Optical and microphysical properties of fresh biomass burning aerosol retrieved by Raman lidar, and star-and sun-photometry

A fresh biomass-burning pollution plume was monitored and characterized in terms of optical and microphysical properties for the first time with a combination of Raman lidar and star- and sun-photometers. Such an instrument combination is highly useful for 24-h monitoring of pollution events. The observations were made at Granada (37.16 degrees N, 3.6 degrees W), Spain. The fresh smoke particles show a rather pronounced accumulation mode and features markedly different from those reported for aged particles. We find lidar ratios around 60-65 sr at 355 nm and 532 nm, and particle effective radii below 0.20 mu m. We find low values of the single-scattering albedo of 0.76-0.9 depending on measurement wavelength. The numbers are lower than what have been found for aged, long-range-transported smoke that originated from boreal fires in Canada and Siberia. Citation: Alados-Arboledas, L., D. Muller, J. L. Guerrero-Rascado, F. Navas-Guzman, D. Perez-Ramirez, and F. J. Olmo (2011), Optical and microphysical properties of fresh biomass burning aerosol retrieved by Raman lidar, and star- and sun-photometry, Geophys. Res. Lett., 38, L01807, doi:10.1029/2010GL045999.