Research Group
"Optical Remote Measurements - Analysis of Atmospheric Processes with Optical Methods"

EARLINET - The European Aerosol Research LIdar NETwork to Establish an Aerosol Climatology

funded by the European Commission

Project

EARLINET (lidarb.dkrz.de/earlinet/) is the first aerosol lidar network which attempts to retrieve quantitative data on the vertical distribution of aerosol optical properties in a systematic and statistically significant approach and on a continental scale. Therefore, the main effort as well as the main achievements are in the development of methods. Strong emphasis is on making the results from all stations and all times comparable, because this is essential for the use of joint data sets in all studies involving several stations.

Objectives

The main objectives of EARLINET are the establishment of a comprehensive and quantitative statistical data base of the horizontal and vertical distribution of aerosols on the European scale using a network of advanced laser remote sensing stations, and the use of these data for studies related to the impact of aerosols on a variety of environmental problems.
This also includes the creation of a suitable research infrastructure comprising quality controlled instruments and evaluation procedures as well as the establishment of a common data base. Also important is a system of internal communication for exchange of technical know-how and data as well as for the performance of joint analyses using data from several groups. The intensive observational period lasted from May 2000 to February 2003. Measurements are continued on a volunteering basis by several groups since then.

Achievements

• Advanced lidar systems for regular use are finally implemented at 22 permanent and 3 temporary stations in 12 European countries including the Newly Associated States. A large part of Europe is thus covered by the observation network. 13 stations are now using detection channels for Raman scattering to retrieve aerosol extinction profiles.
• An extensive quality assurance program at instrument and retrieval algorithm levels was conducted.
• A schedule is established for making the measurements on the one hand in a way to minimize bias in statistical evaluations due to selective measurement conditions, and on the other hand to make special measurements for various dedicated studies. For establishing an aerosol climatology a regular schedule is chosen with 3 measurements per week at preselected times.
  For the special measurements dedicated to various process studies an alerting system is established which is used by the corresponding work package leaders to inform the relevant groups about important measurement opportunities.
• To provide important information about the history of the observed air mass back-trajectories, provided by the German Weather Service, were compiled for each station, 2 daily arrival times, and 6 pressure levels.
• Observations of the aerosol distribution allow to retrieve boundary layer characteristics, which in turn are most important for the distribution of pollutants.
• Studies of Saharan dust outbreaks allow to address directly the mechanisms of mineral dust formation, long-range transport, and impact on solar radiation and climate. Using the particles as tracers also serves to study long-range transport of many other pollutants.
• Observations of the modification of aerosol properties when air masses pass over Europe provide excellent material to improve air pollution and climate prediction models, and thus help to develop abatement strategies.
• Observations of elevated aerosol layers in combination with trajectory analysis permit the study of long-range transport of pollutants on a hemispherical scale. Again this is important material to improve air pollution and climate prediction models.
• The development of methods to retrieve microphysical properties of aerosol will lead to a much better characterization of the aerosol distribution, providing additional information about the composition and origin of the particles. This will help to identify major sources of aerosol and hence support the development of suitable abatement strategies.

Measurements
(Click on picture to enlarge!)

Depolarization ratio during a Saharan dust outbreak observed with the IfT Raman lidar in Leipzig on October 12th - 15th, 2001	Backscatter coefficient during a Saharan dust outbreak observed with the IfT Raman lidar in Leipzig on October 12th - 15th, 2001
Measurement statistics of the Leipzig station

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Partners, institutions and locations Jens Bösenberg, Max Planck Institute for Meteorology, Hamburg, Germany (Coordinator) Matthias Alpers, Leibniz Institute for Atmospherical Physics, Kühlungsborn, Germany Albert Ansmann, Leibniz Institute for Tropospheric Research, Leipzig, Germany Dimitris Balis, Aristoteleo Panepistimio Thessalonikis, Greece Christine Böckmann, Institute for Mathematics of the University of Potsdam, Germany Bertrand Calpini, Ecole Polytechnique Federale  de Lausanne, Switzerland Anatoli Chaikovsky, Institute of Physics National Academy of Sciences, Minsk, Belarus Adolfo Comeron,  Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain Arne Haagaard, Försvarets Forskningsanstalt, Linköping, Sweden Valentin Mitev,  Observatoire Cantonal  Neuchatel, Switzerland Alexandros Papayannis,  Ethnikon Metsovion Polytechnion Athinon, Athens, Greece Gelsomina Pappalardo, Instituto Nazionale per la Fisica della Materia, Potenza, Italy Jacques Pelon, Institute Pierre Simon Laplace, Paris, France Maria Rita Perrone, University of Lecce, Italy David Resendes, Instituto Superior Tecnico, Lisbon, Portugal Vincenzo Rizi, Universita degli Studi L´Aquila, Italy Nicola Spinelli, Instituto Nazionale per la Fisica della Materia, Napoli, Italy Thomas Trickl, Fraunhofer Institute for Environmental Studies, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany Geraint Vaughan, Physics Department, University of Wales, Aberystwyth, United Kingdom Matthias Wiegner, Meteorological Institute of the Ludwig Maximilian University, Munich, Germany

EARLINET stations EARLINET: 22 lidar measuring sites all over Europe

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The measurements within EARLINET are performed with our temperature-moisture-aerosol Raman lidar.

Our group contributed with the following publications to EARLINET:

Wandinger, U., Mattis, I., Tesche, M., Ansmann, A., Bösenberg, J., Chaikovski, A., Freudenthaler, V., Komguem, L., Linné, H., Matthias, V., Pelon, J., Sauvage, L., Sobolewski, P., Vaughan, G. and Wiegner, M. 2004. Air-mass modification  over Europe: EARLINET aerosol observations from Wales to Belarus, J. Geophys. Res., 109, 2004JD005142.

Mattis, I., Ansmann, A., Müller, D., Wandinger, U. and Althausen, D. 2004. Multiyear aerosol observations with dual-wavelength Raman lidar in the framework of EARLINET. J. Geophys. Res., 109, 2004JD004600.

Pappalardo, G., Amodeo, A., Pandolfi, M., Wandinger, U.,  Ansmann, A., Bösenberg, J., Matthias, V., Amiridis, V., De Tomasi, F., Frioud, M., Iarlori, M., Komguem, L., Papayannis, A., Rocadenbosch, F. and Wang, X. 2004. Aerosol Lidar Intercomparison in the Framework of the EARLINET Project. 3. Raman Lidar Algorithm for Aerosol Extinction, Backscatter, and Lidar Ratio, Appl. Optics, 43,  5370-5385.

Böckmann, C., Wandinger, U., Ansmann, A., Bösenberg, J., Amiridis, V., Boselli, A., Delaval, A., De Tomasi, F., Frioud, M., Grigorov, I.V., Hågård, A., Horvat, M., Iarlori, M., Komguem, L., Kreipl, S., Larcheveque, G., Matthias, V., Papayannis, A., Pappalardo, G., Rocadenbosch, F., Rodrigues, J.A., Schneider, J., Shcherbakov, V. and Wiegner, M. 2004. Aerosol Lidar Intercomparison in the Framework of the EARLINET Project. 2. Aerosol Backscatter Algorithms. Appl. Optics, 43, 977-989.

Matthias, V., Freudenthaler, V., Amodeo, A., Balin, I., Balis, D., Bösenberg, J., Chaikovsky, A., Chourdakis, G., Comeron, A., Delaval, A., De Tomasi, F., Eixmann, R., Hågård, A., Komguem, L., Kreipl, S., Matthey, R., Rizi, V., Rodrigues, J.A., Wandinger, U. and Wang, X. 2004. Aerosol Lidar Intercomparison in the Framework of the EARLINET Project. 1. Instruments, Appl. Optics, 43, 961-976.

Matthias, V., Balis, D., Bösenberg, J., Eixmann, R., Iarlori, M., Komguem, L., Mattis, I., Papayannis, A., Pappalardo, G., Perrone, M. R. and Wang, X. 2004. The vertical aerosol distribution over Europe: Statistical analysis of Raman lidar data from 10 EARLINET stations. J. Geophys. Res., 109, 2004JD004638, 2004.

Ansmann, A., Bösenberg, J., Chaikovsky, A. P., Comerón, A., Eixmann, R., Freudenthaler, V., Ginoux, P., Konguem, L., Linné, H., Márquez, M. Á. L., Manoj, S., Matthias, V., Mattis, I., Mitev, V., Müller, D., Nickovic, S., Pelon, J., Sauvage, L., Sobolewsky, P., Stohl, A., Torres, O., Vaughan, G., Wandinger, U. and Wiegner, M. 2003. Long-range transport of Saharan dust to northern Europe: The 11-16 October 2001 outbreak with EARLINET. J. Geophys. Res., 108, 2003JD003757.

Mattis, I., Ansmann, A., Wandinger, U. and Müller, D. 2003. Unexpectedly high aerosol load in the free troposphere over Central Europe in spring/summer 2003. Geophys. Res. Lett., 30, 2003GL018442.

Müller, D., Mattis, I., Wandinger, U., Ansmann, A., Althausen, D., Dubovik, O., Eckhardt, S. and Stohl, A. 2003. Saharan dust over a Central European EARLINET-AERONET site: Combined observations with Raman lidar and Sun photometer. J. Geophys. Res., 108, 2002JD002918.

Mattis, I., Ansmann, A., Müller, D., Wandinger, U. and Althausen, D. 2002. Dual-wavelength Raman lidar observations of the extinction-to-backscatter ratio of Saharan dust. Geophys. Res. Lett., 29, 2002GL014721.

EARLINET related downloads and links

• Poster by I. Mattis et al.
• Final Re port
  
• Homepage EARLINET - lidarb.dkrz.de/earlinet/
• Homepage AERONET - aeronet.gsfc.nasa.gov

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