Open AccessBoundary layer aerosol composition over Sierra Nevada Mountains using 9.11‐ and 10.59‐μm continuous wave lidars and modeled backscatter from size distribution data
Author(s) -
Cutten D. R.,
Jarzembski M. A.,
Srivastava V.,
Pueschel R. F.,
Howard S. D.,
McCaul E. W.
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
journal of geophysical research: atmospheres
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.67
H-Index - 298
eISSN - 2156-2202
pISSN - 0148-0227
DOI - 10.1029/2002jd002252
Subject(s) - aerosol , lidar , backscatter (email) , environmental science , remote sensing , particle size distribution , angstrom exponent , atmospheric sciences , mie scattering , mineralogy , materials science , meteorology , particle size , geology , optics , scattering , light scattering , physics , telecommunications , paleontology , computer science , wireless
An inversion technique has been developed to determine volume fractions of an atmospheric aerosol composed primarily of ammonium sulfate and ammonium nitrate and water combined with fixed concentration of elemental and organic carbon. It is based on measured aerosol backscatter obtained with 9.11‐ and 10.59‐μm wavelength continuous wave CO 2 lidars and modeled backscatter from aerosol size distribution data. The technique is demonstrated during a flight of the NASA DC‐8 aircraft over the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range, California, on 19 September 1995. Volume fraction of each component and effective complex refractive index of the composite particle were determined assuming an internally mixed composite aerosol model. The volume fractions were also used to recompute aerosol backscatter, providing good agreement with the lidar‐measured data. The robustness of the technique for determining volume fractions was extended with a comparison of calculated 2.1‐μm backscatter from size distribution data with the measured lidar data converted to 2.1‐μm backscatter using an earlier derived algorithm, verifying the algorithm as well as the backscatter calculations.