Seasonal and diurnal variations of aerosol extinction profile and type distribution from CALIPSO 5‐year observations

Abstract

AbstractThe new Level 3 aerosol profile data derived from the Cloud‐Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations (CALIPSO) provide a multiyear global aerosol distribution with high vertical resolution. We analyzed seasonal and diurnal variations of the vertical distributions of aerosol properties represented by 5‐year CALIPSO data. Results show that dust, smoke, and polluted dust are the most frequently detected aerosol types during all seasons. Dust is the dominant type, especially in the middle to upper troposphere, over most areas during boreal spring and summer, while smoke and polluted dust tend to dominate during biomass burning seasons. The seasonal variations of dust layer top height and dust contribution to all‐aerosol extinction are positively correlated with the seasonal variation of the dust occurrence frequency. The seasonal cycle of aerosol properties over west Australia is similar to that over biomass burning regime areas, despite its desert regime. In general, smoke is detected more frequently from the lower to middle troposphere; clean marine and polluted continental aerosols are detected more frequently, while polluted dust is detected less frequently, in the lower troposphere during nighttime than daytime. The all‐aerosol extinction is generally larger, and the aerosol layer top is detected at high altitudes more frequently during nighttime than daytime. The diurnal changes of aerosol properties are similar within the same aerosol regime. Dust extinction shows little diurnal variation except when dust is the dominant aerosol type. The results contribute to an initial global 3‐D aerosol climatology which will likely be extended and improved in the future.