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INTEGRATING LIDAR AND SATELLITE OPTICAL DEPTH WITH AMBIENT MONITORING FOR 3-DIMENSIONAL PARTICULATE CHARACTERIZATION
Citation:
ENGEL-COX, J. A., R. M. HOFF, R. ROGERS, F. DIMMICK, A. C. RUSH, J. SZYKMAN, J. AL-SAADI, A. CHU, AND E. R. ZELL. INTEGRATING LIDAR AND SATELLITE OPTICAL DEPTH WITH AMBIENT MONITORING FOR 3-DIMENSIONAL PARTICULATE CHARACTERIZATION. ATMOSPHERIC ENVIRONMENT. Elsevier Science Ltd, New York, NY, 40(40):8056-8067, (2006).
Impact/Purpose:
Our main objective is to assess the exposure of selected ecosystems to specific atmospheric stressors. More precisely, we will analyze and interpret environmental quality (primarily atmospheric) data to document observable changes in environmental stressors that may be associated with legislatively-mandated emissions reductions.
Description:
A combination of in-situ PM2.5, sunphotometers, upward pointing lidar and satellite aerosol optical depth (AOD) instruments have been employed to better understand variability in the correlation between AOD and PM2.5 at the surface. Previous studies have shown good correlation between these measures, especially in the US east, and encouraged the use of satellite data for spatially interpolating between ground sensors. This work shows that cases of weak correlation can be better understood with knowledge of whether the aerosol is confined to the surface planetary boundary layer (PBL) or aloft. Lidar apportionment of the fraction of aerosol optical depth that is within the PBL can be scaled to give better agreement with surface PM2.5 than does the total column amount. The study has shown that lidar combined with surface and remotely sensed data might be strategically used to improve our understanding of long-range or regionally transported pollutants in multiple dimensions.