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Open Access Publications from the University of California

Scholarly Works (2 results)

  • Article
  • Peer Reviewed
UCLA Previously Published Works (2005)

This paper presents a conceptual approach toward the remote sensing of cirrus cloud particle size and optical depth using the degree of polarization and polarized reflectance associated with the first three Stokes parameters, I, Q, and U, for the 0.865- and 2.25-mu m wavelengths. A vector line-by-line equivalent radiative transfer program including the full Stokes parameters based on the adding method was developed. The retrieval algorithm employs the steepest-descent method in the form of a series of numerical iteration procedures to search for the simulated polarization parameters that best match the measured values. Sensitivity studies were performed to investigate the behavior of phase-matrix elements as functions of scattering angles for three ice crystal size-shape combinations. Overall, each phase-matrix element shows some sensitivity toward ice crystal shape, size, and surface roughness due to the various optical effects. Synthetic analysis reveals that the retrieval algorithm is highly accurate, while polarimetric and radiometric error sources cause very small retrieval errors. Finally, an illustrative example of applying the retrieval algorithm to airborne Polarization and Directionality of the Earth's Reflectances (POLDER) data during the European Cloud and Radiation Experiment (EUCREX) is presented.

    Cover page: Remote sensing of cirrus cloud particle size and optical depth using polarimetric sensor measurements
    • Article
    • Peer Reviewed
    Faculty Publications (2011)
     Forest fires are an important source to carbonaceous aerosols in the Western United States (WUS). We quantify the relative contribution of biomass burning to black carbon (BC) in the WUS mountain ranges by analyzing surface BC observations for 2006 from the Interagency Monitoring of PROtected Visual Environment (IMPROVE) network using the GEOS-Chem global chemical transport model. Observed surface BC concentrations show broad maxima during late June to early November. Enhanced potassium concentrations and potassium/sulfur ratios observed during the high-BC events indicate a dominant biomass burning influence during the peak fire season. Model surface BC reproduces the observed day-to day and synoptic variabilities in regions downwind of but near urban centers. Major discrepancies are found at elevated mountainous sites during the July-October fire season when simulated BC concentrations are biased low by a factor of two. We attribute these low biases largely to the underestimated (by more than a factor of two) and temporally misplaced biomass burning emissions of BC in the model. Additionally, we find that the biomass burning contribution to surface BC concentrations in the USA likely was underestimated in a previous study using GEOS-Chem (Park et al., 2003), because of the unusually low planetary boundary layer (PBL) heights in the GEOS-3 meteorological reanalysis data used to drive the model. PBL heights from GEOS-4 and GEOS-5 reanalysis data are comparable to those from the North American Regional Reanalysis (NARR). Model simulations show slightly improved agreements with the observations when driven by GEOS-5 reanalysis data, but model results are still biased low. The use of biomass burning emissions with diurnal cycle, synoptic variability, and plume injection has relatively small impact on the simulated surface BC concentrations in the WUS.
      Cover page: Biomass burning contribution to black carbon in the Western United States Mountain RangesCreative Commons 'BY' version 4.0 license
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