The impact of air mass advection on aerosol optical properties over Gotland (Baltic Sea)

In the present paper, measurements of aerosol optical properties from the Gotland station of the AERONET network, combined with a two-stage cluster analysis of back trajectories of air masses moving over Gotland, were used to identify the main paths of air mass advection to the Baltic Sea and to relate them to aerosol optical properties, i.e. the aerosol optical thickness at the wavelength λ = 500 nm, AOT (500) and the Ångström exponent for the spectral range from 440 to 870 nm, α(440,870). One- to six-day long back trajectories ending at 300, 500 and 3000 m above the station were computed using the HYSPLIT model. The study shows that in the Gotland region, variability in aerosol optical thickness AOT(500) is more strongly related to advections in the boundary layer than to those in the free troposphere. The observed variability in AOT(500) was best explained by the advection speeds and directions given by clustering of 4-day backward trajectories of air arriving in the boundary layer at 500 m above the station. 17 clusters of 4-day trajectories arriving at altitude 500 m above the Gotland station (sea level) derived using two-stage cluster analysis differ from each other with respect to trajectory length, the speed of air mass movement and the direction of advection. They also show different cluster means of AOT(500) and α(440,870). The cluster mean AOT(500) ranges from 0.342 ± 0.012 for the continental clusters M2 (east-southeast advection with moderate speed) and 0.294 ± 0.025 for S5 (slow south-southeast advection) to 0.064 ± 0.002 and 0.069 ± 0.002 for the respective marine clusters L3 (fast west-northwest advection) and M3 (north-northwest advection with moderate speed). The cluster mean α(440,870) varies from 1.65-1.70 for the short-trajectory clusters to 0.98 ± 0.03 and 1.06 ± 0.03 for the Arctic marine cluster L4 (fast inflow from the north) and marine cluster L5 (fast inflow from the west) respectively.