Retrieval of aerosol properties from combined multiwavelength lidar and sunphotometer measurements

Abstract

Simulation studies were carried out with regard to the feasibility of using combined observations from sunphotometer (SPM) and lidar for microphysical characterization of aerosol particles, i.e., the retrieval of effective radius, volume, and surface-area concentrations. It was shown that for single, homogeneous aerosol layers, the aerosol parameters can be retrieved with an average accuracy of $30\%$ for a wide range of particle size distributions. Based on the simulations, an instrument combination consisting of a lidar that measures particle backscattering at 355 and $1574\mathrm{nm}$, and a SPM that measures at three to four channels in the range from 340 to $1020\mathrm{nm}$ is a promising tool for aerosol characterization. The inversion algorithm has been tested for a set of experimental data. The comparison with the particle size distribution parameters, measured with in situ instrumentation at the lidar site, showed good agreement.