Simultaneous aerosol measurements of unusual aerosol enhancement in troposphere over Syowa Station, Antarctica
Abstract. Unusual aerosol enhancement is often observed at Syowa Station, Antarctica during winter through spring. Simultaneous aerosol measurements near the surface and in the upper atmosphere were conducted twice using a ground-based optical particle counter, a balloon-borne optical particle counter, and micro-pulse LIDAR (MPL) in August and September 2012. During 13–15 August, aerosol enhancement occurred immediately after a storm condition. A high backscatter ratio and aerosol concentrations were observed from the surface to ca. 2.5 km over Syowa Station. Clouds appeared occasionally at the top of aerosol-enhanced layer during the episode. Aerosol enhancement was terminated on 15 August by strong winds caused by a cyclone's approach. In the second case on 5–7 September, aerosol number concentrations in Dp > 0.3 μm near the surface reached > 104 L−1 at about 15:00 UT on 5 September in spite of calm wind conditions, whereas MPL measurement exhibited aerosols were enhanced at about 04:00 UT at 1000–1500 m above Syowa Station. The aerosol enhancement occurred near the surface–ca. 4 km. In both cases, air masses with high aerosol enhancement below 2.5–3 km were transported mostly from the boundary layer over the sea-ice area. In addition, air masses at 3–4 km in the second case came from the boundary layer over the open-sea area. This air mass history strongly suggests that dispersion of sea-salt particles from the sea-ice surface contributes considerably to the aerosol enhancement in the lower free troposphere (about 3 km) and that the release of sea-salt particles from the ocean surface engenders high aerosol concentrations in the free troposphere (3–4 km).