ALBERT

Description: The particle dispersion model FLEXPART and the trajectory model LAGRANTO are Lagrangian models which are widely used to study synoptic-scale atmospheric air flows such as stratospheric intrusions (SI) and intercontinental transport (ICT). In this study, we focus on SI and ICT events particularly from the North American planetary boundary layer for the Jungfraujoch (JFJ) measurement site, Switzerland, in 2005. Two representative cases of SI and ICT are identified based on measurements recorded at Jungfraujoch and are compared with FLEXPART and LAGRANTO simulations, respectively. Both models well capture the events, showing good temporal agreement between models and measurements. In addition, we investigate the performance of FLEXPART and LAGRANTO on representing SI and ICT events over the entire year 2005 in a statistical way. We found that the air at JFJ is influenced by SI during 19% (FLEXPART) and 18% (LAGRANTO), and by ICT from the North American planetary boundary layer during 13% (FLEXPART) and 12% (LAGRANTO) of the entire year. Through intercomparsion with measurements, our findings suggest that both FLEXPART and LAGRANTO are well capable of representing SI and ICT events if they last for more than 12 h, whereas both have problems on representing short events. For comparison with in-situ observations we used O3 and relative humidity for SI events. As parameters to trace ICT events we used a combination of NOy/CO and CO, however these parameters are not specific enough to distinguish aged air masses by their source regions. Moreover, a sensitivity study indicates that the agreement between models and measurements depends significantly on the threshold values applied to the individual control parameters. Generally, the less strict the thresholds are, the better the agreement between models and measurements. Although the dependence of the agreement on the threshold values is appreciable, it nevertheless confirms the conclusion that both FLEXPART and LAGRANTO are well able to capture SI and ICT events with duration longer than 12 h.

Description: Long-term ozone measurements of two background mountain sites, namely the Kislovodsk High Mountain Station in Caucasus, Russia (KHMS, 43.70° N, 42.70° E, 2070 m a.s.l.) and the Jungfraujoch in Switzerland (JFJ, 46.55° N, 7.98° E, 3580 m a.s.l.) are compared. Despite of more than 1.5 km altitude difference ozone mixing ratios are comparable at JFJ an KHMS in the beginning of measurements (1990–1993) while the annually averaged levels at JFJ are around 15 ppb higher than the ones at KHMS for the most recent years (1997–2006). The seasonal cycle of the surface ozone mixing ratios is characterized by a double spring-summer maximum at both sites with a spring one being more pronounced for the air masses with the longest contact with the upper free troposphere and stratosphere. Ozone mixing ratio increased at JFJ but decreased at KHMS for the period 1990–2006. Trends are more pronounced for the 1990s (+0.73±0.20 ppb/year at JFJ and −0.91±0.17 ppb/year at KHMS for the period 1991–2001) in comparison with the later years (+0.04±0.21 ppb/year at JFJ and −0.37±0.14 ppb/year at KHMS for the period 1997–2006). Trends show a distinct seasonality, which is different for the different periods. To investigate possible reasons for this remarkable trends difference 3-D trajectories using LAGRANTO trajectory model are used. Effects of horizontal and vertical transport on ozone trends are considered. No substantial systematic changes in the transport patterns were detected which could lead to strong changes in the trend magnitude between 1991–2001 and 1997–2006. The geographical position of the sites relative to the main topographic features and emission sources as well as distance from the coast are interpreted to be among the main reasons for the opposite surface ozone trends. During the 90s the JFJ trend reflects increase of the ozone in the upper free troposphere/lower stratosphere, while KHMS is not sensitive to this change or even showing the opposite tendency. The analysis provided evidence for a stronger influence of processes in the lower troposphere, in particular the dramatic emission decrease in the earlier 1990s in former USSR and emissions regulations in Western Europe on the surface ozone trend at KHMS.

Description: Within the atmospheric research community, there is a strong interest in integrated datasets, combining data from several instrumentations. This integration is complicated by the different characteristics of the datasets, inherent to the measurement techniques. Here we have compared two carbon monoxide time series (1997 till 2007) acquired at the high-Alpine research station Jungfraujoch (3580 m above sea level), with two well-established measurement techniques, namely in situ surface concentration measurements using Non-Dispersive Infrared Absorption technology (NDIR), and ground-based remote sensing measurements using solar absorption Fourier Transform Infrared spectrometry (FTIR). The profile information available in the FTIR signal allowed us to extract an independent layer with a top height of 7.18 km above sea level, appropriate for comparison with our in situ measurements. We show that, even if both techniques are able to measure free troposphere CO concentrations, the datasets exhibit marked differences in their overall trends (−3.21 ± 0.03 ppb year−1 for NDIR vs. −0.8 ± 0.4 ppb year−1 for FTIR). Removing measurements that are polluted by uprising boundary layer air has a strong impact on the NDIR trend (now −2.62 ± 0.03 ppb year−1), but its difference with FTIR remains significant. Using the LAGRANTO trajectory model, we show that both measurement techniques are influenced by different source regions and therefore are likely subject to exhibit significant differences in their overall trend behaviour. However the observation that the NDIR-FTIR trend difference is as significant before as after 2001 is at odds with available emission databases which claim a significant Asian CO increase after 2001 only.

Description: Within the atmospheric research community, there is a strong interest in integrated datasets, combining data from several instrumentations. This integration is complicated by the different characteristics of the datasets, inherent to the measurement techniques. Here we have compared two carbon monoxide time series (1997 till 2007) acquired at the high-Alpine research station Jungfraujoch, with two well-established measurement techniques, namely in situ surface concentration measurements using Non-Dispersive Infrared Absorption technology (NDIR), and ground-based remote sensing measurements using solar absorption Fourier Transform Infrared spectrometry (FTIR). We show that, even if both techniques are able to measure free troposphere CO concentrations, the datasets are influenced by different source regions and therefore are subject to exhibit significant differences in their overall trend behaviour.

Description: The 3 August 2014 Ludian, China, Ms  =  6.5 earthquake caused many large landslides. The biggest occurred at Hongshiyan near the epicenter, had a volume of 1.0  ×  107 m3 and dammed the Niulanjiang River, creating a large lake. Post-event field investigations yielded detailed data on the following aspects: rock structure of the landslide, the local lithology and geometry of the area around the landslide dam and composition and grain sizes of the debris avalanche. Based on these data, this work analyzes the geology and topography of the Hongshiyan area, and explores reasons for the occurrence of an unusually large landslide at this location. Our analysis suggests the following conditions are responsible for this catastrophic event. (1) Due to recent crustal deformation, intense incision on the river increased topographic relief with steep slopes and scarps. (2) Combined structures, including unloading fissures, high-angle joints and low-angle beds along the river, as well as an upper-strong and lower-weak interlayer structure on the slope, especially the existence of weak layers in the slope, are important factors that contribute to this large failure. (3) Hongshiyan lies near an active fault, where intense crustal deformation has resulted in rock fractures and weathering, and frequent earthquakes may progressively reduce the strength of the slope. (4) During the Ms  =  6.5 earthquake, the terrain and site conditions led to abnormally strong ground shaking. The combined impacts of these factors triggered a very large landslide during a moderate-sized earthquake.

Description: The 3 August 2014 Ludian, China Ms 6.5 earthquake has spawned a mass of severe landslides. Of them the biggest occurred at Hongshiyan near the epicenter, which has 1200 × 104 m3, clogging the Niulanjiang River, and creating a large dammed lake. Post-event field investigations yield detailed data on following aspects: rock structure of landslides, lithology, and geometry of the dam, composition and grain sizes of debris avalanches. Based on these data, this work further analyzes the geology and topography of the Hongshiyan area, and explores the mechanism for occurrence of such an unusual big landslide at this place. Our analysis suggests the following conditions are responsible for this catastrophic event: (1) during the Ms 6.5 earthquake, the special terrain and site conditions led to abnormally strong ground shake. (2) Hongshiyan lies nearby an active fault, where intense crustal deformation resulted in rock fractures and weathering. (3) Intense incision on the river increased topographic relief with steep slopes and scarps. (4) Combined structures, including unloading fissures, high-angle joints and low-angle beds along the river as well as upper-tough and lower-soft structure on the slopes. It is the joint functions of these conditions that triggered such seldom seen landslides during a moderated-sized earthquake.

Description: The strong spectral dependence of light absorption of brown carbon (BrC) aerosol is regarded to influence aerosol's radiative forcing significantly. The Absorption Angstrom Exponent (AAE) method was widely used in previous studies to attribute light absorption of BrC at shorter wavelengths for ambient aerosol, with a theoretical assumption that the AAE of "pure" black carbon (BC) aerosol equals to 1.0. In this study, the previous AAE method was improved by statistical analysis and applied in both urban and rural environments in the Pearl River Delta (PRD) region of China. A three-wavelength photo-acoustic soot spectrometer (PASS-3) and aerosol mass spectrometers (AMS) were used to explore the relationship between the measured AAE and the relative abundance of organic aerosol to BC. The regression and extrapolation analysis revealed that the more realistic AAE values for "pure" BC aerosol were 0.86, 0.82, and 1.02 at 405 nm, and 0.70, 0.71, and 0.86 at 532 nm, in the campaigns of urban_winter, urban_fall, and rural_fall, respectively. Roadway tunnel experiments were also conducted, and the results further supported the representativeness of the obtained AAE values for "pure" BC aerosol in the urban environments. Finally, the average aerosol light absorption contribution of BrC was quantified to be 11.7, 6.3, and 12.1 % (with relative uncertainties of 4, 4, and 7 %) at 405 nm, and 10.0, 4.1, and 5.5 % (with relative uncertainties of 2, 2, and 5 %) at 532 nm, in the campaigns of urban_winter, urban_fall, and rural_fall, respectively. The relatively higher BrC absorption contribution at 405 nm in the rural_fall campaign was likely a result of the biomass burning events nearby, which was supported by the biomass burning simulation experiments performed in this study. The results of this paper indicate that the brown carbon contribution to aerosol light absorption at shorter wavelengths is not negligible in the highly urbanized and industrialized PRD region.

Description: The particle dispersion model FLEXPART and the trajectory model LAGRANTO are Lagrangian models which are widely used to study synoptic-scale atmospheric air flows such as stratospheric intrusions (SI) and intercontinental transport (ICT). In this study, we focus on SI and ICT events particularly from the North American planetary boundary layer for the Jungfraujoch (JFJ) measurement site, Switzerland, in 2005. Two representative cases of SI and ICT are identified based on measurements recorded at Jungfraujoch and are compared with FLEXPART and LAGRANTO simulations, respectively. Both models well capture the events, showing good temporal agreement between models and measurements. In addition, we investigate the performance of FLEXPART and LAGRANTO on representing SI and ICT events over the entire year 2005 in a statistical way. We found that the air at JFJ is influenced by SI during 19% (FLEXPART) and 18% (LAGRANTO), and by ICT from the North American planetary boundary layer during 13% (FLEXPART) and 12% (LAGRANTO) of the entire year. Through intercomparsion with measurements, our findings suggest that both FLEXPART and LAGRANTO are well capable of representing SI and ICT events if they last for more than 12 h, whereas both have problems on representing short events. It is also shown that although the long-range transported air is characterized by relatively low NOy/CO ratios and elevated CO concentrations, using a combination of NOy/CO and CO as control parameters still encounters difficulty in distinguishing aged air masses by their source regions. Moreover, a sensitivity study indicates that the agreement between models and measurements depends significantly on the threshold values applied to the individual control parameters. Generally, the less strict the thresholds are, the better the agreement between models and measurements. Although the dependence of the agreement on the threshold values is appreciable, it nevertheless confirms the conclusion that both FLEXPART and LAGRANTO are well able to capture SI and ICT events with sustaining time longer than 12 h.

Description: Long-term ozone measurements of two background mountain sites, namely the Kislovodsk High Mountain Station in Caucasus, Russia (KHMS, 43.70° N, 42.70° E, 2070 m a.s.l.) and the Jungfraujoch in Switzerland (JFJ, 46.55° N, 7.98° E, 3580 m a.s.l.) are compared. Despite of more than 1.5 km altitude difference ozone concentrations are comparable at JFJ an KHMS in the beginning of measurements (1990–1993) while the annually averaged levels at JFJ are around 15 ppb higher than the ones at KHMS for the most recent years (1997–2006). Averaged for different periods ozone concentrations at KHMS are comparable with the respective values observed at the elevated sites in the midlatitudes, situated in the altitude range 1600–2400 m a.s.l. Distribution function of the hourly concentrations has two peaks at JFJ and it is close to Gaussian distribution in the case of KHMS. Seasonality at both sites is characterized by double spring-summer maximum. Spring maximum at both stations is more pronounced for the air masses with the longest contact with upper free troposphere and stratosphere. Average concentrations increased at JFJ but decreased at KHMS for the period 1990–2006. Trends are more pronounced for the 1990s (+0.73±0.20 ppb/year at JFJ and −0.91±0.17 ppb/year at KHMS for the period 1991–2001) in comparison with later years (+0.04±0.21 ppb/year at JFJ and −0.37±0.14 ppb/year at KHMS for the period 1997–2006). Trends show a distinct seasonality, which is different for the different periods. To investigate possible reasons for this remarkable trends difference 3-D trajectories using LAGRANTO trajectory model are used. Effects of the horizontal and vertical transport on ozone trends are considered. In general we could not find any systematic changes in the transport patterns which could explain the significant changes of the trends between 1991–2001 and 1997–2006. It is likely that the position of the main emission source areas relative to the stations is among the main reason for the opposite surface ozone trends. During the 1990s the JFJ trend reflects increase of the ozone in the upper free troposphere/lower stratosphere. In contrary KHSM is much more influenced by dramatic emission decrease in the earlier 1990s in former USSR and emissions regulations in Western Europe. For later years ozone trends at KHMS are controlled by slight emission increase in the region, while trends at JFJ correspond to the scenario of European emissions control.

Description: The strong spectral dependence of light absorption of brown carbon (BrC) aerosol is regarded to influence aerosol's radiative forcing significantly. The Absorption Angstrom Exponent (AAE) method has been widely used in previous studies to attribute light absorption of BrC at shorter wavelengths for ambient aerosols, with a theoretical assumption that the AAE of "pure" black carbon (BC) aerosol equals to 1.0. In this study, the AAE method was applied to both urban and rural environments in the Pearl River Delta (PRD) region of China, with an improvement of constraining the realistic AAE of "pure" BC through statistical analysis of on-line measurement data. A three-wavelength photo-acoustic soot spectrometer (PASS-3) and aerosol mass spectrometers (AMS) were used to explore the relationship between the measured AAE and the relative abundance of organic aerosol to BC. The regression and extrapolation analysis revealed that more realistic AAE values for "pure" BC aerosol (AAEBC) were 0.86, 0.82, and 1.02 between 405 and 781 nm, and 0.70, 0.71, and 0.86 between 532 and 781 nm, in the campaigns of urbanwinter, urbanfall, and ruralfall, respectively. Roadway tunnel experiments were conducted and the results further confirmed the representativeness of the obtained AAEBC values for the urban environment. Finally, the average light absorption contributions of BrC (± relative uncertainties) at 405 nm were quantified to be 11.7 % (±5 %), 6.3 % (±4 %), and 12.1 % (±7 %) in the campaigns of urbanwinter, urbanfall, and ruralfall, respectively, and those at 532 nm were 10.0 % (±2 %), 4.1 % (±3 %), and 5.5 % (±5 %), respectively. The relatively higher BrC absorption contribution at 405 nm in the ruralfall campaign could be reasonably attributed to the biomass burning events nearby, which was then directly supported by the biomass burning simulation experiments performed in this study. This paper indicates that the BrC contribution to total aerosol light absorption at shorter wavelengths is not negligible in the highly urbanized and industrialized PRD region.