Aerosol properties derived from spectral actinic flux measurements

Measurement of aerosol properties is very important for understanding climate change. Aerosol optical properties influence solar radiation throughout the troposphere. According to the Working Group I report of the intergovernmental panel for climate change [IPCC, 2007], aerosols have a direct radiative forcing of - 0.5±0.4 W/m2 with a medium to low level of scientific understanding. This relatively large uncertainty indicates the need for more frequent and precise measurements of aerosol properties. We will show how actinic flux measurements can be used to derive important optical aerosol parameters such as aerosol optical thickness and depth, surface albedo, angstrom exponent, radiative forcing by clouds and aerosols, aerosol extinction, and others. The instrument used for this study is a combination of two spectroradiometers measuring actinic flux in the ultraviolet and visible radiation range from 280 to 690 nm with a resolution of 1 nm. Actinic flux is measured as the radiation incident on a spherical surface with sensitivity independent of direction. In contrast, irradiance is measured as the radiation incident on a plane surface, which depends on the cosine of the incident angle. Our goal is to assess the capabilities of using spectral actinic flux measurements to derive various aerosol properties. Here we will compare 1) actinic flux measurements to irradiance measurements from the spectral solar flux radiometer (SSFR), 2) derived aerosol size distributions with measurements from a white light optical particle counter (WLOPC) and ultra high sensitivity aerosol size spectrometer (UHSAS), and 3) derived aerosol optical extinction with measurements from a cavity ringdown aerosol extinction spectrometer (CRD-AES). These comparisons will utilize data from three recent field campaigns over New England and the Atlantic Ocean (ICARTT 2004), Texas and the Gulf of Mexico during (TexAQS/GoMACCS 2006), and Alaska and the Arctic Ocean (ARCPAC 2008) when the instruments were installed on board the NOAA WP-3D aircraft. IPCC (2007), Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA.