The Fundamental Aerosol Models Over China Region: A Cluster Analysis of the Ground-Based Remote Sensing Measurements of Total Columnar Atmosphere

Ten fundamental aerosol models in China are derived from a cluster study based on the ground-based remote sensing measurements of Sun-sky radiometer Observation NETwork. The aerosol size distribution decomposition techniques are employed to yield individual fine and coarse mode size distribution functions with independent refractive indices. The total 10,773 records containing 18 kinds of aerosol microphysical parameters are used to yield 10 typical clusters with the verification of clustering robustness. Ten clusters suggest five typical fine particle aerosol models including urban polluted, secondary polluted, combined polluted, polluted fly ash, and continental background, as well as five coarse models including summer fly ash, winter fly ash, primary dust, transported dust, and background dust over China region. The representativeness and coappearance analyses again reveal five dominative aerosol patterns on the base of fundamental models. These models can be used in the chemical model simulation, satellite remote sensing, climate, and environment analyses. Plain Language Summary The aerosol fundamental characterization model is used to describe the typical aerosol properties in a region which is essential in the radiative transfer calculations and thus is fundamental knowledge for many applications related to Earth's atmosphere. However, the establishment of these models is not easy not only for the hard works on the continuously long-term, high-quality observation but also related to analysis methods. However, these essential models are long-term missed for China regions where is the most important aerosol regions in the world. It has turned to a bottleneck problem for accurately assessing aerosol effects in this important region. In this paper, we use the first-hand 7-year aerosol observation from the 16 sites of Chinese local observation network and employ an advanced new technique to first derive 10 fundamental aerosol characterization models over China. The obtained 10 fundamental aerosol models can provide a basis for general description of China aerosols. It is very useful for the climate, environment, and ecology studies. Meanwhile, they can be directly adapted in the development of satellite remote sensing algorithms. These results can be quickly applied to ameliorate accuracy and validity of various applications related to radiative transfer through the atmosphere in China.