Vertical profiles of optical and microphysical particle properties above the northern Indian Ocean during CARDEX 2012
Authors: Höpner F. , Bender F. A.-M. , Ekman A. M. L. , Praveen P. S. , Bosch C. , Ogren J. A. , Andersson A. , Gustafsson Ö. , Ramanathan V. 
Published: February 2015

Abstract. A detailed analysis of optical and microphysical properties of aerosol particles during the dry winter monsoon season above the northern Indian Ocean is presented. The Cloud Aerosol Radiative Forcing Experiment (CARDEX), conducted in February and March 2012 at the Maldives Climate Observatory on Hanimaadhoo island (MCOH) in the Republic of the Maldives, used autonomous unmanned aerial vehicles (AUAV) to perform vertical in-situ measurements of particle number concentration, particle number size distribution as well as particle absorption. These measurements were used together with surface-based Mini Micro Pulse Lidar (MiniMPL) observations and aerosol in-situ and off-line measurements to investigate the vertical distribution of aerosol particles. Air masses were mainly advected over the Indian subcontinent and the Arabian Peninsula. Mean surface aerosol number concentration was 1717±604 cm−3 and the highest values were found in air masses from the Bay of Bengal and Indo–Gangetic Plain (2247±370 cm−3). Investigations of the free tropospheric air showed that elevated aerosol layers with up to 3 times higher aerosol number concentrations than at the surface occurred mainly during periods with air masses originating from the Bay of Bengal and the Indo–Gangetic Plain. Compared to the Indian Ocean Experiment (INDOEX) conducted in winter 1999, elevated aerosol layers with increased aerosol number concentration were observed more frequently in 2012. However, lower particle absorption at the surface (σabs(520 nm)=8.5±4.2 Wm−1) was found during CARDEX compared to INDOEX 1999. By combining vertical in-situ measured particle absorption with scattering calculated with Mie-theory, layers with single-scattering albedo (SSA) values of specific source regions were derived and utilized to calculate vertical particle absorption profiles from MiniMPL profiles. SSA surface values for dry conditions were found to be 0.94±0.02 and 0.91±0.02 for air masses from the Arabian Sea (and Middle East countries) and India (and Bay of Bengal), respectively. Lidar-derived particle absorption profiles showed both a similar magnitude and structure as the in-situ profiles measured with the AUAV. However, primarily due to insufficient accuracy in the SSA estimates, the lidar-derived absorption profiles have large uncertainties and are generally weakly correlated to vertically in-situ measured particle absorption. Furthermore, the mass absorption efficiency (MAE) for the northern Indian Ocean during the dry monsoon season was calculated to determine equivalent black carbon (EBC) concentrations from particle absorption measurements. A mean MAE of 11.6 and 6.9 m2 g−1 for 520 and 880 nm, respectively, was found, likely representing internally mixed BC containing particles. Lower MAE values for 880 nm were found for air masses originating from dust regions such as the Arabian Peninsula and western Asia (5.6 m2 g−1) or from closer source regions as southern India (4.3m2 g−1).