Vertical resolved aerosol characterization during the GAMARF campaign: Aerosol size distribution and radiative properties

The Ground-based and Airborne Measurements of the Aerosol Radiative Forcing (GAMARF) campaign was carried out during spring 2008 in Lampedusa Island (Central Mediterranean). Several flights were performed by an instrumented ultralight in different atmospheric conditions. In situ measurements of aerosol size distribution vertical profiles were used together with ground-based measurements of aerosol optical depth and ÅAngström exponent to retrieve simultaneously profiles of the aerosol radiative properties and its effective refractive index. The retrieved backscattering and extinction profiles are in agreement with independent Lidar measurements, within the estimated uncertainties. This analysis suggests that in situ measurements of aerosol distribution can be used quantitatively for the determination of the aerosol optical and radiative properties.