Influence of wind speed on optical properties of aerosols in the marine boundary layer measured by ship-borne DePolarization Lidar in the coastal area of Korea

Abstract

Shipboard measurements of microphysical and optical properties of marine boundary-layer aerosols were performed around the Korean Peninsula from 2 to 5 December 2009. The measurements were conducted aboard the Korean icebreaking research vessel Araon during cruise tracks in the East Sea of Korea near Busan and Pohang. This paper describes the results of optical aerosol measurements acquired with a DePolarization Lidar (DPL) and an Optical Particle Counter (OPC) and data on meteorological parameters. Backward trajectory analyses indicate that two different aerosol characteristics according to different pathways of air mass encountered during the cruise. We find a high correlation between wind speeds across the east coast of Korea and extinction coefficient, depolarization ratio and mass concentration with correlation coefficient (R2) of 0.57, 0.52 and 0.67, respectively. The increase of extinction coefficient, depolarization ratio and number concentration with wind speed may have been caused by the increase of sea-salt aerosol production and transport.