scholarly journals Determining the infrared radiative effects of Saharan dust: a radiative transfer modelling study based on vertically resolved measurements at Lampedusa

2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (6) ◽  
pp. 4377-4401 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniela Meloni ◽  
Alcide di Sarra ◽  
Gérard Brogniez ◽  
Cyrielle Denjean ◽  
Lorenzo De Silvestri ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Refractive Index ◽  
Optical Properties ◽  
Radiative Transfer ◽  
Size Distribution ◽  
Radiative Forcing ◽  
Mineral Dust ◽  
Reliable Estimate ◽  
Radiative Effects ◽  
Aerosol Properties

Abstract. Detailed measurements of radiation, atmospheric and aerosol properties were carried out in summer 2013 during the Aerosol Direct Radiative Impact on the regional climate in the MEDiterranean region (ADRIMED) campaign in the framework of the Chemistry-Aerosol Mediterranean Experiment (ChArMEx) experiment. This study focusses on the characterization of infrared (IR) optical properties and direct radiative effects of mineral dust, based on three vertical profiles of atmospheric and aerosol properties and IR broadband and narrowband radiation from airborne measurements, made in conjunction with radiosonde and ground-based observations at Lampedusa, in the central Mediterranean. Satellite IR spectra from the Infrared Atmospheric Sounder Interferometer (IASI) are also included in the analysis. The atmospheric and aerosol properties are used as input to a radiative transfer model, and various IR radiation parameters (upward and downward irradiance, nadir and zenith brightness temperature at different altitudes) are calculated and compared with observations. The model calculations are made for different sets of dust particle size distribution (PSD) and refractive index (RI), derived from observations and from the literature. The main results of the analysis are that the IR dust radiative forcing is non-negligible and strongly depends on PSD and RI. When calculations are made using the in situ measured size distribution, it is possible to identify the refractive index that produces the best match with observed IR irradiances and brightness temperatures (BTs). The most appropriate refractive indices correspond to those determined from independent measurements of mineral dust aerosols from the source regions (Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco) of dust transported over Lampedusa, suggesting that differences in the source properties should be taken into account. With the in situ size distribution and the most appropriate refractive index the estimated dust IR radiative forcing efficiency is +23.7 W m−2 at the surface, −7.9 W m−2 within the atmosphere, and +15.8 W m−2 at the top of the atmosphere. The use of column-integrated dust PSD from AERONET may also produce a good agreement with measured irradiances and BTs, but with significantly different values of the RI. This implies large differences, up to a factor of 2.5 at surface, in the estimated dust radiative forcing, and in the IR heating rate. This study shows that spectrally resolved measurements of BTs are important to better constrain the dust IR optical properties, and to obtain a reliable estimate of its radiative effects. Efforts should be directed at obtaining an improved description of the dust size distribution and its vertical distribution, as well as at including regionally resolved optical properties.

scholarly journals Determining the infrared radiative effects of Saharan dust: a radiative transfer modelling study based on vertically resolved measurements at Lampedusa

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniela Meloni ◽  
Alcide di Sarra ◽  
Gérard Brogniez ◽  
Cyrielle Denjean ◽  
Lorenzo De Silvestri ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Refractive Index ◽  
Optical Properties ◽  
Size Distribution ◽  
Radiative Forcing ◽  
Refractive Indices ◽  
Radiative Effects ◽  
Brightness Temperatures ◽  
Dust Size Distribution ◽  
Aerosol Properties

Abstract. Detailed atmospheric and aerosol properties, and radiation measurements were carried out in summer 2013 during the Aerosol Direct Radiative Impact on the regional climate in the MEDiterranean region (ADRIMED) campaign in the framework of the Chemistry-Aerosol Mediterranean Experiment (ChArMEx) experiment. This study focusses on the characterization of infrared (IR) optical properties and direct radiative effects of mineral dust, based on three vertical profiles of atmospheric and aerosol properties and IR broadband and narrowband radiation from airborne measurements, made in conjunction with radiosonde and ground-based observations at Lampedusa, in the central Mediterranean. Satellite IR spectra from IASI are also included in the analysis. The atmospheric and aerosol properties are used as input to a radiative transfer model, and various IR radiation parameters (upward and downward irradiance, nadir and zenith brightness temperature at different altitudes) are calculated and compared with observations. The model calculations are made for different sets of dust size distribution and refractive indices, derived from observations and from the literature. The main results of the analysis are that the IR dust radiative forcing is non negligible, and strongly depends on size distribution (SD) and refractive index (RI). When calculations are made using the in situ measured size distribution, it is possible to identify the refractive index that produces the best match with observed IR irradiances and brightness temperatures (BTs). The most appropriate refractive indices correspond to those determined from independent measurements of mineral dust aerosols from the source regions (Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco) of dust transported over Lampedusa, suggesting that differences in the source properties should be taken into account. With the in situ size distribution and the most appropriate refractive index the estimated dust IR radiative forcing efficiency is +23.7 W m-2 at the surface, -7.9 W m-2 within the atmosphere, and +15.8 W m-2 at the top of the atmosphere. The use of column integrated dust SD from AERONET may also produce a good agreement with measured irradiances and BTs, but with significantly different values of the RI. This implies large differences, up to a factor of 2.5 at surface, in the estimated dust radiative forcing, and in the IR heating rate. This study shows that spectrally resolved measurements of brightness temperatures are important to better constrain the dust IR optical properties, and to obtain a reliable estimate of its radiative effects. Efforts should be directed at obtaining an improved description of the dust size distribution, its vertical distribution, and at including regionally-resolved optical properties.

scholarly journals Variability of the infrared complex refractive index of African mineral dust: experimental estimation and implications for radiative transfer and satellite remote sensing

2014 ◽  
Vol 14 (7) ◽  
pp. 10597-10657 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Di Biagio ◽  
H. Boucher ◽  
S. Caquineau ◽  
S. Chevaillier ◽  
J. Cuesta ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Refractive Index ◽  
Optical Properties ◽  
Radiative Transfer ◽  
Size Distribution ◽  
Radiative Forcing ◽  
Mineral Dust ◽  
Complex Refractive Index ◽  
Coarse Fraction ◽  
Asymmetry Factor ◽  
Large Variability

Abstract. Experimental estimations of the infrared refractive index of African mineral dust have been retrieved from laboratory measurements of particle transmission spectra in the wavelength range 2.5–25 μm. Five dust samples collected at Banizoumbou (Niger) and Tamanrasset (Algeria) during dust events originated from different Western Saharan and Sahelian areas have been investigated. The obtained real (n) and imaginary (k) parts of the refractive index for the different dust cases vary in the range 1.1–2.7 and 0.05–1.0, respectively, and appear to be strongly sensitive to the mineralogical composition of the particles, especially in the 8–12 μm and 17–25 μm spectral intervals. Dust absorption is controlled mainly by clays, and, in minor fraction, by quartz and Ca-rich minerals. Size distribution, and the coarse fraction in particular, plays also a role in determining the refractive index. Significant differences are obtained when comparing our results with existing experimental estimations available in the literature, and with the values of the OPAC (Optical Properties of Aerosols and Clouds) database. The different datasets appear comparable in magnitude, with our values of n and k falling in the range of variability of past studies. However, literature data fail in accurately reproducing the spectral signatures of main minerals, in particular clays, and they significantly overestimate the contribution of quartz. We also found that the real and the imaginary parts of the refractive index from part of literature studies do not verify Kramers–Kronig relations, thus resulting theoretically incorrect. The comparison between our results, from Western Africa, and literature data, from different locations in Europe, Africa, and the Caribbean, nonetheless, confirms the expected large variability of the infrared refractive index of dust, thus highlighting the necessity for an extended systematic investigation. Aerosol intensive optical properties relevant to radiative transfer (mass extinction efficiency, kext, single scattering albedo, ω, and asymmetry factor, g), have been calculated, by using the Mie theory, for the five analysed dust samples, based on the estimated refractive index and measured particle size distribution. The optical properties show a large sample-to-sample variability. This variability is expected to significantly impact satellite retrievals of atmospheric and surface parameters and estimates of the dust radiative forcing.

scholarly journals Variability of the infrared complex refractive index of African mineral dust: experimental estimation and implications for radiative transfer and satellite remote sensing

2014 ◽  
Vol 14 (20) ◽  
pp. 11093-11116 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Di Biagio ◽  
H. Boucher ◽  
S. Caquineau ◽  
S. Chevaillier ◽  
J. Cuesta ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Refractive Index ◽  
Optical Properties ◽  
Radiative Transfer ◽  
Radiative Forcing ◽  
Mineral Dust ◽  
Complex Refractive Index ◽  
Mineralogical Composition ◽  
Asymmetry Factor ◽  
Large Variability ◽  
The Real

Abstract. Experimental estimations of the infrared refractive index of African mineral dust have been retrieved from laboratory measurements of particle transmission spectra in the wavelength range 2.5–25 μm. Five dust samples collected at Banizoumbou (Niger) and Tamanrasset (Algeria) during dust events originated from different Western Saharan and Sahelian areas have been investigated. The real (n) and imaginary (k) parts of the refractive index obtained for the different dust samples vary in the range 1.1–2.7 and 0.05–1.0, respectively, and are strongly sensitive to the mineralogical composition of the particles, especially in the 8–12 and 17–25 μm spectral intervals. Dust absorption is controlled mainly by clays (kaolinite, illite, smectite) and, to a lesser extent, by quartz and calcium-rich minerals (e.g. calcite, gypsum). Significant differences are obtained when comparing our results with existing experimental estimations available in the literature, and with the values of the OPAC (Optical Properties of Aerosols and Clouds) database. The different data sets appear comparable in magnitude, with our values of n and k falling within the range of variability of past studies. However, literature data fail in accurately reproducing the spectral signatures of the main minerals, in particular clays, and they significantly overestimate the contribution of quartz. Furthermore, the real and the imaginary parts of the refractive index from some literature studies are found not to verify the Kramers–Kronig relations, thus being theoretically incorrect. The comparison between our results, from western Africa, and literature data, from different locations in Europe, Africa, and the Caribbean, nonetheless, confirms the expected large variability of the dust infrared refractive index. This highlights the necessity for an extended systematic investigation of dust properties at infrared wavelengths. For the five analysed dust samples, aerosol intensive optical properties relevant to radiative transfer (mass extinction efficiency, kext, single scattering albedo, ω, and asymmetry factor, g) have been calculated, by using the Mie theory, based on the estimated refractive index and measured particle size distribution. The optical properties show a large sample-to-sample variability, with kext, ω, and g varying in the range 0.05–0.35, 0.25–1.0, and 0.05–0.75. This variability is expected to significantly impact satellite retrievals of atmospheric and surface parameters (e.g. from the Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer, IASI) and estimates of the dust radiative forcing.

scholarly journals Global scale variability of the mineral dust long-wave refractive index: a new dataset of in situ measurements for climate modeling and remote sensing

2017 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 1901-1929 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudia Di Biagio ◽  
Paola Formenti ◽  
Yves Balkanski ◽  
Lorenzo Caponi ◽  
Mathieu Cazaunau ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Remote Sensing ◽  
Refractive Index ◽  
Size Distribution ◽  
Climate Models ◽  
Mineral Dust ◽  
Complex Refractive Index ◽  
Mineralogical Composition ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
Long Wave

Abstract. Modeling the interaction of dust with long-wave (LW) radiation is still a challenge because of the scarcity of information on the complex refractive index of dust from different source regions. In particular, little is known about the variability of the refractive index as a function of the dust mineralogical composition, which depends on the specific emission source, and its size distribution, which is modified during transport. As a consequence, to date, climate models and remote sensing retrievals generally use a spatially invariant and time-constant value for the dust LW refractive index. In this paper, the variability of the mineral dust LW refractive index as a function of its mineralogical composition and size distribution is explored by in situ measurements in a large smog chamber. Mineral dust aerosols were generated from 19 natural soils from 8 regions: northern Africa, the Sahel, eastern Africa and the Middle East, eastern Asia, North and South America, southern Africa, and Australia. Soil samples were selected from a total of 137 available samples in order to represent the diversity of sources from arid and semi-arid areas worldwide and to account for the heterogeneity of the soil composition at the global scale. Aerosol samples generated from soils were re-suspended in the chamber, where their LW extinction spectra (3–15 µm), size distribution, and mineralogical composition were measured. The generated aerosol exhibits a realistic size distribution and mineralogy, including both the sub- and super-micron fractions, and represents in typical atmospheric proportions the main LW-active minerals, such as clays, quartz, and calcite. The complex refractive index of the aerosol is obtained by an optical inversion based upon the measured extinction spectrum and size distribution. Results from the present study show that the imaginary LW refractive index (k) of dust varies greatly both in magnitude and spectral shape from sample to sample, reflecting the differences in particle composition. In the 3–15 µm spectral range, k is between ∼ 0.001 and 0.92. The strength of the dust absorption at ∼ 7 and 11.4 µm depends on the amount of calcite within the samples, while the absorption between 8 and 14 µm is determined by the relative abundance of quartz and clays. The imaginary part (k) is observed to vary both from region to region and for varying sources within the same region. Conversely, for the real part (n), which is in the range 0.84–1.94, values are observed to agree for all dust samples across most of the spectrum within the error bars. This implies that while a constant n can be probably assumed for dust from different sources, a varying k should be used both at the global and the regional scale. A linear relationship between the magnitude of the imaginary refractive index at 7.0, 9.2, and 11.4 µm and the mass concentration of calcite and quartz absorbing at these wavelengths was found. We suggest that this may lead to predictive rules to estimate the LW refractive index of dust in specific bands based on an assumed or predicted mineralogical composition, or conversely, to estimate the dust composition from measurements of the LW extinction at specific wavebands. Based on the results of the present study, we recommend that climate models and remote sensing instruments operating at infrared wavelengths, such as IASI (infrared atmospheric sounder interferometer), use regionally dependent refractive indices rather than generic values. Our observations also suggest that the refractive index of dust in the LW does not change as a result of the loss of coarse particles by gravitational settling, so that constant values of n and k could be assumed close to sources and following transport. The whole dataset of the dust complex refractive indices presented in this paper is made available to the scientific community in the Supplement.

scholarly journals Impact of particle size, refractive index, and shape on the determination of the particle scattering coefficient – an optical closure study evaluating different nephelometer angular truncation and illumination corrections

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marilena Teri ◽  
Thomas Müller ◽  
Josef Gasteiger ◽  
Sara Valentini ◽  
Helmuth Horvath ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Particle Size ◽  
Refractive Index ◽  
Optical Properties ◽  
Particle Size Distribution ◽  
Size Distribution ◽  
Mineral Dust ◽  
Scattering Coefficient ◽  
Particle Scattering ◽  
Aerosol Optical Properties ◽  
Angular Correction

Abstract. Aerosol particles in the atmosphere interact with solar radiation through scattering and absorption. Accurate aerosol optical properties are needed to reduce the uncertainties of climate predictions. The aerosol optical properties can be obtained via optical modeling based on the measured particle size distribution. This approach requires knowledge or assumptions on the particle refractive index and shape. Meanwhile, integrating nephelometry provides information on the aerosol scattering properties directly. However, their measurements are affected by angular non-idealities, and their data need to be corrected for angular truncation and illumination to provide the particle scattering coefficient. We performed an extensive closure study, including a laboratory and a simulated experiment, aiming to compare different nephelometer angular truncation and illumination corrections (further referred to as "angular corrections"). We focused on coarse mode irregularly shaped aerosols, such as mineral dust, a worldwide abundant aerosol component. The angular correction of irregular particles is found to be only ~2 % higher than the angular correction of volume equivalent spheres. If the angular correction is calculated with Mie theory, the particle size distribution is needed. Our calculations show that if the particle size distribution is retrieved from optical particle spectrometer measurements and the irregular shape effect is not considered, the angular correction can be overestimated by about 5 % and up to 22 %. For mineral dust, the traditional angular correction based on the wavelength dependency of the scattering coefficient seems more accurate. We propose a guideline to establish the most appropriate angular correction depending on the aerosol type and the investigated size range.

Composition Dependence of Stratospheric Aerosol Radiative Forcing

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yaowei Li ◽  
John Dykema ◽  
Frank Keutsch
Keyword(s):  
Refractive Index ◽  
Optical Properties ◽  
Radiative Forcing ◽  
Complex Refractive Index ◽  
Stratospheric Aerosol ◽  
Organic Component ◽  
Aerosol Optical Properties ◽  
Aerosol Radiative Forcing ◽  
Aerosol Radiative

<p>Model results suggest organic aerosol represents a significant fraction of total stratospheric aerosol radiative forcing, which in itself could represent as much as a quarter of global radiative forcing. Other model investigations suggest that the radiative influence of organic aerosols and dust must be included to obtain consistency with satellite measurements of stratospheric aerosols. <em>In situ</em> observations suggest that stratospheric aerosol composition is strongly vertically dependent and contains a significant organic component in the lower stratosphere. Laboratory studies suggest a range of possible values for the complex refractive index of organic aerosols in the stratosphere. The real part of the refractive index could vary over a range that brackets the value of the real refractive index for pure sulfuric acid/water aerosols. The imaginary part of the refractive index of the organic component is highly uncertain, suggesting aerosols that range from being purely refractive to significantly absorbing (eg, brown carbon). The mixing state of these mixed composition aerosols is also uncertain; depending on the complex refractive index of the organic component, morphological variation could have a significant influence on aerosol radiative properties. In this work we perform a sensitivity study of shortwave radiative forcing of stratospheric aerosols, examining the influence of different plausible values of complex refractive index and particle morphologies. <em>In situ</em> measurements of aerosol size and composition are used to represent the size distribution, vertical profile, and organic mass fraction for the computation of aerosol optical properties. These profiles of aerosol optical properties are used as inputs to a radiative transfer model to calculate profiles of shortwave fluxes and radiative heating rates for standard model atmospheres. The implications of the variations in aerosol optical depth and resulting radiative forcing are interpreted in terms of implications for satellite measurements of stratospheric radiative forcing. The various radiative forcing results and remote sensing implications for different scenarios of organic complex refractive index and morphology call for better understandings of the effects of chemical evolution and transport dynamics on the aerosol optical properties in the stratosphere.</p>

scholarly journals Global scale variability of the mineral dust longwave refractive index: a new dataset of in situ measurements for climate modelling and remote sensing

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudia Di Biagio ◽  
Paola Formenti ◽  
Yves Balkanski ◽  
Lorenzo Caponi ◽  
Mathieu Cazaunau ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Remote Sensing ◽  
Refractive Index ◽  
Size Distribution ◽  
Climate Models ◽  
Mineral Dust ◽  
Complex Refractive Index ◽  
Mineralogical Composition ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
Source Regions

Abstract. Modelling the interaction of dust with longwave (LW) radiation is still a challenge due to the scarcity of information on the complex refractive index of dust from different source regions. In particular, little is known on the variability of the refractive index as a function of the dust mineralogical composition, depending on the source region of emission, and the dust size distribution, which is modified during transport. As a consequence, to date, climate models and remote sensing retrievals generally use a spatially-invariant and time-constant value for the dust LW refractive index. In this paper the variability of the mineral dust LW refractive index as a function of its mineralogical composition and size distribution is explored by in situ measurements in a large smog chamber. Mineral dust aerosols were generated from nineteen natural soils from Northern Africa, Sahel, Middle East, Eastern Asia, North and South America, Southern Africa, and Australia. Soil samples were selected from a total of 137 samples available in order to represent the diversity of sources from arid and semi-arid areas worldwide and to account for the heterogeneity of the soil composition at the global scale. Aerosol samples generated from soils were re-suspended in the chamber, where their LW extinction spectra (2–16 µm), size distribution, and mineralogical composition were measured. The generated aerosol exhibits a realistic size distribution and mineralogy, including both the sub- and super-micron fractions, and represents in typical atmospheric proportions the main LW-active minerals, such as clays, quartz, and calcite. The complex refractive index of the aerosol is obtained by an optical inversion based upon the measured extinction spectrum and size distribution. Results from the present study show that the LW refractive index of dust varies greatly both in magnitude and spectral shape from sample to sample, following the changes in the measured particle composition. The real part (n) of the refractive index is between 0.84 and 1.94, while the imaginary part (k) is ~ 0.001 and 0.92. For instance, the strength of the absorption at ~ 7 and 11.4 µm depends on the amount of calcite within the samples, while the absorption between 8 and 14 µm is determined by the relative abundance of quartz and clays. A linear relationship between the magnitude of the refractive index at 7.0, 9.2, and 11.4 µm and the mass concentration of calcite and quartz absorbing at these wavelengths was found. We suggest that this may lead to predictive rules to estimate the LW refractive index of dust in specific bands based on an assumed or predicted mineralogical composition, or conversely, to estimate the dust composition from measurements of the LW extinction at specific wavebands. Based on the results of the present study, we recommend using refractive indices specific for the different source regions, rather than generic values, in climate models and remote sensing applications. Our observations also suggest that the refractive index of dust in the LW does not change due to the loss of coarse particles by gravitational settling, so that a constant value could be assumed close to sources and during transport. The results of the present study also clearly suggest that the LW refractive index of dust varies at the regional scale. This regional variability has to be characterized further in order to better assess the influence of dust on regional climate, as well as to increase the accuracy of satellite retrievals over regions affected by dust. We make the whole dataset of the dust complex refractive indices obtained here available to the scientific community by publishing it in the supplementary material to this paper.

scholarly journals Optically effective complex refractive index of coated black carbon aerosols: from numerical aspects

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaolin Zhang ◽  
Mao Mao
Keyword(s):  
Refractive Index ◽  
Size Distribution ◽  
Climate Models ◽  
Numerical Study ◽  
Complex Refractive Index ◽  
Reliable Estimate ◽  
Chemical Compositions ◽  
Radiative Effects ◽  
Accumulation Mode ◽  
Coarse Mode

Abstract. Aerosol complex refractive index (ACRI) is an important microphysical parameter used for the studies of modeling their radiative effects. With considerable uncertainties related to retrieval based on observations, a numerical study is a powerful method, if not the only one, to provide a better and more accurate understanding on retrieved optically effective ACRI of aged BC particles. Numerical investigations on the optically effective ACRI of polydisperse coated BC aggregates retrieved from their accurate scattering and absorption properties, which are calculated by the multiple-sphere T-matrix method (MSTM), without overall particle shape variations during retrieval, are carried out. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effects of aerosol microphysics, including shell/core Dp / Dc ratio, BC geometry, BC position inside coating, and size distribution, on retrieved optically effective ACRI of coated BC particles. At odds with expectations, retrieved optically effective ACRIs of coated BC particles in coarse mode, are not merely impacted by their chemical compositions and shell/core ratio, being highly complicated functions of particle microphysics. However, in accumulation mode, the coated BC optically effective ACRI is dominantly influenced by particle chemical compositions and shell/core ratio, although it shows slightly sensitive to BC geometry, BC position inside coating and particle size distribution. The popular volume weighted average (VWA) method and effective medium theory (EMT) provide acceptable ACRI results for coated BC in accumulation mode, and the resulting uncertainties in particle scattering and absorption are both less than approximately 10 %. For coarse coated BC, the VWA and EMT, nevertheless, produce dramatically higher imaginary parts than those of optically effective ACRIs, significantly overestimating particle absorption by a factor of nearly 2 for heavily coated BC with a large BC fractal dimension or BC close to coating boundary. Using the VWA could introduce significant overestimation in aged BC absorption analysis studies, and this may be one of the reasons why modelled aerosol optical depth is 20 % larger than observed, since it is widely employed in the state-of-the-art aerosol-climate models. We propose a simple new ACRI parameterization for fully coated BC with Dp / Dc ≥ 2.0 in coarse mode, which can serve as a guide for the improvement of ACRI of heavily coated BC, and its scattering and absorption errors are reduced by a factor of nearly 2 compared to the VWA. Our study indicates that a reliable estimate of the radiative effects of aged BC particles in coarse mode would require accounting for the optically effective ACRI, rather than the ACRI given by the VWA, in aerosol-climate models.

scholarly journals Impact of mineral dust on shortwave and longwave radiation: evaluation of different vertically-resolved parameterizations in 1-D radiative transfer computations

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria José Granados-Muñoz ◽  
Michael Sicard ◽  
Roberto Román ◽  
Jose Antonio Benavent-Oltra ◽  
Rubén Barragán ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Optical Properties ◽  
Radiative Transfer ◽  
Aerosol Optical Depth ◽  
Optical Depth ◽  
Mineral Dust ◽  
Radiative Properties ◽  
Radiative Fluxes ◽  
Microphysical Properties ◽  
Aerosol Radiative

Abstract. Aerosol radiative properties are investigated in South-eastern Spain during a dust event on June 16–17, 2013 in the framework of the ChArMEx/ADRIMED (Chemistry-Aerosol Mediterranean Experiment/Aerosol Direct Radiative Impact on the regional climate in the MEDiterranean region) campaign. Particle optical and microphysical properties from ground-based sun/sky photometer and lidar measurements, as well as in situ measurements onboard the SAFIRE ATR 42 French research aircraft are used to create a set of different levels of input parameterizations which feed the 1-D radiative transfer model (RTM) GAME (Global Atmospheric ModEl). We consider three datasets: 1) a first parametrization based on the retrievals by an advanced aerosol inversion code (GRASP; Generalized Retrieval of Aerosol and Surface Properties) applied to combined photometer and lidar data; 2) a parameterization based on the photometer columnar optical properties and vertically-resolved lidar retrievals with the two-component Klett-Fernald algorithm; and 3) a parametrization based on vertically-resolved optical and microphysical aerosol properties measured in situ by the aircraft instrumentation. Once retrieved, the outputs of the RTM in terms of both shortwave and longwave radiative fluxes are contrasted against ground-, satellite- and in situ airborne measurements. In addition, the outputs of the model in terms of the aerosol direct radiative effect are discussed with respect to the different input parameterizations. Results show that calculated atmospheric radiative fluxes differ no more than 7 % to the measured ones. The three parametrization datasets produce aerosol radiative effects with differences up to 10 W m−2 in the shortwave spectral range (mostly due to differences in the aerosol optical depth), and 2 W m−2 for the longwave (mainly due to differences in the aerosol optical depth but also to the coarse mode radius used to calculate the radiative properties). The study reveals the complexity of parameterizing 1-D RTMs as sizing and characterising the optical properties of mineral dust is challenging. The use of advanced remote sensing data and processing, in combination with closure studies on the optical/microphysical properties from in situ aircraft measurements when available, is recommended.

scholarly journals Composition, size distribution, optical properties and radiative effects of re-suspended local mineral dust of Rome area by individual-particle microanalysis and radiative transfer modelling

2015 ◽  
Vol 15 (9) ◽  
pp. 13347-13393
Author(s):  
A. Pietrodangelo ◽  
R. Salzano ◽  
C. Bassani ◽  
S. Pareti ◽  
C. Perrino
Keyword(s):  
Optical Properties ◽  
Radiative Transfer ◽  
Size Distribution ◽  
Solar Irradiance ◽  
Mineral Dust ◽  
Road Dust ◽  
Individual Particle ◽  
Mineral Species ◽  
X Ray ◽  
Transfer Modelling

Abstract. New information on the PM10 mineral dust from site-specific (Rome area, Latium) outcropped rocks, and on the microphysics, optical properties and radiative effects of mineral dust at local level were gained in this work. A multi-disciplinary approach was used, based on individual-particle scanning electron microscopy with X-ray energy-dispersive microanalysis (SEM XEDS), X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis of dust, size distribution of mineral particles, and radiative transfer modelling (RTM).The mineral composition of Rome lithogenic PM10 varies between an end-member dominated by silicate minerals and one exclusively composed of calcite. The first is obtained from volcanic lithotypes, the second from travertine or limestones; lithogenic PM10 with intermediate composition derives mainly from siliciclastic rocks or marlstones of Rome area. Size and mineral species of PM10 particles of silicate-dominated dust types are tuned mainly by weathering and, to lesser extent, by debris formation or crystallization; chemical precipitation of CaCO3 plays a major role in calcite-dominated types. These differences are evidenced by the diversity of volume distributions, within either dust types, or mineral species. Further differences are observed between volume distributions of calcite from travertine (natural source) and from road dust (anthropic source), specifically on the width, shape and enrichment of the fine fraction (unimodal at 5 μm a.d. for travertine, bimodal at 3.8 and 1.8 μm a.d. for road dust). Log-normal probability density functions of volcanics and travertine dusts affect differently the single scattering albedo (SSA) and the asymmetry parameter (g) in the VISible and Near Infrared (NIR) regions, depending also on the absorbing/non-absorbing character of volcanics and travertine, respectively. The downward component of the BOA solar irradiance simulated by RTM for a volcanics-rich or travertine-rich atmosphere shows that volcanics contribution to the solar irradiance differs significantly from that of travertine in the NIR region, while similar contributions are modelled in the VIS.

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