ALBERT

Description: Long-term monitoring of aerosol optical properties at a boreal forest AERONET site in interior Alaska was performed from 1994 through 2008 (excluding winter). Large interannual variability was observed, with some years showing near background aerosol optical depth (AOD) levels (〈0.1 at 500 nm) while 2004 and 2005 had August monthly means similar in magnitude to peak months at major tropical biomass burning regions. Single scattering albedo (omega (sub 0); 440 nm) at the boreal forest site ranged from approximately 0.91 to 0.99 with an average of approximately 0.96 for observations in 2004 and 2005. This suggests a significant amount of smoldering combustion of woody fuels and peat/soil layers that would result in relatively low black carbon mass fractions for smoke particles. The fine mode particle volume median radius during the heavy burning years was quite large, averaging approximately 0.17 micron at AOD(440 nm) = 0.1 and increasing to approximately 0.25 micron at AOD(440 nm) = 3.0. This large particle size for biomass burning aerosols results in a greater relative scattering component of extinction and, therefore, also contributes to higher omega (sub 0). Additionally, monitoring at an Arctic Ocean coastal site (Barrow, Alaska) suggested transport of smoke to the Arctic in summer resulting in individual events with much higher AOD than that occurring during typical spring Arctic haze. However, the springtime mean AOD(500 nm) is higher during late March through late May (approximately 0.150) than during summer months (approximately 0.085) at Barrow partly due to very few days with low background AOD levels in spring compared with many days with clean background conditions in summer.

Description: This study analyzes the daytime variation of aerosol with seasonal distinction by using multi-year measurements from 54 of the Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) sites over North America, South America, and islands in surrounding oceans. The analysis shows a wide range of daily variability of aerosol optical depth (AOO) and Angstrom exponent depending on location and season. Possible reasons for daytime variations are given. The largest AOO daytime variation range at 440 nm, up to 75%, occurs in Mexico City, with maximum AOO in the afternoon. Large AOO daily variations are also observed in the polluted mid-Atlantic U.S. and U.S. West Coast with maximum AOO occurring in the afternoon in the mid-Atlantic U.S., but in the morning in the West Coast. In South American sites during the biomass burning season (August to October), maximum AOO generally occurs in the afternoon. But the daytime variation becomes smaller when sites are influenced more by long-range transported smoke than by local burning. Islands show minimum AOO in the morning and maximum AOO in the afternoon. The diverse patterns of aerosol daytime variation suggest that geostationary satellite measurements would be invaluable for characterizing aerosol temporal variations on regional and continental scales. In particular, simultaneous measurements of aerosols and aerosol precursors from a geostationary satellite would greatly aid in understanding the evolution of aerosol as determined by emissions, chemical transformations, and transport processes.