LIDAR INVESTIGATIONS OF THE TROPOSPHERE PERFORMED DURING SUMMER 2011 MEASUREMENT CAMPAIGN

Bulgarian Geophysical Journal, 2012, Vol. 38, DOI: https://doi.org/10.34975/bgj-2012.38.7
A. Deleva

Abstract:
Lidar investigations of the troposphere, made over the city of Sofia from May to August 2011, are described. Regular EARLINET weekly measurements were performed in that period as well as everyday lidar observations of the atmosphere during the eruption of the Grimsvötn Island volcano and during Saharan dust incursion. Lidar measurements are performed with an aerosol lidar equipped with Nd:YAG laser. Lidar data are presented in terms of vertical atmospheric backscatter coefficient profiles and color maps of the aerosol stratification time evolution. HYSPLIT (HYbrid Single-Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory) backward trajectories and DREAM (Dust REgional Atmospheric Model) forecasts are employed to make conclusions about atmospheric aerosol’s origin. It was concluded that the atmosphere above Sofia was not polluted with volcanic aerosols ejected during the Grimsvötn volcano eruptions from 21-28 May 2011. However, thick urban aerosol layers over Sofia have been registered during the summer months. Reported experimental examples are extracted from regular lidar investigations of the atmosphere within the frame of European project EARLINET.

Keywords:
lidar, aerosols, clouds, Saharan dust, troposphere

Acknowledgements:
The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement n° 262254”. The financial support for EARLINET by the European Commission under grant RICA-025991 is also gratefully acknowledged.
The authors gratefully acknowledge the NOAA Air Resources Laboratory (ARL) for the provision of the HYSPLIT model for air mass transport and dispersion and/or READY website used in this publication.
The authors would like also to express their gratitude to the Earth Sciences Division, Barcelona Supercomputing Center, Spain, for the provision of the DREAM model aerosol dust data used in this publication.

Author information:
Author: A. Deleva
E-mail: adeleva@ie.bas.bg
Affiliation: Institute of Electronics, 72 Tsarigradsko Chaussee Blvd., 1784 Sofia, Bulgaria

How to cite:
Deleva, A. (2012). LIDAR INVESTIGATIONS OF THE TROPOSPHERE PERFORMED DURING SUMMER 2011 MEASUREMENT CAMPAIGN. Bulgarian Geophysical Journal, Vol. 38, p. 79-92. https://doi.org/10.34975/BGJ-2012.38.7