Optical and microphysical properties of fresh biomass burning aerosol retrieved by Raman lidar, and star-and sun-photometry

An intense biomass-burning (BB) event from North America in July 2015 was observed over Ny-Ålesund (Spitsbergen, European Arctic). An extreme air pollution took place and aerosol optical depth (AOD) of more than 1 at 500nm occurs in middle and lower troposphere. We analyse data from the multi-wavelength Raman-lidar KARL of Alfred Wegener Institute to derive microphysical properties of the aerosol of one interesting layer from 3186 to 3306 m via regularization. We found credible and confidential microphysical parameters.

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Aerosol Characterization during the Summer 2017 Huge Fire Event on Mount Vesuvius (Italy) by Remote Sensing and In Situ Observations

Remote Sensing ◽

10.3390/rs13102001 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (10) ◽

pp. 2001

Author(s):

Antonella Boselli ◽

Alessia Sannino ◽

Mariagrazia D’Emilio ◽

Xuan Wang ◽

Salvatore Amoruso

Keyword(s):

Remote Sensing ◽

Biomass Burning ◽

Ground Level ◽

Large Area ◽

Fire Event ◽

Near Surface ◽

Mean Values ◽

Microphysical Properties ◽

Observational Site ◽

Biomass Burning Aerosol

During the summer of 2017, multiple huge fires occurred on Mount Vesuvius (Italy), dispersing a large quantity of ash in the surrounding area ensuing the burning of tens of hectares of Mediterranean scrub. The fires affected a very large area of the Vesuvius National Park and the smoke was driven by winds towards the city of Naples, causing daily peak values of particulate matter (PM) concentrations at ground level higher than the limit of the EU air quality directive. The smoke plume spreading over the area of Naples in this period was characterized by active (lidar) and passive (sun photometer) remote sensing as well as near-surface (optical particle counter) observational techniques. The measurements allowed us to follow both the PM variation at ground level and the vertical profile of fresh biomass burning aerosol as well as to analyze the optical and microphysical properties. The results evidenced the presence of a layer of fine mode aerosol with large mean values of optical depth (AOD > 0.25) and Ångstrom exponent (γ > 1.5) above the observational site. Moreover, the lidar ratio and aerosol linear depolarization obtained from the lidar observations were about 40 sr and 4%, respectively, consistent with the presence of biomass burning aerosol in the atmosphere.

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Modelling the optical properties of fresh biomass burning aerosol produced in a smoke chamber: results from the EFEU campaign

Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics Discussions ◽

10.5194/acpd-7-12657-2007 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 7 (4) ◽

pp. 12657-12686 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

K. Hungershöfer ◽

K. Zeromskiene ◽

Y. Iinuma ◽

G. Helas ◽

J. Trentmann ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Optical Properties ◽

Biomass Burning ◽

Atmospheric Chemistry ◽

Absorption Efficiency ◽

Max Planck ◽

Fresh Biomass ◽

Biomass Burning Aerosol ◽

Smoke Chamber ◽

The Impact ◽

Mass Absorption Efficiency

Abstract. A better characterisation of the optical properties of biomass burning aerosol as a function of the burning conditions is required in order to quantify their effects on climate and atmospheric chemistry. Controlled laboratory combustion experiments with different fuel types were carried out at the combustion facility of the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry (Mainz, Germany) as part of the 'Impact of Vegetation Fires on the Composition and Circulation of the Atmosphere' (EFEU) project. Using the measured size distributions as well as mass scattering and absorption efficiencies, Mie calculations provided mean effective refractive indices of 1.60−0.010i and 1.56−0.010i (λ=0.55 μm) for smoke particles emitted from the combustion of savanna grass and an African hardwood (musasa), respectively. The relatively low imaginary parts suggest that the light-absorbing carbon of the investigated fresh biomass burning aerosol is only partly graphitized, resulting in strongly scattering and less absorbing particles. While the observed variability in mass scattering efficiencies was consistent with changes in particle size, the changes in the mass absorption efficiency can only be explained, if the chemical composition of the particles varies with combustion conditions.

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Review of 'Properties of biomass burning aerosol mixtures derived at fine temporal and spatial scales from Raman lidar measurements: Part I optical properties'

10.5194/acp-2019-207-rc1 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Anonymous

Keyword(s):

Optical Properties ◽

Biomass Burning ◽

Spatial Scales ◽

Raman Lidar ◽

Lidar Measurements ◽

Biomass Burning Aerosol ◽

Temporal And Spatial

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Effects of near-source coagulation of biomass burning aerosols on global predictions of aerosol size distributions and implications for aerosol radiative effects

Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics ◽

10.5194/acp-19-6561-2019 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 19 (9) ◽

pp. 6561-6577 ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Author(s):

Emily Ramnarine ◽

John K. Kodros ◽

Anna L. Hodshire ◽

Chantelle R. Lonsdale ◽

Matthew J. Alvarado ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Size Distribution ◽

Biomass Burning ◽

Indirect Effect ◽

Size Distributions ◽

Aerosol Indirect Effect ◽

Fresh Biomass ◽

Biomass Burning Aerosol ◽

Aerosol Radiative Effects ◽

The Impact ◽

Aerosol Radiative

Abstract. Biomass burning is a significant global source of aerosol number and mass. In fresh biomass burning plumes, aerosol coagulation reduces aerosol number and increases the median size of aerosol size distributions, impacting aerosol radiative effects. Near-source biomass burning aerosol coagulation occurs at spatial scales much smaller than the grid boxes of global and many regional models. To date, these models have ignored sub-grid coagulation and instantly mixed fresh biomass burning emissions into coarse grid boxes. A previous study found that the rate of particle growth by coagulation within an individual smoke plume can be approximated using the aerosol mass emissions rate, initial size distribution median diameter and modal width, plume mixing depth, and wind speed. In this paper, we use this parameterization of sub-grid coagulation in the GEOS-Chem–TOMAS (TwO-Moment Aerosol Sectional) global aerosol microphysics model to quantify the impacts on global aerosol size distributions, the direct radiative effect, and the cloud-albedo aerosol indirect effect. We find that inclusion of biomass burning sub-grid coagulation reduces the biomass burning impact on the number concentration of particles larger than 80 nm (a proxy for CCN-sized particles) by 37 % globally. This cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) reduction causes our estimated global biomass burning cloud-albedo aerosol indirect effect to decrease from −76 to −43 mW m−2. Further, as sub-grid coagulation moves mass to sizes with more efficient scattering, including it increases our estimated biomass burning all-sky direct effect from −224 to −231 mW m−2, with assumed external mixing of black carbon and from −188 to −197 mW m−2 and with assumed internal mixing of black carbon with core-shell morphology. However, due to differences in fire and meteorological conditions across regions, the impact of sub-grid coagulation is not globally uniform. We also test the sensitivity of the impact of sub-grid coagulation to two different biomass burning emission inventories to various assumptions about the fresh biomass burning aerosol size distribution and to two different timescales of sub-grid coagulation. The impacts of sub-grid coagulation are qualitatively the same regardless of these assumptions.

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Review of “Properties of biomass burning aerosol mixtures derived at fine temporal and spatial scales from Raman lidar measurements: Part I optical properties” by Janicka and Stachlewska

10.5194/acp-2019-207-rc2 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Anonymous

Keyword(s):

Optical Properties ◽

Biomass Burning ◽

Spatial Scales ◽

Raman Lidar ◽

Lidar Measurements ◽

Biomass Burning Aerosol ◽

Temporal And Spatial

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Effects of Near-Source Coagulation of Biomass Burning Aerosols on Global Predictions of Aerosol Size Distributions and Implications for Aerosol Radiative Effects

10.5194/acp-2018-1084 ◽

2018 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Emily Ramnarine ◽

John K. Kodros ◽

Anna L. Hodshire ◽

Chantelle R. Lonsdale ◽

Matthew J. Alvarado ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Size Distribution ◽

Biomass Burning ◽

Indirect Effect ◽

Size Distributions ◽

Aerosol Indirect Effect ◽

Fresh Biomass ◽

Biomass Burning Aerosol ◽

Aerosol Radiative Effects ◽

The Impact ◽

Aerosol Radiative

Abstract. Biomass burning is a significant global source of aerosol number and mass. In fresh biomass burning plumes, aerosol coagulation reduces aerosol number and increases the median size of aerosol size distributions, impacting aerosol radiative effects. Near-source biomass burning aerosol coagulation occurs at spatial scales much smaller than the grid boxes of global and many regional models. To date, these models ignore sub-grid coagulation and instantly mix fresh biomass burning emissions into coarse grid boxes. A previous study found that the rate of particle growth by coagulation within an individual smoke plume can be approximated using the aerosol mass emissions rate, initial size distribution median diameter and modal width, plume mixing depth, and wind speed. In this paper, we use this parameterization of sub-grid coagulation in the GEOS-Chem-TOMAS global aerosol microphysics model to quantify the impacts on global aerosol size distributions, the direct radiative effect, and the cloud-albedo aerosol indirect effect. We find that inclusion of biomass burning sub-grid coagulation reduces the biomass burning impact on the number concentration of particles larger than 80 nm (a proxy for CCN-sized particles) by 37 % globally. This CCN reduction causes our estimated global biomass burning cloud-albedo aerosol indirect effect to decrease from −76 to −43 mW m−2. Further, as sub-grid coagulation moves mass to sizes with more efficient scattering, including it increases our estimated biomass burning all-sky direct effect from −224 to −231 mW m−2 with assumed external mixing and from −188 to −197 mW m−2 with assumed internal mixing with core-shell morphology. However, due to differences in fire and meteorological conditions across regions, the impact of sub-grid coagulation is not globally uniform. We also test the sensitivity of the impact of sub-grid coagulation to two different biomass burning emission inventories, to various assumptions about the fresh biomass burning aerosol size distribution, and to two different timescales of sub-grid coagulation. The impacts of sub-grid coagulation are qualitatively the same regardless of these assumptions.

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Microphysical characterization of long-range transported biomass burning particles from North America at three EARLINET stations

10.5194/acp-2016-946 ◽

2016 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Pablo Ortiz-Amezcua ◽

Juan Luis Guerrero-Rascado ◽

María José Granados-Muñoz ◽

José Antonio Benavent-Oltra ◽

Christine Böckmann ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Long Range ◽

Biomass Burning ◽

Single Scattering ◽

Particle Volume ◽

Modeling Tools ◽

Microphysical Properties ◽

Color Ratio ◽

Fire Smoke ◽

Biomass Burning Aerosol ◽

Biomass Burning Particles

Abstract. Strong events of long-range transported biomass burning aerosol were detected during July 2013 at three EARLINET stations, namely Granada (Spain), Leipzig (Germany) and Warsaw (Poland). Satellite observations from MODIS and CALIOP instruments, as well as modeling tools such as HYSPLIT and NAAPS have been used to estimate the sources and transport paths of those North American forest fire smoke particles. Multiwavelength Raman lidar technique was applied to obtain vertically-resolved particle optical properties, and further inversion of those properties with regularization algorithm allowed for retrieving microphysical information on the studied particles. The results highlight the presence of smoke layers of 1–2 km thickness, located at about 5 km asl altitude over Granada and Leipzig, and around 2.5 km asl at Warsaw. These layers were intense, as they accounted for more than 30 % of the total AOD in all cases, and presented optical and microphysical features typical for different aging degrees: color ratio of lidar ratios (LR532/LR355) around 2, α-related Angström exponents of less than 1, effective radii of 0.3 μm, and large values of single scattering albedos, nearly spectrally independent. The intensive microphysical properties were compared with columnar retrievals form co-located AERONET stations. The intensity of the layers was also characterized in terms of particle volume concentration, and then an experimental relationship between this magnitude and the particle extinction coefficient was established.

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