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The vertical structure of wind is a key factor in modulating air quality, from which the determination of boundary layer height (BLH) remains a major challenge. In this paper, we developed an improved threshold method to determine the BLH from radar wind profiler (RWP) measurements. The normalized signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) profiles were used instead of the original SNR profiles to avoid instrumental inconsistencies. Additionally, a peak filter was designed to indicate the BLH based on the maximum SNR by taking into account the multiple peaks in the SNR profile. This algorithm was then applied to the RWP measurements taken in the summer (June–July–August) of 2018 in Beijing to obtain the BLHs. Validation analyses suggested that the BLH retrievals from RWP exhibited high consistency with those from radiosondes, with an average correlation coefficient of 0.69 (0.66) and a root mean squared error of 0.39 (0.41) in the daytime (nighttime). Additionally, the major features of summertime BLHs in Beijing were examined. In particular, a distinct diurnal variation in BLH was observed with a peak (1630 ± 510 m) occurring at 0600 universal time coordinated (UTC) and a minimum (587 ± 343 m) at 2300 UTC. Therefore, the algorithm presented here has great potential to be applied to other regions to obtain reliable BLHs. The findings obtained here highlight the importance of vertical wind structure in air quality studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on observations from daytime lidars in eastern China, diurnal cycles of the sodium layer over Wuhan (30.5°N, 114.6°E) and Beijing (40.5°N, 116°E) are investigated. Diurnal variations of Na density, root mean square (RMS) layer width, and centroid height of the sodium layer are analyzed. Results reveal that the large diurnal cycles of the sodium layer are controlled mainly by 24-hr oscillations at the two observation sites. The diurnal variation of the sodium layer over Wuhan was modulated mainly by tidal perturbations during the lidar observation campaign. Conversely, the diurnal variation over Beijing was controlled principally by photoionization and photochemistry effects during another campaign, and there was little evidence of direct tidal perturbations. These comparisons suggest that the diurnal variation of the sodium layer perhaps has obvious regional characteristics across China. The variation can be either controlled mainly by tidal perturbations or by photoionization and photochemistry effects in different seasons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High-precision and -resolution atmospheric boundary layer height (BLH) has received increasing attention in air pollution research in recent years. The low time resolution of sounding data is the main challenge to validate BLH retrieval from lidar observations. To resolve this issue, we conducted simultaneous tethered balloon sounding and lidar observations at the Semi-Arid Climate and Environment Observatory of Lanzhou University (SACOL) during winter 2019–2020. The BLHs derived from the tethered balloon sounding data were 170, 210, 393, 676, 423, and 190 m at 02:00, 08:00, 11:00, 14:00, 17:00, and 20:00 (Beijing time), respectively. The diurnal evolution of BLH was reasonably captured by lidar observation-based wavelet covariance transform and ideal profile fitting methods, which exhibited correlation coefficients of 0.91 and 0.89, respectively, with the BLHs determined from tethered balloon sounding data. The lidar results slightly overestimated the BLHs, though all results were acceptable when considering both the absolute and relative errors with respect to BLHs from the tethered balloon data. Our results revealed high-precision and -resolution diurnal variations in BLH at SACOL in Northwest China and suggest the importance of validating lidar-based BLHs using simultaneous sounding data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Beijing Na–K lidar has been started running in 2010. This lidar has two laser beams: one dye laser emits a 589-nm laser beam for Na layer detection; the other dye laser emits a 770-nm laser beam for K layer detection. Under similar conditions, the echo signal of K layer is only about 2 orders of magnitude smaller than that of Na layer. This lidar has a sufficient Signal Noise Ratio (SNR). The structure and details of potassium layer can be effectively distinguished from a single original echo. Several examples of co-observation of density of Na and K layer showed some different results with previous studies. This lidar not only can supplement the lack of Na and K layer observation at this latitude region, but also provide evidence for the atmospheric sciences and space environment monitoring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Nightly and seasonal variations of atmospheric gravity wave (AGW) activity in the sodium layer are investigated by analyzing 253 nights of sodium lidar observations. These observations were made from April 2010 to September 2011 at Yanqing, Beijing ( ). Vertical wavelengths, periods and phase velocities of 162 quasi-monochromatic AGWs are extracted from the lidar data. An average parameter relationship is found. Nightly statistical results show that the activity of AGW has maximum from 22 to 24 LST in night. Monthly statistical results reveal that AGW activity maximizes in summer and minimizes in winter. Seasonal variation characteristic of AGW activity is interpreted based on a qualitative analysis of probable main sources in Northern China. Influences of seasonally varying temperature and background winds on AGW activity are discussed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The changes in aerosol optical and microphysical properties, and sub-band shortwave direct radiative forcing (DARF) in Beijing and Wuhan were compared at different haze levels in winters. The occurrence of haze is found to be governed by the wind circulation and boundary layer in Beijing where the ground wind speed and the height of boundary layer decreased significantly with the development of haze. Compared with the boundary layer and wind, the relative humidity has a stronger impact on haze in Wuhan. Especially, hygroscopic growth of aerosol particles is observed in Wuhan. The increase of fine-mode non-absorbing particles is the main characteristic of aerosol change during haze periods. With the development of haze, the larger increase in DARF at the top of atmosphere is found in Beijing, while the change in DARF at the atmosphere is more obvious in Wuhan. Efficiency of the DARF shows that the change of DARF depends highly on the single scattering albedo in Beijing due to the obvious enhancement of particle scattering, while it depends much more on particle radius over Wuhan. The increase in particle size can also change DARF proportion of each sub-band in shortwave that the DARF proportion in ultraviolet and visible decreased. However, the DARF proportion in near-infrared increased during haze, as the light in shorter wavelength is more sensitive to the change of the fine particle radius. • Aerosol properties in Beijing were compared with Wuhan at different haze levels. • Meteorological parameters are more significant in driving haze in Beijing than Wuhan. • Decrease in direct radiative forcing efficiency was observed with haze developing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]