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<article xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" article-type="methods-article" specific-use="SMUR" dtd-version="3.0" xml:lang="en">
<front>
<journal-meta>
<journal-id journal-id-type="publisher">EGUsphere</journal-id>
<journal-title-group>
<journal-title>EGUsphere</journal-title>
<abbrev-journal-title abbrev-type="publisher">EGUsphere</abbrev-journal-title>
<abbrev-journal-title abbrev-type="nlm-ta">EGUsphere</abbrev-journal-title>
</journal-title-group>
<issn pub-type="epub"></issn>
<publisher><publisher-name>Copernicus Publications</publisher-name>
<publisher-loc>Göttingen, Germany</publisher-loc>
</publisher>
</journal-meta>
<article-meta>
<article-id pub-id-type="doi">10.5194/egusphere-2026-3471</article-id>
<title-group>
<article-title>Technical note: A decoupled in situ framework for aerosol multi-wavelength optical properties: application for lidar retrievals</article-title>
</title-group>
<contrib-group><contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Yao</surname>
<given-names>Cheng</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Wang</surname>
<given-names>Longlong</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5262-1595</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Huang</surname>
<given-names>Aoxiang</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Zhang</surname>
<given-names>Bin</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4309-1075</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Mačak</surname>
<given-names>Marija Bervida</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2">
<sup>2</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Drinovec</surname>
<given-names>Luka</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0126-692X</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2">
<sup>2</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Gregorič</surname>
<given-names>Asta</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2">
<sup>2</sup>
</xref>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff3">
<sup>3</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Gao</surname>
<given-names>Fei</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff4">
<sup>4</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Vaupotič</surname>
<given-names>Janja</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff5">
<sup>5</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Miler</surname>
<given-names>Miloš</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff6">
<sup>6</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Gosar</surname>
<given-names>Mateja</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff6">
<sup>6</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Yu</surname>
<given-names>Zhangwei</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Chen</surname>
<given-names>Daru</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Močnik</surname>
<given-names>Griša</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6379-2381</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2">
<sup>2</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Stanič</surname>
<given-names>Samo</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3344-8381</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2">
<sup>2</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
</contrib-group><aff id="aff1">
<label>1</label>
<addr-line>Hangzhou Institute of Advanced Studies, Zhejiang Normal University, Hangzhou, 311231, China</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff2">
<label>2</label>
<addr-line>Center for Atmospheric Research, University of Nova Gorica, Nova Gorica 5270, Slovenia</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff3">
<label>3</label>
<addr-line>Aerosol d.o.o., Ljubljana 1000, Slovenia</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff4">
<label>4</label>
<addr-line>School of Optoelectronic Science and Intelligent Instrumentation, Xi&apos;an University of Technology, Xi’an, 710048, China</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff5">
<label>5</label>
<addr-line>Jožef Stefan Institute, Ljubljana 1000, Slovenia</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff6">
<label>6</label>
<addr-line>Geological Survey of Slovenia, Ljubljana 1000, Slovenia</addr-line>
</aff>
<pub-date pub-type="epub">
<day>13</day>
<month>07</month>
<year>2026</year>
</pub-date>
<volume>2026</volume>
<fpage>1</fpage>
<lpage>31</lpage>
<permissions>
<copyright-statement>Copyright: &#x000a9; 2026 Cheng Yao et al.</copyright-statement>
<copyright-year>2026</copyright-year>
<license license-type="open-access">
<license-p>This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this licence, visit <ext-link ext-link-type="uri"  xlink:href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/</ext-link></license-p>
</license>
</permissions>
<self-uri xlink:href="https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2026/egusphere-2026-3471/">This article is available from https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2026/egusphere-2026-3471/</self-uri>
<self-uri xlink:href="https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2026/egusphere-2026-3471/egusphere-2026-3471.pdf">The full text article is available as a PDF file from https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2026/egusphere-2026-3471/egusphere-2026-3471.pdf</self-uri>
<abstract>
<p>Accurate constraints on aerosol complex refractive index (CRI), single scattering albedo (SSA), and lidar ratio (LR) are essential for improving lidar-based aerosol retrievals and reducing radiative-effect uncertainties. However, consistent derivation from in situ observations remains challenging in complex mixed-aerosol environments, where size distribution, absorption, and humidity effects are strongly coupled. Here we present a decoupled inversion framework that integrates SMPS&amp;ndash;OPC size distributions, AE33-derived absorption coefficients, and ambient relative humidity observations from the Vipava Valley (Slovenia) in April 2016 to derive dry-state homogeneous-equivalent CRI and RH-corrected lidar-relevant SSA and LR at 355, 532, and 1064 nm. The framework reconstructs a continuous particle size distribution through instrument-response-aware SMPS&amp;ndash;OPC geometric alignment and retrieves the reference real refractive index. AE33-derived absorption constraints and a singly subtractive Kramers&amp;ndash;Kronig (SSKK) relation are then used to derive a spectrally consistent dry state CRI, after which SSA and LR are recalculated through an RH-corrected wet-state forward optical calculation. The retrieved dry-state mean &lt;em&gt;n&lt;/em&gt; values were 1.448, 1.441, and 1.437, and the mean &lt;em&gt;k&lt;/em&gt; values were 0.0312, 0.0238, and 0.0192 at 355, 532, and 1064 nm, respectively. The RH-corrected mean SSA values were 0.866, 0.852, and 0.774, and the corresponding mean LR values were 86.4, 58.4, and 39.2 sr. Sensitivity tests showed that the AE33 effective multiple-scattering correction affects absorption-sensitive products, with &lt;em&gt;C&lt;/em&gt;&lt;sub&gt;eff &lt;/sub&gt;= 5 used as a site- and period-specific baseline. The framework provides a practical pathway for linking dry in situ CRI retrievals with RH-corrected multi-wavelength lidar-relevant aerosol optical products.</p>
</abstract>
<counts><page-count count="31"/></counts>
<funding-group>
<award-group id="gs1">
<funding-source>National Natural Science Foundation of China</funding-source>
<award-id>42475147</award-id>
<award-id>42575146</award-id>
</award-group>
<award-group id="gs2">
<funding-source>National Natural Science Foundation of China</funding-source>
<award-id>42530112</award-id>
</award-group>
<award-group id="gs3">
<funding-source>The Slovenian Research and Innovation Agency</funding-source>
<award-id>P1-0385</award-id>
<award-id>I-0033</award-id>
<award-id>L1-4386</award-id>
</award-group>
</funding-group>
</article-meta>
</front>
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<back>
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