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Continuous remote monitoring of the atmospheric physical parameters is an urgent task for solving the issues related to meteorology, climatology, artificial influence on clouds, studying the physical parameters of cloud cover etc. In the developed countries such issues are solved using science-driven technologies of millimeter wave range radiometry. They allow, in particular, quick restoration of the values of total content and effective temperature of droplet and vaporous moisture in the atmospheric column, and distinguishing the areas with crystalline, droplet or vaporous water phases. This work aims at substantiating, by calculation and experiment, the possibility of large-scale solving the problems of continuous remote monitoring of the studied atmospheric moisture parameters using the method of centimetre wavelength range radiometry. To determine the best pair of frequencies for restoring the atmospheric moisture parameters based on radiometric data of remote sensing the linear absorption coefficients were calculated for clear atmosphere, for cloudy atmosphere depending on the temperature of drops and for rainfalls of various intensities for 4, 12, 20, 40 and 94 GHz frequencies. In order to calculate these data, we used a well-known MPM model (Atmospheric Millimeter-Wave Propagation Model). At the same time, calculation of the altitude profiles of the atmospheric meteorological parameters was carried out based on the ERA-15 model. Comparison of the data obtained by calculation, taking into account the progress of the technical parameters of the serial element base, indicated a possibility of solving the above problems in the centimetre wavelength as well. The research presents a description of the diagram and technical solutions, as well as the appearance of a two-frequency radiometric system with 1.5 cm and 2.5 cm ranges created at the National Aerospace University (KhAI) on the basis of an easily accessible modern element base and full-scale tests' results. The budget-friendly focus of the described product allows for radiophysical measurement with a sensitivity of radiometers exceeding 0.01 K while ensuring the cost of small-scale production of the radio technical part of the system, comparable to the cost of TV converters commonly used in everyday life.

Recently, there has been increasing interest in the relation between particulate matter (PM) pollution and atmospheric-boundary-layer (ABL) structure. This study aimed to qualitatively assess the interaction between PM and ABL structure in essence and further quantitatively estimate aerosol radiative forcing (ARF) effects on the ABL structure. Multi-period comparative analysis indicated that the key to determining whether haze outbreak or dissipation occurs is whether the ABL structure satisfies the relevant conditions. However, the ABL structure change was in turn highly related to the PM level and ARF. |SFC−ATM| (SFC and ATM are the ARFs at the surface and interior of the atmospheric column, respectively) is the absolute difference between ground and atmosphere layer ARFs, and the |SFC−ATM| change is linearly related to the PM concentrations. However, the influence of ARF on the boundary layer structure is nonlinear. With increasing |SFC−ATM|, the turbulence kinetic energy (TKE) level exponentially decreased, which was notable in the lower layers or ABL, but disappeared at high altitudes or above the ABL. Moreover, the ARF effects threshold on the ABL structure was determined for the first time, namely once |SFC−ATM| exceeded ∼55 W m−2, the ABL structure tends to quickly stabilize and thereafter change little with increasing ARF. The threshold of the ARF effects on the boundary layer structure could provide useful information for relevant atmospheric-environment improvement measures and policies, such as formulating phased air pollution control objectives.

Knowledge of the composition of atmospheric aerosols is important for reducing uncertainty in climate assessment. In this study, an improved algorithm is developed for the retrieval of atmospheric columnar aerosol components from optical remote sensing data. This is achieved by using the complex refractive index (CRI) of a multicomponent liquid system in the forward model and minimizing the differences with the observations. The aerosol components in this algorithm comprise five species, combining eight subcomponents including black carbon (BC), water-soluble organic matter (WSOM) and water-insoluble organic matter (WIOM), ammonium nitrate (AN), sodium chloride (SC), dust-like content (DU), and aerosol water content in the fine and coarse modes (AWf and AWc). The calculation of the CRI in the multicomponent liquid system allows for the separation of the water-soluble components (AN, WSOM and AWf) in the fine mode and SC and AWc in the coarse mode. The uncertainty in the retrieval results is analyzed based on the simulation of typical models, showing that the complex refractive index obtained from instantaneous optical–physical inversion compares well with that obtained from chemical estimation. The algorithm was used to retrieve the columnar aerosol components over China using the ground-based remote sensing measurements from the Sun–sky radiometer Observation NETwork (SONET) in the period from 2010 to 2016. The results were used to analyze the regional distribution and interannual variation. The analysis shows that the atmospheric columnar DU component is dominant in the northern region of China, whereas the AW is higher in the southern coastal region. The SC component retrieved over the desert in northwest China originates from a paleomarine source. The AN significantly decreased from 2011 to 2016, by 21.9 mg m−2, which is inseparable from China's environmental control policies.

An overview is given of 50-year Cabauw observations and research on the structure and dynamics of the atmospheric boundary layer. It is shown that over time this research site with its 200-m meteorological tower has grown into an atmospheric observatory with a comprehensive observational program encompassing almost all aspects of the atmospheric column including its boundary conditions. This is accomplished by the Cabauw Experimental Site for Atmospheric Research (CESAR) a consortium of research institutes. CESAR plays an important role in the educational programs of the CESAR universities. The current boundary-layer observational program is described in detail, and other parts of the CESAR observational program discussed more briefly. Due to an open data policy the CESAR datasets are used by researchers all over the world. Examples are given of the use of the long time series for model evaluation, satellite validation, and process studies. The role of tall towers is discussed in relation to the development of more and better ground-based remote sensing techniques. CESAR is now incorporated into the Ruisdael observatory, the large-scale atmospheric research infrastructure in the Netherlands. With Ruisdael the embedding of the Dutch atmospheric community in national policy landscape, and in the European atmospheric research infrastructures is assured for the coming decade.

We studied the specific features of aerosol microstructure in the near-surface layer and in the vertical column of the atmosphere after smoke from fires enters the atmosphere. The aerosol microstructure parameters were determined by solving the inverse problem for spectral measurements of the aerosol extinction coefficient by the path method and aerosol optical depth by the sun photometry method in a clean atmosphere and during its pollution by smoke near Tomsk. The geometric cross section, volume concentration, and mean radius of submicron and coarse aerosol particles were calculated. The coarse fraction is typically predominant in the total volume of aerosol under the background conditions. The submicron fraction of aerosol particles becomes dominant after air is polluted by smoke. As a result, the particle radius averaged over the total ensemble decreases in the smoke-polluted atmosphere. Also, the character of regression interrelations between the microstructure parameters of different aerosol fractions and the spectral characteristics of aerosol extinction significantly change after the atmosphere is polluted by smoke.

Orientador: Maria Regina Wolf Maciel Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Engenharia Quimica Resumo: A Unidade de Destilação é uma das mais importantes no refino de petróleo. Sua importância está no fato desta unidade ser responsável pelo fracionamento inicial do petróleo em diversos produtos (frações) como Nafta, Querosene, Diesel, entre outros. Algumas das frações obtidas são retiradas como produtos finais e outras podem ser processadas em outras unidades da refinaria. Assim, todas as mudanças de operações e perturbações ocorridas nesta unidade afetam diretamente outras unidades. Por este motivo, é possível verificar uma grande dependência das outras unidades em relação à unidade de destilação que exige flexibilidade para atender às necessidades da refinaria. Além disso, é possível observar que o processo de destilação do petróleo é complexo devido ao grande número de diferentes componentes do petróleo (em sua maioria hidrocarbonetos). De acordo com os aspectos e a importância da unidade de destilação, um estudo (principal objetivo deste trabalho) foi realizado para a verificação da flexibilidade da unidade de destilação e o entendimento do processo de destilação, visando seu desenvolvimento. Inicialmente, foi considerado um processo de destilação do petróleo, envolvendo a Torre Pré-Flash, Coluna Atmosférica e Debutanizadora. Três principais aspectos foram abordados: a análise completa das principais variáveis do processo, a otimização das Colunas Atmosférica e Debutanizadora e a avaliação do processamento dos óleos leve, intermediário e pesado sob determinadas condições especificadas. As simulações computacionais foram realizadas através de um software comercial neste trabalho. A análise das principais variáveis do processo permitiu que fossem verificados os efeitos no processo. Isto significa que pode ser realizada a análise sensitiva das principais variáveis do processo, mostrando os principais efeitos causados pelas mudanças das variáveis. A otimização do número de estágios e posição da alimentação da Coluna Debutanizadora foi realizada para a minimização da carga térmica do refervedor. Já, a otimização do número de estágios da Coluna Atmosférica foi realizada para a minimização da vazão de Resíduo. A avaliação realizada para o processamento dos três diferentes tipos de petróleo possibilitou verificar o aumento significativo da vazão de resíduo atmosférico e a redução de produtos, exceto o diesel pesado no processo de destilação considerado, envolvendo, neste caso, uma Coluna Pré-fracionadora e uma Coluna Atmosférica Abstract: The crude distillation unit is the most important in the refining process. Its importance is due to the fact that this unit is responsible for the first fractionation of the petroleum in various products (fractions) as naphtha, kerosene, diesel and others. Some of these fractions obtained are removed as final product and others can be processed in other units of the refinery. In this way, all the operating and disturbance changes that occur in this unit affect directly other units. So, it is possible to verify the dependence of the others units related to the distillation unit that requires flexibility to supply the needs of the refinery. Furthermore, it is possible to observe that the crude distillation is complex due to the great number of different components of the petroleum. According to the aspects and the importance of the crude distillation, a study was carried out for the verification of the crude distillation flexibility and the knowledge of the distillation process, intending the development of the crude distillation. Initially, a crude distillation process, involving a Pre-Flash Drum, Atmospheric and Debutanizer Columns was considered in this work. Three main aspects were studied: the complete analysis of the main process variable, the optimization of the Atmospheric and Debutanizer Columns and the evaluation of the processing of the light, intermediate and heavy petroleum under specified conditions. The computational simulations were carried out, using commercial software in this study. The analysis of the main process variables allowed that the effects on the process were verified. This means that the sensitivity analysis of the main process variables could be made, showing the main effects caused by the variable changes. The optimization of the number of trays and the feed tray of the Debutanizer Column was carried out for the minimization of the reboiler duty. Furthermore, the optimization of the tray of the Atmospheric Column was done for the minimization of the residue flow rate. The evaluation of the results for the processing of three different types of petroleum allowed verifying the significant increase of the residue atmospheric flow rate and the reduction of the products, except heavy diesel in the considered crude distillation process, involving, in this case, the Prefractionation and Atmospheric Column Mestrado Desenvolvimento de Processos Químicos Mestre em Engenharia Química

The satellite observations unveiled that the July sea ice extent of the Arctic shrank to the lowest value in 2020 since 1979, with a major ice retreat in the Eurasian shelf seas including Kara, Laptev, and East Siberian Seas. Based on the ERA-5 reanalysis products, we explored the impacts of warm and moist air-mass transport on this extreme event. The results reveal that anomalously high energy and moisture converged into these regions in the spring months (April to June) of 2020, leading to a burst of high moisture content and warming within the atmospheric column. The convergence is accompanied by local enhanced downward longwave radiation and turbulent fluxes, which is favorable for initiating an early melt onset in the areas with severe ice loss. Once the melt begins, solar radiation played a decisive role in leading to further sea ice depletion due to ice-albedo positive feedback. The typical trajectories of the synoptic cyclones that occurred on the Eurasian side in spring 2020 agree well with the path of atmospheric flow. Assessments suggest that variations in characteristics of the spring cyclones are conducive to the severe melt of sea ice. We argue that large-scale atmospheric circulation and synoptic cyclones act in concert to trigger the exceptional poleward transport of total energy and moisture from April to June to cause this new record minimum of sea ice extent in the following July.

The present work has been carried to analyze the changes in trend of temperature, water vapor and ozone profiles at different atmospheric layers, total column integrated methane (TCH4) and total column integrated carbon-monoxide (TCO) over the Indian region. The atmospheric column was divided into few atmospheric layers: surface-850 hPa, 850–500 hPa, 500–100 hPa, 100–50 hPa and 50–1 hPa. Monthly averages of these parameters were calculated from AIRS Level 2 Standard Products for a decade from 2003 to 2012. A non-parametric statistical test with seasonal modification was applied to check the trends of various parameters. Monthly means were used to examine the seasonal dependency in the trend, and allowing more information from the data to be used. The layer average temperature in surface-850 hPa layer has shown significant increase in overall annual trend over eastern part, southern part and averaged over whole India with an increase of 0.041 K/year, 0.034 K/year and 0.034 K/year, respectively. The overall trend was decreasing over all but southern parts in 100–50 hPa layer at the rate of 0.079 K/year over whole India. For water vapor trends, it has been found that layer integrated water vapor (LIWV) in surface-850 hPa layer has significant overall increasing trend over western part, southern part and averaged over whole India with the rate of increase of 0.555%/year, 0.598%/year and 0.486%/year respectively. For LIWV (850–500 hPa), only western part has significant increasing trend at a rate of 0.879%/year. However, LIWV in 500–100 hPa layer does not show any significant trend. Total water vapor (TWV) has shown significant annual increasing trend over all the parts except over the central part. The increasing trend has been estimated as 0.962%/year over whole India. The layer integrated ozone (LIOZ) in surface-850 hPa has significant increasing trend over western part (0.062%/year) and southern part (0.071%/year). In 500–100 hPa layer, the LIOZ has statistically significant decreasing trend over whole India at a rate of 0.112%/year. For LIOZ averaged over whole India in 100–50 hPa, there is significant decreasing trend with a rate of 0.273%/year. Overall, the ozone concentration is increasing near surface, whereas it is decreasing in lower stratosphere. The total column ozone (TOZ) has not shown any significant trend. The column integrated methane has shown an increasing trend (0.366%/year) over all parts of the country, whereas, TCO has not shown any significant trend.

We consider the application of the heterodyne signal detection technique to measure the atmospheric transmission spectrum in the near-IR range, which makes it possible to measure for the first time the contour of a separate line of the vibrational – rotational CO2 band on the solar observation path with a high spectral resolution of λ/δλ = 108. Together with other characteristics of the instrument, this enables us to measure the carbon dioxide content in the atmospheric column with high accuracy. The experimental setup and measurement technique are described. The existing facilities for measuring the content of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere are compared, demonstrating the possibility of using the near-IR heterodyne spectroradiometry to develop a useful and competitive instrument that can be used in building new networks of ground stations to monitor greenhouse gases.

The behavior of the surface solar radiation (SSR) during the first half of 20th century is an open issue due to the scarcity of SSR data during this period. This paper focuses on the re-evaluation of the pyrheliometer measurements in Madrid between September 1910 and January 1929. These records were formerly analyzed by Anton et al. (2014), reporting no statistically significant trends in the atmospheric column transparency. In the present work, metadata regarding the state of the solar disk during each pyrheliometer record have been used in order to remove measurements affected by thin clouds. The re-analysis of the atmospheric column transparency from the pyrheliometer data showed two periods with opposite sign in the trends of this variable: a decrease of (−2.9 ± 0.2)% per decade between 1910 and 1925, followed by a strong increase of (+15.0 ± 2.5)% per decade up to 1929. Both trends were statistically significant at the 95% confidence level. These results suggest a decrease of direct SSR in Madrid during the second decade of the 20th century, in agreement with the final stage of the “early dimming” which was observed at several European sites from the end of the 19th century. Additionally, the marked positive trend of the atmospheric transparency found in this work in the second half of the 1920s is in accordance with the beginning of the SSR recovery in Europe which was observed up to late 1940s (“early brightening”). Therefore, from the results of this study, the use of metadata is strongly required for an accurate assessment of the trends in early pyrheliometer measurements.

Laser heterodyne spectroscopic measurement technique[1] has been proved to be a powerful and effective remote sensing tool for measurements of greenhouse gases in the atmospheric column[2-6]. In the present work, we report the development of a portable all-fiber coupled dual-channel laser heterodyne radiometer (LHR) and its field deployment. Two DFB lasers operating at 1650.9 nm and 1603.6 nm are used for the remote measurements of column CH4 and CO2, respectively. A fiber optic switch is used to modulate and split the collected sunlight into two channels for simultaneous measurements of both target greenhouse gases. Custom-made preamplifiers combined with digital lock-in amplifiers are used to extract the laser heterodyne signals. The spectral resolution of the instrument is about 0.00442 cm-1, and the signal-to-noise ratio of the measured spectrum of about 250 is achieved with 0.8 s average time per sampling datum. The developed LHR instrument was successfully deployed to a field atmospheric observation experiment (in Dachaidan district, Qinghai province, China).The experimental detail including the LHR instrument integration, dual-channel measurement results of column CH4 and CO2 and preliminary data inversion results will be presented and discussed.Acknowledgments. The project was supported by the national key R&D program of China (2017YFC0209705). The authors thank the financial supports from the CPER CLIMIBIO program, the Labex CaPPA project (ANR-10-LABX005).References[1] D. Weidmann, T. Tsai, N. A. Macleod, G. Wysocki, Opt. Lett. 36 (2011) 1951-1953.[2] E. L. Wilson, A. J. DiGregorio, G. Villanueva, C. E. Grunberg, et al., Appl. Phys. B 125 (2019) 211-219.[3] D. S. Bomse, J. E. Tso, M. M. Flors, J. H. Miller, Appl. Opt. 59 (2020) B10-B17.[4] J. Wang, G. Wang, T. Tan, G. Zhu, C. Sun, Z. Cao, W. Chen, X. Gao, Opt. Express 27 (2019) 9610-9619[5] A. Rodin, A. Klimchuk, A. Nadezhdinskiy, D. Churbanov, et al., Opt. Express 22 (2014) 13825-13834.[6] E. L. Wilson, M. L. McLinden, J. H. Miller, H. R. Melroy, et al., Appl. Phys. B 114 (2014) 385-393.

This study investigates changes in aerosol radiative effects on two highly urbanized regions across the Euro-Mediterranean basin with respect to a natural desert region as Sahara over a decade through space-based lidar observations. The research is based on the monthly-averaged vertically-resolved aerosol optical depth (AOD) atmospheric profiles along a 1∘×1∘ horizontal grid, obtained from the Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP) instrument measurements aboard the Cloud-Aerosol lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation (CALIPSO). To assess the variability of the anthropogenic aerosols on climate, we compared the aerosol vertical profile observations to a one-dimensional radiative transfer model in two metropolitan climate sensible hot-spots in Europe, namely the Po Valley and Benelux, to investigate the variability of the aerosol radiative effects over ten years. The same analysis is carried out as reference on the Sahara desert region, considered subject just to natural local emission. Our findings show the efficacy of emission reduction policies implemented at government level in strongly urbanized regions. The total atmospheric column aerosol load reduction (not observed in Sahara desert region) in Po Valley and Benelux can be associated with: (i) an increase of the energy flux at the surface via direct effects confirmed also by long term surface temperature observations, (ii) a general decrease of the atmospheric column, and likely (iii) an increase in surface temperatures during a ten-year period. Summarizing, the analysis, based on the decade 2007–2016, clearly show an increase of solar irradiation under cloud-free conditions at the surface of +3.6 % and +16.6% for the Po Valley and Benelux, respectively, and a reduction of −9.0% for the Sahara Desert.

В данной статье с целью увеличения выхода дистиллятов рассмотрены варианты схем переработки. Они позволяют повысить эффективность разделения сложных углеводородных смесей, пропускную способность колонн, повысить производительность колонны и улучшить качество дистиллятных фракций., In this article, in order to increase the yield of distillates, options for processing schemes are considered. They make it possible to increase the efficiency of separation of complex hydrocarbon mixtures, the throughput of the columns, to increase the productivity of the column and to improve the quality of the distillate fractions.

Lockdown measures are essential to containing the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), but they will slow down economic growth by reducing industrial and commercial activities. However, the benefits of activity control from containing the pandemic have not been examined and assessed. Here we use daily carbon dioxide (CO2) emission reduction in China estimated from statistical data for energy consumption and satellite data for nitrogen dioxide (NO2) measured by the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) as an indicator for reduced activities consecutive to a lockdown. We perform a correlation analysis to show that a 1% day−1 decrease in the rate of COVID-19 cases is associated with a reduction in daily CO2 emissions of 0.22% ± 0.02% using statistical data for energy consumption relative to emissions without COVID-19, or 0.20% ± 0.02% using satellite data for atmospheric column NO2. We estimate that swift action in China is effective in limiting the number of COVID-19 cases, We are grateful for the provision of funds from the National Natural Science Foundation of China ( 41877506 ), the Fudan’s Wangdao Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program ( 18107 ), the Chinese Thousand Youth Talents Program , and the Australia-China Centre for Air Quality Science and Management.

Aerosols are defined as solid or liquid particles suspended in the atmosphere which directly affect the Earth's radiation budget, cloud properties, air quality, and human health. Aerosol Optical Depth/Aerosol Optical Thickness (AOD/AOT) is a measure of aerosol loading, integrated through the atmospheric column. In this paper, a comparison of AOD obtained from AErosol RObotic NETwork (AERONET) at Jaipur, Pune, Gandhi College, and Karunya University is made for the years 2017, 2018. Finally, the daily average AOD obtained for May 2018 over New Delhi IMD, Jaipur, Pune, Gandhi College, Karunya University is compared and results are discussed. The comparative study of the AOD trend over Karachi and Gandhi College during the period of September 2006 to August 2014 is also made.

Measurements of vertical concentration profiles of greenhouse gases (GHGs) is extremely important for our understanding of regional air quality and global climate change trends. In this context, laser heterodyne radiometer (LHR) technique has been developed [1-5] for ground-based remote measurements of GHGs in the atmospheric column.Solar radiation undergoing absorption by multi-species in the atmosphere is coupled into a LHR instrument where the sunlight is mixed with a local oscillator (LO), being usually a tunable laser source, in a fast photodetector. Beating note at radio frequency (RF) resulted from this photomixing contains absorption information of the LO-targeted molecules. Scanning the LO frequency across the target molecular absorption lines allows one to extract the corresponding absorption features from the total absorption of the solar radiation by all molecules in the atmospheric column. Near-IR (~1.5 µm) and mid-IR (~8 µm) [6] LHRs have been recently developed in the present work. Field campaigns have been performed on the roof of the platform of IRENE in Dunkerque (51.05°N/2.34°E).The developed LHR instruments as well as the preliminary results of their applications to the measurements of CH4, N2O, CO2 (including 13CO2/12CO2), H2O vapor (and its isotopologue HDO) in the atmospheric column will be presented and discussed.Acknowledgments The authors thank the financial supports from the LABEX CaPPA project (ANR-10-LABX005), the MABCaM (ANR-16-CE04-0009) and the MULTIPAS (ANR-16-CE04-0012) contracts, as well as the CPER CLIMIBIO program. S. F. thanks the program Labex CaPPA and the "Pôle Métropolitain de la Côte d’Opale" (PMCO) for the PhD fellowship support.References [1] R. T. Menzies, and R. K. Seals, Science 197 (1977) 1275-1277[2] D. Weidmann, T. Tsai, N. A. Macleod, and G. Wysocki, Opt. Lett. 36 (2011) 1951-1953[3] E. L. Wilson, M. L. McLinden, and J. H. Miller, Appl. Phys. B 114 (2014) 385-393[4] A. Rodin, A. Klimchuk, A. Nadezhdinskiy, D. Churbanov, and M. Spiridonov, Opt. Express 22 (2014) 13825-13834[5] J. Wang, G. Wang, T. Tan, G. Zhu, C. Sun, Z. CAO, W. Chen, and X. Gao, Opt. Express 27 (2019) 9600-9619[6] F. Shen, P. Jeseck, Y. Te, T. Tan, X. Gao, E. Fertein, and W. Chen, Geophys. Res. Abstracts, 20 (2018) EGU2018-79

Researchers now have the benefit of an unprecedented suite of space- and ground-based sensors that provide multidimensional and multiparameter precipitation information. Motivated by NASA’s Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission and ground validation objectives, the System for Integrating Multiplatform Data to Build the Atmospheric Column (SIMBA) has been developed as a unique multisensor precipitation data fusion tool to unify field observations recorded in a variety of formats and coordinate systems into a common reference frame. Through platform-specific modules, SIMBA processes data from native coordinates and resolutions only to the extent required to set them into a user-defined three-dimensional grid. At present, the system supports several ground-based scanning research radars, NWS NEXRAD radars, profiling Micro Rain Radars (MRRs), multiple disdrometers and rain gauges, soundings, the GPM Microwave Imager and Dual-Frequency Precipitation Radar on board the Core Observatory satellite, and Multi-Radar Multi-Sensor system quantitative precipitation estimates. SIMBA generates a new atmospheric column data product that contains a concomitant set of all available data from the supported platforms within the user-specified grid defining the column area in the versatile netCDF format. Key parameters for each data source are preserved as attributes. SIMBA provides a streamlined framework for initial research tasks, facilitating more efficient precipitation science. We demonstrate the utility of SIMBA for investigations, such as assessing spatial precipitation variability at subpixel scales and appraising satellite sensor algorithm representation of vertical precipitation structure for GPM Core Observatory overpass cases collected in the NASA Wallops Precipitation Science Research Facility and the GPM Olympic Mountain Experiment (OLYMPEX) ground validation field campaign in Washington State.

Wavy spatial variations in the contents of trace gases are identified using plane measurements of O3 concentrations in the medium troposphere and the total content (TC) of NO2 in the atmospheric column from flights above the Subpolar Urals in April 1984. The results of model calculations allow us to relate these variations to mesoscale atmospheric disturbances above the mountains, which are caused by the influence of dynamic relief on the leaked-in flow.

Two years of K-Band micro rain radar-2 (MRR) data are used to investigate the vertical variability of rain in an atmospheric column and assess MRR rainfall estimates accuracy from both direct rainfall measurement using the Mie Theory (i.e., MRR RR) and a Z-R relationship (Z = 300 R1.4) (i.e., MRR Rz). Two different height resolutions (HR) settings are used. A nearby Doppler weather radar KEWX (S-band) using the same Z-R relationship is found to underestimate rainfall by up to 32.2%, while MRR estimates are much closer to collocated gauge measurements. For the first three gates, MRR RR underestimates rainfall by 5.7%–60.1% for the HR of 35 meters and by 31.2%–47.9% for the 100 meter resolution, while MRR RR overestimates rainfall for higher gates at the 100 m resolution, and MRR Rz underestimates rainfall at all gates due to errors of the Z-R relationship (Z = aRb). Gates higher than 2,000 m are affected by bright band and mixed phase rainfall. Examination of the rainfall statistics suggests that the 100 m HR produces better rainfall estimates, and that the gate centered at 300 m has better performance than the gate centered at 70 m.

The modern theory of repairability of machines and mechanisms has received significant development. Today there are already theoretical concepts and prerequisites for creating a scientifically sound system of maintenance and repair of technical products of various branches of technology. From these positions the review of various repair strategy in aspect of their applicability to an atmospheric column of K-2 of installation of primary oil refining of EDP-AVT-6 is interesting.

The potential role of aerosol loading on the Indian summer monsoon rainfall during the El Nino years are examined using satellite-derived observations and a state of the art fully interactive aerosol-chemistry-climate model. The Aerosol Index (AI) from TOMS (1978–2005) and Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) from MISR spectroradiometer (2000–2010) indicate a higher-than-normal aerosol loading over the Indo-Gangetic plain (IGP) during the pre-monsoon season with a concurrent El Nino. Sensitivity experiments using ECHAM5-HAMMOZ climate model suggests that this enhanced loading of pre-monsoon absorbing aerosols over the Indo-Gangetic plain can reduce the drought during El Nino years by invoking the ‘Elevated-Heat-Pump’ mechanism through an anomalous aerosol-induced warm core in the atmospheric column. This anomalous heating upshot the relative strengthening of the cross-equatorial moisture inflow associated with the monsoon and eventually reduces the severity of drought during El Nino years. The findings are subject to the usual limitations such as the uncertainties in observations, and limited number of El Nino years (during the study period).

Using model results from the first phase of the Pliocene Model Intercomparison Project (PlioMIP) and four experiments with CAM4, the intensified African summer monsoon (ASM) in the mid-Piacenzian and corresponding mechanisms are analyzed. The results from PlioMIP show that the ASM intensified and summer precipitation increased in North Africa during the mid-Piacenzian, which can be explained by the increased net energy in the atmospheric column above North Africa. Further experiments with CAM4 indicated that the combined changes in the mid-Piacenzian of atmospheric CO2 concentration and SST, as well as the vegetation change, could have substantially increased the net energy in the atmospheric column over North Africa and further intensified the ASM. The experiments also demonstrated that topography change had a weak effect. Overall, the combined changes of atmospheric CO2 concentration and SST were the most important factor that brought about the intensified ASM in the mid-Piacenzian.

The spatial-temporal distributions, historical trends and affecting factors of black carbon (BC) concentration both for the surface and atmospheric column in East China (110°E ~ 123°E, 23°N ~ 42°N) during 2000–2016 were investigated through MERRA-2 (Modern-era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications, Vision2) reanalysis data. Although a little overestimate at most inland stations and underestimate at most coastal ones, BC concentrations of MERRA-2 generally presented a good correlation (R = 0.83) compared with 598 monthly samples from ground-based observations at 14 stations. From the long-term records, the variation characteristics of BC surface concentration and column density over East China can be summarized as follow: The overall annual mean of BC surface concentration, column density and the concentration ratio of surface BC and PM2.5 (BC/PM2.5) over East China were 3.41 μg m−3, 3.78 mg m−2 and 8.71%, respectively. The highest annual mean (~6.00 μg m−3) and the fastest growth rate (~0.06 μg m−3•a−1) of surface concentration were both shown in the region of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH) and Henan area. The seasonal mean BC surface concentrations of this region were between 5.00 and 9.00 μg m−3, with the highest in winter and the lowest in summer. As to column density, the highest annual mean (~6.00 mg m−2) and the fastest growth rate (~0.02 mg m−2•a−1) appeared in BTH and the border area of Hebei, Henan and Shandong. Unlike the surface concentration, the high-density center moved toward south and extended its coverage from summer to winter, but shrunk to north from winter to summer. The region of relatively high (14.00%–16.00%) BC/PM2.5 ratio was over BTH area and central Shanxi area, while the lowest (2.00%–6.00%) regions were in part of Inner Mongolia and south coastal area. The yearly BC concentration increased rapidly since 2000 and reached the peak in 2007. It decreased obviously in the south part of East China during 2008-2016. The BC/PM2.5 ratios experienced a “increase-decrease-increase” variation, with the maximum and minimum in 2005 and 2010, respectively.

The water cycle strongly influence life on Earth and precipitation especially modifies the atmospheric column thermodynamics through the evaporation process and serving as a proxy for latent heat modulation. For this reason, a correct light precipitation parameterization at global scale, it is of fundamental importance, bedsides improving our understanding of the hydrological cycle, to reduce the associated uncertainty of the global climate models to correctly forecast future scenarios. In this context we developed a full automatic algorithm based on morphological filters that, once operational, will make available a new rain product for the NASA Micropulse Lidar Network (MPLNET) and the European Aerosol Research Lidar Network (EARLINET) in the frame of WMO GALION Project

Remote sensing applied to the study of air quality has provided new tools for assessing the spatial and temporal distribution of atmospheric pollutants. One of the main satellite parameters used is the optical density of aerosols (AOD), which allows quantifying the attenuation of solar radiation in the presence of aerosols within an atmospheric column. This study was evaluated the correlation between the average monthly ODA levels recorded by the MODIS sensor on the Terra and Aqua platforms (products MYD04_3k and MOD04_3k), and the average monthly concentrations of PM10 and PM 2.5 measured at 5 continuous monitoring stations in the city of Valencia, Spain, over an 8-year period. Correlation was analyzed in each station, excluding those where the correlation was not significant. Thus a ratio of 0.31 (p 10 and 0.49 (p 2.5 . Based on this, the generated linear models were analyzed and maps of particulate matter were made. These results were similar to those reported in the literature, showing that it is feasible to use these products to assess the spatial distribution of atmospheric pollutants.La teledeteccion aplicada al estudio de la calidad de aire ha aportado nuevas herramientas para la evaluacion de la distribucion espacial y temporal de los contaminantes atmosfericos. Uno de los principales parametros satelitales empleados es la densidad optica de aerosoles (AOD), que permite cuantificar la atenuacion de la radiacion solar en presencia de aerosoles dentro de una columna atmosferica. Distintos estudios han demostrado que las medidas de AOD se relacionan con el material particulado con un diametro aerodinamico 2.5 ) y en menor grado con el de diametro 10 ). En este estudio se evaluo la correlacion entre los niveles medios mensuales de AOD registrados por el sensor MODIS en las plataformas Terra y Aqua (productos MYD04_3k y MOD04_3k), y las concentraciones medias mensuales de PM 10 y PM 2.5 medidas en 5 estaciones de monitoreo continuo presentes en la ciudad de Valencia, Espana, a lo largo de un periodo de 8 anos. Se analizo la correlacion en cada estacion, descartandose aquellas donde la correlacion no se mostraba significativa. Asi se obtuvo una relacion de 0.31 (p 10 y de 0.49 (p 2.5 . A partir de ello, se analizaron los modelos lineales generados y se confeccionaron mapas de material particulado. Estos resultados son similares a los informados en la bibliografia, mostrando que es factible hacer uso de estos productos para evaluar la distribucion espacial de los contaminantes atmosfericos.

An mid-infrared laser heterodyne radiometer was been developed for ground-based remote measurements of greenhouse gases (GHGs) in the atmospheric column.

This work describes advances in critical lidar technologies and techniques developed as part of the NASA Active Sensing of CO2 Emissions over Nights, Days, and Seasons CarbonHawk Experiment Simulator system for measuring atmospheric column carbon dioxide (CO2) mixing ratios. This work provides an overview of these technologies and results from recent test flights during the NASA Atmospheric Carbon and Transport – America (ACT-America) Earth Venture Suborbital summer 2016 flight campaign.

An mid-infrared laser heterodyne radiometer was been developed for ground-based remote measurements of greenhouse gases (GHGs) in the atmospheric column.

A near infrared laser heterodyne radiometer has been developed for measuring atmospheric column concentration of CO2. The results have been compared with that of ground-based fourier transform spectrometer in Hefei and show good agreement.

An approach is described to retrieve the total amount of ice in a vertical atmospheric column in precipitating clouds observed by the operational Weather Surveillance Radar-1988 Doppler (WSR-88D) systems. This amount expressed as ice water path (IWP) is retrieved using measurements obtained during standard WSR-88D scanning procedures performed when observing precipitation. WSR-88D-based IWP estimates are evaluated using dedicated cloud microphysical retrievals available from the CloudSat and auxiliary spaceborne measurements. The evaluation is performed using measurements obtained in extensive predominantly stratiform precipitation systems containing both ice hydrometeors aloft and rain near the ground. The analysis is based on retrievals of IWP from satellite and the ground-based KWGX and KSHV WSR-88D that are closely collocated in time and space. The comparison results indicate a relatively high correlation between satellite and WSR-88D IWP retrievals, with corresponding correlation coefficients of around 0.7. The mean relative differences between spaceborne and ground-based estimates are around 50%–60%, which is on the order of IWP retrieval uncertainties and is comparable to the differences among various operational CloudSat IWP products. The analysis performed in this study suggests that the quantitative information on ice content of precipitation systems can generally be obtained from operational WSR-88D measurements, when they perform routine scans to observe precipitation. The limitations of WSR-88D IWP estimates due to radar beam tilt restrictions and the overshooting effects due to Earth’s sphericity are discussed.

The Supplement related to this article is available online at doi:10.5194/amt-8-705-2015-supplement., A new methodology based on combining active and passive remote sensing and simultaneous and collocated radiosounding data to study the aerosol hygroscopic growth effects on the particle optical and microphysical properties is presented. The identification of hygroscopic growth situations combines the analysis of multispectral aerosol particle backscatter coefficient and particle linear depolarization ratio with thermodynamic profiling of the atmospheric column. We analyzed the hygroscopic growth effects on aerosol properties, namely the aerosol particle backscatter coefficient and the volume concentration profiles, using data gathered at Granada EARLINET station. Two study cases, corresponding to different aerosol loads and different aerosol types, are used for illustrating the potential of this methodology. Values of the aerosol particle backscatter coefficient enhancement factors range from 2.1 ± 0.8 to 3.9 ± 1.5, in the ranges of relative humidity 60–90 and 40–83%, being similar to those previously reported in the literature. Differences in the enhancement factor are directly linked to the composition of the atmospheric aerosol. The largest value of the aerosol particle backscatter coefficient enhancement factor corresponds to the presence of sulphate and marine particles that are more affected by hygroscopic growth. On the contrary, the lowest value of the enhancement factor corresponds to an aerosol mixture containing sulphates and slight traces of mineral dust. The Hänel parameterization is applied to these case studies, obtaining results within the range of values reported in previous studies, with values of the γ exponent of 0.56 ± 0.01 (for anthropogenic particles slightly influenced by mineral dust) and 1.07 ± 0.01 (for the situation dominated by anthropogenic particles), showing the convenience of this remote sensing approach for the study of hygroscopic effects of the atmospheric aerosol under ambient unperturbed conditions. For the first time, the retrieval of the volume concentration profiles for these cases using the Lidar Radiometer Inversion Code (LIRIC) allows us to analyze the aerosol hygroscopic growth effects on aerosol volume concentration, observing a stronger increase of the fine mode volume concentration with increasing relative humidity., This work was supported by the Andalusia Regional Government through projects P12-RNM-2409 and P10-RNM-6299, by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness through projects CGL2013-45410-R, CGL2011-13580-E/CLI and CGL2011-16124-E; by the EU through ACTRIS project (EU INFRA-2010-1.1.16-262254); and by the University of Granada through the contract “Plan Propio. Programa 9. Convocatoria 2013”. CIMEL Calibration was performed at the AERONET-EUROPE calibration center, supported by ACTRIS (European Union Seventh Framework Program (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement no. 262254. M. J. Granados-Muñoz was funded under grant AP2009-0552.

International audience; Characterizing the solid surface of an exoplanet will be difficult. Detecting mountains and reliefs in rocky exoplanets is certainly even more challenging. In this chapter, we try to investigate which techniques could be used for these purposes. A good starting point is to list a number of techniques that have been used in our own solar system and to check if their extrapolation to the great distances that are involved for exoplanets is possible or not. The use of the atmospheric column above a particular region is a good proxy for its altitude. We examine the case of transiting planets and non-transiting planets, and we conclude by advocating for a systematic search of small planets from ground-based radial velocity measurements in the vicinity of the Sun.

In this study we aim to assess the WRF-Chem model capacity to reproduce dust transport over the eastern Mediterranean. For this reason, we compare the model aerosol optical depth (AOD) outputs to observations, focusing on three key regions: North Africa, the Arabian Peninsula and the eastern Mediterranean. Three sets of four simulations have been performed for the six-month period of spring and summer 2011. Each simulation set uses a different dust emission parametrisation and for each parametrisation, the dust emissions are multiplied with various coefficients in order to tune the model performance. Our assessment approach is performed across different spatial and temporal scales using AOD observations from satellites and ground-based stations, as well as from airborne measurements of aerosol extinction coefficients over the Sahara. Assessment over the entire domain and simulation period shows that the model presents temporal and spatial variability similar to observed AODs, regardless of the applied dust emission parametrisation. On the other hand, when focusing on specific regions, the model skill varies significantly. Tuning the model performance by applying a coefficient to dust emissions may reduce the model AOD bias over a region, but may increase it in other regions. In particular, the model was shown to realistically reproduce the major dust transport events over the eastern Mediterranean, but failed to capture the regional background AOD. Further comparison of the model simulations to airborne measurements of vertical profiles of extinction coefficients over North Africa suggests that the model realistically reproduces the total atmospheric column AOD. Finally, we discuss the model results in two sensitivity tests, where we included finer dust mode (less than 1 μm) and changed accordingly the dust bins mass fraction.

Hyper-spectral remote sensing may provide an effective solution to retrieve the methane (CH4) concentration in an atmospheric column. As a result of exploring the absorptive characteristics of CH4, an appropriate band is selected from hyperspectral data for the detection of its column concentration with high precision. Following the most recent inversion theory and methods, the line-by-line radiative transfer model (LBLRTM) is employed to forward model the impact of four sensitive factors on inversion precision, including CH4 initial profile, temperature, overlapping gases, and surface albedo. The results indicate that the four optimized factors could improve the inversion precision of atmospheric CH4 column concentration.