AUTHORS:
Schmid, Beat, Livingston, John M., Russell, Philip B., Durkee, Philip A.,
Welton, Ellsworth J., Voss, Kenneth, Formenti, Paola, Andreae, Meinrat,
O.,
Gasso, Santiago
(BS) Bay Area Environmental Research Institute, San Francisco, CA;
(JML) SRI International, Menlo Park, CA;
(PBR) NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA;
(PAD) Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, CA;
(EJW, KV) University of Miami, Miami, FL;
(PF, MOA) Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, Mainz, Germany;
(SG) University of Washington, Seattle, WA;
CONTACT: bschmid@mail.arc.nasa.gov
CACGP ABSTRACT:
Three Dimensional Investigation of Lower Tropospheric Aerosol and Water
Vapor during ACE-2 by Means of Airborne Sunphotometry
Spectral (380 to 1558 nm) aerosol optical depth (AOD) and columnar water
vapor (CWV) measurements obtained during the second Aerosol Chracterization
Experiment (ACE-2) with the newly developed NASA Ames airborne tracking
14-channel sunphotometer (AATS-14) will be presented. Based in Tenerife
(28.5o N, 16.3o W) AATS-14 was operated aboard a single-engine
modified Cessna airplane (the Pelican) during 17 flights. The Pelican was
able to fly as low as 30 m above the ocean surface allowing measurement
of the entire overlying atmospheric column. Maximum (but constant) altitude
(~3.8 km) flights during sunset allowed us to perform three successful in-flight
Langley-plot calibrations of AATS-14. Having the Pelican fly narrow up or
down spirals allowed us to retrieve vertical profiles of AOD and CWV. Differentiation
of those profiles leads to aerosol extinction and water vapor density profiles.
Finally, we estimate aerosol particle size distributions by inverting layer
AOD spectra. Special emphasis will be placed on results derived from flights
performed on July 8 and 17, 1997. On both days, the marine boundary layer
and a higher layer containing Sahara dust can be characterized. Comparisons
will be made with an aerosol lidar, ground-based sunphotometers, satellite
retrievals and in-situ measurements aboard the Pelican
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