Near-surface and columnar measurements with a micro pulse lidar of atmospheric pollen in Barcelona, Spain
Sicard, Michaël (Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. Remote Sensing Laboratory-RSLab)
Izquierdo Miguel, Rebeca (Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. Departament de Física)
Alarcón Jordán, Marta, 1958- (Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. Departament de Física)
Belmonte, Jordina (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals)
Comerón, Adolfo (Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. Remote Sensing Laboratory-RSLab)
Baldasano, José Maria (Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. Laboratori de Modelització Ambiental)

Date:	2016
Abstract:	We present for the first time continuous hourly measurements of pollen near-surface concentration and lidarderived profiles of particle backscatter coefficients and of volume and particle depolarization ratios during a 5-day pollination event observed in Barcelona, Spain, between 27 and 31 March 2015. Daily average concentrations ranged from 1082 to 2830 pollenm¯³. Platanus and Pinus pollen types represented together more than 80%of the total pollen. Maximum hourly pollen concentrations of 4700 and 1200m¯³ were found for Platanus and Pinus, respectively. Every day a clear diurnal cycle caused by the vertical transport of the airborne pollen was visible on the lidar-derived profiles with maxima usually reached between 12:00 and 15:00 UT. A method based on the lidar polarization capabilities was used to retrieve the contribution of the pollen to the total aerosol optical depth (AOD). On average the diurnal (09:00-17:00 UT) pollen AOD was 0. 05, which represented 29% of the total AOD. Maximum values of the pollen AOD and its contribution to the total AOD reached 0. 12 and 78 %, respectively. The diurnal means of the volume and particle depolarization ratios in the pollen plume were 0. 08 and 0. 14, with hourly maxima of 0. 18 and 0. 33, respectively. The diurnal mean of the height of the pollen plume was found at 1. 24 km with maxima varying in the range of 1. 47-1. 78 km. A correlation study is performed (1) between the depolarization ratios and the pollen near-surface concentration to evaluate the ability of the former parameter to monitor pollen release and (2) between the depolarization ratios as well as pollen AOD and surface downward solar fluxes, which cause the atmospheric turbulences responsible for the particle vertical motion, to examine the dependency of the depolarization ratios and the pollen AOD upon solar fluxes. For the volume depolarization ratio the first correlation study yields to correlation coefficients ranging 0. 00-0. 81 and the second to correlation coefficients ranging 0. 49-0. 86.
Grants:	European Commission 654169 European Commission 262254 Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad TEC2015-63832-P Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad TEC2012-34575 Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación UNPC10-4E-442 Agència de Gestió d'Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca 2014/SGR-583
Note:	Unidad de excelencia María de Maeztu MdM-2015-0552
Rights:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, la comunicació pública de l'obra i la creació d'obres derivades, fins i tot amb finalitats comercials, sempre i quan es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original.
Language:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada
Published in:	Atmospheric chemistry and physics, Vol. 16, issue 11 (June 2016) , p. 6805-6821, ISSN 1680-7324

DOI: 10.5194/acp-16-6805-2016

17 p, 6.9 MB

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Research literature > UAB research groups literature > Research Centres and Groups (research output) > Experimental sciences > Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals (ICTA)
Articles > Research articles
Articles > Published articles