Nine-year spatial and temporal evolution of desert dust aerosols over South and East Asia as revealed by CALIOP

Nine-year spatial and temporal evolution of desert dust aerosols over South and East Asia as revealed by CALIOP

Proestakis, Emmanouil (National Observatory of Athens; University of Patras)
Amiridis, Vassilis (National Observatory of Athens)
Marinou, Eleni (National Observatory of Athens)
Georgoulias, Aristeidis K. (Democritus University of Thrace; The Cyprus Institute)
Solomos, Stavros (National Observatory of Athens)
Kazadzis, Stelios (National Observatory of Athens; PMOD WRC)
Chimot, J.J. (TU Delft Atmospheric Remote Sensing)
Che, Huizheng (China Meteorological Administration; Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Center of Climate Change)
Alexandri, Georgia (Democritus University of Thrace)
Binietoglou, Ioannis (National Institute of RandD for Optoelectronics)
Daskalopoulou, Vasiliki (National Observatory of Athens; University of Crete)
Kourtidis, Konstantinos A. (Democritus University of Thrace)
de Leeuw, G.A. (Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI); University of Helsinki)
Johannes Van Der A, Ronald (Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI))

2018-02-20

We present a 3-D climatology of the desert dust distribution over South and East Asia derived using CALIPSO (Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation) data. To distinguish desert dust from total aerosol load we apply a methodology developed in the framework of EARLINET (European Aerosol Research Lidar Network). The method involves the use of the particle linear depolarization ratio and updated lidar ratio values suitable for Asian dust, applied to multiyear CALIPSO observations (January 2007-December 2015). The resulting dust product provides information on the horizontal and vertical distribution of dust aerosols over South and East Asia along with the seasonal transition of dust transport pathways. Persistent high D-AOD (dust aerosol optical depth) values at 532 nm, of the order of 0.6, are present over the arid and semi-arid desert regions. Dust aerosol transport (range, height and intensity) is subject to high seasonality, with the highest values observed during spring for northern China (Taklimakan and Gobi deserts) and during summer over the Indian subcontinent (Thar Desert). Additionally, we decompose the CALIPSO AOD (aerosol optical depth) into dust and non-dust aerosol components to reveal the nondust AOD over the highly industrialized and densely populated regions of South and East Asia, where the non-dust aerosols yield AOD values of the order of 0.5. Furthermore, the CALIPSO-based short-term AOD and D-AOD time series and trends between January 2007 and December 2015 are calculated over South and East Asia and over selected subregions. Positive trends are observed over northwest and east China and the Indian subcontinent, whereas over southeast China trends are mostly negative. The calculated AOD trends agree well with the trends derived from Aqua MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer), although significant differences are observed over specific regions.

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:3d1a272e-9df6-4613-8fe1-d54b4feed8ec

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-1337-2018

1680-7316

Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (online), 18 (2), 1337-1362

Institutional Repository

journal article

© 2018 Emmanouil Proestakis, Vassilis Amiridis, Eleni Marinou, Aristeidis K. Georgoulias, Stavros Solomos, Stelios Kazadzis, J.J. Chimot, Huizheng Che, Georgia Alexandri, Ioannis Binietoglou, Vasiliki Daskalopoulou, Konstantinos A. Kourtidis, G.A. de Leeuw, Ronald Johannes Van Der A