Seasonal variation of net ecosystem carbon exchange and gross primary production over a Loess Plateau semi-arid grassland of northwest China.

Grassland ecosystems store approximately one-third of the global terrestrial carbon stocks, which play a crucial role in regulating the carbon cycle on regional and global scales, but the current scientific understanding of the variation in net carbon dioxide exchange (NEE) on grassland ecosystems is still limited. Based on the eddy covariance technique, this study investigated the seasonal variation of ecosystem respiration (Reco) and gross primary production (GPP) from 2018 to 2020 in a semi-arid grassland on the Loess Plateau in northwest China. The results indicated that the annual cumulative average NEE value was - 0.778 kg C/m2, the growing season cumulative value accounted for approximately 83.81%, which suggested that the semiarid grassland showed a notable soil carbon sink. The correlation analysis revealed that soil temperature (Ts) (RReco = 0.71, RGPP = 0.61) and soil water content (SWC) (RReco = 0.47, RGPP = 0.44) were the two main driving factors in modulating the variation of daily average GPP and Reco (P < 0.01). Therefore, the monthly average of GPP and Reco increased with the increase in Ts (RGPP = 0.716, P < 0.01; RReco = 0.586, P < 0.05), resulting in an increase in the carbon sequestration capacity of the grass ecosystem. This study also showed that soil moisture has a promoting effect on the response of Reco and GPP to Ts, and the correlation among GPP, Reco, and Ts was much stronger under wet conditions. For instance, the coefficient of determination of Reco and GPP with Ts under wet conditions in 2018 increased by 0.248 and 0.286, respectively, compared to those under droughty conditions. Additionally, the temperature sensitivity of Reco (Q10) increased by 46.13% compared to dry conditions. In addition, carbon exchange models should consider the synergistic effect of Ts and SWC as one of the main driving factors for theoretical interpretation or modeling. Under the potential scenario of future global warming and the frequent extreme weather events, our findings have important implications for predicting future CO2 exchange and establishing an optimal ecological model of carbon flux exchange.

Identification of fluorescent aerosol observed by a spectroscopic lidar over northwest China.

Bioaerosols play a significant role in climate change and variation of ecological environment. To investigate characterization of atmospheric bioaerosols, we conducted lidar measurement for observing bioaerosols close to dust sources over northwest China in April, 2014. The developed lidar system can not only allowed us to measure the 32-channel fluorescent spectrum between 343 nm to 526 nm with a spectral resolution of 5.8 nm but also simultaneously detect polarisation measurements at 355 nm and 532 nm, as well as Raman scattering signals at 387 nm and 407 nm. According to the findings, the lidar system was able to pick up the robust fluorescence signal emitted by dust aerosols. Especially the polluted dust, the fluorescence efficiency could reach 0.17. In addition, the efficiency of single-band fluorescence typically rises as the wavelength goes up and the ratio of fluorescence efficiency of polluted dust, dust, air pollutant and background aerosols is about 4:3:8:2. Moreover, our results demonstrate that simultaneous measurements of depolarization at 532 nm and fluorescence could better distinguish fluorescent aerosols than those at 355 nm. This study enhances the ability of laser remote sensing for real-time detecting bioaerosol in the atmosphere.

Small lidar ratio of dust aerosol observed by Raman-polarization lidar near desert sources.

Previous studies have shown that the lidar ratio has a significant influence on the retrieval of the aerosol extinction coefficient via the Fernald method, leading to a large uncertainty in the evaluation of dust radiative forcing. Here, we found that the lidar ratios of dust aerosol were only 18.16 ± 14.23sr, based on Raman-polarization lidar measurements in Dunhuang (94.6°E, 40.1°N) in April of 2022. These ratios are much smaller than other reported results (∼50 sr) for Asian dust. This finding is also confirmed by some previous results from lidar measurements under different conditions for dust aerosols. The particle depolarization ratio (PDR) at 532 nm and color ratio (CR, 1064 nm/532 nm) of dust aerosols are0.28 ± 0.013 and 0.5-0.6, respectively, indicating that extremely fine nonspherical particles exist. In addition, the dust extinction coefficients at 532 nm range from2 × 10-4 to 6 × 10-4m-1for such small lidar ratio particles. Combining lidar measurements and model simulation by the T-matrix method, we further reveal that the reason for this phenomenon is mainly due to the relatively small effective radius and weak light absorption of dust particles. Our study provides a new insight into the wide variation in the lidar ratio for dust aerosols, which helps to better explain the impacts of dust aerosols on the climate and environment.

Method for retrieving range-resolved aerosol microphysical properties from polarization lidar measurements.

Aerosol microphysical properties, such as volume concentration (VC) and effective radius (ER), are of great importance to evaluate their radiative forcing and impacts on climate change. However, range-resolved aerosol VC and ER still cannot be obtained by remote sensing currently except for the column-integrated one from sun-photometer observation. In this study, a retrieval method of range-resolved aerosol VC and ER is firstly proposed based on the partial least squares regression (PLSR) and deep neural networks (DNN), combining polarization lidar and collocated AERONET (AErosol RObotic NETwork) sun-photometer observations. The results show that the measurement of widely-used polarization lidar can be reasonably used to derive the aerosol VC and ER, with the determination coefficient (R2) of 0.89 (0.77) for VC (ER) by use of the DNN method. Moreover, it is proven that the lidar-based height-resolved VC and ER at near-surface are well consistent with independent observations of collocated Aerodynamic Particle Sizer (APS). Additionally, we found that there are significant diurnal and seasonal variations of aerosol VC and ER in the atmosphere at Semi-Arid Climate and Environment Observatory of Lanzhou University (SACOL). Compared with columnar ones from the sun-photometer observation, this study provides a reliable and practical way to obtain full-day range-resolved aerosol VC and ER from widely-used polarization lidar observation, even under cloud conditions. Moreover, this study also can be applied to long-term observations by current ground-based lidar networks and spaceborne CALIPSO lidar, aiming to further evaluate aerosol climatic effects more accurately.

Regional transportation and influence of atmospheric aerosols triggered by Tonga volcanic eruption.

A cataclysmic submarine volcano at Hunga Tonga-HungaHa'apai (HTHH) near Tonga, erupted violently on 15 January 2022, which injected a plume of ash cloud soaring into the upper atmosphere. In this study, we examined the regional transportation and potential influence of atmospheric aerosols triggered by HTHH volcano, based on active and passive satellite products, ground-based observations, multi-source reanalysis datasets and atmospheric radiative transfer model. The results indicated that about 0.7 Tg (1 Tg = 109 kg) sulfur dioxide (SO2) gas were emitted into stratosphere from the HTHH volcano, and were lifted to an altitude of 30 km. The regional averaged SO2 columnar content over the western Tonga increased by 10-36 Dobson Units (DU), and the mean aerosol optical thickness (AOT) retrieved from satellite products increased to 0.25-0.34. The stratospheric AOT values caused by HTHH emissions increased to 0.03, 0.20, and 0.23 on 16, 17, and 19 January, respectively, accounting for 1.5%, 21.9%, and 31.1% of total AOT. Ground-based observations also showed an AOT increase of 0.25-0.43, with the maximum daily average of 0.46-0.71 appeared on 17 January. The volcanic aerosols were remarkably dominated by fine-mode particles and posed strong light-scattering and hygroscopic abilities. Consequently, the mean downward surface net shortwave radiative flux was reduced by 2.45-11.9 Wm-2 on different regional scales, and the surface temperature decreased by 0.16-0.42 K. The maximum aerosol extinction coefficient was 0.51 km-1 appeared at 27 km, which resulted in an instantaneous shortwave heating rate of 1.80 Khour-1. These volcanic materials stayed stable in the stratosphere and completed one circle around the earth within 15 days. This would exert a profound influence on the energy budget, water vapor and ozone exchange in the stratosphere, which deserves to be further studied.

Classification of atmospheric aerosols and clouds by use of dual-polarization lidar measurements.

Accurate identification of aerosols and cloud from remote sensing observations is of importance for quantitatively evaluating their radiative forcing and related impacts. Even though polarization lidar has exhibited a unique advantage of classifying atmospheric aerosols and clouds over the past several decades, polarization measurements are often achieved at one wavelength (UV or VIS) using laser remote sensing. To better identify the types of aerosols and clouds, we developed a ground-based dual-polarization lidar system that can simultaneously detect polarization measurements at wavelengths of 355 nm and 532 nm. Our results show that the volume depolarization ratios (VDRs) at 355 nm and 532 nm markedly differ for typical types of aerosols and clouds in the atmosphere. For non-spherical particles, the ratio of VDRs at 532 nm and 355 nm are 2.87 ± 1.35 for ice cloud and 1.51 ± 0.29 for dust-dominated aerosols, respectively. However, for spherical particles, the ratios are 0.43 ± 0.26 for water cloud and 0.56 ± 0.05 for air pollutants. Consequently, we proposed a simple reliable method for classifying atmospheric aerosols and clouds from polarization measurements observed by the developed lidar system. The proposed method first distinguishes clouds from aerosols using a combination of the color ratio (CR, 532 nm/355 nm) and attenuated backscattering coefficients (ABC) at 532 nm. Then, subtypes of clouds and aerosols are identified based on the ratio of VDRs at 532 nm and 355 nm. The results showed that dual-polarization lidar measurements can remarkably improve the classification of atmospheric aerosols and clouds, compared with results using a traditional method. This study illustrates that more information on atmospheric aerosols and clouds can be obtained from polarization measurements at multiple wavelengths by active remote sensing.

Water-soluble brown carbon in atmospheric aerosols along the transport pathway of Asian dust: Optical properties, chemical compositions, and potential sources.

As an important type of light-absorbing aerosol, brown carbon (BrC) has the potential to affect the atmospheric photochemistry and Earth's energy budget. A comprehensive field campaign was carried out along the transport pathway of Asian dust during the spring of 2016, including a desert site (Erenhot), a rural site (Zhangbei), and an urban site (Jinan), in northern China. Optical properties, bulk chemical compositions, and potential sources of water-soluble brown carbon (WS-BrC) were investigated in atmospheric total suspended particulate (TSP) samples. Samples from Zhangbei had higher mass absorption efficiency at 365 nm (MAE365, 1.32 ± 0.34 m2 g-1) than those from Jinan (1.00 ± 0.23 m2 g-1) and Erenhot (0.84 ± 0.30 m2 g-1). Compere to the non-dust samples, elevated water-soluble organic carbon (WSOC) concentrations and MAE365 values of dust samples from Erenhot are related to the input of high molecular weight organic compounds and biogenic matter from the Gobi Desert, while lower values from Zhangbei and Jinan are attributed to the dilution effect caused by strong northwesterly winds. Based on fluorescence excitation-emission matrix spectra and parallel factor analysis, two humic-like (C1 and C2) and two protein-like (C3 and C4) substances were identified. Together, C1 and C2 accounted for ~64% of total fluorescence intensity at the highly polluted urban Jinan site; C3 represented ~45% at the rural Zhangbei site where local biomass burning affects; and C4 contributed ~24% in the desert region (Erenhot) due to dust-sourced biogenic substances. The relative absorptive forcing of WS-BrC compared to black carbon at 300-400 nm was about 31.3%, 13.9%, and 9.2% during non-dust periods at Erenhot, Zhangbei, and Jinan, respectively, highlighting that WS-BrC may significantly affect the radiative balance of Earth's climate system and should be included in radiative forcing models.

Characteristics and unique sources of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and nitro-polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in PM2.5 at a highland background site in northwestern China☆.

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and nitro-PAHs (NPAHs) in PM2.5 were first observed at a background site (Yuzhong site: YZ site) in the northwestern highlands of China in five seasonal campaigns. Compared with major northwestern cities, PAHs and NPAHs at the YZ site were at a lower level but showed consistent seasonal differences. The PAH and NPAH concentrations peaked in the winter campaigns, which were 36.11 ± 6.54 ng/m3 and 418.11 ± 123.55 pg/m3, respectively, in winter campaign 1 and 28.97 ± 10.07 ng/m3 and 226.89 ± 133.54 pg/m3, respectively, in winter campaign 2. These values were approximately a dozen times larger those in other campaigns. The diagnostic ratios indicate that vehicle emissions were the primary source of the PAHs throughout the five campaigns, and coal and biomass combustion also contributed during the winter, summer, and fall campaigns. Among NPAHs, 2-nitrofluoranthene and 2-nitropyrene were generated through OH radical-initiated reactions during atmospheric transport, while 1-nitropyrene came from combustion sources. There is an observation worth pondering, which is that the ratio between pyrene and fluoranthene increased abnormally in the spring and fall campaigns, which is presumably caused by the burning of Tibetan barley straw in the northwestern highlands. The backward trajectories over Tibetan areas in Qinghai and southwestern Gansu are consistent with this hypothesis. In addition, this study reported for the first time that the burning of Tibetan barley straw has become a seasonal contributor to air pollution in northwestern China and is participating in the atmospheric transport of air pollutants driven by the monsoon in East Asia, which urgently requires further research.

Investigation of aerosol absorption with dual-polarization lidar observations.

Polarization lidar has been widely used in recent decades to observe the vertical structures of aerosols and clouds in the atmosphere. We developed a dual-polarization lidar system that can detect polarization measurements simultaneously at 355 nm and 532 nm. Dust events and haze episodes over northern China in 2014 were observed by the developed lidar. The results showed that the dust-dominated aerosol depolarization ratios at 532 nm were larger than those at 355 nm, but those of the air pollutants were smaller, indicating that this tool could provide a more accurate classification of aerosols. Moreover, we found a good relationship between the absorption coefficient of aerosols and the ratio of depolarization ratios at 532 nm and 355 nm for dust aerosols. Our results imply that aerosol absorption from polarization measurements may be determined by lidar at the ultraviolet and visible wavelengths.

Natural aeolian dust particles have no substantial effect on atmospheric polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs): A laboratory study based on naphthalene.

Natural aeolian dust (AD) particles are potential carriers of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in the atmosphere. The heterogeneous interaction between them may lead to worsened air quality and enhanced cytotoxicity and carcinogenicity of ambient particulates in downwind areas, and this topic requires in-depth exploration. In this study, AD samples were collected from four Asian dust sources, and their physical properties and compositions were determined, showing great regional differences. The physical and chemical interactions of different AD particles with naphthalene (Nap; model PAH) were observed in aqueous systems. The results showed that AD particles from the Loess Plateau had weak adsorption to Nap, which was fitted by the Langmuir isotherm. There was no obvious adsorption to Nap found for the other three AD samples. This difference seemed to depend mainly on the specific surface area and/or the total pore volume. In addition, the Nap in the aqueous solution did not undergo chemical reactions under dark conditions and longwave ultraviolet (UV) radiation but degraded under shortwave UV radiation, and 2-formylcinnamaldehyde and 1,4-naphthoquinone were the first-generated products. The degradation of Nap in the aqueous solution was probably initiated by photoionization, and the reaction rate constant (between 1.44 × 10-4 min-1 and 8.55 × 10-4 min-1) was much lower than that of Nap with hydroxyl radicals. Instead of inducing or promoting the chemical change in Nap, the AD particles slowed photodegradation due to the extinction of radiation. Therefore, it is inferred that natural AD particles have no substantial effect on the transportation and transformation of PAHs in the atmosphere.

Automated detection of cloud and aerosol features with SACOL micro-pulse lidar in northwest China.

The detection of cloud and aerosols using a modified retrieval algorithm solely for a ground-based micropulse lidar (MPL) is presented, based on one-year data at the Semi-Arid Climate Observatory and Laboratory (SACOL) site (35.57°N, 104.08°E, 1965.8 m), northwest of China, from March 2011 to February 2012. The work not only identifies atmosphere particle layers by means of the range-dependent thresholds based on elastic scattering ratio and depolarization ratio, but also discriminates the detected layers by combining empirical thresholds of the atmosphere's thermodynamics states and scattering properties and continuous wavelet transform (CWT) analyses. Two cases were first presented in detail that demonstrated that the modified algorithm can capture atmosphere layers well. The cloud macro-physical properties including cloud base height (CBH), cloud geometrical thickness (CGT), and cloud fraction (CF) were then analyzed in terms of their monthly and seasonal variations. It is shown that the maximum/minimum CBHs were found in summer (4.66 ± 1.95km)/autumn (3.34 ± 1.84km). The CGT in winter (1.05 ± 0.43km) is slightly greater than in summer (0.99 ± 0.44km). CF varies significantly throughout year, with the maximum value in autumn (0.68), and a minimum (0.58) in winter, which is dominated by single-layered clouds (81%). The vertical distribution of CF shows a bimodal distribution, with a lower peak between 1 and 4km and a higher one between 6and 9km. The seasonal and vertical variations in CF are important for the local radiative energy budget.