Atmos. Meas. techniques

A new approach to crystal habit retrieval from far-infrared spectral radiance measurements
Gianluca Di Natale, Marco Ridolfi, and Luca Palchetti
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 3171–3186, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3171-2024, 2024
This work aims to define a new approach to retrieve the distribution of the main ice crystal shapes occurring inside ice and cirrus clouds from infrared spectral measurements. The capability of retrieving these shapes of the ice crystals from satellites will allow us to extend the currently available climatologies to be used as physical constraints in general circulation models. This could could allow us to improve their accuracy and prediction performance.

Enhancing mobile aerosol monitoring with CE376 dual-wavelength depolarization lidar
Maria Fernanda Sanchez Barrero, Ioana Elisabeta Popovici, Philippe Goloub, Stephane Victori, Qiaoyun Hu, Benjamin Torres, Thierry Podvin, Luc Blarel, Gaël Dubois, Fabrice Ducos, Eric Bourrianne, Aliaksandr Lapionak, Lelia Proniewski, Brent Holben, David Matthew Giles, and Anthony LaRosa
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 3121–3146, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3121-2024, 2024
This study showcases the use of a compact elastic lidar to monitor aerosols aboard moving platforms. By coupling dual-wavelength and depolarization measurements with photometer data, we studied aerosols during events of Saharan dust and smoke transport. Our research, conducted in various scenarios, not only validated our methods but also offered insights into the atmospheric dynamics near active fires. This study aids future research to fill observational gaps in aerosol monitoring.

Aerosol trace element solubility determined using ultrapure water batch leaching: an intercomparison study of four different leaching protocols
Rui Li, Prema Piyusha Panda, Yizhu Chen, Zhenming Zhu, Fu Wang, Yujiao Zhu, He Meng, Yan Ren, Ashwini Kumar, and Mingjin Tang
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 3147–3156, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3147-2024, 2024
We found that for ultrapure water batch leaching, the difference in specific experimental parameters, including agitation methods, filter pore size, and contact time, only led to a small and sometimes insignificant difference in determined aerosol trace element solubility. Furthermore, aerosol trace element solubility determined using four common ultrapure water leaching protocols showed good agreement.

Multi-wavelength dataset of aerosol extinction profiles retrieved from GOMOS stellar occultation measurements
Viktoria F. Sofieva, Monika Szelag, Johanna Tamminen, Didier Fussen, Christine Bingen, Filip Vanhellemont, Nina Mateshvili, Alexei Rozanov, and Christine Pohl
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 3085–3101, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3085-2024, 2024
We have developed the new multi-wavelength dataset of aerosol extinction profiles, which are retrieved from the averaged transmittance spectra by the Global Ozone Monitoring by Occultation of Stars instrument aboard Envisat. The retrieved aerosol extinction profiles are provided in the altitude range 10–40 km at 400, 440, 452, 470, 500, 525, 550, 672 and 750 nm for the period 2002–2012. FMI-GOMOSaero aerosol profiles have improved quality; they are in good agreement with other datasets.

Atmospheric motion vector (AMV) error characterization and bias correction by leveraging independent lidar data: a simulation using an observing system simulation experiment (OSSE) and optical flow AMVs
Hai Nguyen, Derek Posselt, Igor Yanovsky, Longtao Wu, and Svetla Hristova-Veleva
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 3103–3119, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3103-2024, 2024
Accurate global wind estimation is crucial for weather prediction and environmental modeling. Our study investigates a method to refine atmospheric motion vectors (AMVs) by comparing them with high-precision active-sensor winds. Leveraging supervised learning, we discovered that using high-precision active-sensor data can significantly reduce biases in passive-sensor winds in addition to providing estimates of the wind errors, thereby improving their reliability.

Intercomparison of AOD retrievals from GAW-PFR and SKYNET sun photometer networks and the effect of calibration
Angelos Karanikolas, Natalia Kouremeti, Monica Campanelli, Victor Estellés, Masahiro Momoi, Gaurav Kumar, and Stelios Kazadzis
Atmos. Meas. Tech. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2024-84,2024
Preprint under review for AMT (discussion: open, 0 comments)
Different sun photometer networks use different instruments, post processing algorithms and calibration protocols for aerosol optical depth (AOD) retrieval. Such differences can affect the homogeneity and comparability of their measurements. In this study, we assess the homogeneity between the sun photometer networks GAW-PFR and SKYNET analysing common measurements during 3 campaigns between 2017–2021 and investigate the main cause of the differences.

Quality assurance and quality control of atmospheric organosulfates measured using hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography (HILIC)
Ping Liu, Xiang Ding, Bo-Xuan Li, Yu-Qing Zhang, Daniel J. Bryant, and Xin-Ming Wang
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 3067–3079, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3067-2024, 2024
In this paper, we further optimize the measurement of atmospheric organosulfates by hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography (HILIC), offering an improved method for quantifying and speciating atmospheric organosulfates. These efforts will contribute to a deeper understanding of secondary organic aerosol precursors, formation mechanisms, and the contribution of organosulfate to atmospheric aerosols, ultimately guiding research in the field of air pollution prevention and control.

Preface to the special issue “EarthCARE Level 2 algorithms and data products”: Editorial in memory of Tobias Wehr
Robin J. Hogan, Anthony J. Illingworth, Pavlos Kollias, Hajime Okamoto, and Ulla Wandinger
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 3081–3083, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3081-2024, 2024

Full characterization and calibration of a transfer standard monitor for atmospheric radon measurements
Roger Curcoll, Claudia Grossi, Stefan Röttger, and Arturo Vargas
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 3047–3065, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3047-2024, 2024
This paper presents a new user-friendly version of the Atmospheric Radon MONitor (ARMON). The efficiency of the instrument is of 0.0057 s-1, obtained using different techniques at Spanish and German chambers. The total calculated uncertainty of the ARMON for hourly radon concentrations above 5 Bq m-3 is lower than 10 % (k = 1). Results confirm that the ARMON is suitable to measure low-level radon activity concentrations and to be used as a transfer standard to calibrate in situ radon monitors.

A Low-cost UAV Coordinated Carbon observation Network (LUCCN): an analysis of environment impact on ground base measurement node
Xiaoyu Ren, Dongxu Yang, Yi Liu, Yong Wang, Ting Wang, Zhaonan Cai, Lu Yao, Tonghui Zhao, Jing Wang, and Zhe Jiang
Atmos. Meas. Tech. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2024-49,2024
Preprint under review for AMT (discussion: open, 0 comments)
We aim to verify the performance of the low-cost CO2 sensors (LUCCN). The measurements show that accuracies of LUCCNs are higher than the medium accuracy standard. And LUCCNs are also sensitive to the changes of CO2 concentrations. These results prove that the LUCCN can measure CO2 concentrations effectively, which means that LUCCN is a powerful tool to achieve the CO2 monitoring network.

Exploring commercial GNSS RO products for Planetary Boundary Layer studies in the Arctic Region
Manisha Ganeshan, Dong L. Wu, Joseph A. Santanello, Jie Gong, Chi O. Ao, Panagiotis Vergados, and Kevin Nelson
Atmos. Meas. Tech. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2024-83,2024
Preprint under review for AMT (discussion: open, 0 comments)
This study explores the potential of two newly launched commercial GNSS RO satellite missions for advancing Arctic lower atmospheric studies. The products have a good sampling of the lower Arctic atmosphere, and are useful to derive the planetary boundary layer (PBL) height during winter months. This research is a step towards closing the observation gap in polar regions due to the decomissioning of COSMIC-1 GNSS RO mission, and the lack of high latitude coverage by its successor (COSMIC-2).

Development and Preliminary Testing of Temporally Controllable Weather Modification Rocket with Spatial Seeding Capacity
Xiaobo Dong, Xiaoqing Wang, Yongde Liu, and Xiaorong Wang
Atmos. Meas. Tech. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2024-89,2024
Preprint under review for AMT (discussion: open, 1 comment)
This study develops a time-controllable weather modification rocket with space seeding capabilities. Therefore, in artificial weather modification operations, parameters such as the height, thickness, and operating temperature of the target cloud can be obtained through detection, and these parameters can be used to automatically calculate the appropriate sowing time, sowing height, and sowing dosage to improve the accuracy of artificial catalytic cloud operations. sex and science.

Multiple-scattering effects on single-wavelength lidar sounding of multi-layered clouds
Valery Shcherbakov, Frédéric Szczap, Guillaume Mioche, and Céline Cornet
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 3011–3028, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3011-2024, 2024
We performed Monte Carlo simulations of single-wavelength lidar signals from multi-layered clouds with special attention focused on the multiple-scattering (MS) effect in regions of the cloud-free molecular atmosphere. The MS effect on lidar signals always decreases with the increasing distance from the cloud far edge. The decrease is the direct consequence of the fact that the forward peak of particle phase functions is much larger than the receiver field of view.

Mobile air quality monitoring and comparison to fixed monitoring sites for instrument performance assessment
Andrew R. Whitehill, Melissa Lunden, Brian LaFranchi, Surender Kaushik, and Paul A. Solomon
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 2991–3009, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2991-2024, 2024
We present an analysis from two large-scale mobile air quality monitoring campaigns in Colorado and California. We compare mobile measurements of air quality to measurements from nearby regulatory sites. The goal of this paper is to explore how fixed-site measurements (such as regulatory site measurements) can be used for ongoing instrument performance assessment of mobile monitoring platforms over extended measurement campaigns.

Deep-Pathfinder: a boundary layer height detection algorithm based on image segmentation
Jasper S. Wijnands, Arnoud Apituley, Diego Alves Gouveia, and Jan Willem Noteboom
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 3029–3045, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3029-2024, 2024
The mixing of air in the lower atmosphere influences the concentration of air pollutants and greenhouse gases. Our study developed a new method, Deep-Pathfinder, to estimate mixing layer height. Deep-Pathfinder analyses imagery with aerosol observations using artificial intelligence techniques for computer vision. Compared to existing methods, it improves temporal consistency and resolution and can be used in real time, which is valuable for aviation, forecasting, and air quality monitoring.

A new dual-frequency stratospheric–tropospheric and meteor radar: system description and first results
Qingchen Xu, Iain Murray Reid, Bing Cai, Christian Adami, Zengmao Zhang, Mingliang Zhao, and Wen Li
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 2957–2975, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2957-2024, 2024
To have better understanding of the dynamics of the lower and middle atmosphere, we installed a newly designed dual-frequency radar system that uses 53.8 MHz for near-ground to 20 km wind measurements and 35.0 MHz for 70 to 100 km wind measurements. The initial results show its good performance, along with the analysis of typical winter gravity wave activities.

Martian column CO2 and pressure measurement with spaceborne differential absorption lidar at 1.96 µm
Zhaoyan Liu, Bing Lin, Joel F. Campbell, Jirong Yu, Jihong Geng, and Shibin Jiang
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 2977–2990, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2977-2024, 2024
We introduce a concept utilizing a differential absorption barometric lidar operating within the 1.96 µm CO2 absorption band. Our focus is on a compact lidar configuration, featuring reduced telescope size and lower laser pulse energies towards minimizing costs for potential forthcoming Mars missions. The core measurement objectives encompass the determination of column CO2 absorption optical depth and abundance, surface air pressure, and vertical distributions of dust and cloud layers.

A survey of methane point source emissions from coal mines in Shanxi province of China using AHSI on board Gaofen-5B
Zhonghua He, Ling Gao, Miao Liang, and Zhao-Cheng Zeng
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 2937–2956, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2937-2024, 2024
Using Gaofen-5B satellite data, this study detected 93 methane plume events from 32 coal mines in Shanxi, China, with emission rates spanning from 761.78 ± 185.00 to 12729.12 ± 4658.13 kg h-1, showing significant variability among sources. This study highlights Gaofen-5B’s capacity for monitoring large methane point sources, offering valuable support in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Simulation and detection efficiency analysis for polar mesospheric clouds measurements using a spaceborne wide field of view ultraviolet imager
Ke Ren, Haiyang Gao, Shuqi Niu, Shaoyang Sun, Leilei Kou, Yanqing Xie, Liguo Zhang, and Lingbing Bu
Atmos. Meas. Tech. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2023-186,2024
Preprint under review for AMT (discussion: open, 0 comments)
Ultraviolet (UV) imaging technology has significantly advanced the research and development of polar mesospheric clouds (PMCs). In this study, we proposed the wide field-of-view ultraviolet imager (WFUI) and built a forward model to evaluate the detection capability and efficiency. The research results demonstrate that the WFUI performs well in PMCs detection and has high detection efficiency. The relationship between IWC and detection efficiency follows an exponential function distribution.