Evaluation of CALIPSO’s Aerosol Classification Scheme During the ACEMED Experimental Campaign Over Greece: The Case Study of 9th of September 2011

In order to assess the validity of CALIPSO’s aerosol classification scheme, an experimental campaign called ACEMED (Evaluation of CALIPSO’s aerosol classification scheme over Eastern Mediterranean) has been organized over Greece on September 2011. In this study, we concentrate on the characterization of the aerosol load over Greece on 9th of September, using advanced in-situ aircraft instrumentation (onboard the FAAM-Bae146 aircraft of the UK Met Office). The analytical evaluation of CALIPSO’s aerosol-type classification scheme that is performed using synchronous/collocated satellite/airborne measurements, show a qualitatively reasonable performance of the CALIPSO’s aerosol classification scheme in the complex aerosol environment of the case under study, where smoke, continental, urban and dust aerosol components are present.