Jens Reichardt

Bio: Jens Reichardt is an academic researcher from Deutscher Wetterdienst. The author has contributed to research in topics: Lidar & Cirrus. The author has an hindex of 20, co-authored 44 publications receiving 1103 citations. Previous affiliations of Jens Reichardt include Goddard Space Flight Center & University of Maryland, Baltimore County.

Atmospheric temperature profiling in the presence of clouds with a pure rotational Raman lidar by use of an interference-filter-based polychromator

Abstract: A lidar polychromator design for the measurement of atmospheric temperature profiles in the presence of clouds with the rotational Raman method is presented. The design utilizes multicavity interference filters mounted sequentially at small angles of incidence. Characteristics of this design are high signal efficiency and adjustable center wavelengths of the filters combined with a stable and relatively simple experimental setup. High suppression of the elastic backscatter signal in the rotational Raman detection channels allows temperature measurements independent of the presence of thin clouds or aerosol layers; no influence of particle scattering on the lidar temperature profile was observed in clouds with a backscatter ratio of at least 45. The minimum integration time needed for temperature profiling with a statistical temperature error of +/-1 K at, e.g., 20-km height and 960-m height resolution is 1.5 h.

RAMSES: German Meteorological Service autonomous Raman lidar for water vapor, temperature, aerosol, and cloud measurements

Abstract: The Raman lidar for atmospheric moisture sensing (RAMSES) for unattended, continuous multiparameter atmospheric profiling is presented. A seeded frequency-tripled Nd:YAG laser serves as the light source. A nine-channel polychromator, nonfiber coupled to the main telescope (790 mm diameter), is used for far-range measurements. Near-range observations are performed with a three-channel polychromator, fiber coupled to a secondary telescope (200 mm diameter). Measurement parameters are water-vapor mixing ratio (MR), temperature, and the optical particle parameters, which are extinction coefficient, backscatter coefficient, lidar ratio, and depolarization ratio at 355 nm. Profiles of water-vapor MR are measured from close to the surface up to 14 km at night and 5 km during the day under favorable atmospheric conditions in 20 min. Temperature profiles of the troposphere and lower stratosphere are determined with the rotational-Raman technique. For the detection of the rotational Raman signals, a new beamsplitter/interference-filter experimental setup is implemented that is compact, robust, and easy to align. Furthermore, the polychromator design allows two independent methods for calibrating measurements of depolarization ratio. RAMSES optical design concept and experimental setup are detailed, and a description of the operational near-real-time data evaluation software is given. A multiday observation is discussed to illustrate the measurement capabilities of RAMSES.

Evolution of the Pinatubo Aerosol: Raman Lidar Observations of Particle Optical Depth, Effective Radius, Mass, and Surface Area over Central Europe at 53.4°N

Abstract: The Raman lidar technique has been applied to document the evolution and dissipation of the Pinatubo aerosol between 1991 and 1995. For the first time, profiles of the particle extinction coefficient have been determined with lidar in the stratosphere after a major volcanic eruption. From the concurrent observation of particle backscatter and extinction, time series of surface-area and mass concentrations and surface-area-weighted mean (or effective) radius can be determined without having to assume critical aerosol input parameters. Based on these optical and physical parameters, the development of the perturbation of the stratospheric aerosol layer over central Europe is discussed. In terms of particle backscatter and mass the perturbation declined with an e-folding decay time of 14–15 months between April 1992 and April 1994. The monthly mean particle optical depth reached 0.23 in the spring of 1992. Surface-area concentrations of the order of 10–40 mm2 m−3 were observed below 20-km height for...

Geometrical-optics solution to light scattering by droxtal ice crystals

Abstract: We investigate the phase matrices of droxtals at wavelengths of 0.66 and 11 μm by using an improved geometrical-optics method. An efficient method is developed to specify the incident rays and the corresponding impinging points on the particle surface necessary to initialize the ray-tracing computations. At the 0.66-μm wavelength, the optical properties of droxtals are different from those of hexagonal ice crystals. At the 11-μm wavelength, the phase functions for droxtals are essentially featureless because of strong absorption within the particles, except for ripple structures that are caused by the phase interference of the diffracted wave.

The unprecedented 2017–2018 stratospheric smoke event: decay phase and aerosol properties observed with the EARLINET

Abstract: . Six months of stratospheric aerosol observations with the European Aerosol Research Lidar Network (EARLINET) from August 2017 to January 2018 are presented. The decay phase of an unprecedented, record-breaking stratospheric perturbation caused by wildfire smoke is reported and discussed in terms of geometrical, optical, and microphysical aerosol properties. Enormous amounts of smoke were injected into the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere over fire areas in western Canada on 12 August 2017 during strong thunderstorm–pyrocumulonimbus activity. The stratospheric fire plumes spread over the entire Northern Hemisphere in the following weeks and months. Twenty-eight European lidar stations from northern Norway to southern Portugal and the eastern Mediterranean monitored the strong stratospheric perturbation on a continental scale. The main smoke layer (over central, western, southern, and eastern Europe) was found at heights between 15 and 20 km since September 2017 (about 2 weeks after entering the stratosphere). Thin layers of smoke were detected at heights of up to 22–23 km. The stratospheric aerosol optical thickness at 532 nm decreased from values > 0.25 on 21–23 August 2017 to 0.005–0.03 until 5–10 September and was mainly 0.003–0.004 from October to December 2017 and thus was still significantly above the stratospheric background (0.001–0.002). Stratospheric particle extinction coefficients (532 nm) were as high as 50–200 Mm −1 until the beginning of September and on the order of 1 Mm −1 (0.5–5 Mm −1 ) from October 2017 until the end of January 2018. The corresponding layer mean particle mass concentration was on the order of 0.05–0.5 µ g m −3 over these months. Soot particles (light-absorbing carbonaceous particles) are efficient ice-nucleating particles (INPs) at upper tropospheric (cirrus) temperatures and available to influence cirrus formation when entering the tropopause from above. We estimated INP concentrations of 50–500 L −1 until the first days in September and afterwards 5–50 L −1 until the end of the year 2017 in the lower stratosphere for typical cirrus formation temperatures of − 55 ∘ C and an ice supersaturation level of 1.15. The measured profiles of the particle linear depolarization ratio indicated a predominance of nonspherical smoke particles. The 532 nm depolarization ratio decreased slowly with time in the main smoke layer from values of 0.15–0.25 (August–September) to values of 0.05–0.10 (October–November) and 0.05 (December–January). The decrease of the depolarization ratio is consistent with aging of the smoke particles, growing of a coating around the solid black carbon core (aggregates), and thus change of the shape towards a spherical form. We found ascending aerosol layer features over the most southern European stations, especially over the eastern Mediterranean at 32–35 ∘ N, that ascended from heights of about 18–19 to 22–23 km from the beginning of October to the beginning of December 2017 (about 2 km per month). We discuss several transport and lifting mechanisms that may have had an impact on the found aerosol layering structures.

Volcanic forcing of climate over the past 1500 years: An improved ice core-based index for climate models

Abstract: [1] Understanding natural causes of climate change is vital to evaluate the relative impacts of human pollution and land surface modification on climate. We have investigated one of the most important natural causes of climate change, volcanic eruptions, by using 54 ice core records from both the Arctic and Antarctica. Our recently collected suite of ice core data, more than double the number of cores ever used before, reduces errors inherent in reconstructions based on a single or small number of cores, which enables us to obtain much higher accuracy in both detection of events and quantification of the radiative effects. We extracted volcanic deposition signals from each ice core record by applying a high-pass loess filter to the time series and examining peaks that exceed twice the 31-year running median absolute deviation. We then studied the spatial pattern of volcanic sulfate deposition on Greenland and Antarctica and combined this knowledge with a new understanding of stratospheric transport of volcanic aerosols to produce a forcing data set as a function of month, latitude, and altitude for the past 1500 years. We estimated the uncertainties associated with the choice of volcanic signal extraction criteria, ice core sulfate deposition to stratospheric loading calibration factor, and the season for the eruptions without a recorded month. We forced an energy balance climate model with this new volcanic forcing data set, together with solar and anthropogenic forcing, to simulate the large-scale temperature response. The results agree well with instrumental observations for the past 150 years and with proxy records for the entire period. Through better characterization of the natural causes of climate change, this new data set will lead to improved prediction of anthropogenic impacts on climate. The new data set of stratospheric sulfate injections from volcanic eruptions for the past 1500 years, as a function of latitude, altitude, and month, is available for download in a format suitable for forcing general circulation models of the climate system.

Depolarization ratio profiling at several wavelengths in pure Saharan dust during SAMUM 2006.

Abstract: Vertical profiles of the linear particle depolarization ratio of pure dust clouds were measured during the Saharan Mineral Dust Experiment (SAMUM) at Ouarzazate, Morocco (30.9 ◦ N, –6.9 ◦ E), close to source regions in May–June 2006, with four lidar systems at four wavelengths (355, 532, 710 and 1064 nm). The intercomparison of the lidar systems is accompanied by a discussion of the different calibration methods, including a new, advanced method, and a detailed error analysis. Over the whole SAMUM periode pure dust layers show a mean linear particle depolarization ratio at 532 nm of 0.31, in the range between 0.27 and 0.35, with a mean Angstr¨ om exponent (AE, 440–870 nm) of 0.18 (range 0.04–0.34) and still high mean linear particle depolarization ratio between 0.21 and 0.25 during periods with aerosol optical thickness less than 0.1, with a mean AE of 0.76 (range 0.65–1.00), which represents a negative correlation of the linear particle depolarization ratio with the AE. A slight decrease of the linear particle depolarization ratio with wavelength was found between 532 and 1064 nm from 0.31 ± 0.03 to 0.27 ± 0.04.

Microphysical particle parameters from extinction and backscatter lidar data by inversion with regularization: simulation.

Abstract: A method is proposed that permits one to retrieve physical parameters of tropospheric particle size distributions, e.g., effective radius, volume, surface-area, and number concentrations, as well as the mean complex refractive index on a routine basis from backscatter and extinction coefficients at multiple wavelengths. The optical data in terms of vertical profiles are derived from multiple-wavelength lidar measurements at 355, 400, 532, 710, 800, and 1064 nm for backscatter data and 355 and 532 nm for extinction data. The algorithm is based on the concept of inversion with regularization. Regularization is performed by generalized cross-validation. This method does not require knowledge of the shape of the particle size distribution and can handle measurement errors of the order of 20%. It is shown that at least two extinction data are necessary to retrieve the particle parameters to an acceptable accuracy. Simulations with monomodal and bimodal logarithmic-normal size distributions show that it is possible to derive effective radius, volume, and surface-area concentrations to an accuracy of +/-50%, the real part of the complex refractive index to +/-0.05, and the imaginary part to +/-50%. Number concentrations may have errors larger than +/-50%.