Aerosol backscatter measurements at 10. 6 micrometers with airborne and ground-based CO sub 2 Doppler lidars over the Colorado high plains. 2. Backscatter structure

Journal Article · Wed Mar 20 04:00:00 EST 1991 · Journal of Geophysical Research; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1029/90JD02157· OSTI ID:5331039

Bowdle, D A ^[1]; Rothermel, J ^[2]; Vaughan, J M ^[3]; Post, M J ^[4]

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1. Univ. of Alabama, Huntsville (USA)
2. NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL (USA)
3. Royal Signals and Radar Establishment, Worcestershire (England)
4. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Boulder, CO (USA)

Measurements of tropospheric aerosol volume backscatter coefficients at 10.6-{mu}m wavelength were obtained with airborne continuous wave and ground-based pulsed CO{sub 2} Doppler lidars over the Colorado High Plains during a 20-day period in summer 1982. A persistent 'background' layer was found between 6- and 10-km altitude, with a generally uniform backscatter mixing ratio of {approximately}10{sup {minus}10} m{sup 2} kg{sup {minus}1} sr{sup {minus}1}. The upper boundary of this background layer varied with the tropopause height; the lower boundary varied with the strength and diurnal cycle of convective mixing in the planetary boundary layer (PBL). For quiescent meteorological conditions the transition from the PBL to the background layer was usually very sharp, with backscatter decreases sometimes as large as 3 decades in {approximately}70 m. Sharp gradients were also found at the boundaries of shallow (tens of meters) subvisible cirrus clouds. For less stable conditions, associated with vertical aerosol transport by deep comuliform clouds, backscatter tended to decrease exponentially with altitude.

• OSTI ID: 5331039
• Journal Information: Journal of Geophysical Research; (United States), Journal Name: Journal of Geophysical Research; (United States) Vol. 96:D3; ISSN 0148-0227; ISSN JGREA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
540120* -- Environment
Atmospheric-- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport-- (1990-)
AEROSOLS
AIRCRAFT
ALTITUDE
BACKSCATTERING
BOUNDARY LAYERS
CARBON COMPOUNDS
CARBON DIOXIDE
CARBON OXIDES
CHALCOGENIDES
CLOUDS
COLLOIDS
COLORADO
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
DEVELOPED COUNTRIES
DISPERSIONS
DOPPLER EFFECT
EARTH ATMOSPHERE
EVALUATION
FEDERAL REGION VIII
FIELD TESTS
LAYERS
MEASURING INSTRUMENTS
MIXING
MORPHOLOGY
NORTH AMERICA
OPTICAL RADAR
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
RADAR
RANGE FINDERS
REMOTE SENSING
SCATTERING
SOLS
TESTING
TROPOPAUSE
TROPOSPHERE
USA