Vertical distributions of aerosol optical properties during the spring 2016 ARIAs airborne campaign in the North China Plain

Abstract

Abstract. Vertical distributions of aerosol optical properties derived from measurements made during 11 aircraft flights over 15 the North China Plain (NCP) in May-June 2016 during the Air Chemistry Research In Asia (ARIAs) were analyzed. Aerosol optical data from in situ aircraft measurements shows good correlation with ground-based measurements. The regional variability of aerosol optical profiles such as aerosol scattering and backscattering, absorption, extinction, single scattering albedo (SSA), and the Ångström exponent (α) are for the first time thoroughly characterized over the NCP. The SSA at 550 nm showed a regional mean value of 0.85±0.02 with moderate to strong absorption and the α ranged from 0.49 to 2.53 (median 20 1.53) indicating both mineral dust and accumulation mode aerosols. Most of the aerosol particles were located in the lowest 2 km of the atmosphere. We describe three typical planetary boundary layer (PBL) scenarios and associated transport pathways as well as the correlation between aerosol scattering coefficients and relative humidity (RH). Aerosol scattering coefficients decreased slowly with height in the clean PBL condition, but decreased sharply above the PBL under polluted conditions, which showed a strong correlation (R 2 ≥ 0.78) with ambient RH. Back-trajectory analysis shows that clean air masses generally 25 originated from the distant north-western part of China while most of the polluted air masses were from the heavily polluted interior and coastal areas near the campaign area.

Aerosol–photolysis interaction reduces particulate matter during wintertime haze events

“…S19). Moderately strong absorbing aerosols are simulated in the study, with the SSA at 550 nm ranging from 0.84 to 0.90, close to the aircraft measurement over the NCP (0.83 ∼ 0.87) (36).…”

Time-resolved black carbon aerosol vertical distribution measurements using a 356-m meteorological tower in Shenzhen

“…Vaishya et al (2018) reported vertically resolved light absorption profiles at Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP) using aircraft measurements and found significant atmospheric warming induced by BC. Wang et al (2018a) found a decreasing trend of light absorption with height within 0-3 km, and the light absorption vertical profiles were influenced by the evolution of a boundary layer. The influence of boundary layer height on BC vertical profiles was also observed by aircraft measurements in India (Safai et al 2012) and Nepal (Singh et al 2019).…”

Multi‐Source Data Based Investigation of Aerosol‐Cloud Interaction Over the North China Plain and North of the Yangtze Plain

“…Li & Han, 2016;M. Liu et al, 2019;F. Wang et al, 2018), so we choose the clouds with the CTH less than 3 km as the research object.…”

“…According to previous literature, the aerosols over East China are mainly concentrated below 3 km (J Li & Han, 2016;M. Liu et al, 2019;F. Wang et al, 2018),.…”