Remote sensing of angular scattering effect of aerosols in a North American megacity

TL;DR

This study uses mountain-top remote sensing to analyze aerosol angular scattering in Los Angeles, revealing diurnal variability and expanding the angular range of observations to better understand aerosol impacts.

Contribution

It introduces a novel remote sensing approach with wide-angle measurements at a city scale to analyze aerosol scattering effects and their diurnal variability.

Findings

Aerosol transmission varies diurnally in LA.

Wide-angle remote sensing captures scattering effects beyond traditional instruments.

O2 ratio effectively indicates aerosol loadings.

Abstract

The angle-dependent scattering effect of aerosols in the atmosphere can be used to infer their compositions, which in turn is important to understand their impacts of human health and Earth climate. The aerosol phase function, which characterizes the angular signature of scattering, has been continuously monitored from ground-based and space-borne observations. However, the range of scattering angles these instruments can sample is very limited. There is a dearth of research on the remote sensing of aerosol angular scattering effect at a city scale that analyzes diurnal variability and includes a wide range of scattering angles. Here, we quantify the aerosol angular scattering effect using measurements from a mountain-top remote sensing instrument: the California Laboratory for Atmospheric Remote Sensing Fourier Transform Spectrometer (CLARS-FTS). CLARS-FTS is located on top of the Mt. Wilson (1.67km above sea level) overlooking the Los Angeles (LA) megacity and receives reflected sunlight from targeted surface reflection points. The observational geometries of CLARS-FTS provide a wide range of scattering angles, from about 20 degrees (forward) to about 140 degrees (backward). The O2 ratio, which is the ratio of retrieved O2 Slant Column Density (SCD) to geometric O2 SCD, quantifies the aerosol transmission with a value of 1.0 represent aerosol-free and with a value closer to 0.0 represents stronger aerosol loadings. The aerosol transmission quantified by the O2 ratio from CLARS measurements provides an effective indicator of the aerosol scattering effect.