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Smoke layers have been measured at several stations of the European Aerosol Research Lidar Network EARLINET. This ACTRIS network is routinely observing the atmosphere and can detect aerosol and cloud layers from the ground up to the lower stratosphere. Starting on 11 September, smoke was observed with ground-based lidars at the ACTRIS station of the Leibniz Institute for Tropospheric Research (TROPOS) in Leipzig, Germany. The plume was first discovered at an altitude of about 12 km, because of the high wind speeds in the jet stream region. Later, smoke was found throughout the whole troposphere as shown in the figure above, which illustrates the aerosol load in terms of the attenuated backscatter coefficient measured at Leipzig over a period of more than four days. Whereas white colours denote clouds, the green, yellow, and red colours are an indicator for scattering of light by atmospheric aerosol, in this case smoke and local pollution. In the peak time, the incoming direct solar radiation was reduced by 45% (aerosol optical depth of 0.6 at 500 nm). The German Meteorological Service estimated that the forecast maximum temperature was reduced by 1-2 K on that day. The presence of high aerosol load was also recognized by the public, observing a milky sky even in times without any cloud occurrence.
Links:
http://polly.rsd.tropos.de/
https://www.tropos.de/en/current-issues/press-releases/kurzmitteilungen/rauch-von-us-waldbraenden-zieht-ueber-deutschland
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