One-year monitoring of the atmosphere over Penang Island using a ground-based lidar

The atmosphere over Penang Island is monitored for one year using a ground based Lidar. The Lidar signals are processed to obtain the AOD, extinction coefficients and the PBL heights to provide an overview of the atmospheric conditions in Penang. The data are averaged daily and plotted for the year of 2014. The AOD and extinction coefficients display seasonal trends that increase during the monsoon seasons (Southwest monsoon and Northeast monsoon) and decrease during the inter-monsoon seasons. During the monsoon seasons, a mixture of clear and hazy atmospheric conditions is found due to the presence of rain which removes the particulates or aerosols from the atmosphere. If no rain occurs, aerosols transported over Penang will stay in the atmosphere and be removed after a certain period. The average AOD is 0.4034 for year 2014 with a maximum of 1.0787 on a hazy day and a minimum of 0.0354 on a clear day. The extinction coefficient range is quite wide especially during the monsoonal months owing to the intervention of aerosol layers in the atmosphere of Penang. A clear day will have a smaller range of extinction coefficients. The planetary boundary layer has an average height of 0.878 km. Thicker PBLs are found after monsoon seasons as the aerosols has sunk to the earth surface from higher altitudes. The PBL has an opposing trend to the AOD and extinction coefficients. The atmosphere over Penang Island consists of a mixture of marine particles and fine particles that are mainly transported to Penang by the monsoon winds from the surrounding sea and biomass burnings in the neighboring SEA countries. An overview of the atmospheric conditions in Penang for a whole year is meaningful for further research. ? 2015 SPIE.