Abstract
Abstract. The annual and seasonal variability of aerosol optical properties observed by means of a Raman lidar over Northeastern Spain has been assessed. The lidar representativeness has first been checked against sun-photometer measurements in terms of aerosol optical thickness. Then the annual cycle and the seasonal variability of the planetary boundary layer aerosol optical thickness and its fraction compared to the columnar optical thickness, the lidar ratio, the backscatter-related Ångström exponent and the planetary boundary layer height are analyzed and discussed. Winter and summer mean profiles of extinction, backscatter and lidar ratio retrieved with the Raman algorithm are presented. The analysis shows the impact of most of the natural events (Saharan dust intrusions, wildfires, etc.) and meteorological situations (summer anticyclonic situation, the formation of the Iberian thermal low, winter long-range transport from North Europe and/or North America, re-circulation flows, etc.) occurring in the Barcelona area. A detailed study of a special event including a combined intrusion of Saharan dust and biomass-burning particles proves the suitability of combining the retrieval of aerosol optical properties from Raman and pure elastic lidar measurements to discriminate spatially different types of aerosols and to follow their spatial and temporal evolution.
Highlights
Atmospheric aerosols that originate from both natural and anthropogenic activities play a major role in local and global climate and weather changes
In order to demonstrate the representativeness of the lidar measurements the latter are compared on a statistical basis with sun-photometer data in terms of aerosol optical thickness
The daytime measurements are first used to demonstrate the representativeness of the lidar measurements to reliably reproduce the annual evolution of the aerosol optical properties by comparing sunphotometer and lidar aerosol optical thickness (AOT) on a statistical basis
Summary
Atmospheric aerosols that originate from both natural and anthropogenic activities play a major role in local and global climate and weather changes. Aerosols significantly affect the Earth radiative budget when they interact with the solar radiation and the Earth’s long-wave radiation To this extent, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPPC) has stated that the aerosols considerably contribute to the uncertainty associated to the future global climate predictions (Forster et al, 2007). Over Eastern Spain, Rodrıguez (2002a) yielded annual mean PM10 levels of 17–20, 30–45 and 45–60 μg m−3 at rural, urban and industrial sites, respectively, outlining that even PM10 rural levels were only slightly lower than the 2010 EU PM10 objectives for urban and industrial sites Several reasons explain such behaviors in the Western Mediterranean Basin (WMB). In order to demonstrate the representativeness of the lidar measurements the latter are compared on a statistical basis with sun-photometer data in terms of aerosol optical thickness
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