Research in depolarization of particles in Tibetan Plateau and coastal area by lidar

Abstract

Vertical profiles of the linear particle depolarization ratio p δ of cloud and aerosol in the Tibet Plateau were measured during the Tibetan Plateau atmospheric expedition experiment campaign with water vapor, cloud and aerosol lidar system, which is capable of depolarization ratio measurement. The atmospheric comprehensive observations were performed during July of 2013 at Litang (30.03°N,100.28°E), which is 3949 meters above the mean sea level, Sichuan province, China. It was the first time to detect and obtain the Tibetan Plateau cloud and aerosol lidar depolarization profiles to our knowledge. After completing the plateau experiment campaign, the lidar system measured the atmosphere above coastal area in Qingdao (36.165°N,120.4956°E). In this year, we continued to participate in the plateau experiment campaign in Nagchu (31.5°N,92.05°E), which is 4600 meters above the mean sea level, The Tibet Autonomous Region from 1 st ,July to 1 st ,September. Since particle size, shape and refractive index have an impact on linear particle depolarization ratio, one can classify the aerosol types and cloud phase in turn in the Tibetan Plateau and Qingdao area using linear particle depolarization ratio data. Generally, two calibration methods were applied: comparison of the lidar measurement data and CALIPSO simultaneous data method and half-wave plate ±45°switch method. In this paper we applied the comparison calibration method. The correlation coefficient between lidar measurement data and CALIPSO data reaches up to 84.92%, which shows great linear relation. Finally, after the calculation and calibration of the linear particle depolarization ratio measured during the plateau experiment campaign and observation in coastal area, the ice-water mixed cloud (0.15< p δ <0.5), water cloud ( p δ <0.15) and dusty mix(0.2< p δ <0.35) in Tibetan Plateau were occurred and classified. Meanwhile, the cirrus clouds ( p δ <0.5), water cloud, smoke and urban pollution (0.05< p δ <0.2) and dusty mix in Qingdao area were also occurred and classified.