Spaceborne high-spectral-resolution lidar ACDL/DQ-1 retrieval and classification of the dust and smoke aerosols

Dust aerosols and wildfire smoke aerosols have a significant impact on the environment. Spaceborne lidar provides an effective means for global aerosol profile detection. This study utilizes high-spectral-resolution lidar (HSRL) observation data from the Aerosol and Carbon Detection Lidar (ACDL) onboard the Atmospheric Environment Monitoring Satellite (DQ-1) to analyze dust and wildfire smoke aerosol events over China on March 14, 2024. Optical properties of aerosol, including aerosol depolarization ratio, backscatter coefficient, extinction coefficient, and lidar ratio, were retrieved. Optical parameters were used to identify aerosol subtypes. Based on DQ-1/ACDL HSRL observations, widespread dust aerosols over northern China exhibited depolarization ratio of 0.18–0.38 and lidar ratio of 34–74 sr. Simultaneously, large-scale wildfire smoke aerosols were observed across Yunnan region, showing low depolarization ratio of 0.03–0.1 and elevated lidar ratio of 45–87 sr. Analysis of aerosol optical depth (AOD) indicated that dust-region AOD increased from a background value of 0.026 to a peak of 0.61, while smoke-region AOD rose continuously from 0.032 to 1.1. This study validates the potential of ACDL unique high-spectral detection technique in aerosol detection and classification.