Integrated ground-based monitoring of dust aerosol from a semi-arid site in North China during 2004–2006

An observational study on dust-storm is performed according to the ground-based integrated monitoring system at a semi-arid site. For the automatic sun-tracking photometer, which has widely-acceptable retrieval accuracy, cloud influence stays still a problem for vertical atmosphere remote sensing. Multimodal distribution of optical depth thus appears during dust-storm event and brings out difficulty in confirming the peak value for dust aerosol, and even results in valid data missing. A fitting relationship between the measurements of visibility meter and sunphotometer is listed according to dust weather. Accuracy validation is carried out based on the cases during 2004-2006, with a correlation analysis using the measurements of PM10 monitor. Columnar aerosol size distributions are in consideration for a comprehensive explanation. The suggested result leads to a better understanding for dust aerosol characteristic and dust-storm pre-warning in despite of the cloud interference.