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

Abstract

[1] To improve understanding and capture the direct evidence of the impact of dust aerosol on climate, the 2008 China-U.S. joint field campaigns are conducted. Three sites are involved this campaign, including one permanent site (Semi-Arid Climate and Environment Observatory of Lanzhou University (SACOL)) (located in Yuzhong, 35.95°N, 104.1°E), one SACOL's Mobile Facility (SMF) (deployed in Jintai, 37.57°N, 104.23°E), and the U.S. Department of Energy Atmospheric Radiation Measurements (ARM) Ancillary Facility (AAF mobile laboratories, SMART-COMMIT) (deployed in Zhangye, 39.08°N, 100.27°E). This paper presents the results of direct measurement analysis of the dust plume transport case. During the dust plume period, the OMI AI data and air mass back trajectory model (HYSPLIT) clearly illustrated that the air mass originated from the Taklamakan desert and Inner Mongolia Gobi desert. The daily averaged concentrations of PM 10 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.

Size Distribution and Optical Properties of Particulate Matter (PM10) and Black Carbon (BC) during Dust Storms and Local Air Pollution Events across a Loess Plateau Site

“…Due to biomass and coal burning resulting in serious anthropogenic emissions, the concentration of PM 10 in winter was only lower than that in spring. The result agrees well with those of previous studies Wang et al, 2010Wang et al, , 2015Che et al, 2014). As for PM 10 , the diurnal cycle of B ap presented two peaks (Mar-May: 8:00 and 21:00, Jun-Oct: 8:00 and around 20:00-23:00, Nov-Feb: 10:00 and 20:00), with average values of 15.3 and 11.2, 17.8 and 14.3, and 32.1 and 28.3 Mm -1…”

“…They are very effective at modifying the radiation field by absorbing and scattering solar and thermal radiation (Anderson et al, 2003;Huang et al, 2006a, b;Li et al, 2007;Ramanathan and Carmichael, 2008;Bi et al, 2010;Wang et al, 2010) and altering the precipitation rate and hydrological cycle (Rosenfeld et al, 2001;Ramanathan et al, 2005;Su et al, 2008). The Loess Plateau is located in northwestern China, near the largest and most persistent sources of airborne dust in the world, including the Taklimakan, Gobi, Badain Jaran, and Tengger deserts (Zhang et al, 2003a, b;Xu et al, 2004;Sun et al, 2005;Igarashi et al, 2011;Che et al, 2013).…”

An Investigation of Aerosol Scattering and Absorption Properties in Wuhan, Central China

“…To thoroughly understand the aerosol radiative forcing characteristics in China, numerous surface aerosol experiments have been conducted [17][18][19][20][21][22][23]. However, most of these studies have been conducted in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region [5,15,18,[21][22][23], the Pearl River Delta [14,17,24,25], the Yangtze River Delta [26] and the northwest semi-arid areas [27][28][29]. Observations of aerosol scattering and absorption properties in central China are sparse.…”

Optical and microphysical properties of natural mineral dust and anthropogenic soil dust near dust source regions over Northwestern China

“…CC BY 4.0 License. which originates from desert regions (Che et al, 2011(Che et al, , 2013Goudie and Middleton, 2001;Li et al, 2012;Park and Park, 2014;Pu et al, 2015;Wang et al, 2008Wang et al, , 2010). …”

“…Mineral dust has a profound impact on the radiative balance of the Earth by scattering and absorbing solar radiation Wang et al, 2010;Huang et al, 2014;Li et al, 2016); this dust can also act 5 as cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) to alter the precipitation rate and hydrological cycle of the Earth (Rosenfeld et al, 2001). East Asia includes the Taklimakan, Tengger, Badain Jaran and Gobi Deserts and is thus considered to be one of the major source regions of natural dust in the world, as it produces large amounts of natural mineral dust (Zhang et al, 1997;Wang et al, 2008;Che et al, 2011Che et al, , 2013Ge et al, 2014;Xin, 10 2005Xin, 10 , 2010Xin, 10 , 2015.…”