Abstract:
Atmospheric particles (aerosols) and mainly mineral dust particles affect life on Earth in several ways. Key parameters for determining the impacts of aerosols to climate forcing and the ecological state of the environment are their optical parameters (backscatter and extinction coefficients), as well as their spatial distribution. In this study, the results are analyzed of the vertical remote sounding of several Saharan dust outbreaks above Sofia. The investigations were carried out by a aerosol LIDAR (LIght Detection And Ranging) based on a Nd:YAG laser. The examples presented illustrate that the detected aerosol/dust layers differ in their altitude, density, thickness and height stratification. Some of the results show that aerosols can reach up to and persist in the unusual 14 km altitude region in the troposphere. Experimental data are presented in terms of atmospheric backscatter coefficient profiles and 2D-color maps of the aerosol stratification time evolution. The DREAM (Dust REgional Atmospheric Model) forecasts and HYSPLIT (HYbrid Single-Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory) backward trajectories for the days of measurements were employed to draw conclusions about the atmospheric aerosol’s origin.