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Comparison of Aerosol Properties Within and Above the Atmospheric Boundary Layer at the ARM SGP Site

Delle Monache, L.(a), Perry, K.D.(a), and Cederwall, R.T.(b), San Jose State University (a), Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (b)
Twelfth Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Science Team Meeting

The objective of this work is to determine under what conditions, if any, measurements of aerosol properties made at the surface at the ARM SGP Central Facility are representative of aerosol properties within the column of air above the surface. This is important in assessing the value of data collected at the ARM Aerosol Observation System (AOS) for developing and diagnosing cloud and radiation parameterizations involving aerosol properties within and above the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL). The study uses aircraft data from the ARM In-situ Aerosol Profiling (IAP) flights from March 2000 to March 2001. In addition, ARM sounding data are used to determine the mixing height. All IAP flight legs were categorized as either within or above the ABL based on the mixing height. The correlations between the aerosol properties measured at the surface by the AOS and those measured during the IAP flights were then computed. The conclusion of this comparison is that the aerosol extensive and intensive properties measured at the surface are representative of values within the ABL, but not of values above the ABL.

Note: This is the poster abstract presented at the meeting; an extended version was not provided by the author(s).