Application of a Synergetic Lidar and Sunphotometer Algorithm for the Characterization of a Dust Event over Athens, Greece

A. Tsekeri *

Institute for Astronomy, Astrophysics, Space Applications and Remote Sensing, National Observatory of Athens, Athens, Greece.

V. Amiridis

Institute for Astronomy, Astrophysics, Space Applications and Remote Sensing, National Observatory of Athens, Athens, Greece.

P. Kokkalis

Laboratory of Lasers and Applications, National Technical University of Athens, Athens, Greece.

S. Basart

Barcelona Supercomputing Center-Centro Nacional de Supercomputation (BSC-CNS), Earth Sciences Department, Barcelona, Spain.

A. Chaikovsky

Institute of Physics of the National Academy of Science of Belarus, Minsk, Belarus.

O. Dubovik

Laboratoire d’Optique Atmosphérique, Universite de Lille, Lille, France.

R.E. Mamouri

Laboratory of Lasers and Applications, National Technical University of Athens, Athens, Greece and Department of Civil Engineering and Geomatics, Cyprus Technical University, Lemesos, Cyprus.

A. Papayannis

Laboratory of Lasers and Applications, National Technical University of Athens, Athens, Greece.

J. M. Baldasano

Barcelona Supercomputing Center-Centro Nacional de Supercomputation (BSC-CNS), Earth Sciences Department, Barcelona, Spain and Environmental Modelling Laboratory, Technical University of Catalonia, Barcelona, Spain.

*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.


Abstract

We present first retrievals of the Lidar-Radiometer Inversion Code (LIRIC), applied on combined lidar and sunphotometer data during a Saharan dust episode over Athens, Greece, on July 20, 2011. A full lidar dataset in terms of backscatter signals at 355, 532 and 1064 nm, as well as depolarization at 532 nm was acquired from the European Aerosol Research Network (EARLINET) station of Athens and combined with Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) data, in order to retrieve the concentration and extinction coefficient profiles of dust. The lidar measurements showed a free tropospheric layer between 1-5 km above Athens, with low Ångström exponent of ~0.5 and high particle depolarization ratio, ~25-30%, both values characteristic of dust particles. The application of LIRIC revealed high concentration profiles of non-spherical coarse particles in the layer, in the range of 0.04-0.07 ppb and a smaller fine particle component with concentrations of ~0.01 ppb. The extinction coefficients at 532 nm ranged between 50 and 90 Mm-1 for coarse non-spherical particles and between 25 and 50Mm-1 for fine particles. The retrievals were compared with modeled dust concentration and extinction coefficient profiles from the Dust Regional Atmospheric Modeling (BSC-DREAM8b), showing good agreement, especially for the coarse mode.

Keywords: Aerosol concentration, saharan dust, LIRIC, lidar, sunphotometer, EARLINET, AERONET


How to Cite

Tsekeri, A., V. Amiridis, P. Kokkalis, S. Basart, A. Chaikovsky, O. Dubovik, R.E. Mamouri, A. Papayannis, and J. M. Baldasano. 2013. “Application of a Synergetic Lidar and Sunphotometer Algorithm for the Characterization of a Dust Event over Athens, Greece”. International Journal of Environment and Climate Change 3 (4):531-46. https://doi.org/10.9734/BJECC/2013/2615.