Airborne observation of aerosol optical depth during ARCTAS: vertical profiles, inter-comparison and fine-mode fraction

Shinozuka, Y., J. Redemann, J.M. Livingston, P.B. Russell, A.D. Clarke, S.G. Howell, S. Freitag, . O’Neill, E.A. Reid, R.R. Johnson, S.(. Ramachandran, . McNaughton, . Kapustin, . Brekhovskikh, B.N. Holben, and L.J.B. McArthur (2011), Airborne observation of aerosol optical depth during ARCTAS: vertical profiles, inter-comparison and fine-mode fraction, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 11, 3673-3688, doi:10.5194/acp-11-3673-2011.
Abstract

We describe aerosol optical depth (AOD) measured during the Arctic Research of the Composition of the Troposphere from Aircraft and Satellites (ARCTAS) experiment, focusing on vertical profiles, inter-comparison with correlative observations and fine-mode fraction. Arctic haze observed in <2 km and 2–4 km over Alaska in April 2008 originated mainly from anthropogenic emission and biomass burning, respectively, according to aerosol mass spectrometry and black carbon incandescence measurements. The

˚ Angström exponent for these air masses is 1.4 ± 0.3 and 1.7 ± 0.1, respectively, when derived at 499 nm from a second-order polynomial fit to the AOD spectra measured with the 14-channel Ames Airborne Tracking Sunphotometer (AATS-14) over 354–2139 nm. We examine 55 vertical profiles selected from all phases of the experiment. For two thirds of them, the AOD spectra are within 3% + 0.02 of the vertical integral of local visible-light scattering and absorption. The horizontal structure of smoke plumes from local biomass burning observed in central Canada in June and July 2008 explains most outliers. The differences in mid˚ visible Angström exponent are <0.10 for 63% of the profiles with 499-nm AOD > 0.1. The retrieved fine-mode fraction of AOD is mostly between 0.7 and 1.0, and its root mean square difference (in both directions) from column-integral submicron fraction (measured with nephelometers, absorption photometers and an impactor) is 0.12. These AOD measurements from the NASA P-3 aircraft, after compensation for below-aircraft light attenuation by vertical extrapolation, mostly fall within ±0.02 of AERONET ground-based measurements between 340–1640 nm for five overpass events.

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Research Program
Radiation Science Program (RSP)
Mission
ARCTAS

 

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