Six months of stratospheric aerosol observations with the European Aerosol Research Lidar Network (EARLINET) from August 2017 to January 2018 are presented. The decay phase of an unprecedented, record-breaking stratospheric perturbation caused by wildfire smoke is reported and discussed in terms of geometrical, optical, and microphysical aerosol properties. Enormous amounts of smoke were injected into the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere over fire areas in western Canada on 12 August 2017 during strong thunderstorm–pyrocumulonimbus activity. The stratospheric fire plumes spread over the entire Northern Hemisphere in the following weeks and months. Twenty-eight European lidar stations from northern Norway to southern Portugal and the eastern Mediterranean monitored the strong stratospheric perturbation on a continental scale. The main smoke layer (over central, western, southern, and eastern Europe) was found at heights between 15 and 20 km since September 2017 (about 2 weeks after entering the stratosphere). Thin layers of smoke were detected at heights of up to 22–23 km. The stratospheric aerosol optical thickness at 532 nm decreased from values > 0.25 on 21–23 August 2017 to 0.005–0.03 until 5–10 September and was mainly 0.003–0.004 from October to December 2017 and thus was still significantly above the stratospheric background (0.001–0.002). Stratospheric particle extinction coefficients (532 nm) were as high as 50–200 Mm⁻¹ until the beginning of September and on the order of 1 Mm⁻¹ (0.5–5 Mm⁻¹) from October 2017 until the end of January 2018. The corresponding layer mean particle mass concentration was on the order of 0.05–0.5 µg m⁻³ over these months. Soot particles (light-absorbing carbonaceous particles) are efficient ice-nucleating particles (INPs) at upper tropospheric (cirrus) temperatures and available to influence cirrus formation when entering the tropopause from above. We estimated INP concentrations of 50–500 L⁻¹ until the first days in September and afterwards 5–50 L⁻¹ until the end of the year 2017 in the lower stratosphere for typical cirrus formation temperatures of −55 ^∘C and an ice supersaturation level of 1.15. The measured profiles of the particle linear depolarization ratio indicated a predominance of nonspherical smoke particles. The 532 nm depolarization ratio decreased slowly with time in the main smoke layer from values of 0.15–0.25 (August–September) to values of 0.05–0.10 (October–November) and < 0.05 (December–January). The decrease of the depolarization ratio is consistent with aging of the smoke particles, growing of a coating around the solid black carbon core (aggregates), and thus change of the shape towards a spherical form. We found ascending aerosol layer features over the most southern European stations, especially over the eastern Mediterranean at 32–35^∘ N, that ascended from heights of about 18–19 to 22–23 km from the beginning of October to the beginning of December 2017 (about 2 km per month). We discuss several transport and lifting mechanisms that may have had an impact on the found aerosol layering structures.

The planetary boundary layer (PBL) height is a key parameter in air quality control and pollutant dispersion. The PBL height cannot, however, be directly measured, and its estimation relies on the analysis of the vertical profiles of the temperature, turbulence or the atmospheric composition. An operational PBL height detection method including several remote sensing instruments (wind profiler, Raman lidar, microwave radiometer) and several algorithms (Parcel and bulk Richardson number methods, surface-based temperature inversion, aerosol or humidity gradient analysis) was developed and tested with 1 year of measurements, which allows the methods to be validated against radio sounding measurements. The microwave radiometer provides convective boundary layer heights in good agreement with the radio sounding (RS) (median bias < 25 m, R² > 0.70) and allows the analysis of the diurnal variation of the PBL height due to its high temporal resolution. The Raman lidar also leads to a good agreement with RS, whereas the wind profiler yields some more dispersed results mostly due to false attribution problems. A comparison with the numerical weather prediction model COSMO-2 has shown a general overestimation of the model PBL height by some hundreds to thousand meters. Finally the seasonal cycles of the daytime and nighttime PBL heights are discussed for each instrument and each detection algorithm for two stations on the Swiss plateau.

A standardized approach for the definition and reporting of vertical resolution of the ozone and temperature lidar profiles contributing to the Network for the Detection for Atmospheric Composition Change (NDACC) database is proposed. Two standardized definitions homogeneously and unequivocally describing the impact of vertical filtering are recommended. The first proposed definition is based on the width of the response to a finite-impulse-type perturbation. The response is computed by convolving the filter coefficients with an impulse function, namely, a Kronecker delta function for smoothing filters, and a Heaviside step function for derivative filters. Once the response has been computed, the proposed standardized definition of vertical resolution is given by Δz = δz × H_FWHM, where δz is the lidar's sampling resolution and H_FWHM is the full width at half maximum (FWHM) of the response, measured in sampling intervals. The second proposed definition relates to digital filtering theory. After applying a Laplace transform to a set of filter coefficients, the filter's gain characterizing the effect of the filter on the signal in the frequency domain is computed, from which the cut-off frequency f_C, defined as the frequency at which the gain equals 0.5, is computed. Vertical resolution is then defined by Δz = δz∕(2f_C). Unlike common practice in the field of spectral analysis, a factor 2f_C instead of f_C is used here to yield vertical resolution values nearly equal to the values obtained with the impulse response definition using the same filter coefficients. When using either of the proposed definitions, unsmoothed signals yield the best possible vertical resolution Δz = δz (one sampling bin). Numerical tools were developed to support the implementation of these definitions across all NDACC lidar groups. The tools consist of ready-to-use “plug-in” routines written in several programming languages that can be inserted into any lidar data processing software and called each time a filtering operation occurs in the data processing chain. When data processing implies multiple smoothing operations, the filtering information is analytically propagated through the multiple calls to the routines in order for the standardized values of vertical resolution to remain theoretically and numerically exact at the very end of data processing.

A standardized approach for the definition, propagation, and reporting of uncertainty in the ozone differential absorption lidar data products contributing to the Network for the Detection for Atmospheric Composition Change (NDACC) database is proposed. One essential aspect of the proposed approach is the propagation in parallel of all independent uncertainty components through the data processing chain before they are combined together to form the ozone combined standard uncertainty. The independent uncertainty components contributing to the overall budget include random noise associated with signal detection, uncertainty due to saturation correction, background noise extraction, the absorption cross sections of O₃, NO₂, SO₂, and O₂, the molecular extinction cross sections, and the number densities of the air, NO₂, and SO₂. The expression of the individual uncertainty components and their step-by-step propagation through the ozone differential absorption lidar (DIAL) processing chain are thoroughly estimated. All sources of uncertainty except detection noise imply correlated terms in the vertical dimension, which requires knowledge of the covariance matrix when the lidar signal is vertically filtered. In addition, the covariance terms must be taken into account if the same detection hardware is shared by the lidar receiver channels at the absorbed and non-absorbed wavelengths. The ozone uncertainty budget is presented as much as possible in a generic form (i.e., as a function of instrument performance and wavelength) so that all NDACC ozone DIAL investigators across the network can estimate, for their own instrument and in a straightforward manner, the expected impact of each reviewed uncertainty component. In addition, two actual examples of full uncertainty budget are provided, using nighttime measurements from the tropospheric ozone DIAL located at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) Table Mountain Facility, California, and nighttime measurements from the JPL stratospheric ozone DIAL located at Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawai'i.

A detailed understanding of atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) processes is key to improve forecasting of pollution dispersion and cloud dynamics in the context of future climate scenarios. International networks of automatic lidars and ceilometers (ALC) are gathering valuable data that allow for the height of the ABL and its sublayers to be derived in near real time. A new generation of advanced methods to automatically detect the ABL heights now exist. However, diversity in ALC models means these algorithms need to be tailored to instrument-specific capabilities. Here, the advanced algorithm STRATfinder is presented for application to high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) ALC observations, and results are compared to an automatic algorithm designed for low-SNR measurements (CABAM). The two algorithms are evaluated for application in an operational network setting. Results indicate that the ABL heights derived from low-SNR ALC have increased uncertainty during daytime deep convection, while high-SNR observations can have slightly reduced capabilities in detecting shallow nocturnal layers. Agreement between the ALC-based methods is similar when either is compared to the ABL heights derived from temperature profile data. The two independent methods describe very similar average diurnal and seasonal variations. Hence, high-quality products of ABL heights may soon become possible at national and continental scales.

This study focuses on the analysis of aerosol hygroscopicity using remote sensing techniques. Continuous observations of aerosol backscatter coefficient (βaer), temperature (T) and water vapor mixing ratio (r) have been performed by means of a Raman lidar system at the aerological station of MeteoSwiss at Payerne (Switzerland) since 2008. These measurements allow us to monitor in a continuous way any change in aerosol properties as a function of the relative humidity (RH). These changes can be observed either in time at a constant altitude or in altitude at a constant time. The accuracy and precision of RH measurements from the lidar have been evaluated using the radiosonde (RS) technique as a reference. A total of 172 RS profiles were used in this intercomparison, which revealed a bias smaller than 4 % RH and a standard deviation smaller than 10 % RH between both techniques in the whole (in lower) troposphere at nighttime (at daytime), indicating the good performance of the lidar for characterizing RH. A methodology to identify situations favorable to studying aerosol hygroscopicity has been established, and the aerosol hygroscopicity has been characterized by means of the backscatter enhancement factor (fβ). Two case studies, corresponding to different types of aerosol, are used to illustrate the potential of this methodology. The first case corresponds to a mixture of rural aerosol and smoke particles (smoke mixture), which showed a higher hygroscopicity (fβ355=2.8 and fβ1064=1.8 in the RH range 73 %–97 %) than the second case, in which mineral dust was present (fβ355=1.2 and fβ1064=1.1 in the RH range 68 %–84 %). The higher sensitivity of the shortest wavelength to hygroscopic growth was qualitatively reproduced using Mie simulations. In addition, a good agreement was found between the hygroscopic analysis done in the vertical and in time for Case I, where the latter also allowed us to observe the hydration and dehydration of the smoke mixture. Finally, the impact of aerosol hygroscopicity on the Earth's radiative balance has been evaluated using the GAME (Global Atmospheric Model) radiative transfer model. The model showed an impact with an increase in absolute value of 2.4 W m−2 at the surface with respect to the dry conditions for the hygroscopic layer of Case I (smoke mixture).