Characterization of aerosol scattering and spectral absorption by unique methods: a polar/imaging nephelometer and spectral reflectance measurements of aerosol samples collected on filters

Gergely Dolgos; J. Vanderlei Martins; Lorraine A. Remer; Alexandre L. Correia; Manfredo Tabacniks; Adriana R. Lima

doi:10.1117/12.842069

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23 February 2010 Characterization of aerosol scattering and spectral absorption by unique methods: a polar/imaging nephelometer and spectral reflectance measurements of aerosol samples collected on filters

Gergely Dolgos, J. Vanderlei Martins, Lorraine A. Remer, Alexandre L. Correia, Manfredo Tabacniks, Adriana R. Lima

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Proceedings Volume 7588, Atmospheric and Oceanic Propagation of Electromagnetic Waves IV; 75880E (2010) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.842069
Event: SPIE LASE, 2010, San Francisco, California, United States

Abstract

Characterization of aerosol scattering and absorption properties is essential to accurate radiative transfer calculations in the atmosphere. Applications of this work include remote sensing of aerosols, corrections for aerosol distortions in satellite imagery of the surface, global climate models, and atmospheric beam propagation. Here we demonstrate successful instrument development at the Laboratory for Aerosols, Clouds and Optics at UMBC that better characterizes aerosol scattering phase matrix using an imaging polar nephelometer (LACO-I-Neph) and enables measurement of spectral aerosol absorption from 200 nm to 2500 nm. The LACO-I-Neph measures the scattering phase function from 1.5° to 178.5° scattering angle with sufficient sensitivity to match theoretical expectations of Rayleigh scattering of various gases. Previous measurements either lack a sufficiently wide range of measured scattering angles or their sensitivity is too low and therefore the required sample amount is prohibitively high for in situ measurements. The LACO-I-Neph also returns expected characterization of the linear polarization signal of Rayleigh scattering. Previous work demonstrated the ability of measuring spectral absorption of aerosol particles using a reflectance technique characterization of aerosol samples collected on Nuclepore filters. This first generation methodology yielded absorption measurements from 350 nm to 2500 nm. Here we demonstrate the possibility of extending this wavelength range into the deep UV, to 200 nm. This extended UV region holds much promise in identifying and characterizing aerosol types and species. The second generation, deep UV, procedure requires careful choice of filter substrates. Here the choice of substrates is explored and preliminary results are provided.

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Gergely Dolgos, J. Vanderlei Martins, Lorraine A. Remer, Alexandre L. Correia, Manfredo Tabacniks, and Adriana R. Lima "Characterization of aerosol scattering and spectral absorption by unique methods: a polar/imaging nephelometer and spectral reflectance measurements of aerosol samples collected on filters", Proc. SPIE 7588, Atmospheric and Oceanic Propagation of Electromagnetic Waves IV, 75880E (23 February 2010); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.842069

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