Aerosol layer heights above Tajikistan during the CADEX campaign

Mineral dust influences climate and weather by direct and indirect effects. Surrounded by dust sources, Central Asian countries are affected by atmospheric mineral dust on a regular basis. Climate change effects like glacier retreat and desertification are prevalent in Central Asia as well. Therefore, the role of dust in the climate system in Central Asia needs to be clarified and quantified. During the Central Asian Dust EXperiment (CADEX) first lidar observations in Tajikistan were conducted. Long-term vertically resolved aerosol measurements were performed with the multiwavelength polarization Raman lidar PollyXT from March 2015 to August 2016 in Dushanbe, Tajikistan. In this contribution, a climatology of the aerosol layer heights is presented, which was retrieved from the 18-month lidar measurements. Automatic detection based on backscatter coefficient thresholds were used to retrieve the aerosol layer heights and yield similar layer heights as manual layer height determination. The significant aerosol layer height has a maximum in summer and a minimum in winter. The highest layers occurred in spring, but in summer uppermost layer heights above 6 km AGL are frequent, too. © 2019 The Authors, published by EDP Sciences

Differences and Similarities of Central Asian, African, and Arctic Dust Composition from a Single Particle Perspective

Mineral dust composition affects a multitude of processes in the atmosphere and adjacent compartments. Dust dry deposition was collected near source in northwest Africa, in Central Asia, and on Svalbard and at three locations of the African outflow regime. Samples were subjected to automated scanning electron microscopy with energy-dispersive X-ray analysis to obtain size and composition of 216,000 individual particles. Results show low temporal variation in estimated optical properties for each location, but considerable differences between the African, Central Asian, and Arctic regimes. No significant difference was found between the K-feldspar relative abundances, indicating comparable related ice-nucleation abilities. The mixing state between calcium and iron compounds was different for near source and transport regimes, potentially in part due to size sorting effects. As a result, in certain situations (high acid availability, limited time) atmospheric processing of the dust is expected to lead to less increased iron solubility for near-source dusts (in particular for Central Asian ones) than for transported ones (in particular of Sahelian origin). © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland

CADEX and beyond: Installation of a new PollyXT site in Dushanbe

During the 18-month Central Asian Dust Experiment we conducted continuous lidar measurements at the Physical Technical Institute of the Academy of Sciences of Tajikistan in Dushanbe between 2015 and 2016. Mineral dust plumes from various source regions have been observed and characterized in terms of their occurrence, and their optical and microphysical properties with the Raman lidar PollyXT. Currently a new container-based lidar system is constructed which will be installed for continuous long-term measurements in Dushanbe. © 2019 The Authors, published by EDP Sciences

Differences and Similarities of Central Asian, African, and Arctic Dust Composition from a Single Particle Perspective

Mineral dust composition affects a multitude of processes in the atmosphere and adjacent compartments. Dust dry deposition was collected near source in northwest Africa, in Central Asia, and on Svalbard and at three locations of the African outflow regime. Samples were subjected to automated scanning electron microscopy with energy-dispersive X-ray analysis to obtain size and composition of 216,000 individual particles. Results show low temporal variation in estimated optical properties for each location, but considerable differences between the African, Central Asian, and Arctic regimes. No significant difference was found between the K-feldspar relative abundances, indicating comparable related ice-nucleation abilities. The mixing state between calcium and iron compounds was different for near source and transport regimes, potentially in part due to size sorting effects. As a result, in certain situations (high acid availability, limited time) atmospheric processing of the dust is expected to lead to less increased iron solubility for near-source dusts (in particular for Central Asian ones) than for transported ones (in particular of Sahelian origin)

Microphysics and chemical composition of particulate dry deposition measured at Dushanbe, Tajikistan

Samples were collected with a slat plate type sampler (Waza et al., 2019) in the suburbs of Dushanbe, Tajikistan, between 28 August 2016 and 07 September 2016. The geographical coordinates are N 38.5594°, E 68.8561°, height is approximately 870 m above sea level. Samples were subject to automated scanning electron microscopy with coupled X-ray analysis (Kandler et al., 2018). Each data file is one sample (approximately diurnal collection), an overview with meta data is given in the sample list file. Please refer to the description files for more details

Long-term profiling of aerosol light extinction, particle mass, cloud condensation nuclei, and ice-nucleating particle concentration over Dushanbe, Tajikistan, in Central Asia

For the first time, continuous, vertically resolved long-term aerosol measurements were conducted with a state-of-the-art multiwavelength lidar over a Central Asian site. Such observations are urgently required in efforts to predict future climate and environmental conditions and to support spaceborne remote sensing (ground truth activities). The lidar observations were performed in the framework of the Central Asian Dust Experiment (CADEX) at Dushanbe, Tajikistan, from March 2015 to August 2016. An AERONET (AErosol RObotic NETwork) sun photometer was operated at the lidar field site. During the 18-month campaign, mixtures of continental aerosol pollution and mineral dust were frequently detected from ground to cirrus height level. Regional sources of dust and pollution as well as long-range transport of mineral dust mainly from Middle Eastern and the Saharan deserts determine the aerosol conditions over Tajikistan. In this study, we summarize our findings and present seasonally resolved statistics regarding aerosol layering (main aerosol layer depth, lofted layer occurrence); optical properties (aerosol and dust optical thicknesses at 500–532 nm, vertically resolved light-extinction coefficient at 532 nm); profiles of dust and non-dust mass concentrations and dust fraction; and profiles of particle parameters relevant for liquid water, mixed-phase cloud, and cirrus formation such as cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) and ice-nucleating particle (INP) concentrations. The main aerosol layer over Dushanbe typically reaches 4–5 km height in spring to autumn. Frequently lofted dust-containing aerosol layers were observed at heights from 5 to 10 km, indicating a sensitive potential of dust to influence cloud ice formation. Typical dust mass fractions were of the order of 60 %–80 %. A considerable fraction is thus anthropogenic pollution and biomass burning smoke. The highest aerosol pollution levels (in the relatively shallow winter boundary layer) occur during the winter months. The seasonal mean 500 nm AOT (aerosol optical thickness) ranges from 0.15 in winter to 0.36 in summer during the CADEX period (March 2015 to August 2016); DOTs (dust optical thicknesses) were usually below 0.2; seasonally mean particle extinction coefficients were of the order of 100–500 Mm−1 in the main aerosol layer during the summer half year and about 100–150 Mm−1 in winter but were mainly caused by anthropogenic haze. Accordingly, the highest dust mass concentrations occurred in the summer season (200–600 µg m−3) and the lowest during the winter months (20–50 µg m−3) in the main aerosol layer. In winter, the aerosol pollution mass concentrations were 20–50 µg m−3, while during the summer half year (spring to autumn), the mass concentration caused by urban haze and biomass burning smoke decreases to 10–20 µg m−3 in the lower troposphere. The CCN concentration levels are always controlled by aerosol pollution. The INP concentrations were found to be high enough in the middle and upper troposphere to significantly influence ice formation in mixed-phase and ice clouds during spring and summer seasons

Profiling Aerosol Optical Properties at the Central Asian Site of Dushanbe, Tajikistan: Pure Dust Cases

Tajikistan is often affected by atmospheric mineral dust originating from various surrounding deserts. The direct and indirect radiative effects of that dust play a sensitive role in the Central Asian climate system and therefore need to be quantified. The Central Asian Dust Experiment (CADEX) provides for the first time an aerosol climatology for Central Asia based long-term aerosol profiling by ground-based lidar (PollyXT type) in Dushanbe, Tajikistan. For pure dust cases, mean depolarization(lidar) ratios of 0.23±0.03(44±3 sr) at 355 nm and 0.32±0.02(38±3 sr) at 532 nm wavelength have been measured. The mean extinction-related Ångström exponent was 0.18±0.15

Profiling Aerosol Optical Properties at the Central Asian Site of Dushanbe, Tajikistan: Pure Dust Cases

Tajikistan is often affected by atmospheric mineral dust originating from various surrounding deserts. The direct and indirect radiative effects of that dust play a sensitive role in the Central Asian climate system and therefore need to be quantified. The Central Asian Dust Experiment (CADEX) provides for the first time an aerosol climatology for Central Asia based long-term aerosol profiling by ground-based lidar (PollyXT type) in Dushanbe, Tajikistan. For pure dust cases, mean depolarization(lidar) ratios of 0.23±0.03(44±3 sr) at 355 nm and 0.32±0.02(38±3 sr) at 532 nm wavelength have been measured. The mean extinction-related Ångström exponent was 0.18±0.15

Aerosol layer heights above Tajikistan during the CADEX campaign

Mineral dust influences climate and weather by direct and indirect effects. Surrounded by dust sources, Central Asian countries are affected by atmospheric mineral dust on a regular basis. Climate change effects like glacier retreat and desertification are prevalent in Central Asia as well. Therefore, the role of dust in the climate system in Central Asia needs to be clarified and quantified. During the Central Asian Dust EXperiment (CADEX) first lidar observations in Tajikistan were conducted. Long-term vertically resolved aerosol measurements were performed with the multiwavelength polarization Raman lidar PollyXT from March 2015 to August 2016 in Dushanbe, Tajikistan. In this contribution, a climatology of the aerosol layer heights is presented, which was retrieved from the 18-month lidar measurements. Automatic detection based on backscatter coefficient thresholds were used to retrieve the aerosol layer heights and yield similar layer heights as manual layer height determination. The significant aerosol layer height has a maximum in summer and a minimum in winter. The highest layers occurred in spring, but in summer uppermost layer heights above 6 km AGL are frequent, too