAA GOES-R Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) will have nearly the same capabilities as NASA's Moderate
Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) to generate multi-wavelength retrievals of aerosol optical depth (AOD)
with high temporal and spatial resolution, which can be used as a surrogate of surface particulate measurements such as
PM2.5 (particulate matter with diameter less than 2.5 μm). To prepare for the launch of GOES-R and its application in
the air quality forecasting, we have transferred and enhanced the Infusing satellite Data into Environmental Applications
(IDEA) product from University of Wisconsin to NOAA NESDIS. IDEA was created through a NASA/EPA/NOAA
cooperative effort. The enhanced IDEA product provides near-real-time imagery of AOD derived from multiple satellite
sensors including MODIS Terra, MODIS Aqua, GOES EAST and GOES WEST imager. Air quality forecast guidance
is produced through a trajectory model initiated at locations with high AOD retrievals and/or high aerosol index (AI)
from OMI (Ozone Monitoring Instrument). The product is currently running at
http://www.star.nesdis.noaa.gov/smcd/spb/aq/. The IDEA system will be tested using the GOES-R ABI proxy dataset,
and will be ready to operate with GOES-R aerosol data when GOES-R is launched.
In 2006, we began a three-year project funded by the NASA Integrated Decisions Support program to develop a three-dimensional air quality system (3D-AQS). The focus of 3D-AQS is on the integration of aerosol-related NASA Earth Science Data into key air quality decision support systems used for air quality management, forecasting, and public health tracking. These will include the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)'s Air Quality System/AirQuest and AIRNow, Infusing satellite Data into Environmental Applications (IDEA) product, U.S. Air Quality weblog (Smog Blog) and the Regional East Atmospheric Lidar Mesonet (REALM). The project will result in greater accessibility of satellite and lidar datasets that, when used in conjunction with the ground-based particulate matter monitors, will enable monitoring across horizontal and vertical dimensions. Monitoring in multiple dimensions will enhance the air quality community's ability to monitor and forecast the geospatial extent and transboundary transport of air pollutants, particularly fine particulate matter. This paper describes the concept of this multisensor system and gives current examples of the types of products that will result from it.
The work described here reports on the improvement of a Raman lidar algorithm for measuring aerosol extinction. In order to calculate aerosol extinction from Raman lidar data it is necessary to perform the derivative of a molecular Raman signal with respect to altitude. The typical approach taken in the lidar community is to make an a priori assumption about the functional behavior of the data in order to calculate the derivative. Here a technique is shown that uses the chi-squared test to determine the most likely functional behavior of the data prior to actually calculating the derivative. A mathematical simulation is described that shows the capabilities of this technique and the possibility of reducing the extinction uncertainties with respect to traditional techniques.
This paper is presented to give a general description of the ORACLE project and of the technology development results obtained to date. ORACLE is a feasibility study of a fully automated differential absorption lidar for global measurements of tropospheric and stratospheric ozone and aerosols with high vertical and horizontal resolution. The proposed program includes both novel technology demonstrations and obtaining scientific data from spacecraft. These data are needed to address key issues in atmospheric research including the depletion of stratospheric ozone, global warming, atmospheric transport and dynamics, tropospheric ozone budgets, atmospheric chemistry, and the atmospheric impact of hazards. Only a space-based lidar system can provide the required spatial resolution for ozone and aerosols in both the stratosphere and the troposphere on a global scale at all required altitudes. To deliver these data, the most novel technologies such as all-solid-state lasers, photon-counting detectors and ultra-lightweight deployable telescopes must be employed in the mission payload.
Using data from the Lidar In-Space Technology Experiment (LITE), the authors examine the ability to detect urban and regional scale pollution signatures from space. LITE showed that over 50 urban areas could be detected worldwide and that one case off Taiwan could be quantitatively studied to estimate the mass flux of sulphate aerosol from the island. These results are now being used in a regional aerosol climate model, NARCM, to predict the aerosol budget in the northern hemisphere. Comparisons of LITE aerosol retrievals and the NARCM predictions are given.
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