The vertical aerosol type distribution above Israel – 2 years of lidar observations at the coastal city of Haifa

Abstract. For the first time, vertically resolved long-term lidar measurements of the aerosol distribution were taken in Haifa, Israel. The measurements were performed by a PollyXT multi-wavelength Raman and polarization lidar. The lidar was measuring continuously over a 2-year period from March 2017 to May 2019. The resulting data set is a series of manually evaluated lidar optical property profiles. To identify the aerosol types in the observed layers, a novel aerosol typing method developed at TROPOS is used. This method applies optimal estimation to a combination of the lidar-derived intensive aerosol properties to determine the statistically most-likely contribution per aerosol component in terms of relative volume. A case study that shows several elevated aerosol layers illustrates this method and shows e.g. that coarse dust particles are observed up to 5 km height over Israel. From the whole data set, the seasonal distribution of the observed aerosol components over Israel is derived. Throughout all seasons, and with the highest contributions in summer, autumn, and winter, coarse spherical particles like sea salt, due to the coastal site, but also hygroscopic grown continental aerosol that was transported over the Mediterranean Sea was observed. During spring, coarse non-spherical particles attributed to desert dust were the mostly observed particles. This is consistent with the distinct dust season in Spring in Israel. An automated time-height-resolved air mass source attribution method identifies the dust sources in the Saharan and the Arabian deserts. Fine mode spherical particles also contribute significantly to the observed aerosol mixture during the most seasons. These particles originate mainly from the industrial region at the bay of Haifa.

[1]  R. Engelmann,et al.  Impact of aerosol layering, complex aerosol mixing, and cloud coverage on high-resolution MAIAC aerosol optical depth measurements: Fusion of lidar, AERONET, satellite, and ground-based measurements , 2021 .

[2]  J. Bühl,et al.  Automated time–height-resolved air mass source attribution for profiling remote sensing applications , 2020, Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics.

[3]  R. Engelmann,et al.  Optical properties of Central Asian aerosol relevant for spaceborne lidar applications and aerosol typing at 355 and 532 nm , 2020, Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics.

[4]  Yoav Y. Schechner,et al.  Distributed Sky Imaging Radiometry and Tomography , 2020, 2020 IEEE International Conference on Computational Photography (ICCP).

[5]  Maria Val Martin,et al.  A Global Analysis of Wildfire Smoke Injection Heights Derived from Space-Based Multi-Angle Imaging , 2018, Remote. Sens..

[6]  R. Engelmann,et al.  Wild fire aerosol optical properties measured by lidar at Haifa, Israel , 2018 .

[7]  Albert Ansmann,et al.  Dry versus wet marine particle optical properties: RH dependence of depolarization ratio, backscatter, and extinction from multiwavelength lidar measurements during SALTRACE , 2017 .

[8]  Albert Ansmann,et al.  Triple-wavelength depolarization-ratio profiling of Saharan dust over Barbados during SALTRACE in 2013 and 2014 , 2017 .

[9]  Doina Nicolae,et al.  Experimental techniques for the calibration of lidar depolarization channels in EARLINET , 2017 .

[10]  Dominik Brunner,et al.  The Lagrangian particle dispersion model FLEXPART version 10.4 , 2017, Geoscientific Model Development.

[11]  Volker Freudenthaler,et al.  About the effects of polarising optics on lidar signals and the Δ90 calibration , 2016 .

[12]  R. Engelmann,et al.  HETEAC: The Aerosol Classification Model for EarthCARE , 2016 .

[13]  George Biskos,et al.  Climatology and trends of aerosol optical depth over the Mediterranean basin during the last 12years (2002-2014) based on Collection 006 MODIS-Aqua data. , 2016, The Science of the total environment.

[14]  Albert Ansmann,et al.  The automated multiwavelength Raman polarization and water-vapor lidar PollyXT: The neXT generation , 2016 .

[15]  R. Engelmann,et al.  An overview of the first decade of Polly NET : an emerging network of automated Raman-polarization lidars for continuous aerosol profiling , 2016 .

[16]  Sara Basart,et al.  Mediterranean intense desert dust outbreaks and their verticalstructure based on remote sensing data , 2015 .

[17]  N. Mihalopoulos,et al.  Atmospheric circulation evolution related to desert‐dust episodes over the Mediterranean , 2015 .

[18]  L. Mona,et al.  LIVAS: a 3-D multi-wavelength aerosol/cloud database based on CALIPSO and EARLINET , 2015 .

[19]  A. Ansmann,et al.  Middle East versus Saharan dust extinction-to-backscatter ratios , 2015 .

[20]  Xavier Querol,et al.  The regime of intense desert dust episodes in the Mediterranean based on contemporary satellite observations and ground measurements , 2013 .

[21]  A. Ansmann,et al.  Low Arabian dust extinction‐to‐backscatter ratio , 2013 .

[22]  B. Weinzierl,et al.  Aerosol classification by airborne high spectral resolution lidar observations , 2012 .

[23]  R. Ferrare,et al.  Aerosol classification using airborne High Spectral Resolution Lidar measurements – methodology and examples , 2011 .

[24]  Albert Ansmann,et al.  Portable Raman Lidar Polly XT for Automated Profiling of Aerosol Backscatter, Extinction, and Depolarization , 2009 .

[25]  D. Althausen,et al.  Vertically resolved dust optical properties during SAMUM: Tinfou compared to Ouarzazate , 2009 .

[26]  Albert Ansmann,et al.  Vertical profiling of Saharan dust with Raman lidars and airborne HSRL in southern Morocco during SAMUM , 2009 .

[27]  Xavier Querol,et al.  Spatial and temporal variability in aerosol properties over the Mediterranean basin based on 6-year (2000-2006) MODIS data , 2008 .

[28]  U. Dayan,et al.  Suspended dust over southeastern Mediterranean and its relation to atmospheric circulations , 2008 .

[29]  A. Ansmann,et al.  Aerosol-type-dependent lidar ratios observed with Raman lidar , 2007 .

[30]  Peter Hoffmann,et al.  Investigation of inertia-gravity waves in the upper troposphere/lower stratosphere over northern Germany observed with collocated VHF/UHF radars , 2004 .

[31]  J. Joseph,et al.  Annual variations of physical properties of desert dust over Israel , 2003 .

[32]  Alan H. Strahler,et al.  Global land cover mapping from MODIS: algorithms and early results , 2002 .

[33]  A. Ansmann,et al.  Experimental determination of the lidar overlap profile with Raman lidar. , 2002, Applied optics.

[34]  Clive D Rodgers,et al.  Inverse Methods for Atmospheric Sounding: Theory and Practice , 2000 .

[35]  H. Okamoto,et al.  Application of lidar depolarization measurement in the atmospheric boundary layer: Effects of dust and sea‐salt particles , 1999 .

[36]  Zev Levin,et al.  Composition of individual aerosol particles above the Israelian Mediterranean coast during the summer time , 1998 .

[37]  François Dulac,et al.  Control of atmospheric export of dust from North Africa by the North Atlantic Oscillation , 1997, Nature.

[38]  Nadine D. Spitz,et al.  Atmospheric sulfur over the east Mediterranean region , 1996 .

[39]  A. Ansmann,et al.  Independent measurement of extinction and backscatter profiles in cirrus clouds by using a combined Raman elastic-backscatter lidar. , 1992, Applied optics.

[40]  Vertically resolved separation of dust and smoke over Cape Verde using multiwavelength Raman and polarization lidars during Saharan Mineral Dust Experiment , 2023 .

[41]  V. Freudenthaler,et al.  Towards an aerosol classification scheme for future EarthCARE lidar observations and implications for research needs , 2015 .

[42]  N. Kubilaya,et al.  Spatio-temporal aerosol trace metal concentrations and sources in the Levantine Basin of the Eastern Mediterranean , 2004 .

[43]  T. W. Chan,et al.  Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics Aerosol particle size distributions in the lower Fraser Valley: , 2004 .

[44]  C. Moulin,et al.  An illustration of the transport and deposition of mineral dust onto the eastern Mediterranean , 2000 .

[45]  Liu Xinwu.  This is How the Discussion Started , 1981 .