Shunsheng Gong

Characterization of soil dust aerosol in China and its transport and distribution during 2001 ACE-Asia: 1. Network observations

[1] Mass loading, 20 elemental concentrations, and time series of aerosol particles were investigated over the China Dust Storm Research (ChinaDSR) observational network stations from March to May 2001 during the intensive field campaign period of ACE-Asia. Four extensive and several minor dust storm (DS) events were observed. Mass balance calculations showed that 45 - 82% of the observed aerosol mass was attributable to Asian soil dust particles among the sites, in which Ca and Fe contents are enriched to 12% and 6%, respectively, in the Western High-Dust source regions compared with dust aerosols ejected from the Northern High- Dust source regions. For the latter areas, elemental contents exhibited high Si (30%) and low Fe (4%). For all major source areas and depositional regions, aluminium (Al) comprises 7% of Asian dust. Air mass back-trajectory analysis showed that five major transport pathways of Asian dust storms dominated dust transport in China during spring 2001, all of which passed over Beijing. Measurements also suggest that the sand land in northeastern China is a potential source for Asian dust. The size distribution for estimating vertical dust flux was derived from the observed surface dust size distributions in the desert regions. For particle diameters between 0.25 and 16 mum, a lognormal distribution was obtained from averaging observations at various deserts with a mass mean diameter of 4.5 mum and a standard deviation of 1.5. This range of soil dust constitutes about 69% of the total dust loading. The fractions for particles in the size ranges of 16 mum are around 1.7% and 30%, respectively.

Sources of Asian dust and role of climate change versus desertification in Asian dust emission

For long-term variations and elemental signatures of Asian dust aerosol, changes in mass, twenty elemental concentrations over the period 2001～2003 were assessed from five surface-based stations in western, northern, northeast deserts, the Loess Plateau and the coastal areas in China. Together with the back trajectory analyses and visibility observations, the elemental signatures of soil dust aerosol from different air-mass clusters were characterized for the dust storm (DS) and non-dust storm (N-DS)conditions, respectively.……

A Simulated Climatology of Asian Dust Aerosol and Its Trans-Pacific Transport. Part II: Interannual Variability and Climate Connections

A 44-yr climatology of spring Asian dust aerosol emission, column loading, deposition, trans-Pacific transport routes, and budgets during 1960–2003 was simulated with the Northern Aerosol Regional Climate Model (NARCM). Interannual variability in these Asian dust aerosol properties simulated by the model and its climate connections are analyzed with major climatic indices and records in ground observations. For dust production from most of the source regions, the strongest correlations were with the surface wind speed in the source region and the area and intensity indices of the Asian polar vortex (AIAPV and IIAPV, respectively). Dust emission was negatively correlated with precipitation and surface temperatures in spring. The strength of the East Asian monsoon was not found to be directly related to dust production but rather with the transport of dust from the Asian subcontinent. The interannual variability of dust loading and deposition showed similar relations with various climate indices. The correlation of Asian dust loading and deposition with the western Pacific (WP) pattern and Atmospheric Circulation Index (ACI) exhibited contrasting meridional and zonal distributions. AIAPV and IIAPV were strongly correlated with the midlatitude zonal distribution of dust loading and deposition over the Asian subcontinent and the North Pacific. The Pacific–North American (PNA) pattern and Southern Oscillation index (SOI) displayed an opposite correlation pattern of dust loading and deposition in the eastern Pacific, while SOI correlated significantly with dust loading over eastern China and northeast Asia. The Pacific decadal oscillation (PDO) was linked to variations of dust aerosol and deposition not only in the area of the eastern North Pacific and North America but also in the Asian dust source regions. The anomalies of transport flux and its divergence as well as dust column loading were also identified for eight typical El Nino and eight La Nina years. A shift of the trans-Pacific transport path to the north was found for El Nino years, which resulted in less dust storms and dust loading in China. In El Nino years the deserts in Mongolia and western north China closer to the polar cold air regions contributed more dust aerosol in the troposphere, while in La Nina years the deserts in central and eastern north China far from polar cold regions provided more dust aerosol in the troposphere. On the basis of the variability of Asian dust aerosol budgets, the ratio of inflow to North America to the outflow from Asia was found to be correlated negatively with the PNA index and positively with the WP index.

Double sodium layers observation over Beijing, China

The altitude of the sodium layer in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere is usually from 80 km to 105 km. In this paper, we report a set of double sodium layer (DSL) events observed by sodium lidar over Beijing, China. In these DSL events, the normal sodium layer and secondary sodium layer (SeSL) present separately. There were about 17 DSL events occurred in 319 observation nights during 2009 similar to 2011. All DSL events were observed in spring and summer. The SeSL appeared independently within the altitude range from 105 km to 130 km. The density of the SeSL is very high. The maximum ratio of peak density and the ratio of column density for the SeSL to the normal sodium layer are up to similar to 60% and similar to 47%, respectively. The SeSL lasted several hours, and then merged into the normal sodium layer. After the SeSL, a sporadic sodium layer occurred in the normal sodium layer. Citation: Wang, J., Y. Yang, X. Cheng, G. Yang, S. Song, and S. Gong (2012), Double sodium layers observation over Beijing, China, Geophys. Res. Lett., 39, L15801, doi:10.1029/2012GL052134.

Mechanisms for surface ozone depletion and recovery during polar sunrise

Abstract As part of the Polar Sunrise Experiment (PSE 94) in April 1994, vertical profiles of ozone concentration, temperature and wind speed above an Arctic Ocean icefloe were obtained to investigate boundary layer ozone depletion. They show sustained periods of depleted surface ozone (

First report of sporadic K layers and comparison with sporadic Na layers at Beijing, China (40.6°N, 116.2°E)

A double-laser beam lidar was successfully developed to simultaneously measure K and Na layers at Beijing (40.6°N, 116.2°E) in 2010. Statistical analysis of the parameters of sporadic K (Ks) and sporadic Na (Nas) layers was performed over 2 years of lidar data, and different characteristics of them were found. The average Ks occurrence (2.9%) was lower than that of Nas (5.9%); the Nas occurrence had a maximum (19.3%) in May–June months and a minimum (1.6%) in January–February months, while the Ks occurrence had a maximum (4.9%) in January–February months and a minimum (1.0%) in September–October months; most Ks peaks tended to occur around 93 km, which was ~2 km lower than that of Nas (~95 km); the Ks peak density was often at least 1 order of magnitude lower than that of Nas; notably, two Ks with high peak densities (>1000 cm−3) were observed, which were much higher than K density (15–300 cm−3) reported before. The ascending time of Ks was often longer than its descending time, but an opposite trend occurred for Nas. During the 152 cases of joint observation for the K and Na layers, 21% (32/152) were cases in which Ks and Nas events simultaneously occurred, while 79% (120/152) were cases in which only one layer (K or Na) exhibited a strong Ks or Nas.

Experimental study of caesium atom Rydberg state polarizabilities by Doppler-free resonantly enhanced two-photon technique

Using the Doppler-free resonantly enhanced two-photon technique, we have experimentally studied the Stark shift of Cs atom in a weak electric field and obtained the scalar and tensor polarizabilities of (n = 25 - 50) Rydberg states. The experimental results are compared with the calculated ones and the reason for the discrepancy between them is discussed.

A Combined Rotational Raman–Rayleigh Lidar for Atmospheric Temperature Measurements Over 5–80 km With Self-Calibration

A combined lidar system on the basis of conventional Rayleigh lidar has been extended by two rotational Raman (RR) channels for nocturnal atmospheric temperature measurements from 5 to 80 km over Wuhan, China (30.5°N, 114.5°E). An overlapping altitude range of about 10 km is obtained with the RR-technique temperatures reaching upward to 40 km and the Rayleigh-integration-technique temperatures above 30 km. Temperature values obtained by two different mechanisms match nicely in the overlapping area. By using a data-merge method, complete temperature profiles covering widely from 5 to 80 km are obtained for the observation of the thermal structure and perturbations from the troposphere up to the mesosphere. Based on the overlapping-region (30-40 km) data obtained from this combined RR-Rayleigh lidar system and Rayleigh-integration-technique temperatures initialized with model data at an upper height (90 km), we develop a self-calibration method for the determination of the system-dependent constants for RR temperature retrieval. Compared with the conventional radiosonde calibration method, the self-calibration obtained in the overlap region of both lidar temperature measurement techniques can be extrapolated to the lower temperatures in the tropopause region by using the simpler two-constant calibration function. With this new calibration method, the combined lidar system can perform independent and accurate atmospheric temperature measurements when a coincident (in time and space) radiosonde is not available, as it is often the case. This combined RR-Rayleigh lidar thus has the potential for long-term studies of atmospheric thermal structure and associate perturbations.

Development of a solid-state sodium Doppler lidar using an all-fiber-coupled injection seeding unit for simultaneous temperature and wind measurements in the mesopause region

A solid-state sodium (Na) Doppler lidar developed at YanQing Station, Beijing, China (40°N, 116°E) aiming to simultaneous wind and temperature measurement of mesopause region was reported. The 589 nm pulse laser was produced by two injection seeded 1064 nm and 1319 nm Nd:YAG pulse lasers using the sum-frequency generation (SFG) technique. A fiber amplifier is implemented to boost the seed power at 1064 nm, enabling a robust, all-fiber-coupled design for seeding laser unit, absolute laser frequency locking, and cyclic three-frequency switching necessary for simultaneous temperature and wind measurements. The all-fiber-coupled injection seeding configuration together with the solid-state Nd:YAG lasers make the Na Doppler lidar more compact and greatly reduce the system maintenance, which is conducive to transportable and unattended operation. A preliminary observational result obtained with this solid-state sodium Doppler lidar was also reported in this paper.

Joint observation results of Na layer and ionosphere in Wuhan during the Total Solar Eclipse

During the total solar eclipse on July 22, 2009 in Wuhan, the joint observation test of Na layer and ionosphere was conducted by using the daytime observation atmospheric lidar and the GPS ionosphere detector. The results show that the full width at half maximum (FWHM) of Na layer density slightly narrowed during the total solar eclipse and broadened after the eclipse, while the height of Na peak slightly decreased in the eclipse and increased after the eclipse. These implying that Na layer changes reflect the rapid process of sunrise and sunset. The ionosphere total electron content (TEC) and the sky background light noise also presented an obvious fluctuation characteristic with the changes of solar irradiation during the process of total solar eclipse. The difference lies in that the changes of FWHM of Na layer atoms are much slower than that of ionosphere, the reason for this might be that the Na layer, after being disturbed by the total solar eclipse, will generate a series of complicated photochemical reactions and momentum transport processes, and then recombine the Na atoms. The Na atoms to be detected by the lidar need a lag process, which rightly conforms to the theoretical simulated results.