MAX-DOAS measurements in southern China: 1. automated aerosol profile retrieval using oxygen dimers absorptions

Abstract

Abstract. We performed MAX-DOAS measurements during the PRiDe-PRD2006 campaign in the Pearl River Delta region 50 km north of Guangzhou, China, for 4 weeks in June 2006. We used an instrument which simultaneously sampled the wavelength range from 292 nm to 443 nm at 7 different elevation angles between 3° and 90°. Here we show that the O4 (O2 dimer) absorption at 360 nm can be used to retrieve the aerosol extinction and the height of the boundary layer. A comparison with simultaneously recorded, ground based nephelometer data shows an excellent agreement.