ALBERT

Description: We performed synergetic daytime and night-time active and passive remote sensing observations at Menorca (Balearic Island, Spain), over more than 3 weeks during the Chemistry–Aerosol Mediterranean Experiment/Aerosol Direct Radiative Effect in the Mediterranean (ChArMEx/ADRIMED) special observation period (SOP 1a, June–July 2013). We characterized the aerosol optical properties and type in the low and middle troposphere using an automated procedure combining Rayleigh–Mie–Raman lidar (355, 387 and 407 nm) with depolarization (355 nm) and AERONET Cimel® sun-photometer data. Results show a high variability due to varying dynamical forcing. The mean column-averaged lidar backscatter-to-extinction ratio (BER) was close to 0.024 sr-1 (lidar ratio of ∼ 41.7 sr), with a large dispersion of ±33 % over the whole observation period due to changing atmospheric transport regimes and aerosol sources. The ground-based remote sensing measurements, coupled with satellite observations, allowed to document (i) dust particles up to 5 km a.s.l. in altitude originating from Morocco and Algeria from 15 to 18 June with a peak in aerosol optical thickness (AOT) of 0.25 ± 0.05 at 355 nm, (ii) a long-range transport of biomass burning aerosol (AOT = 0.18 ± 0.16) related to North American forest fires detected from 26 to 28 June 2013 by the lidar between 2 and 7 km and (iii) mixture of local sources including marine aerosol particles and pollution from Spain. During the biomass burning event, the high value of the particle depolarization ratio (8–14 %) may imply the presence of dust-like particles mixed with the biomass burning aerosols in the mid troposphere. We show also linearity with SEVIRI retrievals of the aerosol optical thickness within 35 % relative bias, which is discussed as a function of aerosol type.

Description: Long range transport of biomass burning (BB) aerosols between North America and the Mediterranean region took place in June 2013. A large number of ground based and airborne lidar measurements were deployed in the Western Mediterranean during the Chemistry-AeRosol Mediterranean EXperiment (ChArMEx) intensive observation period. A detailed analysis of the potential North American aerosol sources is conducted including the assessment of their transport to Europe using forward simulations of the FLEXPART Lagrangian particle dispersion model initialized using satellite observations by MODIS and CALIOP. The three dimensional structure of the aerosol distribution in the ChArMEx domain observed by the ground-based lidars (Menorca, Barcelona and Lampedusa), a Falcon-20 aircraft flight and three CALIOP tracks, agree very well with the model simulation of the three major sources considered in this work: Canadian and Colorado fires, a dust storm from Western US and the contribution of Saharan dust streamers advected from the North Atlantic trade wind region into the Westerlies region. Four aerosol types were identified using the optical properties of the observed aerosol layers (aerosol depolarization ratio, lidar ratio) and the transport model analysis of the contribution of each aerosol source: (I) pure BB layer, (II) weakly dusty BB, (III) significant mixture of BB and dust transported from the trade wind region (IV) the outflow of Saharan dust by the subtropical jet and not mixed with BB aerosol. The contribution of the Canadian fires is the major aerosol source during this episode while mixing of dust and BB is only significant at altitude above 5 km. The mixing corresponds to a 20–30 % dust contribution in the total aerosol backscatter. The comparison with the MODIS AOD horizontal distribution during this episode over the Western Mediterranean sea shows that the Canadian fires contribution were as large as the direct northward dust outflow from Sahara.

Description: The Chemistry-Aerosol Mediterranean Experiment (ChArMEx; http://charmex.lsce.ipsl.fr) is a collaborative research program federating international activities to investigate Mediterranean regional chemistry-climate interactions. A special observing period (SOP-1a) including intensive airborne measurements was performed in the framework of the Aerosol Direct Radiative Forcing on the Mediterranean Climate (ADRIMED) project during the Mediterranean dry season over the western and central Mediterranean basins, with a focus on aerosol-radiation measurements and their modeling. The SOP-1a took place from 11 June to 5 July 2013. Airborne measurements were made by both the ATR-42 and F-20 French research aircraft operated from Sardinia (Italy) and instrumented for in situ and remote-sensing measurements, respectively, and by sounding and drifting balloons, launched in Minorca. The experimental set-up also involved several ground-based measurement sites on islands including two ground-based reference stations in Corsica and Lampedusa and secondary monitoring sites in Minorca and Sicily. Additional measurements including lidar profiling were also performed on alert during aircraft operations at EARLINET/ACTRIS stations at Granada and Barcelona in Spain, and in southern Italy. Remote sensing aerosol products from satellites (MSG/SEVIRI, MODIS) and from the AERONET/PHOTONS network were also used. Dedicated meso-scale and regional modelling experiments were performed in relation to this observational effort. We provide here an overview of the different surface and aircraft observations deployed during the ChArMEx/ADRIMED period and of associated modeling studies together with an analysis of the synoptic conditions that determined the aerosol emission and transport. Meteorological conditions observed during this campaign (moderate temperatures and southern flows) were not favorable to produce high level of atmospheric pollutants nor intense biomass burning events in the region. However, numerous mineral dust plumes were observed during the campaign with main sources located in Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia, leading to aerosol optical depth (AOD) values ranging between 0.2 to 0.6 (at 440 nm) over the western and central Mediterranean basins. Associated aerosol extinction values measured on-board the ATR-42 within the dust plume show local maxima reaching up to 150 Mm−1. Non negligible aerosol extinction (about 50 Mm−1) was also been observed within the Marine Boundary Layer (MBL). By combining ATR-42 extinction, absorption and scattering measurements, a complete optical closure has been made revealing excellent agreement with estimated optical properties. Associated calculations of the dust single scattering albedo (SSA) have been conducted, which show a moderate variability (from 0.90 to 1.00 at 530 nm). In parallel, active remote-sensing observations from the surface and onboard the F-20 aircraft suggest a complex vertical structure of particles and distinct aerosol layers with sea-salt and pollution located within the MBL, and mineral dust and/or aged north American smoke particles located above (up to 6–7 km in altitude). Aircraft and balloon-borne observations show particle size distributions characterized by large aerosols (〉 10 μm in diameter) within dust plumes. In terms of shortwave (SW) direct forcing, in-situ surface and aircraft observations have been merged and used as inputs in 1-D radiative transfer codes for calculating the direct radiative forcing (DRF). Results show significant surface SW instantaneous forcing (up to −90 W m−2 at noon). Associated 3-D modeling studies from regional climate (RCM) and chemistry transport (CTM) models indicate a relatively good agreement for simulated AOD compared with measurements/observations from the AERONET/PHOTONS network and satellite data, especially for long-range dust transport. Calculations of the 3-D SW (clear-sky) surface DRF indicate an average of about −10 to −20 W m−2 (for the whole period) over the Mediterranean Sea together with maxima (−50 W m−2) over northern Africa. The top of the atmosphere (TOA) DRF is shown to be highly variable within the domain, due to moderate absorbing properties of dust and changes in the surface albedo. Indeed, 3-D simulations indicate negative forcing over the Mediterranean Sea and Europe and positive forcing over northern Africa.

Description: The study is focused on Intensive Observation Period (IOP) 14 of the Hydrology Cycle in the Mediterranean Experiment first Special Observing Period (HyMeX SOP 1) that took place from 17 to 19 October and was dedicated to the study of orographic rain in the Cevennes Vivarais (CV) target area. During this IOP a dense dust plume originating from North Africa (Maghreb and Sahara) was observed to be transported over the Balearic Islands towards the south of France. The plume was characterized by an aerosol optical depth between 0.2 and 0.8 at 550 nm, highly variable in time and space over the Western Mediterranean basin. The impact of this dust plume, the biggest event observed during the 2 month long HyMeX SOP 1, on the precipitation over the CV area has been analyzed using high resolution simulations from the convection permitting mesoscale model Meso-NH validated against measurements obtained from numerous instruments deployed specifically during SOP 1 (ground-based/airborne water vapor and aerosol lidars, airborne microphysics probes) as well as space-borne aerosol products. The 4 day simulation reproduced realistically the temporal and spatial variability (incl. vertical distribution) of the dust. The dust radiative impact led to an average 0.6 K heating at the altitude of the dust layer in the CV area (and up to +3 K locally) and an average 100 J kg-1 increase of most unstable convective available potential energy (and up to +900 J kg-1 locally) with respect to a simulation without prescribed dust aerosols. The rainfall amounts and location were only marginally affected by the dust radiative effect, even after 4 days of simulation. The transient nature of this radiative effect in dynamical environments such as those found in the vicinity of heavy precipitation events in the Mediterranean is not sufficient to impact 24 h accumulated rainfall in the dusty simulation.

Description: The study is focused on Intensive Observation Period (IOP) 14 of the Hydrological Cycle in the Mediterranean Experiment first Special Observing Period (HyMeX SOP 1) that took place from 17 to 19 October 2012 and was dedicated to the study of orographic rain in the Cévennes–Vivarais (CV) target area. During this IOP a dense dust plume originating from northern Africa (the Maghreb and Sahara) was observed to be transported over the Balearic Islands towards the south of France. The plume was characterized by an aerosol optical depth between 0.2 and 0.8 at 550 nm, highly variable in time and space over the western Mediterranean Basin. The impact of this dust plume, the biggest event observed during the 2-month-long HyMeX SOP 1, on the precipitation over the CV area has been analyzed using high-resolution simulations from the convection permitting mesoscale model Meso-NH (mesoscale non-hydrostatic model) validated against measurements obtained from numerous instruments deployed specifically during SOP 1 (ground-based/airborne water vapor and aerosol lidars, airborne microphysics probes) as well as space-borne aerosol products. The 4-day simulation reproduced realistically the temporal and spatial variability (including the vertical distribution) of the dust. The dust radiative impact led to an average 0.6 K heating at the altitude of the dust layer in the CV area (and up to +3 K locally) and an average 100 J kg−1 increase of most unstable convective available potential energy (and up to +900 J kg−1 locally) with respect to a simulation without prescribed dust aerosols. The rainfall amounts and location were only marginally affected by the dust radiative effect, even after 4 days of simulation. The transient nature of this radiative effect in dynamical environments such as those found in the vicinity of heavy precipitation events in the Mediterranean is not sufficient to impact 24 h of accumulated rainfall in the dust simulation.

Description: We present a calibration method for a water vapour Raman lidar using a meteorological probe on-board a kite, flown steadily above the lidar site, within the framework of the Hydrological Cycle in the Mediterranean Experiment (HyMeX) and Chemistry-Aerosols Radiative Effect in the Mediterranean (ChArMEx) campaigns. The experiment was carried on in Menorca (Spain) during June 2013, using the mobile Water vapour and Aerosol Lidar WALI. The kite calibration showed a much better degree of co-location with the lidar system than could be achieved with radiosondes, and allowed to calibrate measurements below the full overlap range between the emitter and the receiver. A range-dependent water vapour lidar calibration was determined, with an uncertainty of 2 % in the altitude range 90–8000 m. Water vapour measurements were further compared with radiosondes, showing very good agreement in the lower troposphere (1–5 km) and a relative mean and standard deviation of 5 and 9 %, respectively. Moreover, a reasonable agreement with MODIS integrated water vapour content is found, with a relative mean and standard deviation of 3 and 16 %. However, a discrepancy was found with AERONET retrievals, showing the latter to be underestimated by 28 %. Reanalyses from the ECMWF/IFS numerical weather prediction model were also in agreement with the temporal evolution highlighted with the lidar, with no measurable drift in integrated content over the period.

Description: The Chemistry-Aerosol Mediterranean Experiment (ChArMEx; http://charmex.lsce.ipsl.fr) is a collaborative research program federating international activities to investigate Mediterranean regional chemistry-climate interactions. A special observing period (SOP-1a) including intensive airborne measurements was performed in the framework of the Aerosol Direct Radiative Impact on the regional climate in the MEDiterranean region (ADRIMED) project during the Mediterranean dry season over the western and central Mediterranean basins, with a focus on aerosol-radiation measurements and their modeling. The SOP-1a took place from 11 June to 5 July 2013. Airborne measurements were made by both the ATR-42 and F-20 French research aircraft operated from Sardinia (Italy) and instrumented for in situ and remote-sensing measurements, respectively, and by sounding and drifting balloons, launched in Minorca. The experimental setup also involved several ground-based measurement sites on islands including two ground-based reference stations in Corsica and Lampedusa and secondary monitoring sites in Minorca and Sicily. Additional measurements including lidar profiling were also performed on alert during aircraft operations at EARLINET/ACTRIS stations at Granada and Barcelona in Spain, and in southern Italy. Remote-sensing aerosol products from satellites (MSG/SEVIRI, MODIS) and from the AERONET/PHOTONS network were also used. Dedicated meso-scale and regional modeling experiments were performed in relation to this observational effort. We provide here an overview of the different surface and aircraft observations deployed during the ChArMEx/ADRIMED period and of associated modeling studies together with an analysis of the synoptic conditions that determined the aerosol emission and transport. Meteorological conditions observed during this campaign (moderate temperatures and southern flows) were not favorable to producing high levels of atmospheric pollutants or intense biomass burning events in the region. However, numerous mineral dust plumes were observed during the campaign, with the main sources located in Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia, leading to aerosol optical depth (AOD) values ranging between 0.2 and 0.6 (at 440 nm) over the western and central Mediterranean basins. One important point of this experiment concerns the direct observations of aerosol extinction onboard the ATR-42, using the CAPS system, showing local maxima reaching up to 150 M m−1 within the dust plume. Non-negligible aerosol extinction (about 50 M m−1) has also been observed within the marine boundary layer (MBL). By combining the ATR-42 extinction coefficient observations with absorption and scattering measurements, we performed a complete optical closure revealing excellent agreement with estimated optical properties. This additional information on extinction properties has allowed calculation of the dust single scattering albedo (SSA) with a high level of confidence over the western Mediterranean. Our results show a moderate variability from 0.90 to 1.00 (at 530 nm) for all flights studied compared to that reported in the literature on this optical parameter. Our results underline also a relatively low difference in SSA with values derived near dust sources. In parallel, active remote-sensing observations from the surface and onboard the F-20 aircraft suggest a complex vertical structure of particles and distinct aerosol layers with sea spray and pollution located within the MBL, and mineral dust and/or aged North American smoke particles located above (up to 6–7 km in altitude). Aircraft and balloon-borne observations allow one to investigate the vertical structure of the aerosol size distribution showing particles characterized by a large size (〉 10 µm in diameter) within dust plumes. In most of cases, a coarse mode characterized by an effective diameter ranging between 5 and 10 µm, has been detected above the MBL. In terms of shortwave (SW) direct forcing, in situ surface and aircraft observations have been merged and used as inputs in 1-D radiative transfer codes for calculating the aerosol direct radiative forcing (DRF). Results show significant surface SW instantaneous forcing (up to −90 W m−2 at noon). Aircraft observations provide also original estimates of the vertical structure of SW and LW radiative heating revealing significant instantaneous values of about 5° K per day in the solar spectrum (for a solar angle of 30°) within the dust layer. Associated 3-D modeling studies from regional climate (RCM) and chemistry transport (CTM) models indicate a relatively good agreement for simulated AOD compared with observations from the AERONET/PHOTONS network and satellite data, especially for long-range dust transport. Calculations of the 3-D SW (clear-sky) surface DRF indicate an average of about −10 to −20 W m−2 (for the whole period) over the Mediterranean Sea together with maxima (−50 W m−2) over northern Africa. The top of the atmosphere (TOA) DRF is shown to be highly variable within the domain, due to moderate absorbing properties of dust and changes in the surface albedo. Indeed, 3-D simulations indicate negative forcing over the Mediterranean Sea and Europe and positive forcing over northern Africa. Finally, a multi-year simulation, performed for the 2003 to 2009 period and including an ocean–atmosphere (O–A) coupling, underlines the impact of the aerosol direct radiative forcing on the sea surface temperature, O–A fluxes and the hydrological cycle over the Mediterranean.

Description: In June 2013, a ground-based mobile lidar performed the ~10 000 km ride from Paris to Ulan-Ude, near Lake Baikal, profiling for the first time aerosol optical properties all the way from western Europe to central Siberia. The instrument was equipped with N2-Raman and depolarization channels that enabled an optical speciation of aerosols in the low and middle troposphere. The extinction-to-backscatter ratio (also called lidar ratio or LR) and particle depolarization ratio (PDR) at 355 nm have been retrieved. The LR in the lower boundary layer (300–700 m) was found to be 63 ± 17 sr on average during the campaign with a distribution slightly skewed toward higher values that peaks between 50 and 55 sr. Although the difference is small, PDR values observed in Russian cities (〉2%, except after rain) are systematically higher than the ones measured in Europe (

Description: During the ADRIMED (Aerosol Direct Radiative Impact on the regional climate in the Mediterranean region) special observation period (SOP-1a), conducted in June 2013 in the framework of the ChArMEx (Chemistry-Aerosol Mediterranean Experiment) project, a moderate Saharan dust event swept the Western and Central Mediterranean Basin (WCMB) from west to east during a 9-day period between 16 and 24 June. This event was monitored from the ground by six EARLINET/ACTRIS (European Aerosol Research Lidar Network/Aerosols, Clouds, and Trace gases Research Infrastructure Network) lidar stations (Granada, Barcelona, Naples, Potenza, Lecce and Serra la Nave) and twoADRIMED/ChArMEx lidar stations specially deployed for the field campaign in Cap d’en Font and Ersa, in Minorca and Corsica Islands, respectively. The first part of the study shows the spatio-temporal monitoring of the dust event during its transport over the WCMB with ground-based lidar and co-located AERONET (Aerosol Robotic Network) Sun-photometer measurements. Dust layer optical depths, Ångström exponents, coarse mode fractions, linear particle depolarization ratios (LPDRs), dust layer heights and the dust radiative forcing estimated in the shortwave (SW) and longwave (LW) spectral ranges at the bottom of the atmosphere (BOA) and at the top of the atmosphere (TOA) with the Global Atmospheric Model (GAME), have been used to characterize the dust event. Peak values of the AERONETaerosol optical depth (AOD) at 440 nm ranged between 0.16 in Potenza and 0.37 in Cap d’en Font. The associated Ångström exponent and coarse mode fraction mean values ranged from 0.43 to 1.26 and from 0.25 to 0.51, respectively. The mineral dust produced a negative SWdirect radiative forcing at the BOA ranging from −56.9 to −3.5Wm−2. TheLW radiative forcing at the BOAwas positive, ranging between +0.3 and +17.7 W m-2. The BOA radiative forcing estimates agree with the ones reported in the literature. At the TOA, the SW forcing varied between −34.5 and +7.5 W m−2. In seven cases, the forcing at the TOA resulted positive because of the aerosol strong absorbing properties (0.83 〈 single-scattering albedo (SSA) 〈 0.96). The multi-intrusion aspect of the event is examined by means of air- and space-borne lidar measurements, satellite images and back trajectories. The analysis reported in this paper underline the arrival of a second different intrusion of mineral dust observed over southern Italy at the end of the considered period which probably results in the observed heterogeneity in the dust properties.

Description: Published

Description: 261–285

Description: 7A. Geofisica per il monitoraggio ambientale e geologia medica

Description: JCR Journal