CIAO: the CNR-IMAA advanced observatory for atmospheric research

Abstract

Abstract. Long-term observations of aerosol and clouds are of crucial importance to understand the weather climate system. At the Istituto di Metodologie per l'Analisi Ambientale of the Italian National Research Council (CNR-IMAA) an advanced atmospheric observatory, named CIAO, is operative. CIAO (CNR-IMAA Atmospheric Observatory) main scientific objective is the long term measurement for the climatology of aerosol and cloud properties. Its equipment addresses the state-of-the-art for the ground-based remote sensing of aerosol, water vapour and clouds including active and passive sensors, like lidars, ceilometers, radiometers, and a radar. This paper describes the CIAO infrastructure, its scientific activities as well as the observation strategy. The observation strategy is mainly organized in order to provide quality assured measurements for satellite validation and model evaluation and to fully exploit the synergy and integration of the active and passive sensors for the improvement of atmospheric profiling. Data quality is ensured both by the application of protocols and dedicated quality assurance programs mainly related to the projects and networks in which the infrastructure is involved. The paper also introduces examples of observations performed at CIAO and of the synergies and integration algorithms (using Raman lidar and microwave profiler data) developed and implemented at the observatory for the optimization and improvement of water vapour profiling. CIAO database represents an optimal basis to study the synergy between different sensors and to investigate aerosolclouds interactions, and can give a significant contribution to the validation programs of the incoming new generation satellite missions.

Multi-wavelength Raman lidar observations of the Eyjafjallajökull volcanic cloud over Potenza, southern Italy

“…The particle linear depolarization ratio profile at 532 nm is retrieved by using the "0 • -calibration" technique as described in Freudenthaler et al (2009). More technical details of the PEARL set-up and the retrieved products can be found in Madonna et al (2011) and .…”

“…CNR-IMAA runs an advanced observatory, named CIAO (CNR-IMAA Atmospheric Observatory), equipped with state-of-the-art instruments for the groundbased remote sensing of aerosol, water vapour and clouds (Madonna et al, 2011). The first Raman lidar measurements of volcanic aerosol in the troposphere were performed at CNR-IMAA during the 2002 volcanic eruption of Etna (Pappalardo et al, 2004a).…”

EARLINET Single Calculus Chain – overview on methodology and strategy

“…Among these advanced systems, we made a further selection on the basis of their differences in terms of technical characteristics. In particular, we considered the Multiwavelength Raman Lidar (RALI) from Bucharest (Nemuc et al, 2013) as an example of a commercial lidar system; the MARTHA (Multiwavelength Atmospheric Raman Lidar for Temperature, Humidity, and Aerosol Profiling) system from Leipzig as an example of a home-made lidar (Mattis et al, 2004); the Polly XT from Leipzig as representative of the Polly Net network (Althausen et al, 2013) Chaikovsky et al, 2006) reference system MSTL-2 from Minsk and, finally, the MUSA (Multiwavelength System for Aerosol) from Potenza as an EARLINET network reference system (Madonna et al, 2011). Figure 4 shows the backscatter coefficient profiles at 1064 nm obtained from the elastic-backscatter signals measured by the five lidar systems mentioned above.…”

“…The results have been averaged and finally compared. Two representative EARLINET lidar systems have been taken into account for this comparison: MUSA (Madonna et al, 2011) and Polly XT (Althausen et al, 2013) operating at the Potenza and Leipzig stations, respectively. For the Potenza station we have compared the mean profiles obtained by averaging the measurements made with the MUSA system in correlation with CALIPSO (Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations, Winker et al, 2007) overpasses between March 2010 and November 2011.…”

Local - Air Project: Tropospheric Aerosol Monitoring by CALIPSO Lidar Satellite and Ground-Based Observations

“…The study was carried out in correspondence of CALIPSO overpasses at CIAO (CNR-IMAA Atmospheric Observatory) [2], the most advanced atmospheric observatory in the Mediterranean region equipped with active and passive sensors for aerosol, clouds and water vapor observations. In particular, EARLINET (European Aerosol Lidar Network) [3] observations performed at CIAO were found fitting with the scope of the project.…”