Vertical profiles of aerosol mass concentration derived by unmanned airborne in situ and remote sensing instruments during dust events

Dimitra Mamali*, Eleni Marinou, Jean Sciare, Michael Pikridas, Panagiotis Kokkalis, Michael Kottas, Ioannis Binietoglou, Alexandra Tsekeri, Christos Keleshis, Ronny Engelmann, Holger Baars, Albert Ansmann, Vassilis Amiridis, Herman Russchenberg, George Biskos

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleScientificpeer-review

44 Citations (Scopus)
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Abstract

In situ measurements using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and remote sensing observations can independently provide dense vertically resolved measurements of atmospheric aerosols, information which is strongly required in climate models. In both cases, inverting the recorded signals to useful information requires assumptions and constraints, and this can make the comparison of the results difficult. Here we compare, for the first time, vertical profiles of the aerosol mass concentration derived from light detection and ranging (lidar) observations and in situ measurements using an optical particle counter on board a UAV during moderate and weak Saharan dust episodes. Agreement between the two measurement methods was within experimental uncertainty for the coarse mode (i.e. particles having radii > 0.5ĝ€μm), where the properties of dust particles can be assumed with good accuracy. This result proves that the two techniques can be used interchangeably for determining the vertical profiles of aerosol concentrations, bringing them a step closer towards their systematic exploitation in climate models.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)2897-2910
Number of pages14
JournalAtmospheric Measurement Techniques
Volume11
Issue number5
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 17 May 2018

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