Study on the Variation of Optical Properties of Asian Dust Plumes according to their Transport Routes and Source Regions using Multi-wavelength Raman LIDAR System

The continuous observations for atmospheric aerosol were carried out during 3 years (2009-2011) by using a multi-wavelength Raman lidar at the Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST), Korea (35.11 degrees N, 126.54 degrees E). The particle depolarization ratios were retrieved from the observations in order to distinguish the Asian dust layer. The vertical information of Asian dust layers were used as input parameter for the Hybrid Single Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory (HYSPLIT) model for analysis of its backward trajectories. The source regions and transport pathways of the Asian dust layer were identified. The most frequent source region of Asian dust in Korea was Gobi desert during observation period in this study. The statistical analysis on the particle depolarization ratio of Asian dust was conducted according to their transport route in order to retrieve the variation of optical properties of Asian dust during long-range transport. The transport routes were classified into the Asian dust which was transported to observation site directly from the source regions, and the Asian dust which was passed over pollution regions of China. The particle depolarization ratios of Asian dust which were transported via industrial regions of China was ranged 0.07-0.1, whereas, the particle depolarization ratio of Asian dust which was transported directly from the source regions to observation site were comparably higher and ranged 0.11-0.15. It is considered that the pure Asian dust particle from source regions were mixed with pollution particles, which is likely to spherical particle, during transportation so that the values of particle depolarization of Asian dust mixed with pollution was decreased.