Seasonal Variations of the Relative Optical Air Mass Function for Background Aerosol and Thin Cirrus Clouds at Arctic and Antarctic Sites
New calculations of the relative optical air mass function are made over the 0°–87° range of apparent solar zenith angle θ, for various vertical profiles of background aerosol, diamond dust and thin cirrus cloud particle extinction coefficient in the Arctic and Antarctic atmospheres. The calculatio...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2015-06-01
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| Series: | Remote Sensing |
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| Online Access: | http://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/7/6/7157 |
| _version_ | 1818321977398525952 |
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| author | Claudio Tomasi Boyan H. Petkov Mauro Mazzola Christoph Ritter Alcide G. di Sarra Tatiana di Iorio Massimo del Guasta |
| author_facet | Claudio Tomasi Boyan H. Petkov Mauro Mazzola Christoph Ritter Alcide G. di Sarra Tatiana di Iorio Massimo del Guasta |
| author_sort | Claudio Tomasi |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | New calculations of the relative optical air mass function are made over the 0°–87° range of apparent solar zenith angle θ, for various vertical profiles of background aerosol, diamond dust and thin cirrus cloud particle extinction coefficient in the Arctic and Antarctic atmospheres. The calculations were carried out by following the Tomasi and Petkov (2014) procedure, in which the above-mentioned vertical profiles derived from lidar observations were used as weighting functions. Different sets of lidar measurements were examined, recorded using: (i) the Koldewey-Aerosol-Raman Lidar (KARL) system (AWI, Germany) at Ny-Ålesund (Spitsbergen, Svalbard) in January, April, July and October 2013; (ii) the Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations (CALIPSO) satellite-based sensor over Barrow (Alaska), Eureka (Nunavut, Canada) and Sodankylä (northern Finland), and Neumayer III, Mario Zucchelli and Mirny coastal stations in Antarctica in the local summer months of the last two years; (iii) the National Institute of Optics (INO), National Council of Research (CNR) Antarctic lidar at Dome C on the Antarctic Plateau for a typical “diamond dust” case; and (iv) the KARL lidar at Ny-Ålesund and the University of Rome/National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development (ENEA) lidar at Thule (northwestern Greenland) for some cirrus cloud layers in the middle and upper troposphere. The relative optical air mass calculations are compared with those obtained by Tomasi and Petkov (2014) to define the seasonal changes produced by aerosol particles, diamond dust and cirrus clouds. The results indicate that the corresponding air mass functions generally decrease as angle θ increases with rates that are proportional to the increase in the pure aerosol, diamond dust and cirrus cloud particle optical thickness. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-13T10:49:28Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-e03799cd6b764ec78aeb236fb1758a58 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2072-4292 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-13T10:49:28Z |
| publishDate | 2015-06-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Remote Sensing |
| spelling | doaj.art-e03799cd6b764ec78aeb236fb1758a582022-12-21T23:49:57ZengMDPI AGRemote Sensing2072-42922015-06-01767157718010.3390/rs70607157rs70607157Seasonal Variations of the Relative Optical Air Mass Function for Background Aerosol and Thin Cirrus Clouds at Arctic and Antarctic SitesClaudio Tomasi0Boyan H. Petkov1Mauro Mazzola2Christoph Ritter3Alcide G. di Sarra4Tatiana di Iorio5Massimo del Guasta6Climate Change Division, Institute of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate (ISAC), National Council of Research (CNR), Bologna 40129, ItalyClimate Change Division, Institute of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate (ISAC), National Council of Research (CNR), Bologna 40129, ItalyClimate Change Division, Institute of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate (ISAC), National Council of Research (CNR), Bologna 40129, ItalyClimate System Division, Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research (AWI), Potsdam 14473, GermanyLaboratory for Earth Observations and Analyses (UTMEA-TER), National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development (ENEA), Rome 00123, ItalyLaboratory for Earth Observations and Analyses (UTMEA-TER), National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development (ENEA), Rome 00123, ItalyNational Institute of Optics (INO), National Council of Research (CNR), Sesto Fiorentino (Florence) 50019, ItalyNew calculations of the relative optical air mass function are made over the 0°–87° range of apparent solar zenith angle θ, for various vertical profiles of background aerosol, diamond dust and thin cirrus cloud particle extinction coefficient in the Arctic and Antarctic atmospheres. The calculations were carried out by following the Tomasi and Petkov (2014) procedure, in which the above-mentioned vertical profiles derived from lidar observations were used as weighting functions. Different sets of lidar measurements were examined, recorded using: (i) the Koldewey-Aerosol-Raman Lidar (KARL) system (AWI, Germany) at Ny-Ålesund (Spitsbergen, Svalbard) in January, April, July and October 2013; (ii) the Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations (CALIPSO) satellite-based sensor over Barrow (Alaska), Eureka (Nunavut, Canada) and Sodankylä (northern Finland), and Neumayer III, Mario Zucchelli and Mirny coastal stations in Antarctica in the local summer months of the last two years; (iii) the National Institute of Optics (INO), National Council of Research (CNR) Antarctic lidar at Dome C on the Antarctic Plateau for a typical “diamond dust” case; and (iv) the KARL lidar at Ny-Ålesund and the University of Rome/National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development (ENEA) lidar at Thule (northwestern Greenland) for some cirrus cloud layers in the middle and upper troposphere. The relative optical air mass calculations are compared with those obtained by Tomasi and Petkov (2014) to define the seasonal changes produced by aerosol particles, diamond dust and cirrus clouds. The results indicate that the corresponding air mass functions generally decrease as angle θ increases with rates that are proportional to the increase in the pure aerosol, diamond dust and cirrus cloud particle optical thickness.http://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/7/6/7157relative optical air mass functionbackground Arctic aerosol in summerbackground Antarctic aerosol at coastal sitesdiamond dust ground layer on the Antarctic Plateauthin cirrus cloudscirrus clouds in the middle troposphere |
| spellingShingle | Claudio Tomasi Boyan H. Petkov Mauro Mazzola Christoph Ritter Alcide G. di Sarra Tatiana di Iorio Massimo del Guasta Seasonal Variations of the Relative Optical Air Mass Function for Background Aerosol and Thin Cirrus Clouds at Arctic and Antarctic Sites Remote Sensing relative optical air mass function background Arctic aerosol in summer background Antarctic aerosol at coastal sites diamond dust ground layer on the Antarctic Plateau thin cirrus clouds cirrus clouds in the middle troposphere |
| title | Seasonal Variations of the Relative Optical Air Mass Function for Background Aerosol and Thin Cirrus Clouds at Arctic and Antarctic Sites |
| title_full | Seasonal Variations of the Relative Optical Air Mass Function for Background Aerosol and Thin Cirrus Clouds at Arctic and Antarctic Sites |
| title_fullStr | Seasonal Variations of the Relative Optical Air Mass Function for Background Aerosol and Thin Cirrus Clouds at Arctic and Antarctic Sites |
| title_full_unstemmed | Seasonal Variations of the Relative Optical Air Mass Function for Background Aerosol and Thin Cirrus Clouds at Arctic and Antarctic Sites |
| title_short | Seasonal Variations of the Relative Optical Air Mass Function for Background Aerosol and Thin Cirrus Clouds at Arctic and Antarctic Sites |
| title_sort | seasonal variations of the relative optical air mass function for background aerosol and thin cirrus clouds at arctic and antarctic sites |
| topic | relative optical air mass function background Arctic aerosol in summer background Antarctic aerosol at coastal sites diamond dust ground layer on the Antarctic Plateau thin cirrus clouds cirrus clouds in the middle troposphere |
| url | http://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/7/6/7157 |
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