Evolution of aerosol plumes from 2019 Raikoke volcanic eruption observed with polarization lidar over central China

The Raikoke volcano erupted on 21-22 June 2019 and emitted ~1.5 Tg volcanic ash into the atmosphere. Several previous studies have focused on the large-scale dispersion of volcanic aerosol plumes with space-borne observations and dispersion models. However, height-resolved ground-based observations are still necessary to trace and cross-check the 3-D evolution of aerosol plumes due to their complicated structures. Here, we present a rare ground-based lidar observation of Raikoke aerosol plumes in the mid-latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere (site: Wuhan; location: 30.5°N, 114.4°E) from 25 July to 30 September 2019. Two types of volcanic aerosol plumes were observed, including the main aerosol plume and a single impacted aerosol cloud (referred to as ‘CCC’, or coherent circular clouds). The main aerosol plume first arrived at Wuhan on 25 July and was intermittently observed during the following two months at altitudes of 15.0-20.5 km, with layer-integrated AODs (aerosol optical depths) of 0.001-0.017. From 22 August to 23 September, this aerosol plume underwent two quasi-elliptical transport pathways in East Asia driven by an Asian monsoon anticyclone. The CCC arrived at Wuhan twice at 20.2-21.7 km on 30 July and at 23.2-25.0 km on 24-26 August after self-lofting, corresponding to the former two circles of their transport around the Northern Hemisphere. Both arrivals of the CCC were closely followed by a thin and horizontally extended aerosol plume (named ‘trail’) with a duration of several days. The unique observation location provided us with an opportunity to study the evolution of the vertical distribution and optical properties of volcanic aerosols, which is anticipated to be a crucial supplement/reference for dispersion model simulation, data assimilation, and forecasting refinement.