3D aerosol climatology over East Asia derived from CALIOP observations

Publication date: March 2017
Source:Atmospheric Environment, Volume 152
Author(s): Yongbo Zhou, Xuejin Sun, Chuanliang Zhang, Riwei Zhang, Yan Li, Haoran Li
The seasonal mean extinction coefficient profile (ECP), single scattering albedo (SSA), and scattering phase function (SPF) derived from the CALIOP (Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization) version 3 Level 2 5-km aerosol profile product (2011–2014) were compiled into a three-dimensional (3D) aerosol climatology for East Asia. The SSA and SPF were calculated as the weighted averages of the scattering properties of the CALIOP aerosol subtypes. The weights were set to the occurrence frequencies of the subtypes. The single scattering properties of each subtype were extrapolated from the volume-based size distribution and complex refractive indexes based on Mie calculations. For the high-loading episodes (aerosol optical depth ≥ 0.6), the exponential ECP structures were most frequently observed over the farmland and desert areas, along with the uplifted ECP structures over the marine and coastal areas. Besides the desert areas, high-loading episodes also occurred over areas with frequent agricultural and industry activities. Unlike the conventional half-3D aerosol climatology (vertically constant SSA and SPF), this newly generated climatology specified SSA and SPF in the full-3D space (full-3D aerosol climatology). Errors on the shortwave radiative heating rate (SW RHR) due to the half-3D aerosol climatology approximation were quantified. The SW RHR errors were around ±1 K/day, implying that the half-3D aerosol climatology should be used with caution in climate modeling. This study is among the first to generate a full-3D aerosol climatology from the CALIOP data. This full-3D aerosol climatology is potentially useful for aerosol remote sensing and climate modeling.



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