Connor J. Flynn

Novel polarization-sensitive micropulse lidar measurement technique

Polarization-sensitive detection of elastic backscattered light is useful for detection of cloud phase and depolarizing aerosols. The U.S. Department of Energys Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Program has deployed micropulse lidar (MPL) for over a decade, but without polarized detection. Adding an actively-controlled liquid crystal retarder provides the capability to identify depolarizing particles by alternately transmitting linearly and circularly polarized light. This represents a departure from established techniques, which transmit exclusively linear polarization or exclusively circular polarization. Mueller matrix calculations yield simple relationships between the well-known linear depolarization ratio delta(linear), the circular depolarization ratio delta(circ), and this MPL depolarization ratio delta(MPL).

Using Doppler Spectra to Separate Hydrometeor Populations and Analyze Ice Precipitation in Multilayered Mixed-Phase Clouds

Multimodality of cloud radar Doppler spectra is used to partition cloud particle phases and separate distinct ice populations in the radar sample volume, thereby facilitating the analysis of individual ice showers in multilayered mixed-phase clouds. A 35-GHz cloud radar located at Barrow, Alaska, during the Mixed-Phase Arctic Cloud Experiment collected the Doppler spectra. Data from a pair of collocated depolarization lidars confirmed the presence of two liquid cloud layers reported in this letter. Both of these cloud layers were embedded in ice precipitation yet maintained their liquid. The spectral separation of the ice precipitation yielded two distinct ice populations: the ice initiated within the two liquid cloud layers and the ice precipitation formed in the higher cloud layers. The comparisons of ice fall velocity-versus-radar reflectivity relationships derived for distinct showers reveal that a single relationship does not properly represent the ice showers during this period.

Optical depth measurements by shadow-band radiometers and their uncertainties.

Shadow-band radiometers in general, and especially the Multi-Filter Rotating Shadow-band Radiometer (MFRSR), are widely used for atmospheric optical depth measurements. The major programs running MFRSR networks in the United States include the Department of Energy Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Program, U.S. Department of Agriculture UV-B Monitoring and Research Program, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Surface Radiation (SURFRAD) Network, and NASA Solar Irradiance Research Network (SIRN). We discuss a number of technical issues specific to shadow-band radiometers and their impact on the optical depth measurements. These problems include instrument tilt and misalignment, as well as some data processing artifacts. Techniques for data evaluation and automatic detection of some of these problems are described.

The Two-Column Aerosol Project: Phase I - Overview and Impact of Elevated Aerosol Layers on Aerosol Optical Depth

The Two-Column Aerosol Project (TCAP), conducted from June 2012 through June 2013, was a unique study designed to provide a comprehensive data set that can be used to investigate a number of important climate science questions, including those related to aerosol mixing state and aerosol radiative forcing. The study was designed to sample the atmosphere between and within two atmospheric columns; one fixed near the coast of North America (over Cape Cod, MA) and a second moveable column over the Atlantic Ocean several hundred kilometers from the coast. The U.S. Department of Energys (DOE) Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Mobile Facility (AMF) was deployed at the base of the Cape Cod column, and the ARM Aerial Facility was utilized for the summer and winter intensive observation periods. One important finding from TCAP is that four of six nearly cloud-free flight days had aerosol layers aloft in both the Cape Cod and maritime columns that were detected using the nadir pointing second-generation NASA high-spectral resolution lidar (HSRL-2). These layers contributed up to 60% of the total observed aerosol optical depth (AOD). Many of these layers were also intercepted by the aircraft configured for in situ sampling, and the aerosol in the layers was found to have increased amounts of biomass burning material and nitrate compared to aerosol found near the surface. In addition, while there was a great deal of spatial and day-to-day variability in the aerosol chemical composition and optical properties, no systematic differences between the two columns were observed.

Tracking elevated pollution layers with a newly developed hyperspectral Sun/Sky spectrometer (4STAR): Results from the TCAP 2012 and 2013 campaigns

Total columnar water vapor (CWV), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), and ozone (O3) are derived from a newly developed, hyperspectral airborne Sun-sky spectrometer (4STAR) for the first time during the two intensive phases of the Two-Column Aerosol Project (TCAP) in summer 2012 and winter 2013 aboard the DOE G-1 aircraft. We compare results with coincident measurements. We find 0.045 g/cm2 (4.2%) negative bias and 0.28 g/cm2 (26.3%) root-mean-square difference (RMSD) in water vapor layer comparison with an in situ hygrometer and an overall RMSD of 1.28 g/m3 (38%) water vapor amount in profile by profile comparisons, with differences distributed evenly around zero. RMSD for O3 columns average to 3%, with a 1% negative bias for 4STAR compared with the Ozone Measuring Instrument along aircraft flight tracks for 14 flights during both TCAP phases. Ground-based comparisons with Pandora spectrometers at the Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland, showed excellent agreement between the instruments for both O3 (1% RMSD and 0.1% bias) and NO2 (17.5% RMSD and −8% bias). We apply clustering analysis of the retrieved products as a case study during the TCAP summer campaign to identify variations in atmospheric composition of elevated pollution layers and demonstrate that combined total column measurements of trace gas and aerosols can be used to define different pollution layer sources, by comparing our results with trajectory analysis and in situ airborne miniSPLAT (single-particle mass spectrometer) measurements. Our analysis represents a first step in linking sparse but intense in situ measurements from suborbital campaigns with total column observations from space.

Remote sensing of aerosol properties during CARES

One month of MFRSR data collected at two sites in the central California (USA) region during the CARES campaign are processed and the MFRSR-derived AODs at 500 nm wavelength are compared with available AODs provided by AERONET measurements. We find that the MFRSR and AERONET AODs are small (~0.05) and comparable. A reasonable quantitative agreement between column aerosol size distributions (up to 2 μm) from the MFRSR and AERONET retrievals is illustrated as well. Analysis of the retrieved (MFRSR and AERONET) and in situ measured aerosol size distributions suggests that the contribution of the coarse mode to aerosol optical properties is substantial for several days. The results of a radiative closure experiment performed for the two sites and one-month period show a favorable agreement between the calculated and measured broadband downwelling irradiances (bias does not exceed about 3 Wm-2), and thus imply that the MFRSR-derived aerosol optical properties are reasonable.

Aerosol retrievals under partly cloudy conditions: challenges and perspectives

There are many interesting and intriguing features of aerosols near clouds – many of which can be quite engaging, as well as being useful and climate- related. Exploring aerosols by means of remote sensing, in situ observations, and numerical modeling has piqued our curiosity and led to improved insights into the nature of aerosol and clouds and their complex relationship. This chapter conveys the outstanding issues of cloudy-sky aerosol retrievals and outlines fruitful connections between the remote sensing of important climate-related aerosol properties and other research areas such as in situ measurements and model simulations. The chapter focuses mostly on treating inverse problems in the context of passive satellite remote sensing and how they can improve our understanding of the cloud-aerosol interactions. The presentation covers basics of the inverse-problem theory, reviews available approaches, and discusses their applications to partly cloudy situations.

Large Contribution of Coarse Mode to Aerosol Microphysical and Optical Properties: Evidence from Ground-Based Observations of a Transpacific Dust Outbreak at a High-Elevation North American Site

AbstractThis work is motivated by previous studies of transatlantic transport of Saharan dust and the observed quasi-static nature of coarse mode aerosol with a volume median diameter (VMD) of approximately 3.5 μm. The authors examine coarse mode contributions from transpacific transport of dust to North American aerosol properties using a dataset collected at the high-elevation Storm Peak Laboratory (SPL) and the nearby Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Mobile Facility. Collected ground-based data are complemented by quasi-global model simulations and satellite and ground-based observations. The authors identify a major dust event associated mostly with a transpacific plume (about 65% of near-surface aerosol mass) in which the coarse mode with moderate (~3 μm) VMD is distinct and contributes substantially to total aerosol volume (up to 70%) and scattering (up to 40%). The results demonstrate that the identified plume at the SPL site has a considerable fraction of supermicron particles (VMD ~3 μm) a...

Retrieval of areal-averaged spectral surface albedo from transmission data alone: computationally simple and fast approach

We introduce and evaluate a simple retrieval of areal-averaged surface albedo using ground-based measurements of atmospheric transmission alone at five wavelengths (415, 500, 615, 673 and 870nm), under fully overcast conditions. Our retrieval is based on a one-line semi-analytical equation and widely accepted assumptions regarding the weak spectral dependence of cloud optical properties, such as cloud optical depth and asymmetry parameter, in the visible and near-infrared spectral range. To illustrate the performance of our retrieval, we use as input measurements of spectral atmospheric transmission from the Multi-Filter Rotating Shadowband Radiometer (MFRSR). These MFRSR data are collected at two well-established continental sites in the United States supported by the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Program and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The areal-averaged albedos obtained from the MFRSR are compared with collocated and coincident Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) white-sky albedo. In particular, these comparisons are made at four MFRSR wavelengths (500, 615, 673 and 870nm) and for four seasons (winter, spring, summer and fall) at the ARM site using multi-year (2008-2013) MFRSR and MODIS data. Good agreement, on average, for these wavelengths results in small values (≤0.015) of the corresponding root mean square errors (RMSEs) for these two sites. The obtained RMSEs are comparable with those obtained previously for the shortwave albedos (MODIS-derived versus tower-measured) for these sites during growing seasons. We also demonstrate good agreement between tower-based daily-averaged surface albedos measured for “nearby” overcast and non-overcast days. Thus, our retrieval originally developed for overcast conditions likely can be extended for non-overcast days by interpolating between overcast retrievals.

ARM: Shortwave Array Spectroradiometer-Hemispheric, Near-InfraRed channel, high-sun angles [a0 data is uncalibrated]

Shortwave Array Spectroradiometer-Hemispheric, Near-InfraRed channel, low-sun angles [a0 data is uncalibrated]