Dust mass, cloud condensation nuclei, and ice-nucleating particle profiling with polarization lidar: updated POLIPHON conversion factors from global AERONET analysis

Abstract. The POLIPHON (Polarization Lidar PhotometerNetworking) method permits the retrieval of particle number, surface area, and volume concentration for dust and non-dust aerosol components. The obtained microphysicalproperties are used to estimate height profiles of particle mass, cloud condensation nucleus (CCN) and ice-nucleating particle (INP) concentrations. The conversion of aerosol-type-dependent particle extinction coefficients, derived from polarization lidar observations, into the aerosol microphysicalproperties (number, surface area, volume) formsthe central part of the POLIPHON computations. The conversion parameters are determined from Aerosol Robotic Network ( AERONET) aerosol climatologies of optical and microphysicalproperties. In this article, we focus on the dust-related POLIPHON retrieval products and present an extended set of dust conversion factorsconsidering all relevant deserts around the globe. We apply the new conversion factorset to a dust measurement with polarization lidar in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, in central Asia. Strong aerosol layering was observed with mineral dustadvected from Kazakhstan (0–2 km height), Iran (2–5 km), the Arabian peninsula (5–7 km), and the Sahara (8–10 km). POLIPHON results obtained with different sets of conversion parameters were contrasted in this central Asian case study and permitted an estimation of the conversion uncertainties.