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Remote Sensing Monitoring Aerosols and Its Effects on Atmospheric Radiation

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A special issue of Remote Sensing (ISSN 2072-4292).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 September 2021) | Viewed by 19480

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Oleg Dubovik

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Guest Editor

CNRS, University of Lille, 59655 Villeneuve D'ascq, CEDEX, France
Interests: atmospheric remote sensing; inversion algorithm; optical diagnostic; light scattering; atmospheric radiative transfer; aerosol retrieval; inverse modeling; numerical inversion; statistical estimation theory
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Yingying Ma

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

State Key Laboratory of Information Engineering in Surveying, Mapping and Remote Sensing, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China
Interests: remote sensing of atmosphere (LiDAR and passive satellite); retrieval of atmospheric parameters; atmospheric radiation budget; atmospheric environment; air quality; air pollutant evolution

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

As studies on anthropogenic aerosol have attracted great attention, diverse ground-based and satellite-based sensors have been developed to quantitatively obtain observations with a large scope and high spatial and temporal resolution. These observations could help to detect aerosol sources, simulate aerosol transport and dissipation processes, retrieve aerosol properties and chemical compositions, and reveal aerosol effects on earth–atmosphere system radiative budget balance and global climate change. By now, a very large number of remote sensing observations of aerosol has been deployed, and many aerosol products have been developed based on the available measurements and successfully used in various scientific applications.

However, the desirable completeness and accuracy of aerosol information do not yet appear to have been reached, due to high complexity of aerosol properties and various challenging issues with the acquisition and interpretation of aerosol observations. Therefore, advanced retrieval methods must be developed to ensure the reliability of retrieval results with the development of sensors, thus expanding the application scope of these aerosol observations. For example, calculating the aerosol radiative effect (ARE) through radiative transfer code needs many input parameters of aerosol, while some of them are default values or with large uncertainty. Improvements on retrieval of aerosol parameters can contribute to increase the accuracy of ARE and the aerosol climatic effect.

Thus, in this Special Issue, we encourage submissions focusing on applications of the aerosol radiative effect based on remote sensing observations, including but not limited to:

Development of advanced aerosol remote sensing equipment;
Improvement on quantitative high-precision retrieval method on satellite-based or ground-based;
New method for radiation calibration of aerosol sensors;
Combination of multisource observation data, optimization, and application of the radiative transport model;
Advanced analysis of existing archives of aerosol observations and near-real-time aerosol monitoring by currently operating active CALIPSO, multiangular polarimetric DPC, geostationary HIMAWARI, and other observations;
Instrumental and methodological developments for future aerosol missions, such as 3MI, PACE, ACCP, etc.

Dr. Oleg Dubovik
Dr. Yingying Ma
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Remote Sensing is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

Aerosol remote sensing
New measurement technology of aerosol
Quantitative inversion of aerosols
Radiation transfer model
Radiation calibration
Data assimilation

Published Papers (7 papers)

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Research

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16 pages, 6064 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Black Carbon over Wuhan, China: Seasonal Variations in Its Optical Properties, Radiative Forcing and Contribution to Atmospheric Aerosols

by Yingying Ma, Ruonan Fan, Shikuan Jin, Xin Ma, Ming Zhang, Wei Gong, Boming Liu, Yifan Shi, Yiqun Zhang and Hui Li

Remote Sens. 2021, 13(18), 3620; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/rs13183620 - 10 Sep 2021

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2067

Abstract

As an important fraction of light-absorbing particles, black carbon (BC) has a significant warming effect, despite accounting for a small proportion of total aerosols. A comprehensive investigation was conducted on the characteristics of atmospheric aerosols and BC particles over Wuhan, China. Mass concentration, optical properties, and radiative forcing of total aerosols and BC were estimated using multi-source observation data. Results showed that the BC concentration monthly mean varied from 2.19 to 5.33 μg m⁻³. The BC aerosol optical depth (AOD) maximum monthly mean (0.026) occurred in winter, whereas the maximum total AOD (1.75) occurred in summer. Under polluted-air conditions, both aerosol radiative forcing (ARF) and BC radiative forcing (BCRF) at the bottom of the atmosphere (BOA) were strongest in summer, with values of −83.01 and −11.22 W m⁻², respectively. In summer, ARF at BOA on polluted-air days was more than two-fold that on clean-air days. In addition, compared with clean-air days, BCRF at BOA on polluted-air days was increased by 76% and 73% in summer and winter, respectively. The results indicate an important influence of particulate air pollution on ARF and BCRF. Furthermore, the average contribution of BCRF to ARF was 13.8%, even though the proportion of BC in PM_2.5 was only 5.1%. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Remote Sensing Monitoring Aerosols and Its Effects on Atmospheric Radiation)

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16 pages, 3990 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Aerosol Direct Radiative Effects over China Based on Long-Term Observations within the Sun–Sky Radiometer Observation Network (SONET)

by Li Li, Zhengqiang Li, Kaitao Li, Yan Wang, Qingjiu Tian, Xiaoli Su, Leiku Yang, Song Ye and Hua Xu

Remote Sens. 2020, 12(20), 3296; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/rs12203296 - 10 Oct 2020

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2401

Abstract

To investigate aerosol radiative effects, the Sun–Sky Radiometer Observation Network (SONET) has performed long-term observations of columnar atmospheric aerosol properties at 20 distributed stations around China. The aerosol direct radiative forcing (RF) and efficiency (RFE, the rate at which the atmosphere is forced per unit of aerosol optical depth) were estimated using radiative transfer model simulations based on the ground-based observations dating back to 2009. Results of multi-year monthly average RF illustrated that: the dust-dominant aerosol population at arid and semi-arid sites exerted moderate cooling effects (−8.0~−31.2 W/m²) at the top and bottom of atmosphere (TOA and BOA); RF at continental background site was very weak (−0.8~−2.9 W/m²); fine-mode dominant aerosols at urban and suburban sites exerted moderate cooling effects (−9.3~−24.1 W/m²) at TOA but more significant cooling effects (−19.4~−50.6 W/m²) at BOA; RF at coastal sites was comparable with values of urban sites (−5.5~−19.5 W/m² at TOA, and −15.6~−44.6 W/m² at BOA), owing to combined influences by marine and urban–industrial aerosols. Differences between RFE at TOA and BOA indicated that coarse-mode dominant aerosols at arid, semi-arid, and continental background sites were less efficient to warm the atmosphere; but fine-mode dominant aerosols at urban, suburban, and coastal sites were shown to be more efficient to heat the atmosphere. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Remote Sensing Monitoring Aerosols and Its Effects on Atmospheric Radiation)

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19 pages, 8516 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Clear-Sky Surface Solar Radiation and the Radiative Effect of Aerosol and Water Vapor Based on Simulations and Satellite Observations over Northern China

by Guang Zhang and Yingying Ma

Remote Sens. 2020, 12(12), 1931; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/rs12121931 - 15 Jun 2020

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 2935

Abstract

The distribution and trend of clear-sky surface solar radiation (SSR) and the quantitative effects of aerosol and water vapor are investigated in northern China during 2001–2015 using radiation simulations and satellite observations. Clear-sky SSR in northern China is high in summer and low in winter, which is dominated by astronomical factors and strongly modulated by the seasonal variations of radiative effects of aerosol (ARE) and water vapor (WVRE). The larger variation of WVRE than ARE indicates that water vapor plays a more important role in moderating the seasonal variation of clear-sky SSR. Clear-sky SSR shows an overall decreasing trend of –0.12 W/m² per year, with decrease more strongly than –0.60 W/m² per year in west-central Shandong and increase (about 0.40 W/m²) in south-central Inner Mongolia. The consistency of spatial distribution and high correlation between clear-sky SSR and ARE trend indicate that the clear-sky SSR trend is mainly determined by aerosol variation. Dust mass concentration decreases about 16% in south-central Inner Mongolia from 2001 to 2015, resulting in the increase in clear-sky SSR. In contrast, sulfate aerosol increases about 92% in west-central Shandong, leading to the decreasing trend of clear-sky SSR. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Remote Sensing Monitoring Aerosols and Its Effects on Atmospheric Radiation)

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17 pages, 3731 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Boundary Layer Height as Estimated from Radar Wind Profilers in Four Cities in China: Relative Contributions from Aerosols and Surface Features

by Boming Liu, Jianping Guo, Wei Gong, Yifan Shi and Shikuan Jin

Remote Sens. 2020, 12(10), 1657; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/rs12101657 - 21 May 2020

Cited by 13 | Viewed by 3780

Abstract

The turbulent mixing and dispersion of air pollutants is strongly dependent on the vertical structure of the wind, which constitutes one of the major challenges affecting the determination of boundary layer height (BLH). Here, an adaptive method is proposed to estimate BLH from measurements of radar wind profilers (RWPs) in Beijing (BJ), Nanjing (NJ), Chongqing (CQ), and Wulumuqi (WQ), China, during the summer of 2019. Validation against simultaneous BLH estimates from radiosondes (RSs) yielded a correlation coefficient of 0.66, indicating that the method can be used to derive BLH from RWPs. Diurnal variations of BLH and the ventilation coefficient (VC) at four sites were then examined. A distinct diurnal cycle of BLH was observed over all four cities; BLH gradually increased from sunset, reached a maximum in the afternoon, and then dropped sharply after sunset. The maximum hourly average BLH (1.426 ± 0.46 km) occurred in WQ, consistent with the maximum hourly mean VC larger than 5000 m²/s observed there. By comparison, the diurnal variation of VC was not strong, with values ranging between 2000 and 3000 m²/s, likely owing to the high-humidity environment. Furthermore, surface sensible heat flux, latent heat flux, and dry mass of particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter ≤2.5 µm (PM_2.5) concentrations were found to somehow affect the vertical structure of wind and thermodynamic features, leading to a difference between RS and RWP BLH estimates. This indicates that the atmospheric environment can affect BLH estimates using RWP data. The BLH results from RWPs were better in some specific cases. These findings show great potential of RWP measurements in air quality research, and will provide key data references for policy-making toward emission reductions. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Remote Sensing Monitoring Aerosols and Its Effects on Atmospheric Radiation)

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26 pages, 2427 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Deriving Aerosol Absorption Properties from Solar Ultraviolet Radiation Spectral Measurements at Thessaloniki, Greece

by Ilias Fountoulakis, Athanasios Natsis, Nikolaos Siomos, Theano Drosoglou and Alkiviadis F. Bais

Remote Sens. 2019, 11(18), 2179; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/rs11182179 - 19 Sep 2019

Cited by 18 | Viewed by 4108

Abstract

The gap in knowledge regarding the radiative effects of aerosols in the UV region of the solar spectrum is large, mainly due to the lack of systematic measurements of the aerosol single scattering albedo (SSA) and absorption optical depth (AAOD). In the present study, spectral UV measurements performed in Thessaloniki, Greece by a double monochromator Brewer spectrophotometer in the period 1998–2017 are used for the calculation of the aforementioned optical properties. The main uncertainty factors have been described and there is an effort to quantify the overall uncertainties in SSA and AAOD. Analysis of the results suggests that the absorption by aerosols is much stronger in the UV relative to the visible. SSA follows a clear annual pattern ranging from ~0.7 in winter to ~0.85 in summer at wavelengths 320–360 nm, while AAOD peaks in summer and winter. The average AAOD for 2009–2011 is ~50% above the 2003–2006 average, possibly due to increased emissions of absorbing aerosols related to the economic crisis and the metro-railway construction works in the city center. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Remote Sensing Monitoring Aerosols and Its Effects on Atmospheric Radiation)

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Other

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15 pages, 6126 KiB

Open AccessTechnical Note

Study of Persistent Haze Pollution in Winter over Jinan (China) Based on Ground-Based and Satellite Observations

by Hui Li, Rui Shi, Shikuan Jin, Weiyan Wang, Ruonan Fan, Yiqun Zhang, Boming Liu, Peitao Zhao, Wei Gong and Yuefeng Zhao

Remote Sens. 2021, 13(23), 4862; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/rs13234862 - 30 Nov 2021

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 1534

Abstract

A comprehensive study of the formation process of haze events in the Jinan area of China during winter is conducted based on the ground-based and satellite observation data from 1 December 2020 to 12 January 2021. According to variation of pollutant concentrations, two typical types of haze pollution are found in the Jinan area. During the type 1 haze pollution, the PM_2.5 concentrations are greater than 75

μ

gm⁻³ and less than 115

μ

gm⁻³ with a short duration. The haze is mainly caused by local pollutant emissions and the accumulation of pollutants transported from areas around Jinan. By contrast, type 2 haze pollution episodes have a long duration and peak PM_2.5 concentrations between 150

μ

gm⁻³ and 250

μ

gm⁻³, which is considered heavy pollution. Type 2 haze pollution is mainly caused by a mixture of long-range transported dust with locally emitted pollutants. Moreover, the unfavorable meteorological factors such as stable inversion layer, continuous cold high-pressure system, high relative humidity, and low wind speed play an important role in the formation of both types of haze pollution. In addition, there are significant photochemical processes during the haze pollutions. According to satellite data, the AOD in Jinan and surrounding areas is maintained at a high-level during haze pollution. It indicates that the local pollution is often accompanied by regional pollution during haze pollution events. This study reveals the formation process of haze pollution and promotes the study of regional climate change, which can provide guidance to the government in the prevention and control of haze pollution in East China. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Remote Sensing Monitoring Aerosols and Its Effects on Atmospheric Radiation)

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15 pages, 2511 KiB

Open AccessTechnical Note

Variations in Nocturnal Residual Layer Height and Its Effects on Surface PM_2.5 over Wuhan, China

by Xin Ma, Weicheng Jiang, Hui Li, Yingying Ma, Shikuan Jin, Boming Liu and Wei Gong

Remote Sens. 2021, 13(22), 4717; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/rs13224717 - 22 Nov 2021

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1893

Abstract

Large amounts of aerosols remain in the residual layer (RL) after sunset, which may be the source of the next day’s pollutants. However, the characteristics of the nocturnal residual layer height (RLH) and its effect on urban environment pollution are unknown. In this study, the characteristics of the RLH and its effect on fine particles with diameters <2.5 μm (PM_2.5) were investigated using lidar data from January 2017 to December 2019. The results show that the RLH is highest in summer (1.55 ± 0.55 km), followed by spring (1.40 ± 0.58 km) and autumn (1.26 ± 0.47 km), and is lowest in winter (1.11 ± 0.44 km). The effect of surface meteorological factors on the RLH were also studied. The correlation coefficients (R) between the RLH and the temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, and pressure were 0.38, −0.18, 0.15, and −0.36, respectively. The results indicate that the surface meteorological parameters exhibit a slight correlation with the RLH, but the high relative humidity was accompanied by a low RLH and high PM_2.5 concentrations. Finally, the influence of the RLH on PM_2.5 was discussed under different aerosol-loading periods. The aerosol optical depth (AOD) was employed to represent the total amount of pollutants. The results show that the RLH has an effect on PM_2.5 when the AOD is small but has almost no effect on PM_2.5 when the AOD is high. In addition, the R between the nighttime mean RLH and the following daytime PM_2.5 at low AOD is −0.49, suggesting that the RLH may affect the following daytime surface PM_2.5. The results of this study have a guiding significance for understanding the interaction between aerosols and the boundary layer. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Remote Sensing Monitoring Aerosols and Its Effects on Atmospheric Radiation)

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