Application of randomly oriented spheroids for retrieval of dust particle parameters from multiwavelength lidar measurements

• Published in: Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres Vol. 115; no. D21
• Main Authors: Veselovskii, I., Dubovik, O., Kolgotin, A., Lapyonok, T., Di Girolamo, P., Summa, D., Whiteman, D. N., Mishchenko, M., Tanré, D.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC Blackwell Publishing Ltd 16-11-2010; American Geophysical Union
• Subjects: Aerosols; Algorithms; Atmospheric aerosols; Atmospheric sciences; Deserts; Dust; Geophysics; High performance computing; Lidar; Light scattering; Particle size; Scientific apparatus & instruments; spheroids; Troposphere; Wavelengths
• ISSN: 0148-0227; 2169-897X; 2156-2202; 2169-8996
• DOI: 10.1029/2010JD014139

Multiwavelength (MW) Raman lidars have demonstrated their potential to profile particle parameters; however, until now, the physical models used in retrieval algorithms for processing MW lidar data have been predominantly based on the Mie theory. This approach is applicable to the modeling of light scattering by spherically symmetric particles only and does not adequately reproduce the scattering by generally nonspherical desert dust particles. Here we present an algorithm based on a model of randomly oriented spheroids for the inversion of multiwavelength lidar data. The aerosols are modeled as a mixture of two aerosol components: one composed only of spherical and the second composed of nonspherical particles. The nonspherical component is an ensemble of randomly oriented spheroids with size‐independent shape distribution. This approach has been integrated into an algorithm retrieving aerosol properties from the observations with a Raman lidar based on a tripled Nd:YAG laser. Such a lidar provides three backscattering coefficients, two extinction coefficients, and the particle depolarization ratio at a single or multiple wavelengths. Simulations were performed for a bimodal particle size distribution typical of desert dust particles. The uncertainty of the retrieved particle surface, volume concentration, and effective radius for 10% measurement errors is estimated to be below 30%. We show that if the effect of particle nonsphericity is not accounted for, the errors in the retrieved aerosol parameters increase notably. The algorithm was tested with experimental data from a Saharan dust outbreak episode, measured with the BASIL multiwavelength Raman lidar in August 2007. The vertical profiles of particle parameters as well as the particle size distributions at different heights were retrieved. It was shown that the algorithm developed provided substantially reasonable results consistent with the available independent information about the observed aerosol event.