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With the Arctic rapidly changing, the needs to observe, understand, and model the changes are essential. To support these needs, an annual cycle of observations of atmospheric properties, processes, and interactions were made while drifting with the sea ice across the central Arctic during the Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate (MOSAiC) expedition from October 2019 to September 2020. An international team designed and implemented the comprehensive program to document and characterize all aspects of the Arctic atmospheric system in unprecedented detail, using a variety of approaches, and across multiple scales. These measurements were coordinated with other observational teams to explore crosscutting and coupled interactions with the Arctic Ocean, sea ice, and ecosystem through a variety of physical and biogeochemical processes. This overview outlines the breadth and complexity of the atmospheric research program, which was organized into 4 subgroups: atmospheric state, clouds and precipitation, gases and aerosols, and energy budgets. Atmospheric variability over the annual cycle revealed important influences from a persistent large-scale winter circulation pattern, leading to some storms with pressure and winds that were outside the interquartile range of past conditions suggested by long-term reanalysis. Similarly, the MOSAiC location was warmer and wetter in summer than the reanalysis climatology, in part due to its close proximity to the sea ice edge. The comprehensiveness of the observational program for characterizing and analyzing atmospheric phenomena is demonstrated via a winter case study examining air mass transitions and a summer case study examining vertical atmospheric evolution. Overall, the MOSAiC atmospheric program successfully met its objectives and was the most comprehensive atmospheric measurement program to date conducted over the Arctic sea ice. The obtained data will support a broad range of coupled-system s

With the Arctic rapidly changing, the needs to observe, understand, and model the changes are essential. To support these needs, an annual cycle of observations of atmospheric properties, processes, and interactions were made while drifting with the sea ice across the central Arctic during the Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate (MOSAiC) expedition from October 2019 to September 2020. An international team designed and implemented the comprehensive program to document and characterize all aspects of the Arctic atmospheric system in unprecedented detail, using a variety of approaches, and across multiple scales. These measurements were coordinated with other observational teams to explore crosscutting and coupled interactions with the Arctic Ocean, sea ice, and ecosystem through a variety of physical and biogeochemical processes. This overview outlines the breadth and complexity of the atmospheric research program, which was organized into 4 subgroups: atmospheric state, clouds and precipitation, gases and aerosols, and energy budgets. Atmospheric variability over the annual cycle revealed important influences from a persistent large-scale winter circulation pattern, leading to some storms with pressure and winds that were outside the interquartile range of past conditions suggested by long-term reanalysis. Similarly, the MOSAiC location was warmer and wetter in summer than the reanalysis climatology, in part due to its close proximity to the sea ice edge. The comprehensiveness of the observational program for characterizing and analyzing atmospheric phenomena is demonstrated via a winter case study examining air mass transitions and a summer case study examining vertical atmospheric evolution. Overall, the MOSAiC atmospheric program successfully met its objectives and was the most comprehensive atmospheric measurement program to date conducted over the Arctic sea ice. The obtained data will support a broad range of coupled

Shipborne aerosol lidar observations were performed aboard the research vessel Polarstern in 2009 and 2010 during three north-south cruises from about 50 degrees N to 50 degrees S. The aerosol data set provides an excellent opportunity to characterize and contrast the vertical aerosol distribution over the Atlantic Ocean in the polluted northern and relatively clean southern hemisphere. Three case studies, an observed pure Saharan dust plume, a Patagonian dust plume east of South America, and a case of a mixed dust/smoke plume west of Central Africa are exemplarily shown and discussed by means of their optical properties. The meridional transatlantic cruises were used to determine the latitudinal cross section of the aerosol optical thickness (AOT). Profiles of particle backscatter and extinction coefficients are presented as mean profiles for latitudinal belts to contrast northern-and southern-hemispheric aerosol loads and optical effects. Results of lidar observations at Punta Arenas (53 degrees S), Chile, and Stellenbosch (34 degrees S), South Africa, are shown and confirm the lower frequency of occurrence of free-tropospheric aerosol in the southern hemisphere than in the northern hemisphere. The maximum latitudinal mean AOT of 0.27 was found in the northern tropics (0-15 degrees N) in the Saharan outflow region. Marine AOT is typically 0.05 +/- 0.03. Particle optical properties are presented separately for the marine boundary layer and the free troposphere. Concerning the contrast between the anthropogenically influenced midlatitudinal aerosol conditions in the 30-60 degrees N belt and the respective belt in the southern hemisphere over the remote Atlantic, it is found that the AOT and extinction coefficients for the vertical column from 0-5 km (total aerosol column) and 1-5 km height (lofted aerosol above the marine boundary layer) are a factor of 1.6 and 2 higher at northern midlatitudes than at respective southern midlatitudes, and a factor of 2.5 higher tha

A volcanic ash plume that originated from the eruptions of Iceland's Grimsvotn volcano in May 2011 was observed over the Nordic countries using a combination of satellite observations and ground-based measurements. The dispersion of the plume was investigated using London VAAC ash forecasts and MODIS observations. Hourly PM10 concentrations at air quality monitoring stations in the southern parts of Norway, Sweden, and Finland exceeded 100 mu g/m(3) for several hours. The FLEXPART dispersion model has been used to confirm the Icelandic origin of the sampled air masses. Column-integrated quantities from a Sun photometer and vertical profiles from a Raman lidar were used to estimate the ash concentration within an elevated layer over Stockholm. A lofted layer with an optical thickness of 0.3 at 532 nm passed Stockholm in the morning hours of 25 May 2011. Considering a realistic range of coarse-mode fractions and specific ash extinctions from the literature, an estimated range of maximum ash mass concentration of 150-340 mu g/m(3) was derived from the lidar measurements at an altitude of 2.8 km. The lower estimate of the lidar-derived ash mass concentrations within the planetary boundary layer was found to be in good agreement with surface observations of PM10., AuthorCount:9

The Saharan Mineral Dust Experiment (SAMUM) 2006, Morocco, aimed at the characterization of optical, physical, and radiative properties of Saharan dust. AERONET Sun photometer, several lidars (Raman and high-spectral-resolution instruments), and airborne and ground-based in situ instruments provided us with a comprehensive set of data on particle-shape dependent and particle-shape independent dust properties. We compare 4 measurement days in detail, and we carry out a statistical analysis for some of the inferred data products for the complete measurement period. Particle size distributions and complex refractive indices inferred from the Sun photometer observations and measured in situ aboard a research aircraft show systematic differences. We find differences in the wavelength-dependence of single-scattering albedo, compared to light-scattering computations that use data from SOAP (spectral optical absorption photometer). AERONET data products of particle size distribution, complex refractive index, and axis ratios were used to compute particle extinction-to-backscatter (lidar) ratios and linear particle depolarization ratios. We find differences for these parameters to lidar measurements of lidar ratio and particle depolarization ratio. Differences particularly exist at 355 nm, which may be the result of differences of the wavelength-dependent complex refractive index that is inferred by the methods employed in this field campaign. We discuss various error sources that may lead to the observed differences., AuthorCount:11

The regional dust model system LM-MUSCAT-DES was developed in the framework of the SAMUM project. Using the unique comprehensive data set of near-source dust properties during the 2006SAMUMfield campaign, the performance of the model system is evaluated for two time periods in May and June 2006. Dust optical thicknesses, number size distributions and the position of the maximum dust extinction in the vertical profiles agree well with the observations. However, the spatio-temporal evolution of the dust plumes is not always reproduced due to inaccuracies in the dust source placement by the model. While simulated winds and dust distributions are well matched for dust events caused by dry synoptic-scale dynamics, they are often misrepresented when dust emissions are caused by moist convection or influenced by small-scale topography that is not resolved by the model. In contrast to long-range dust transport, in the vicinity of source regions the model performance strongly depends on the correct prediction of the exact location of sources. Insufficiently resolved vertical grid spacing causes the absence of inversions in the model vertical profiles and likely explains the absence of the observed sharply defined dust layers.

The SAMUM field campaign in southern Morocco in May/June 2006 provides valuable data to study the emission, and the horizontal and vertical transports of mineral dust in the Northern Sahara. Radiosonde and lidar observations show differential advection of air masses with different characteristics during stable nighttime conditions and up to 5-km deep vertical mixing in the strongly convective boundary layer during the day. Lagrangian and synoptic analyses of selected dust periods point to a topographic channel from western Tunisia to central Algeria as a dust source region. Significant emission events are related to cold surges from the Mediterranean in association with eastward passing upper-level waves and lee cyclogeneses south of the Atlas Mountains. Other relevant events are local emissions under a distinct cut-off low over northwestern Africa and gust fronts associated with dry thunderstorms over the Malian and Algerian Sahara. The latter are badly represented in analyses from the European Centre for Medium–Range Weather Forecasts and in a regional dust model, most likely due to problems with moist convective dynamics and a lack of observations in this region. This aspect needs further study. The meteorological source identification is consistent with estimates of optical and mineralogical properties of dust samples.

On 24 March 2007, an extraordinary dust plume was observed in the Central European troposphere. Satellite observations revealed its origins in a dust storm in Southern Ukraine, where large amounts of soil were resuspended from dried-out farmlands at wind gusts up to 30 m s-1. Along the pathway of the plume, maximum particulate matter (PM10) mass concentrations between 200 and 1400 µg m-3 occurred in Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Poland, and Germany. Over Germany, the dust plume was characterised by a volume extinction coefficient up to 400 Mm-1 and a particle optical depth of 0.71 at wavelength 0.532 µm. In-situ size distribution measurements as well as the wavelength dependence of light extinction from lidar and Sun photometer measurements confirmed the presence of a coarse particle mode with diameters around 2-3 µm. Chemical particle analyses suggested a fraction of 75% crustal material in daily average PM10 and up to 85% in the coarser fraction PM10-2.5. Based on the particle characteristics as well as a lack of increased CO and CO2 levels, a significant impact of biomass burning was ruled out. The reasons for the high particle concentrations in the dust plume were twofold: First, dust was transported very rapidly into Central Europe in a boundary layer jet under dry conditions. Second, the dust plume was confined to a relatively stable boundary layer of 1.4-1.8 km height, and could therefore neither expand nor dilute efficiently. Our findings illustrate the capacity of combined in situ and remote sensing measurements to characterise large-scale dust plumes with a variety of aerosol parameters. Although such plumes from Southern Eurasia seem to occur rather infrequently in Central Europe, its unexpected features highlights the need to improve the description of dust emission, transport and transformation processes needs, particularly when facing the possible effects of further anthropogenic desertification and climate change.