The Asian dust and agricultural biomass burning aerosol from the ground-based Lidar and satellite measurements in China: Transport, optical properties and impacts on regional air quality

The optical properties, time-height distribution and impact on the local air quality from a heavy Asian dust transport episode are investigated with a synergistic ground-based, satellite sensors and model on May 2011 in Nanjing city (32.05°N,118.78°E, 94m ASL), China. Two dust layers located in the planetary-boundary-layer (PBL, <2.5km) and free troposphere (3–6km) are observed by a Polarization Raman-Mie Lidar. Diff erent transport paths originating from the Gobi deserts and Taklimakan deserts are demonstrated by the NOAA HYSPLIT, NAAPS models and NASA satellites (MODIS and CALIPSO) imageries. Th e dust aerosol layer shows the depolarization ratios at 0.1–0.2 and strong extinction coeffi cients attaining 1.0km1 at 532nm and the Lidar ratios of dust are 47.3–55sr below 2.5km altitude