Clear Air Conditions Research Articles

The effect of fog on atmospheric electric fields

Naturally occurring electric fields exist in the atmosphere as part of the global electric circuit. These fields are produced by global phenomena, but they are strongly modified by local conditions. One such local effect is fog, which is the reduction in visibility by droplets suspended in the air. For over a century, it has been known that fog can often result in larger values of electric field compared to that in clear air conditions. However, the physical processes controlling the electric field and its variability in fog are still not fully understood. More detailed information on this is required to assess whether electric field measurements can be used as a fog prediction method, which was suggested many decades ago but is still an open question. Furthermore, improving the understanding of electrical processes in fog will also help in related areas of research such as cloud electrification processes and the impact of charge on the behaviour of aerosol and droplets.This study aims to fully characterise the electric field in fog using an extensive dataset of over 17 years, measured from the University of Reading Atmospheric Observatory, UK. This encompasses electric field, visibility, and meteorological data from over a hundred fog events, which allows us to examine the behaviour of electric fields in fog conditions statistically, rather than only focusing on individual case studies as is often the case in the literature. The long series of data from the site allows the variability in the electrical data during fog events to be more fully characterised than previously.

Comparisons and quality control of wind observations in a mountainous city using wind profile radar and the Aeolus satellite

Abstract. Observations of the vertical wind profile in Chongqing, a typical mountainous city in China, are important, but they are sparse and have low resolution. To obtain more wind profile data, this study matched the Aeolus track with ground-based wind observation sites in Chongqing in 2021. Based on the obtained results, verification and quality control studies were conducted on the wind observations of a wind profile radar (WPR) with radiosonde (RS) data, and a comparison of the Aeolus Mie-cloudy and Rayleigh-clear wind products (Aeolus winds measured in cloudy and aerosol-rich atmospheric conditions from Mie-channel-collected data and winds measured in clear-air conditions from Rayleigh-collected data) with WPR data was then performed. The conclusions can be summarized as follows: (1) a clear correlation between the wind observations of WPR and RS was found, with a correlation coefficient (R) of 0.71. Their root mean square deviation increased with height but decreased at heights between 3 and 4 km. (2) After quality control using Gaussian filtering (GF) and empirical orthogonal function construction (EOFc; G=87.23 %) of the WPR data, the R between the WPR and RS reached 0.83 and 0.95, respectively. The vertical distribution showed that GF could better retain the characteristics of WPR wind observations but with limited improvement in decreasing deviations, whereas EOFc performed better in decreasing deviations but considerably modified the original characteristics of the wind field, especially regarding intensive vertical wind shear in strong convective weather processes. (3) In terms of the differences between the Aeolus and WPR data, 56.0 % and 67.8 % deviations were observed within ±5 m s−1 for Rayleigh-clear and Mie-cloudy winds (Aeolus winds measured in cloudy and aerosol-rich atmospheric conditions from Mie-channel-collected data and winds measured in clear-air conditions from Rayleigh-collected data) vs WPR winds, respectively. Vertically, large mean differences of both Rayleigh-clean and Mie-cloudy winds versus WPR winds appeared below 1.5 km, which is attributed to the prevailing quiet and small winds within the boundary layer in Chongqing; in this case the movement of molecules and aerosols is mostly affected by irregular turbulence. Additionally, large mean differences at a height range between 4 and 8 km for Mie-cloudy versus WPR winds may be related to the high content of cloud liquid water in the middle troposphere of Chongqing. (4) The differences in both Rayleigh-clear and Mie-cloudy versus WPR winds had changed. Deviations of 58.9 % and 59.6 % were concentrated within ±5 m s−1 for Rayleigh-clear versus WPR winds with GF and EOFc quality control, respectively. In contrast, 69.1 % and 70.2 % of deviations appeared within ±5 m s−1 for Rayleigh-clear versus WPR and EOFc WPR winds, respectively. These results shed light on the comprehensive applications of multi-source wind profile data in mountainous cities or areas with sparse ground-based wind observations.

Influence of aerosol on photosynthetically active radiation under haze conditions

Photosynthetically active radiation (PAR, 400-700 nm), as a sub-band in solar shortwave radiation (280-2800 nm), has profoundly affected vegetation primary productivity and biogeochemical cycles of carbon. However, few previous studies focused on the quantitative effects of aerosols on PAR, a sub-band of the shortwave spectrum, during the winter haze period. Based on ground-based remote sensing observations, we have quantitatively investigated the role of aerosol in PAR variation under haze period through radiative transfer simulations at Wuhan, China. The results indicate that direct solar PAR irradiance is attenuated more dramatically and diffuse downward irradiance is enhanced weaklier as aerosol optical depth (AOD) increases in the haze period, which leads to a result of more significant surface aerosol radiative effect (ARE) in PAR spectrum (AREPAR). Simultaneously, the percentage of AREPAR in ARESW spectrum decreases by 3.33%, indicating that PAR is attenuated more than other sub-bands in SW as pollution enhances. Meanwhile, the ARE efficiency (REE) in PAR weakens from -122 W/m2 under the clear-air condition to -80 W/m2 during the severe-pollution period. These phenomena are attributed to stronger forward scattering in PAR due to the hygroscopic growth of fine-mode aerosol particles during haze. The results provides support for further studies on the effect of pollutants on PAR, and then vegetation productivity.

Machine learning based performance estimation of terrestrial Ro-FSO Link

In this work, a radio over free-space optical communication (Ro-FSO) link has been examined considering quadrature amplitude modulation (64-QAM) based orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) technique for a turbulence channel. The performance of the system has been investigated considering log normal and gamma-gamma atmospheric scintillation models under clear air, rain and fog weather conditions. Artificial neural network (ANN), k-nearest neighbour (KNN), and decision tree (DT) machine learning (ML) techniques have been applied for estimation of quality of received signal in terms of bit error rate BER. ANN model exhibits the highest value of R-squared (R2) of 0.9967 and lowest value of root mean square error (RMSE) of 0.0134 as compared to other ML techniques resulting in the best fit model.

High-resolution 3D winds derived from a modified WISSDOM synthesis scheme using multiple Doppler lidars and observations

Abstract. The WISSDOM (Wind Synthesis System using Doppler Measurements) synthesis scheme was developed to derive high-resolution 3-dimensional (3D) winds under clear-air conditions. From this variational-based scheme, detailed wind information was obtained from scanning Doppler lidars, automatic weather stations (AWSs), sounding observations, and local reanalysis datasets (LDAPS, Local Data Assimilation and Prediction System), which were utilized as constraints to minimize the cost function. The objective of this study is to evaluate the performance and accuracy of derived 3D winds from this modified scheme. A strong wind event was selected to demonstrate its performance over complex terrain in Pyeongchang, South Korea. The size of the test domain is 12×12 km2 extended up to 3 km a.m.s.l. (above mean sea level) height with a remarkably high horizontal and vertical resolution of 50 m. The derived winds reveal that reasonable patterns were explored from a control run, as they have significant similarity with the sounding observations. The results of intercomparisons show that the correlation coefficients between derived horizontal winds and sounding observations are 0.97 and 0.87 for u- and v-component winds, respectively, and the averaged bias (root mean square deviation, RMSD) of horizontal winds is between −0.78 and 0.09 (1.77 and 1.65) m s−1. The correlation coefficients between WISSDOM-derived winds and lidar QVP (quasi-vertical profile) are 0.84 and 0.35 for u- and v-component winds, respectively, and the averaged bias (RMSD) of horizontal winds is between 2.83 and 2.26 (3.69 and 2.92) m s−1. The statistical errors also reveal a satisfying performance of the retrieved 3D winds; the median values of wind directions are −5 to 5 (0 to 2.5)∘, the wind speed is approximately −1 to 3 m s−1 (−1 to 0.5 m s−1), and the vertical velocity is −0.2 to 0.6 m s−1 compared with the lidar QVP (sounding observations). A series of sensitivity tests with different weighting coefficients, radius of influence (RI) in interpolation, and various combination of different datasets were also performed. The results indicate that the present setting of the control run is the optimal reference to WISSDOM synthesis in this event and will help verify the impacts against various scenarios and observational references in this area.

Investigation of Point Refractivity Gradient and Geoclimatic Factor at 70 m Altitude in Yenagoa, Nigeria

The quality of services provided via Inter-Terrestrial radio communication links such as GSM networks, Wide Area Network (WAN), Radio and TV broadcasts is largely influenced by some meteorological parameters such as temperature, pressure and humidity. Proper knowledge of these parameters, specifically at microwave antenna heights (about 70m) is important in order to maintain an effective line-of-sight (LOS) link even during the worst weather conditions. The geoclimatic factor is an important quantity that must be considered in the design of terrestrial links for effective wireless communication. This work utilized satellite data from the European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) to compute the point refractivity gradient and geoclimatic factor for Yenagoa and its environs. The research was necessitated by the paucity of research on this subject matter for Yenegoa. The results of the research show that point refractivity gradient and geoclimatic factor in the study area vary with season. The average point refractivity gradient and geoclimatic factor at 70 m above the ground level are:136.433 N-unit/Km and 6.638633E-05 respectively. This implies that radiowaves propagating in this region at the said altitude is most likely to be super refractive in both rain and clear air atmospheric conditions. Rain or worst condition refers to the period when atmospheric components such as hydrometeor, lithometeor, aerosol have significant effects on propagated radio signals. Clear-air conditions means when maximum possible signal is received such that the most threatening atmospheric components (rain drops) have negligible effects on propagated signal. The results will be useful for radio engineers in the design and configuration of inter-terrestrial microwave links in Yenagoa and Its environs for optimum quality of service.

Impact of sand and dust storms on tropospheric parameter estimation by GPS

The transport of dust from the Middle East and African deserts affects European and Asian countries at certain times of the year, especially in spring. Turkey is one of these countries, and many dust storm events have occurred in the first half of 2022, which have affected especially the southeastern part of Anatolia. Apart from threatening human health, dust and sand particles, which are described as particulate matter, may possibly affect Global Positioning System (GPS) signals. The purpose of this research is to look into the effects of particulate matter less than 10μm (PM10) on GPS-estimated precipitable water vapor (PWV). Hourly PM10 and PWV data between April 1, 2022, and June 10, 2022, were utilized. Four different extreme dust concentration events and a benchmark period were investigated separately. Hourly data results showed that correlation coefficients vary according to events, wind directions, and the distance between GPS stations and air quality monitoring stations. Also, other meteorological parameters that affect PWV, such as temperature, relative humidity, and pressure, were investigated and found to have no anomalies that could affect PWV. Hourly and daily correlation coefficients in the benchmark period were significantly lower compared to dusty days, which indicates that there is no real correlation between PM10 and PWV concentrations in clear air conditions. Only with the increase of PM10 to extreme levels does the relationship show itself. Therefore, this study suggests that for all GPS applications, such as positioning or PWV estimation, PM10 concentrations should be considered.

Complementarity of wind measurements from co-located X-band weather radar and Doppler lidar

Abstract. Accurate wind profile measurements are important for applications ranging from aviation to numerical weather prediction. The spatial pattern of winds can be obtained with ground-based remote sensing instruments, such as weather radars and Doppler lidars. As the return signal in weather radars is mostly due to hydrometeors or insects, and in Doppler lidars due to aerosols, the instruments provide wind measurements in different weather conditions. However, the effect of various weather conditions on the measurement capabilities of these instruments has not been previously extensively quantified. Here we present results from a 7-month measurement campaign that took place in Vantaa, Finland, where a co-located Vaisala WRS400 X-band weather radar and WindCube 400S Doppler lidar were employed continuously to perform wind measurements. Both instruments measured plan position indicator (PPI) scans at 2.0∘ elevation from the horizontal. Direct comparison of radial Doppler velocities from both instruments showed good agreement with R2=0.96. We then examined the effect of horizontal visibility, cloud base height, and precipitation intensity on the measurement availability of each instrument. The Doppler lidar displayed good availability in clear air situations and the X-band radar in precipitation. Both instruments exhibited high availability in clear air conditions in summer when insects were present. The complementary performance in the measurement availability of the two instruments means that their combination substantially increases the spatial coverage of wind observations across a wide range of weather conditions.

Multivariable Characterization of Atmospheric Environment with Data Collected in Flight

The In-Cloud Icing and Large-drop Experiment (ICICLE) flight campaign, led by the United States Federal Aviation Administration, was conducted in the geographical region over US Midwest and Western Great Lakes, between January and March 2019, with the aim to collect atmospheric data and study the aircraft icing hazard. Measurements were taken onboard the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) Convair-580 aircraft, which was equipped with more than 40 in situ probes, sensors, and remote sensing instruments in collaboration with Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC). In each flight, aerosol, cloud microphysics, atmospheric and aircraft state data were collected. Atmospheric environment characterization is critical both for cloud studies and for operational decision making in flight. In this study, we use the advantage of multiple input parameters collected in-flight together with machine learning and clustering techniques to characterize the flight environment. Eleven parameters were evaluated for the classification of the sampled environment along the flight path. Namely, aerosol concentration, temperature, hydrometeor concentration, hydrometeor size, liquid water content, total water content, ice accretion rate, and radar parameters in the vicinity of the aircraft. In the analysis of selected flights, we were able to identify periods of supercooled liquid clouds, glaciated clouds, two types of mixed-phase clouds, and clear air conditions. This approach offers an alternative characterization of cloud boundaries and a complementary identification of flight periods with hazardous icing conditions.

Effects of Air Pollution on Rainfall Microphysics Over the Yangtze River Delta

AbstractHerein, the raindrop size distribution (DSD) and rainfall microphysics characteristics are investigated at multiple stations within the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) under two air pollution conditions. Raindrop data from 14 Thies Clima Laser Precipitation Monitor disdrometers spanning approximately 2 years were employed together with corresponding air pollution data. Rain gauge data and several types of meteorological data were also used. The DSD characteristics were found to vary across the YRD; thus, we compiled DSD‐based demarcations between convective rain and stratiform rain at each site. During summer, the average mass‐weighted mean drop diameter parameter value was higher by a mean 20%, and the average normalized intercept parameter value was lower by a mean 12% in polluted atmosphere conditions for both convective rain and stratiform rain, as well as for different rainfall intensity classes. The differences in atmospheric conditions between clear and polluted air conditions partially account for the uncertainties in the DSD characteristics. Air pollution resulted in uncertainty in the shape parameter‐slope parameter relationship and in the rainfall kinetic energy‐rainfall intensity (KE‐R) relationship. The air pollution index can be integrated into the KE‐R relationship to improve the KE simulation accuracy. In addition, air pollution causes some uncertainty in the radar reflectivity‐rainfall intensity (Z‐R) relationship, while the acceptable deviation of the Z‐R relationship did not significantly impact the accuracy of rainfall simulations. This study improves our understanding of DSD and provides a comprehensive overview of the relationship between air pollution and rainfall microphysics for a typical urban agglomeration area.

First Comparative Analysis of the Simultaneous Horizontal Wind Observations by Collocated Meteor Radar and FPI at Low Latitude through 892.0-nm Airglow Emission

The Fabry–Pérot interferometer (FPI) and meteor radar are two important techniques for measuring the horizontal wind field in mesopause region, the observations of which still lack comprehensive comparison. Kunming Observatory (25.6°N,103.8°E) has deployed both instruments in recent years and provides collocated meteor radar and FPI observations. The meteor radar measures the horizontal wind fields over 24 hours every day continuously, whereas the FPI can only work during the night with clear air condition. FPI horizontal wind data from the 892.0-nm airglow emission (with a peak height at ~87 km) from 26 January to 8 February 2019 were comparatively analyzed with simultaneous meteor radar observations, which cover the range between 80 and 90 km with a vertical resolution of 1.8 km. It was found that the temporal variations in the horizontal wind fields observed by the FPI and meteor radar were generally consistent with one another, with the highest 2-D correlation coefficients of 0.91 (0.88) at 88 (87) km for the meridional (zonal) wind, which agreed with the peak height of OH airglow emission observed by the TIMED/SABER instrument. In addition, the correlation coefficient for the weighted meteor radar horizontal wind by OH concentration between 86 and 88 km and 85 and 89 km increased slightly from 0.91 (0.89) to 0.92 (0.89) for the meridional (zonal) wind, which indicated the contribution of OH concentration beyond the peak height to the FPI wind observations. We also found that the absolute horizontal wind values detected by two instruments were linearly correlated with a slope of ~1.3 for both wind components, and meteor radar wind observations were usually larger than the FPI observations.

In situ observation of new particle formation (NPF) in the tropical tropopause layer of the 2017 Asian monsoon anticyclone – Part 2: NPF inside ice clouds

Abstract. From 27 July to 10 August 2017, the airborne StratoClim mission took place in Kathmandu, Nepal, where eight mission flights were conducted with the M-55 Geophysica up to altitudes of 20 km. New particle formation (NPF) was identified by the abundant presence of nucleation-mode aerosols, with particle diameters dp smaller than 15 nm, which were in-situ-detected by means of condensation nuclei (CN) counter techniques. NPF fields in clear skies as well as in the presence of cloud ice particles (dp > 3 µm) were encountered at upper troposphere–lowermost stratosphere (UTLS) levels and within the Asian monsoon anticyclone (AMA). NPF-generated nucleation-mode particles in elevated concentrations (Nnm) were frequently found together with cloud ice (in number concentrations Nice of up to 3 cm−3) at heights between ∼ 11 and 16 km. From a total measurement time of ∼ 22.5 h above 10 km altitude, in-cloud NPF was in sum detected over ∼ 1.3 h (∼ 50 % of all NPF records throughout StratoClim). Maximum Nnm of up to ∼ 11 000 cm−3 was detected coincidently with intermediate ice particle concentrations Nice of 0.05–0.1 cm−3 at comparatively moderate carbon monoxide (CO) contents of ∼ 90–100 nmol mol−1. Neither under clear-sky nor during in-cloud NPF do the highest Nnm concentrations correlate with the highest CO mixing ratios, suggesting that an elevated pollutant load is not a prerequisite for NPF. Under clear-air conditions, NPF with elevated Nnm (> 8000 cm−3) occurred slightly less often than within clouds. In the presence of cloud ice, NPF with Nnm between 1500–4000 cm−3 was observed about twice as often as under clear-air conditions. NPF was not found when ice water contents exceeded 1000 µmol mol−1 in very cold air (< 195 K) at tropopause levels. This indicates a reduction in NPF once deep convection is prevalent together with the presence of mainly liquid-origin ice particles. Within in situ cirrus near the cold point tropopause, recent NPF or intense events with mixing ration nnm larger than 5000 mg−1 were observed only in about 6 % of the in-cloud NPF data. In determining whether the cloud-internal NPF is attenuated or prevented by the microphysical properties of cloud elements, the integral radius (IR) of the ice cloud population turned out to be indicative. Neither the number of ice particles nor the free distance between the ice particles is clearly related to the NPF rate detected. While the increase in ice particles' mass per time dmdt is proportional to the IR and mainly due to the condensation of water vapour, additional condensation of NPF precursors proceeds at the expense of the NPF rate as the precursor's saturation ratio declines. Numerical simulations show the impact of the IR on the supersaturation of a condensable vapour, such as sulfuric acid, and furthermore illustrate that the IR of the cloud ice determines the effective limitation of NPF rates.

Raised cosine/NRZ line coding techniques for upgrading free space optical communication systems through various levels of fog

This study examines raised cosine/NRZ line coding techniques for upgrading free space optical (FSO) communication systems through various levels of fog.The max. Q factors are simulated and estimated for clear air, light fog, and moderate fog weather conditions at a data rate of 20 Gb/s. The optical signal to noise ratio is also measured for different weather conditions. The total power after both FSO channel and avalanche photodiode (APD) photo-detector receiver is estimated by an optical power meter for max. distances.The study shows that the max. propagation distance is extended to 50 kmthrough clear air, 2.25 km through light fog, and 1.6 km through moderate fog with acceptable max. Q factor

Multisensor Characterization of the Incandescent Jet Region of Lava Fountain-Fed Tephra Plumes

Explosive basaltic eruptions eject a great amount of pyroclastic material into the atmosphere, forming columns rising to several kilometers above the eruptive vent and causing significant disruption to both proximal and distal communities. Here, we analyze data, collected by an X-band polarimetric weather radar and an L-band Doppler fixed-pointing radar, as well as by a thermal infrared (TIR) camera, in relation to lava fountain-fed tephra plumes at the Etna volcano in Italy. We clearly identify a jet, mainly composed of lapilli and bombs mixed with hot gas in the first portion of these volcanic plumes and here called the incandescent jet region (IJR). At Etna and due to the TIR camera configuration, the IJR typically corresponds to the region that saturates thermal images. We find that the IJR is correlated to a unique signature in polarimetric radar data as it represents a zone with a relatively high reflectivity and a low copolar correlation coefficient. Analyzing five recent Etna eruptions occurring in 2013 and 2015, we propose a jet region radar retrieval algorithm (JR3A), based on a decision-tree combining polarimetric X-band observables with L-band radar constraints, aiming at the IJR height detection during the explosive eruptions. The height of the IJR does not exactly correspond to the height of the lava fountain due to a different altitude, potentially reached by lapilli and blocks detected by the X-band weather radar. Nonetheless, it can be used as a proxy of the lava fountain height in order to obtain a first approximation of the exit velocity of the mixture and, therefore, of the mass eruption rate. The comparisons between the JR3A estimates of IJR heights with the corresponding values recovered from TIR imagery, show a fairly good agreement with differences of less than 20% in clear air conditions, whereas the difference between JR3A estimates of IJR height values and those derived from L-band radar data only are greater than 40%. The advantage of using an X-band polarimetric weather radar in an early warning system is that it provides information in all weather conditions. As a matter of fact, we show that JR3A retrievals can also be obtained in cloudy conditions when the TIR camera data cannot be processed.

Atmospheric aerosol and black carbon optical properties and associated radiative forcing under haze conditions

The optical properties and radiative forcing of atmospheric aerosol (ARF) and black carbon (BC) aerosol (BCRF) in ultraviolet (UV), visible (VIS), near-infrared (NIR), and shortwave (SW) spectra were investigated under haze conditions based on the observations of the Aethalometer and sun-sky radiometer and simulations from libRadtran. The results show that the BC concentrations increased greatly from 2.73 μg/m3 under clear-air conditions to 7.95 μg/m3 under severe haze conditions, while BC aerosol optical depth (AOD) increased from 0.025 to 0.092. A high correlation (R2=0.62) was found between BC AOD and absorbing aerosol optical depth (AAOD) derived from the sun-sky radiometer. The BCRF in SW (BCRFSW) varied from -10.20 W/m2 under clear-air conditions to -25.40 W/m2 under severe hazy conditions. However, its fraction in ARF (ARFSW) decreased from 19% to 17% simultaneously, which is mainly related to the decrease of the ratio of BC AOD to AOD. The fraction of ARF in VIS in ARFSW decreased from 56.3% under clear-air conditions to 50.5% under severe haze conditions, while the fraction of BCRF in VIS in BCRFSW was much larger, and increased from 72.9% to 73.8%. The BCRF efficiency (BCRFE) was much larger than ARF efficiency (ARFE), and both of them decreased with the development of haze. The ARFE in SW decreased from -173.84 W/m2 under clear-air conditions to -112.75 W/m2 under severe haze conditions while BCRFESW varied from -482.50 W/m2 to -321.88 W/m2. The decrease of ARFE and BCRFE is related to the increase of aerosol loading and asymmetry factor (ASY). The ASY increased and the forward scattering was enhanced with the development of haze due to the hygroscopic growth of aerosol particles, which reduced the extinction efficiency of aerosols including BC on solar radiation and the cooling effect on the surface.

Radiometric Measurements of Atmospheric Attenuation Over a Tropical Location

AbstractThe information of atmospheric attenuation at Ka‐band is important during rain and clear air condition. In this paper, Ka‐band attenuation data obtained from radiometric measurements at Kolkata, India (22°034′E, 88°022′N) have been presented. The role of water vapor is examined in determining the behavior of atmospheric attenuation during and without rain condition at 22.24, 26.24, and 31.4 GHz frequencies. It has been observed that at lower rain rate (<5 mm/hr), attenuation at 22.24 GHz is the highest among three frequencies due to water vapor absorption at this frequency. Millimeter Wave Propagation (MPM) model has been used to observe the contribution of rain and water vapor in determining atmospheric attenuation for different rain rates. It has been noted that at 22.24 GHz, water vapor attenuation is comparable to the rain attenuation up to 5 mm/hr. The measured attenuation from radiometer has been compared with ITU‐R model‐generated data and both the attenuation data match reasonably well up to rain rate 20 mm/hr. The attenuation obtained from radiometric measurements shows saturation with increasing rain rate due to the darkening effect. The ITU‐R frequency scaling model has been used to compare the measured and calculated attenuation at 31.4 GHz. This study gives some useful information about the radiometric measurements of atmospheric attenuation at a tropical location that shows that not only rain rate but also water vapor is an important cause of attenuation at Ka‐band.

“Contrasting features of tropospheric turbulence over the Indian peninsula”

Altitude structure of turbulence in the troposphere and lower stratosphere (TLS) over the Indian peninsula is delineated using radiosonde observations carried out from six stations (August 2013 to December 2017) as part of the Tropical Tropopause Dynamics (TTD) Campaign under the GPS Aided Radiosonde Network Experiment for Troposphere–stratosphere Studies (GARNETS) program. Thorpe analysis applied to the potential temperature profiles, taking into account the impact of atmospheric moisture and instrumental noise, is used to estimate the turbulence parameters. This study shows that while the occurrence of turbulence is high in the lower (0–2 km) and upper (10–15 km) troposphere, the region 3–8 km is relatively devoid of turbulence at all the six stations. In general, ~60% of the Thorpe scale (LT) values in the troposphere are less than 250 m at all the stations, except at Cochin where it extends up to 400 m. Though the altitudinal structure of turbulence shows large variability from station-to-station, it does not show any systematic latitudinal pattern. This study also shows that the Thorpe method appears to be good in identifying convectively induced turbulence than the dynamically (shear) induced turbulence. In the lower troposphere, the turbulence is due to both convective and dynamic instability at all the stations. While turbulence in the altitude region between 10 and 15 km is mainly due to convective instability at Coimbatore, Gadanki and Goa and due to dynamic instability at Cochin, both these instabilities contribute significantly to the generation of turbulence at Trivandrum and Hyderabad. Occurrence of convective instability (turbulence) under clear-air conditions in the upper troposphere, suggests wave breaking as a mechanism.

Comparation of aerosol optical properties and associated radiative effects of air pollution events between summer and winter: A case study in January and July 2014 over Wuhan, Central China

Differences in aerosol optical properties and associated radiative effects at ultraviolet (UV), visible (VIS), near-infrared (NIR), and shortwave (SW) spectra during haze periods between winter and summer of 2014 in Wuhan were compared in this study. With the development of haze, the average aerosol optical depth increased from 0.371 to 0.769 in winter and from 0.602 to 1.163 in summer. A positive correlation was found between absorbing aerosol optical depth and black carbon, only in winter. The mean fine mode effective radius of aerosols increased from 0.128 μm to 0.166 μm in winter and from 0.179 μm to 0.229 μm in summer, due to hygroscopic growth under high humidity conditions during haze periods. The fine mode particles were more dominant in summer than in winter. The single scattering albedo (SSA) increased significantly in both seasons as a result of the emergence of numerous non-absorbent aerosols when haze occurred. The aerosol radiative effect (ARE) increased from −73.46 W/m2 to −115.38 W/m2 (−96.01 W/m2 to −135.67 W/m2) at the earth's surface, and from −15.09 W/m2 to −32.91 W/m2 (−20.49 W/m2 to −49.13 W/m2) at the top of the atmosphere because of the change from clear air conditions to haze periods in winter (summer). Unusual increases in aerosol radiative effect efficiency (AREE) from −40.78 W/m2 to −43.57 W/m2 and AREE fraction of UV in SW spectrum from 1.9% to 3.3% were found at the top of atmosphere in winter. This exception was probably due to dust aerosols with iron components, which had a strong UV absorption ability. The AREE dependence showed a high dependence on particle size in winter but a greater dependence on the SSA in summer. Back trajectory analysis with active fire areas from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer indicated that the black carbon originated from the North in summer, while active fires in winter were rare.

Performance Analysis of FSO DF Relays with Log-Normal Fading Channel

Abstract This paper studies the bit error performance analysis of decode-and-forward (DF) relays-based free-space optical (FSO) communication systems using avalanche photodiode (APD). The system uses subcarrier intensity binary phase shift keying (BPSK) modulated signals and subjects to scintillation due to optical turbulence. A log-normal random process is considered to model the received signal intensity fluctuation for a clear-air condition (weak atmospheric turbulence) scenario. Mathematical expressions of the average bit error probability and bit error rate (BER) are derived by taking into account the impact of atmospheric loss, thermal-noise and shot-noise limited conditions. It can be inferred from the numerical results that using DF relay nodes can extend the transmission distance and minimize BER performance of FSO system significantly compared with the direct transmission. Moreover, the selection of APD’s gain values is essential to minimize the system’s error rate performance. Therefore, the system could achieve the minimal BER by selecting an optimal average APD gain value appropriately. Moreover, the optimal average gain values of APD significantly depend on various conditions, such as the bit rate, total transmitted power, and the number of relay nodes.

Turbulence kinetic energy dissipation rates estimated from concurrent UAV and MU radar measurements

We tested models commonly used for estimating turbulence kinetic energy dissipation rates varepsilon from very high frequency stratosphere–troposphere radar data. These models relate the root-mean-square value sigma of radial velocity fluctuations assessed from radar Doppler spectra to varepsilon. For this purpose, we used data collected from the middle and upper atmosphere (MU) radar during the Shigaraki unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)—radar experiment campaigns carried out at the Shigaraki MU Observatory, Japan, in June 2016 and 2017. On these occasions, UAVs equipped with fast-response and low-noise Pitot tube sensors for turbulence measurements were operated in the immediate vicinity of the MU radar. Radar-derived dissipation rates varepsilon estimated from the various models at a range resolution of 150 m from the altitude of 1.345 km up to the altitude of ~ 4.0 km, a (half width half power) beam aperture of 1.32° and a time resolution of 24.6 s, were compared to dissipation rates (varepsilon_{U}) directly obtained from relative wind speed spectra inferred from UAV measurements. Firstly, statistical analysis results revealed a very close relationship between enhancements of sigma and varepsilon_{U} for varepsilon_{U} ,{ gtrsim },10^{ - 5} ,{text{m}}^{2} ,{text{s}}^{ - 3}, indicating that both instruments detected the same turbulent events with varepsilon_{U} above this threshold. Secondly, varepsilon_{U} was found to be statistically proportional to sigma^{3}, whereas a sigma^{2} dependence is expected when the size of the largest turbulent eddies is smaller than the longitudinal and transverse dimensions of the radar sampling volume. The sigma^{3} dependence was found even after excluding convectively generated turbulence in the planetary boundary layer and below clouds. The best agreement between varepsilon_{U} and radar-derived varepsilon was obtained with the simple formulation based on dimensional analysis varepsilon = sigma^{3} /L_{c} where LC ≈ 50–70 m. This empirical expression constitutes a simple way to estimate dissipation rates in the lower troposphere from MU radar data whatever the sources of turbulence be, in clear air or cloudy conditions, consistent with UAV estimates.