Abstract
Vertical profiles of the depolarization ratio and the extinction coefficient of atmospheric particles in Tibetan Plateau were measured with the OUC Water Vapor, Cloud and Aerosol Lidar during the 3 rd Tibetan Plateau Atmospheric Expedition Experiment Campaign in 2013 and 2014. The cloud types and phases, the spatial temporal distribution of the aerosols and the boundary layer height in the Tibetan Plateau were obtained using polarization lidar technique. In this paper, the depolarization ratio was validated with CALIOP polarization simultaneous data, and the extinction coefficient was retrieved by the Fernald method. The result implied that the atmosphere in the Tibetan Plateau was quite clean with low aerosol load and serious pollution. The ice-water mixed cumulus, water cumulus or stratus clouds in Litang and Nagqu were occurred and classified, respectively. The boundary layer height in Nagqu at average altitude over 4600 m was obtained at around 200 m-300 m, which was commonly lower than that in other observed sites.
Highlights
Atmospheric aerosol particles have a complicated influence on the earth climate by directly absorbing and scattering the atmospheric radiation and by indirectly serving as cloud condensation nuclei [1]
The polarization lidar technique [2] has been an excellent method of atmospheric probing, which plays an important role in the detection of spatial and temporal distribution of aerosol and cloud phase
The ratio of these two signals corrected by the calibration factor is referred to as the particle linear depolarization ratio
Summary
Atmospheric aerosol particles have a complicated influence on the earth climate by directly absorbing and scattering the atmospheric radiation and by indirectly serving as cloud condensation nuclei [1]. The polarization lidar technique [2] has been an excellent method of atmospheric probing, which plays an important role in the detection of spatial and temporal distribution of aerosol and cloud phase. It bases on the particle polarization effect, that is, the polarization orientation of backscatter signal of the spherical particles is the same as the linearly polarized laser pulse while the polarization orientation of the non-spherical particle is changed and consists of perpendicular and parallel signals. With the help of particle linear depolarization ratio and extinction coefficient (or backscatter coefficient), the cloud types and phases, the spatial temporal distribution of the aerosols in observed site can be determined, supplying useful and synergistic data to other kinds of aerosol lidars
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