Optical and microphysical properties of column-integrated aerosols at a SKYNET site downwind of Seoul, Korea

A skyradiometer (POM-02, Prede Co. Ltd.) has been operated to investigate aerosol properties at a SKYNET (SKYradiometer NETwork) site, YGN (Yongin) for six years starting from November 2008. The site is at the rooftop of a five-story building on the hill, about 35 km southeast of downtown Seoul (37.34 °N, 127.27 °E and 167 m above sea level). POM-02 measures the diffuse radiation at six minute intervals at 11 wavelengths. Using version 5 of the skyrad.pack, aerosol optical (aerosol optical depth and single scattering albedo) and microphysical (volume size distribution) properties were retrieved from the measurements at five wavelengths such as 400, 500, 675, 870 and 1020 nm. In comparison with CIMEL sun photometers used in AERONET (AErosol RObotic NETwork), another worldwide ground-based network, skyradiometers have an advantage that they can provide larger number of aerosol property data at shorter time intervals. However, standard procedures for instrument operation and data retrieval have not been established. In this study, we first showed how we calibrated the instrument and how we obtained cloud screened and quality assured data. Next, we presented variations in aerosol optical and microphysical properties, depending on air masses and/or meteorological conditions, and examined the characteristic of high aerosol loading episodes including Asian dust storm and smog.