An overview of the first decade of Polly NET : an emerging network of automated Raman-polarization lidars for continuous aerosol profiling

By Holger Baars, T. Kanitz, Ronny Engelmann, Dietrich Althausen, Birgit Heese, Mika Komppula, J. Preißler, M. Tesche, Albert Ansmann, Ulla Wandinger and 35 more. 2016

271 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Abstract. A global vertically resolved aerosol data set covering more than 10 years of observations at more than 20 measurement sites distributed from 63° N to 52° S and 72° W to 124° E has been achieved within the Raman and polarization lidar network PollyNET. This network consists of portable, remote-controlled multiwavelength-polarization-Raman lidars (Polly) for automated and continuous 24/7 observations of clouds and aerosols. PollyNET is an independent, voluntary, and scientific network. All Polly lidars feature a standardized instrument design with different capabilities ranging from single wavelength to multiwavelength systems, and now apply unified calibration, quality control, and data analysis. The observations are processed in near-real time without manual intervention, and are presented online at http://polly.tropos.de/ . The paper gives an overview of the observations on four continents and two research vessels obtained with eight Polly systems. The specific aerosol types at these locations (mineral dust, smoke, dust-smoke and other dusty mixtures, urban haze, and volcanic ash) are identified by their Angstrom exponent, lidar ratio, and depolarization ratio. The vertical aerosol distribution at the PollyNET locations is discussed on the basis of more than 55 000 automatically retrieved 30 min particle backscatter coefficient profiles at 532 nm as this operating wavelength is available for all Polly lidar systems. A seasonal analysis of measurements at selected sites revealed typical and extraordinary aerosol conditions as well as seasonal differences. These studies show the potential of PollyNET to support the establishment of a global aerosol climatology that covers the entire troposphere.

Subfields: Atmospheric Science, Global and Planetary Change

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/e54bfe8ee725c5ee6f8129e8bb17d98bafd723ec

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Citations in the corpus

The automated multiwavelength Raman polarization and water-vapor lidar PollyXT: The neXT generation (2016, methodology): “At the web page of PollyNET, automatically retrieved profiles of the backscatter and extinction coefficient are presented each 30 min, whenever atmospheric conditions are favorable for an automated retrieval (Baars et al., 2016).”