Jianrong Bi

Surface measurements of aerosol properties over northwest China during ARM China 2008 deployment

concentrations of PM10 were about 0.2 ± 0.03 mg/m 3 at SACOL and Zhangye, but during the dust plume the mass concentration of dust aerosol were 0.98 mg/m 3 at Zhangye and 0.52 mg/m 3 at SACOL. The black carbon (BC) value reached its high peak during the dust plume. However, the concentration of BC was not only fluctuated with the dust plume, but also affected by the local air pollutants. When the dust plume occurred, the multiwavelength aerosol optical depth can be raised to ∼2, ∼1.5 times as high as that during the non dust plume period, and the number (mass) distribution during the dust plume showed the aerosol types considered correspond to urban/industrial aerosols, coarse mode particles. The meteorological analysis indicated that these polluted layers are not only transported from their sources, but also include the local sources.

Investigating the Aerosol Optical and Radiative Characteristics of Heavy Haze Episodes in Beijing During January of 2013

Several heavy atmospheric haze pollution episodes occurred over eastern and northern China during January of 2013. The pollution covered more than 100 km(2) and caused serious impacts on environmental quality, human health, and transportation. In this study, we characterize aerosol microphysical, optical, and radiative characteristics using a combination of ground-based Sun/sky radiometer retrievals and a radiative transfer model. Our results show that during about half of the total number of days, daily PM2.5 and PM10 concentrations are larger than 100 mu g/m(3), with maxima of 462 and 433 mu g/m(3), respectively, during the haze events. Fine-mode (PM2.5) particles dominated the aerosol size during the episodes. The volume size distribution and median radius of fine-mode particles generally increase as aerosol optical depth at 440 nm (AOD(440)) increases. The median effective radius of fine-mode particles increases from 0.15 mu m at low AOD value (AOD(440)similar to 0.3) to a radius of 0.25-0.30 mu m at high AOD value (AOD(440) >= 1.0). The daily mean single-scattering albedo (SSA), imaginary part of refractive index (RI), and asymmetry factor display pronounced spectral behaviors. The overall mean SSA(440) and SSA(675) are 0.892 and 0.905, respectively. The corresponding RI440 and RI675 are 0.016 and 0.011, respectively. This indicates that a significant amount of absorption occurred under the haze event in Beijing during January 2013. Approximately half of the incident solar radiation energy went into heating the atmosphere as a result of strong aerosol loading and absorption. The daily averaged heating rate in the haze particle layer (0-3.2 km) varies from 0.12 to 0.81 K/day in Beijing, which might exert profound impact on the atmospheric thermodynamic and dynamical structures and cloud development, which should be further studied.

Shortwave radiative closure experiment and direct forcing of dust aerosol over northwestern China

Modeled and observed solar diffuse fluxes at the surface usually have unacceptably large discrepancies. It is necessary to address and resolve these discrepancies in order to accurately calculate a reliable aerosol direct radiative forcing (DRF). We present and compare two methods of deriving dust aerosol optical properties from the MFRSR (Multi-Filter Rotating Shadowband Radiometer) observations and the AERONET products. The single-scattering albedo (SSA) values from MFRSR are found to be 10% less than those from the AERONET. This difference is mainly due to the different imaginary part of refractive index retrieved by the MFRSR compared to AERONET. These two sets of dust aerosol optical properties are used in the SBDART model to simulate the shortwave fluxes that are compared with the surface observations to perform the radiative closure experiment. The diffuse simulations using the AERONET-derived aerosol SSA may have significant discrepancies compared with the observed diffuse irradiances. The DRFs at the top of atmosphere (TOA) simulated with the MFRSR-derived aerosol optical properties are positive while the DRFs with the AERONET are negative. The sign of the DRFs at the surface and in the atmosphere using the MFRSR is the same as those using the AERONET while the magnitudes from the MFRSR are much larger. It indicates that dust aerosols with higher absorption as derived from the MFRSR heat the aerosol layer but cool the surface much more than those based on the AERONET, which may have an important impact on the boundary layer processes. Citation: Ge, J. M., J. P. Huang, J. Su, J. R. Bi, and Q. Fu (2011), Shortwave radiative closure experiment and direct forcing of dust aerosol over northwestern China, Geophys. Res. Lett., 38, L24803, doi:10.1029/2011GL049571.

A comparison of the physical and optical properties of anthropogenic air pollutants and mineral dust over Northwest China

Emissions of mineral dust and its mixing with anthropogenic air pollutants affect both regional and global climates. Our fieldwork in late spring 2007 (April 25–June 15) measured the physical and optical properties of dust storms mixed with local air pollutants at a rural site about 48 km southeast of central Lanzhou. Levels of air pollutants and aerosol optical properties were observed during the experiment, with concentrations of NOx (6.8 ± 3.3 ppb, average ± standard deviation), CO (694 ± 486 ppb), SO2 (6.2 ± 10 ppb), O3 (50.7 ± 13.1 ppb), and PM10 (172 ± 180 μg m−3), and aerosol scattering coefficient (164 ± 89 Mm−1; 1 Mm = 106 m) and absorption coefficient (11.7 ± 6.6 Mm−1), all much lower than the values observed during air pollution episodes in urban areas. During a major dust storm, the mass concentration of PM10 reached 4072 μg m−3, approximately 21-fold higher than in non-dust storm periods. The mixing ratios of trace gases declined noticeably after a cold front passed through. The observed CO/SO2 and CO/NOx ratios during air pollution episodes were 4.2–18.3 and 13.7–80.5, respectively, compared with the corresponding ratios of 38.1–255.7 and 18.0–245.9 during non-pollution periods. Our investigations suggest that dust storms have a significant influence on air quality in areas far from their source, and this large-scale transport of dust and air pollutants produces major uncertainties in the quantification of the global effects of emissions over Northwest China.

Measurement of scattering and absorption properties of dust aerosol in a Gobi farmland region of northwest China — a potential anthropogenic influence

We conducted a comprehensive field campaign to explore the optical characteristics of mineral dust in Dunhuang farmland near the Gobi Desert of northwest China during spring of 2012. The day-to-day and diurnal variations of dust aerosol showed prominent features throughout the experiment, primarily attributable to frequent dust events and local anthropogenic emissions. The overall average mass concentrations of the particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter less than 10 μm (PM10), light scattering coefficient (σsp,670), absorption coefficient (σap,670), and single-scattering albedo (SSA670) were 113± 169 μg m−3, 53.3± 74.8 Mm−1, 3.2± 2.4 Mm−1, and 0.913± 0.05, respectively, which were comparable to the background levels in the southern United States but smaller than those in the eastern and other northwestern Chinese cities. The anthropogenic dust produced by agricultural cultivations (e.g., land planning, plowing, and disking) exerted a significant superimposed effect on high dust concentrations in Dunhuang farmland prior to the growing season (i.e., from 1 April to 10 May). Strong south valley wind and vertical mixing in daytime scavenged the pollution, and the weak northeast mountain wind and stable inversion layer at night favorably accumulated the air pollutants near the surface. In the afternoon (13:00–18:00 LT, local time), mean SSA670 was 0.945± 0.04 predominantly from dust particles, whereas finer particles and lower SSA670 values (∼ 0.90–0.92) were measured at night, suggesting the potential influence by the mixed dust pollutants. During a typical biomass burning event on 4 April 2012, σap,670 increased from ∼ 2.0 to 4.75 Mm−1 and SSA670 changed from ∼ 0.90 to ∼ 0.83, implying remarkable modification of aerosol absorptive properties induced by human activities. The findings of this study would help to advance an in-depth understanding of the interaction among dust aerosol, atmospheric chemistry, and climate change in a desert source region.

Automated detection of cloud and aerosol features with SACOL micro-pulse lidar in northwest China

The detection of cloud and aerosols using a modified retrieval algorithm solely for a ground-based micropulse lidar (MPL) is presented, based on one-year data at the Semi-Arid Climate Observatory and Laboratory (SACOL) site (35.57°N, 104.08°E, 1965.8 m), northwest of China, from March 2011 to February 2012. The work not only identifies atmosphere particle layers by means of the range-dependent thresholds based on elastic scattering ratio and depolarization ratio, but also discriminates the detected layers by combining empirical thresholds of the atmospheres thermodynamics states and scattering properties and continuous wavelet transform (CWT) analyses. Two cases were first presented in detail that demonstrated that the modified algorithm can capture atmosphere layers well. The cloud macro-physical properties including cloud base height (CBH), cloud geometrical thickness (CGT), and cloud fraction (CF) were then analyzed in terms of their monthly and seasonal variations. It is shown that the maximum/minimum CBHs were found in summer (4.66 ± 1.95km)/autumn (3.34 ± 1.84km). The CGT in winter (1.05 ± 0.43km) is slightly greater than in summer (0.99 ± 0.44km). CF varies significantly throughout year, with the maximum value in autumn (0.68), and a minimum (0.58) in winter, which is dominated by single-layered clouds (81%). The vertical distribution of CF shows a bimodal distribution, with a lower peak between 1 and 4km and a higher one between 6and 9km. The seasonal and vertical variations in CF are important for the local radiative energy budget.