Abstract
In this paper, multi-wavelength Raman lidar measurements are used to investigate the capability of ceilometers to provide reliable information about atmospheric aerosol properties through the INTERACT (INTERcomparison of Aerosol and Cloud Tracking) campaign carried out at the CNR-IMAA Atmospheric Observatory (760 m a.s.l., 40.60 N, 15.72 E), in the framework of ACTRIS (Aerosol Clouds Trace gases Research InfraStructure) FP7 project. This work is the first time that three different commercial ceilometers with an advanced Raman lidar are compared over a period of six month. The comparison of the attenuated backscatter coefficient profiles from a multi-wavelength Raman lidar and three ceilometers (CHM15k, CS135s, CT25K) reveals differences due to the expected discrepancy in the SNR but also due to effect of changes in the ambient temperature on the stability of ceilometer calibration over short and mid-term. Technological improvements of ceilometers towards their operational use in the monitoring of the atmospheric aerosol in the low and free troposphere are likely needed.
Highlights
For the study of both climate, air pollution and its influence on health, knowledge of vertical distributions of aerosols is a key factor
In order to make the best use of existing and future ceilometer deployments, ceilometer must be better characterized. This is the purpose of the INTERACT campaign (Madonna et al, 2014) carried out at the CNR-IMAA Atmospheric Observatory (760 m a.s.l., 40.60N, 15.72E), named CIAO (Madonna et al, 2011), in the framework of ACTRIS (Aerosol Clouds Trace gases Research InfraStructure) FP7 project
Three commercial ceilometers (CHM15k, CT25K, CS135s) from different manufactures are compared with an advanced multi-wavelength Raman lidar (MUSA), and their aerosol detection sensitivity and stability are assessed using a dataset collected over a period of more than six months
Summary
For the study of both climate, air pollution and its influence on health, knowledge of vertical distributions of aerosols is a key factor This scenario has pushed the demand for continuous aerosol measurements provided by high resolution networks of ground-based instruments to validate and improve aerosol and pollution forecasting. In order to achieve broad, high resolution coverage, low-cost and lowmaintenance instruments are needed Despite of their differences from more advanced and more powerful lidars, low construction and operation cost of ceilometer, originally designed for cloud base height monitoring, have fostered their use for the quantitative study of aerosol properties. In order to make the best use of existing and future ceilometer deployments, ceilometer must be better characterized This is the purpose of the INTERACT campaign (Madonna et al, 2014) carried out at the CNR-IMAA Atmospheric Observatory (760 m a.s.l., 40.60N, 15.72E), named CIAO (Madonna et al, 2011), in the framework of ACTRIS (Aerosol Clouds Trace gases Research InfraStructure) FP7 project. An overview of the results achieved during the campaign is provided
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