ACP Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics ACP 1680-7324 Copernicus GmbH Göttingen, Germany 10.5194/acp-7-6181-2007 Aerosol Lidar observations and model calculations of the Planetary Boundary Layer evolution over Greece, during the March 2006 Total Solar Eclipse Amiridis V. 1 Melas D. 2 Balis D. S. 2 Papayannis A. 3 Founda D. 4 Katragkou E. 2 Giannakaki E. 2 Mamouri R. E. 3 Gerasopoulos E. 4 Zerefos C. 5 Institute for Space Applications and Remote Sensing, National Observatory of Athens, Athens 15236, Greece Laboratory of Atmospheric Physics, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki 54124, Greece National Technical University of Athens, Athens 15780, Greece Institute for Environmental Research and Sustainable Development, National Observatory of Athens, 15236 Athens, Greece Laboratory of Climatology, University of Athens, Athens 15784, Greece 20 12 2007 7 24 6181 6189 This is an open-access article ditributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. This article is available from http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/7/6181/2007/acp-7-6181-2007.html The full text article is available as a PDF file from http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/7/6181/2007/acp-7-6181-2007.pdf

An investigation of the Planetary Boundary Layer (PBL) height evolution over Greece, during the solar eclipse of 29 March 2006, is presented. Ground based observations were carried out using lidar detection and ranging devices and ground meteorological instruments, to estimate the height of the mixing layer (ML) before, during and after the solar eclipse in northern and southern parts of Greece exhibiting different sun obscuration. Data demonstrate that the solar eclipse has induced a decrease of the PBL height, indicating a suppression of turbulence activity similar to that during the sunset hours. The changes in PBL height were associated with a very shallow entrainment zone, indicating a significant weakening of the penetrative convection. Heat transfer was confined to a thinner layer above the ground. The thickness of the entrainment zone exhibited its minimum during the maximum of the eclipse, demonstrative of turbulence mechanisms suppression at that time. Model estimations of the PBL evolution were additionally conducted using the Comprehensive Air Quality Model with extensions (CAMx) coupled with the Weather Research and Forecasting model (WRF). Model-diagnosed PBL height decrease during the solar eclipse due to vertical transport decay, in agreement with the experimental findings; vertical profiles of atmospheric particles and gaseous species showed an important vertical mixing attenuation.

 References Amiridis, V., Balis, D. S., Kazadzis, S., Bais, A., Giannakaki, E., Papayannis, A., and Zerefos, C.: Four-year aerosol observations with a Raman lidar at Thessaloniki, Greece, in the framework of European Aerosol Research Lidar Network (EARLINET), J. Geophys. Res., 110, D21203, doi:10.1029/2005JD006190, 2005. Antonia, R. A., Chambers, A. J., Phong-Anant, D., Rajagopalan, S., and Sreenivasan, K. R.: Response of atmospheric surface layer turbulence to a partial solar eclipse, J. Geophys. Res., 4, 1689–1692, 1979. Arulraj, S., Dharmaraj, T., Debaje, S. B., Badgavanth Singh, A., and Vernekar, K. G.: The dynamics of the surface layer during total solar eclipse 1995, Mausam, 49, 475–480, 1998. Balis, D., Amiridis, V., Zerefos, C., and Papayannis, A.: Verification of the experimental determination of the lidar overlap profile by a Raman lidar, Lidar Remote Sensing in Atmospheric and Earth Sciences, 21th International Laser Radar Conference (ILRC21), 125–128, 2002. Balis, D., Papayannis, A., Galani, E., Marenco, F., Santacesaria, V., Hamonou, E., Chazette, P., Ziomas, I., and Zerefos, C.: Tropospheric LIDAR aerosol measurements and sun photometric observations at Thessaloniki, Greece, Atmos. Environ., 34, 925–932, 2000. Böckmann, C., Wandinger, U., Ansmann, A., Bösenberg, J., Amiridis, V., Boselli, A., Delaval, A., De Tomasi, F., Frioud, M., Grigorov, I., Hagard, A., Horvat, M., Iarlori, M., Komguem, L., Kreipl, S., Larcheveque, G., Matthias, V., Papayannis, A., Pappalardo, G., Rocadenbosch, F., Rodrigues, J. A., Schneider, J., Shcherbakov, V., and Wiegner, M.: Aerosol lidar intercomparison in the framework of the EARLINET project: Part II – Aerosol backscatter algorithms, Appl. Opt., 43, 977–989, 2004. Chourdakis, G., Papayannis, A., and Porteneuve, J.: Analysis of the receiver response for a noncoaxial lidar system with fiber-optic output, Appl. Opt., 41, 2715–2723, 2002. Dolas, P. M., Ramachandran, R., Sen, Gupta, K., Patil, S. M., and Jadhav, P. N.: Atmospheric surface layer processes during the total solar eclipse of 11 August 1999, Boundary Layer Meteorol., 104, 445–461, 2002. Eaton, F. D., Hines, J. R. , Hatch, W. H., Cionco, R. M., Byers, J., and Garvey, D.: Solar eclipse effects observed in the planetary boundary layer over a desert, Boundary Layer Meteorol., 83, 331–346, 1997. Flamant, C., Pelon, J., Flamant, P., and Durand, P.: Lidar determination of the entrainment zone thickness at the top of the unstable marine atmospheric boundary layer, Boundary Layer Meteorol., 83, 247–284, 1997. Founda, D., Melas, D., Lykoudis, S., Lisaridis, I., Gerasopoulos, E., Kouvarakis, G., Petrakis, M., and Zerefos, C.: The effect of the total solar eclipse of 29 March 2006 on meteorological variables in Greece, Atmos. Chem. Phys. Discuss., 7, 10 631–10 667, 2007 Gerasopoulos, E., Zerefos, C. S., Tsagouri, I., et al.: The Total Solar Eclipse of March 2006: Overview, Atmos. Chem. Phys. Discuss., 7, 17 663–17 704, 2007. Girard-Ardhuin, F.,~Bénech, B., Campistron, B., Dessens, J., and Jacoby-Koaly, S.: Remote Sensing and surface observations of the response of the Atmospheric Boundary Layer to a Solar Eclipse, Boundary Layer Meteorol., 106, 93–115, 2003. Kolev, N., Tatarov, B., Grigorieva, V., Donev, E., Simenonov, P., Umlensky, V., Kaprielov, B., and Kolev, I.: Aerosol Lidar and in situ ozone observations of the planetary boundary layer over Bulgaria during the solar eclipse of 11 August 1999, Int. J. Remote Sens., 26, 3567–3584, 2005 Matthias, V., Freudenthaler, V., Amodeo, A., Balin, I., Balis, D., Bösenberg, J., Chaikovsky, A., Chourdakis, G., Comeron, A., Delaval, A., De Tomasi, F., Eixmann, R., Hågård, A., Komguem, L., Kreipl, S., Matthey, R., Rizi, V., Rodrigues, J. A., Wandinger, U., and Wang, X.: Aerosol Lidar Intercomparison in the Framework of the EARLINET Project. 1. Instruments, Appl. Opt., 43, 961–976, 2004. Menut, L., Flamant, C., Pelon, J., and Flamant, P.: Urban boundary layer height determination from lidar measurements over the Paris area, Appl. Opt., 38, 945–954, 1999. Narasimha, R., Prabhu, A., Narahari Rao, K., and Prasad, C. R.: Atmospheric Boundary Layer Experiment, Proc. of INSA Bull., 48, 175–186, 1982. Papayannis, A. and Chourdakis, G.: The EOLE project: a multiwavelength laser remote sensing (lidar) system for ozone and aerosol measurements in the troposphere and the lower stratosphere. Part II: Aerosol measurements over Athens, Greece, Inter. J. Rem. Sens., 23, 179–196, 2002. Pappalardo, P., Amodeo, A., Wandinger, U., Matthias, V., Bösenberg, J., Alpers, M., Amiridis, V., de Tomasi, F., Frioux, M., Iarlori, M., Komguen, L., Larcheveque, G., Papayannis, A., Schumacher, R., and Wang, X.: Aerosol lidar intercomparison in the framework of the EARLINET project. 3. Raman lidar algorithm for aerosol extinction, backscatter and lidar ratio, Appl. Opt., 43, 5370–5385, 2004. Poupkou, A., Symeonidis, P., Lisaridis, I., Pouspourika, E., Yay, O. D., Melas, D., Ziomas, I., Balis, D., and Zerefos, C.: Compilation of an emission inventory for the purpose of studying the regional photochemical pollution in the Balkan Region, Proceedings of the Quadrennial Ozone Symposium 2004, 902–903, 2004. Sethuraman, S.: Dynamics of the atmospheric boundary layer during the 1980 total solar eclipse, Proceedings of INSA, 48, 187–195, 1982. Stull, R. B.: An Introduction to Boundary Layer Meteorology, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, The Netherlands, 1988. Vogel, B., Baldauf, M., and Fielder, F.: The influence of a solar eclipse on temperature and wind in the Upper-Rhine Valley – A numerical case study, Meteorol. Z., 10, 207–214, 2001. Zanis, P., Katragkou, E., Kanakidou, M., Psiloglou, B., Karathanasis, S., Vrekoussis, M., Gerasopoulos, E., Lysaridis, I., Markakis, K., Poupkou, A., Amiridis, V., Melas, D., Mihalopoulos, N., and Zerefos, C.: Effects on surface atmospheric photo-oxidants over Greece during the total solar eclipse event of 29 March 2006, Atmos. Chem. Phys. Discuss., 7, 11 399–11 428, 2007.