Vertical Separation of Aerosol Types Using of CALIPSO Level-2 Products

A first attempt is made to vertically separate profiles of optical parameters due to different aerosol types over Africa. The method applied makes use of particle backscatter profiles at 532 nm and vertically resolved linear particle depolarization ratio measurements at the same wavelength measured by space-borne CALIPSO lidar. Values of particle depolarization ratio of ‘pure’ aerosol types were taken from literature. A case of CALIPSO space-borne lidar system was selected on the basis of different mixing state of the atmosphere. To identify the origin of air-masses 4-day air mass back trajectories were computed using HYbrid Single-Particle Langrangian Integrated Trajectory (HYSPLIT) model, for different arrival heights, for the location and time under study.