Study on aerosol properties over Madrid (Spain) by multiple instrumentation during SPALI10 lidar campaign

Abstract

Four co-located multiwavelength Raman lidar systems (Madrid, Granada, Barcelona and Evora) measured simultaneously to a reference system (Potenza) in order to assess their performances during the intercomparison campaign: SPALI10, (SPAin Lidar Intercomparison 2010) that took place in Madrid from 18 October to 5 November 2010. Multiwavelength Raman lidar systems provide relevant vertically-resolved characteristics of aerosol optical properties. The products provided by the lidar systems were compared with ancillary data. At ground level, aerosol size distributions were continuously monitored. Additionally, the column integrated characterization of the atmospheric aerosol was performed by means of a sun photometer. The extensive dataset obtained during SPALI10 field campaign enables to compare ground-level in situ measurements with remote sensing techniques to determine vertically-resolved optical and microphysical properties of aerosols. Several relevant features shown in the comparison of the results obtained by the different instruments are discussed in this work. © Sociedad Espanola de Optica.