A global climatology of stratospheric aerosol size distribution parameters derived from SAGE II data over the period 1984-2000: 1. Methodology and climatological observations

Abstract. An analysis of multiwavelength stratospheric aerosol extinction coefficient data from the Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment II and III/ISS instruments is used to demonstrate a coherent relationship between the perturbation in extinction coefficient in an eruption's main aerosol layer and an apparent change in aerosol size distribution that spans multiple orders of magnitude in the stratospheric impact of a volcanic event. The relationship is measurement-based and does not rely on assumptions about the aerosol size distribution. We note limitations on this analysis including that the presence of significant amounts of ash in the main aerosol layer may significantly modulate these results. Despite this limitation, these findings represent a unique opportunity to verify the performance of interactive aerosol models used in Global Climate Models and Earth System Model and may suggest an avenue for improving aerosol extinction coefficient measurements from single channel observations such the Optical Spectrograph and Infrared Imager System as they rely on a priori assumptions about particle size.

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Aerosol particle size distribution in the stratosphere retrieved from SCIAMACHY limb measurements

Atmospheric Measurement Techniques ◽

10.5194/amt-11-2085-2018 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 11 (4) ◽

pp. 2085-2100 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Elizaveta Malinina ◽

Alexei Rozanov ◽

Vladimir Rozanov ◽

Patricia Liebing ◽

Heinrich Bovensmann ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Particle Size ◽

Particle Size Distribution ◽

Size Distribution ◽

Aerosol Particle ◽

Volcanic Eruptions ◽

Stratospheric Aerosol ◽

Solar Light ◽

Data Set ◽

Aerosol Particle Size ◽

Distribution Parameters

Abstract. Information about aerosols in the Earth's atmosphere is of a great importance in the scientific community. While tropospheric aerosol influences the radiative balance of the troposphere and affects human health, stratospheric aerosol plays an important role in atmospheric chemistry and climate change. In particular, information about the amount and distribution of stratospheric aerosols is required to initialize climate models, as well as validate aerosol microphysics models and investigate geoengineering. In addition, good knowledge of stratospheric aerosol loading is needed to increase the retrieval accuracy of key trace gases (e.g. ozone or water vapour) when interpreting remote sensing measurements of the scattered solar light. The most commonly used characteristics to describe stratospheric aerosols are the aerosol extinction coefficient and Ångström coefficient. However, the use of particle size distribution parameters along with the aerosol number density is a more optimal approach. In this paper we present a new retrieval algorithm to obtain the particle size distribution of stratospheric aerosol from space-borne observations of the scattered solar light in the limb-viewing geometry. While the mode radius and width of the aerosol particle size distribution are retrieved, the aerosol particle number density profile remains unchanged. The latter is justified by a lower sensitivity of the limb-scattering measurements to changes in this parameter. To our knowledge this is the first data set providing two parameters of the particle size distribution of stratospheric aerosol from space-borne measurements of scattered solar light. Typically, the mode radius and w can be retrieved with an uncertainty of less than 20 %. The algorithm was successfully applied to the tropical region (20° N–20° S) for 10 years (2002–2012) of SCIAMACHY observations in limb-viewing geometry, establishing a unique data set. Analysis of this new climatology for the particle size distribution parameters showed clear increases in the mode radius after the tropical volcanic eruptions, whereas no distinct behaviour of the absolute distribution width could be identified. A tape recorder, which describes the time lag as the perturbation propagates to higher altitudes, was identified for both parameters after the volcanic eruptions. A quasi-biannual oscillation (QBO) pattern at upper altitudes (28–32 km) is prominent in the anomalies of the analysed parameters. A comparison of the aerosol effective radii derived from SCIAMACHY and SAGE II data was performed. The average difference is found to be around 30 % at the lower altitudes, decreasing with increasing height to almost zero around 30 km. The data sample available for the comparison is, however, relatively small.

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Retrieval of stratospheric aerosol size distribution parameters using satellite solar occultation measurements at three wavelengths

Atmospheric Measurement Techniques ◽

10.5194/amt-14-2345-2021 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 14 (3) ◽

pp. 2345-2357

Author(s):

Felix Wrana ◽

Christian von Savigny ◽

Jacob Zalach ◽

Larry W. Thomason

Keyword(s):

Size Distribution ◽

Space Station ◽

Volcanic Eruptions ◽

Stratospheric Aerosol ◽

Aerosol Size Distribution ◽

Aerosol Layer ◽

Data Set ◽

Extinction Coefficients ◽

Solar Occultation ◽

Spatial Coverage

Abstract. In this work, a novel approach for the determination of the particle size distribution (PSD) parameters of stratospheric sulfate aerosols is presented. For this, ratios of extinction coefficients obtained from SAGE III/ISS (Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment III on the International Space Station) solar occultation measurements at 449, 756 and 1544 nm were used to retrieve the mode width and median radius of a size distribution assumed to be monomodal lognormal. The estimated errors at the peak of the stratospheric aerosol layer, on average, lie between 20 % and 25 % for the median radius and 5 % and 7 % for the mode width. The results are consistent in magnitude with other retrieval results from the literature, but a robust comparison is difficult, mainly because of differences in temporal and spatial coverage. Other quantities like number density and effective radius were also calculated. A major advantage of the described method over other retrieval techniques is that both the median radius and the mode width can be retrieved simultaneously, without having to assume one of them. This is possible due to the broad wavelength spectrum covered by the SAGE III/ISS measurements. Also, the presented method – being based on the analysis of three wavelengths – allows unique solutions for the retrieval of PSD parameters for almost all of the observed extinction spectra, which is not the case when using only two spectral channels. In addition, the extinction coefficients from SAGE III/ISS solar occultation measurements, on which the retrieval is based, are calculated without a priori assumptions about the PSD. For those reasons, the data produced with the presented retrieval technique may be a valuable contribution for a better understanding of the variability of stratospheric aerosol size distributions, e.g. after volcanic eruptions. While this study focuses on describing the retrieval method, and a future study will discuss the PSD parameter data set produced in depth, some exemplary results for background conditions in June 2017 are shown.

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Statistical model for aerosol size distribution parameters according to weather parameters

10.1117/12.211184 ◽

1995 ◽

Author(s):

Itai Dror ◽

Norman S. Kopeika

Keyword(s):

Statistical Model ◽

Size Distribution ◽

Aerosol Size Distribution ◽

Distribution Parameters ◽

Weather Parameters

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An aerosol activation metamodel of v1.2.0 of the pyrcel cloud parcel model: development and offline assessment for use in an aerosol–climate model

Geoscientific Model Development ◽

10.5194/gmd-10-1817-2017 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 10 (4) ◽

pp. 1817-1833 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Daniel Rothenberg ◽

Chien Wang

Keyword(s):

Size Distribution ◽

Relative Error ◽

Climate Model ◽

Cloud Condensation Nuclei ◽

Full Range ◽

Model Development ◽

Cloud Droplet ◽

Aerosol Size Distribution ◽

Mean Relative Error ◽

Distribution Parameters

Abstract. We describe an emulator of a detailed cloud parcel model which has been trained to assess droplet nucleation from a complex, multimodal aerosol size distribution simulated by a global aerosol–climate model. The emulator is constructed using a sensitivity analysis approach (polynomial chaos expansion) which reproduces the behavior of the targeted parcel model across the full range of aerosol properties and meteorology simulated by the parent climate model. An iterative technique using aerosol fields sampled from a global model is used to identify the critical aerosol size distribution parameters necessary for accurately predicting activation. Across the large parameter space used to train them, the emulators estimate cloud droplet number concentration (CDNC) with a mean relative error of 9.2 % for aerosol populations without giant cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) and 6.9 % when including them. Versus a parcel model driven by those same aerosol fields, the best-performing emulator has a mean relative error of 4.6 %, which is comparable with two commonly used activation schemes also evaluated here (which have mean relative errors of 2.9 and 6.7 %, respectively). We identify the potential for regional biases in modeled CDNC, particularly in oceanic regimes, where our best-performing emulator tends to overpredict by 7 %, whereas the reference activation schemes range in mean relative error from −3 to 7 %. The emulators which include the effects of giant CCN are more accurate in continental regimes (mean relative error of 0.3 %) but strongly overestimate CDNC in oceanic regimes by up to 22 %, particularly in the Southern Ocean. The biases in CDNC resulting from the subjective choice of activation scheme could potentially influence the magnitude of the indirect effect diagnosed from the model incorporating it.

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Thirty years of in situ stratospheric aerosol size distribution measurements from Laramie, Wyoming (41°N), using balloon-borne instruments

Journal of Geophysical Research Atmospheres ◽

10.1029/2002jd002514 ◽

2003 ◽

Vol 108 (D5) ◽

Cited By ~ 181

Author(s):

T. Deshler

Keyword(s):

Size Distribution ◽

Stratospheric Aerosol ◽

Aerosol Size Distribution

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Improvement of stratospheric aerosol extinction retrieval from OMPS/LP using a new aerosol model

Atmospheric Measurement Techniques ◽

10.5194/amt-11-6495-2018 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 11 (12) ◽

pp. 6495-6509 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Zhong Chen ◽

Pawan K. Bhartia ◽

Robert Loughman ◽

Peter Colarco ◽

Matthew DeLand

Keyword(s):

Size Distribution ◽

Gamma Function ◽

Spectral Dependence ◽

Stratospheric Aerosol ◽

Cumulative Distribution ◽

Aerosol Size Distribution ◽

Retrieval Algorithm ◽

Aerosol Extinction ◽

Aerosol Model ◽

The Impact

Abstract. The Ozone Mapping and Profiler Suite Limb Profiler (OMPS/LP) has been flying on the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (S-NPP) satellite since October 2011. It is designed to produce ozone and aerosol vertical profiles at ∼2 km vertical resolution over the entire sunlit globe. Aerosol extinction profiles are computed with Mie theory using radiances measured at 675 nm. The operational Version 1.0 (V1.0) aerosol extinction retrieval algorithm assumes a bimodal lognormal aerosol size distribution (ASD) whose parameters were derived by combining an in situ measurement of aerosol microphysics with the Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment (SAGE II) aerosol extinction climatology. Internal analysis indicates that this bimodal lognormal ASD does not sufficiently explain the spectral dependence of LP-measured radiances. In this paper we describe the derivation of an improved aerosol size distribution, designated Version 1.5 (V1.5), for the LP retrieval algorithm. The new ASD uses a gamma function distribution that is derived from Community Aerosol and Radiation Model for Atmospheres (CARMA)-calculated results. A cumulative distribution fit derived from the gamma function ASD gives better agreement with CARMA results at small particle radii than bimodal or unimodal functions. The new ASD also explains the spectral dependence of LP-measured radiances better than the V1.0 ASD. We find that the impact of our choice of ASD on the retrieved extinctions varies strongly with the underlying reflectivity of the scene. Initial comparisons with collocated extinction profiles retrieved at 676 nm from the SAGE III instrument on the International Space Station (ISS) show a significant improvement in agreement for the LP V1.5 retrievals. Zonal mean extinction profiles agree to within 10 % between 19 and 29 km, and regression fits of collocated samples show improved correlation and reduced scatter compared to the V1.0 product. This improved agreement will motivate development of more sophisticated ASDs from CARMA results that incorporate latitude, altitude and seasonal variations in aerosol properties.

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