The mass of smoke particles was measured with a ceilometer

The long-range-transported smoke particles from a Canadian wildfire event were observed with a multi-wavelength Raman polarization lidar and a ceilometer over Kuopio, Finland, in June 2019.

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Layers of biomass burning aerosol particles were observed in the lower troposphere, at 2 to 5 km height on 4 to 6 June 2019, in Vehmasmäki (~18 km from the city centre of Kuopio). The optical properties (e.g., showing shape and size information) and the mass concentration estimations were reported for such aged smoke aerosols over northern Europe.

We demonstrated the potential of the Vaisala CL51 ceilometer to contribute to atmospheric aerosol research, e.g. for mass concentration retrievals with some uncertainty but with great spatial coverage using instruments in ceilometer networks.

More information:

Xiaoxia Shang, Finnish Meteorological Institute, tel. +358 50 3044824, xiaoxia.shang@fmi.fi

Shang, X., Mielonen, T., Lipponen, A., Giannakaki, E., Leskinen, A., Buchard, V., Darmenov, A. S., Kukkurainen, A., Arola, A., O'Connor, E., Hirsikko, A., and Komppula, M.: Mass concentration estimates of long-range-transported Canadian biomass burning aerosols from a multi-wavelength Raman polarization lidar and a ceilometer in Finland, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 6159–6179, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-6159-2021, 2021.

Scientific article available here

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