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Tajikistan is often affected by atmospheric mineral dust. The direct and indirect radiative effects of dust play a sensitive role in the climate system in Central Asia. The Central Asian Dust Experiment (CADEX) provides first lidar measurements in Tajikistan. The autonomous multiwavelength polarization Raman lidar PollyXT was operated for 1.5 years (2015/16) in Dushanbe. In spring, lofted layers of long-range transported dust and in summer/ autumn, lower laying dust from local or regional sources with large optical thicknesses occurred.

Mineral dust needs to be characterized comprehensively since it contributes to the climate change in Tajikistan / Central Asia. Lidar results from the measurements of mineral dust during CADEX are compared with results of sun photometer measurements, satellite-based measurements, and chemical analysis of ground samples. Although the dust is often advected from far-range sources, it impacts on the local conditions considerably.

Arising from: G. Yancheva et al. Nature 445, 74-77 (2007) On the basis of the anti-correlation of their palaeoclimatic proxy for the strength of the East Asian winter monsoon from [...]

Arising from: G. Yancheva et al. Nature 455, 74-77 (2007). The Asian summer monsoon has been precisely reconstructed from the high-resolution record from the speleothem1, but reconstruction of the Asian [...]

For the first time, continuous vertically resolved aerosol measurements were performed by lidar in Tajikistan, Central Asia. Observations with the multiwavelength polarization/Raman lidar PollyXT were conducted during CADEX (Central Asian Dust EXperiment) in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, from March 2015 to August 2016. Co-located with the lidar a sun photometer was operated. The goal of CADEX is to provide an unprecedented data set on vertically resolved aerosol optical properties in Central Asia, an area highly affected by climate change but largely missing vertically resolved aerosol measurements. During the 18-months measurement campaign, mineral dust was detected frequently from ground to cirrus level height. In this study, an overview of the measurement period is given and four typical but different example measurement cases are discussed in detail. Three of them are dust cases and one is a contrasting pollution aerosol case. Vertical profiles of the measured optical properties and the calculated dust and non-dust mass concentrations are presented. Dust source regions were identified by means of backward trajectory analyses. A lofted layer of Middle Eastern dust with an aerosol optical thickness (AOT) of 0.4 and an extinction-related Ångström exponent of 0.41 was measured. In comparison, two near-ground dust cases have Central Asian sources. One is an extreme dust event with an AOT of 1.5 and Ångström exponent of 0.12 and the other one is a most extreme dust event with an AOT of above 4 (measured by sun photometer) and an Ångström exponent of -0.08. The observed lidar ratios (particle linear depolarization ratios) in the presented dust cases range from 40.3 sr to 46.9 sr (0.18–0.29) at 355 nm and from 35.7 sr to 42.9 sr (0.31–0.35) at 532 nm wavelength. The particle linear depolarization ratios indicate almost unpolluted dust in the case of a lofted dust layer and pure dust in the near-ground dust cases. The lidar ratio values are lower than typical lidar ratio values for Saharan dust (50–60 sr) and comparable to Middle Eastern/West-Asian dust lidar ratios (35–45 sr). In contrast, the presented case of pollution aerosol of local origin has an Ångström exponent of 2.07 and a lidar ratio (particle linear depolarization ratio) of 55.8 sr (0.03) at 355 nm and 32.8 sr (0.08) at 532 nm wavelength. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A series of synthetic apatite crystals along the fluorapatite-chlorapatite Ca5(PO4)3(F,Cl) join have been synthesized at 1220 to 1375 °C from Ca3(PO4)2 dissolved in a CaF2-CaCl2 melt. The solid solutions have then been characterized both chemically and structurally. Because of well-known difficulties in measuring the chemical composition of apatites containing F and Cl by electron microprobe a new semi-micro wet chemical method has been developed. Apatite is relatively well dissolved in mineral acids including HNO3. Nitric acid digestion of apatite for analysis of F and Cl has not been applied in the past to our knowledge. One reason is the potential risk of losing gaseous HF and HCl during acid decomposition. We present an analytical procedure that enables the analyses of F, Cl, Ca, P, and trace elements after digestion of 10 mg apatite with a small amount of 1 N HNO3 in gas-tight PTFE tubes at 80 °C. Analytical results from three independent closed acid digestions of 20 synthetic fluorchlorapatites are presented. The reliability of this method was tested on the basis of charge balance, the Ca/P, Ca/(F+Cl), and P/(F+Cl) ratios, and the total cation sum. Independently derived Cl/F ratios by XRD using Rietveld refinement of apatite crystals from the same synthesis experiments are additionally presented. The apatite solid solutions were characterized by IR spectroscopy, X-ray powder diffraction using Rietveld refinements (XRD), and single-crystal diffraction (SCXRD) structure determinations. IR spectra indicate no or only a very minor hydroxylapatite component in the solid solutions. Lattice parameters of the apatite solid solutions vary systematically with composition. The a-lattice parameter varies linearly. In contrast to F- , which occupies a special position at (0,0, 1/4;) in the unit cell, Cl- occupies split positions ranging from 0.346(4) to 0.4428(2) in the z-coordinate because of the larger ionic Cl- radius. Single-crystal structure determinations reveal that the Ca2 site is also split into Ca2A and Ca2B sites for F- and Cl- as nearest neighbors, respectively. In comparison to the Ca2A-F- arrangements, the larger Cl- ion presses the triangular arrangement of Ca-ions outward to facilitate an energetic more favorable constellation resulting in the formation of Ca2B-Cl- arrangements. The occupancies of the Ca2A and Ca2B sites, as determined by SCXRD, correlate strictly with the F-Cl content. Apatites rich in Cl (xCl > 0.5) show a deficiency in halogens, which is probably charge balanced by oxygen (Cl-- ↔ O² + □) forming an oxyapatite component. The oxyapatite component prevents the F-absent, Cl-rich apatite from crystallizing with a monoclinic symmetry and stabilizes the observed hexagonal symmetry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]