A Cluster Analysis Approach for Nocturnal Atmospheric Boundary Layer Height Estimation from Multi-Wavelength Lidar

Abstract

The atmospheric boundary layer provides useful information about the accumulation and diffusion of pollutants. As a fast method, remote sensing techniques are used to retrieve the atmospheric boundary layer height (ABLH). Atmospheric detection lidar has been widely applied for retrieving the ABLH by providing information on the vertical distribution of aerosols. However, these previous algorithms that rely on gradient change are susceptible to residual layers. Contrary to the use of gradient change to retrieve ABLH, in this paper, we propose using a cluster analysis approach through multifunction lidar remote sensing techniques due to its increasing availability. The clustering algorithm for multi-wavelength lidar data can be divided into two parts: characteristic signal selection and selection of the classifier. First, since the separability of each type of signal is different, careful selection of the input characteristic signal is important. We propose using Fourier transform for all the observed signals; the most suitable characteristic signal can be determined based on the dispersion degree of the signal in the frequency domain. Then, the performances of four common classifiers (K-means method, Gaussian mixture model, hierarchical cluster method (HCM), and density-based spatial clustering of applications with noise) are evaluated by comparing with the radiosonde measurements from June 2015 to June 2016. The results show that the performance of the HCM classifier is the best under all states (R2 = 0.84 and RMSE = 0.18 km). The findings obtained here offer insight into ABLH remote sensing technology.