Publication Date:
2022-11-03
Description:
〈jats:p〉Abstract. Aerosol particles are essential constituents of the Earth's atmosphere, impacting the earth radiation balance directly by scattering and
absorbing solar radiation, and indirectly by acting as cloud condensation
nuclei. In contrast to most greenhouse gases, aerosol particles have short
atmospheric residence times, resulting in a highly heterogeneous distribution in space and time. There is a clear need to document this variability at
regional scale through observations involving, in particular, the in situ
near-surface segment of the atmospheric observation system. This paper will provide the widest effort so far to document variability of climate-relevant
in situ aerosol properties (namely wavelength dependent particle light
scattering and absorption coefficients, particle number concentration and
particle number size distribution) from all sites connected to the Global
Atmosphere Watch network. High-quality data from almost 90 stations worldwide have been collected and controlled for quality and are reported
for a reference year in 2017, providing a very extended and robust view of
the variability of these variables worldwide. The range of variability
observed worldwide for light scattering and absorption coefficients, single-scattering albedo, and particle number concentration are presented together with preliminary information on their long-term trends and comparison with
model simulation for the different stations. The scope of the present paper
is also to provide the necessary suite of information, including data provision procedures, quality control and analysis, data policy, and usage of
the ground-based aerosol measurement network. It delivers to users of the World Data Centre on Aerosol, the required confidence in data products in
the form of a fully characterized value chain, including uncertainty estimation and requirements for contributing to the global climate
monitoring system.
〈/jats:p〉
Repository Name:
EPIC Alfred Wegener Institut
Type:
Article
,
NonPeerReviewed
Format:
application/pdf
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