Variation in daytime troposphereic aerosol via LIDAR and sunphotometer measurements in Penang, Malaysia

Aerosol is one of the important factors that will influence the air quality, visibility, clouds, and precipitation processes in the troposphere. In this work, we investigated the variation of aerosol during daytime in Penang, Malaysia in certain days within July 2013. Vertical LIDAR scattering ratio and backscattering profiles, and columnar optical properties (optical depth, Angström exponent) of aerosols were measured using Raymetrics LIDAR and a CIMEL sunphotometer respectively. Specifically, we have determined the daytime variation of intensity and distribution level of aerosol, as well as the planetary boundary layer (PBL) and cloud classification. Subsequently, the data of columnar aerosol optical depth (AOD) and size distribution in the atmospheric were used to quantify the properties of aerosol variation during daytime over Penang, Malaysia.