Simultaneous aerosol size distributions and turbidity measurements over a metropolitan area

Conference · Thu Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1976

OSTI ID:7286353

Alkezweeny, A. J.; Laulainen, N. S.

The particle size distributions measured in the St. Louis city plume is shown to be bimodel. The total particle volume decreases dramatically above the inversion. The peak in the volume distribution is shifted toward larger particles at higher altitudes. Aerosol extinction coefficients derived from sunphotometer optical depth measurements at 5 wavelengths are compared to those calculated from the measured size distributions using Mie theory with two different particle refractive indices. For an entirely real refractive index of 1.5, the measured values are consistently larger by a factor of 2 to 4 than the calculated values. Including a large imaginary part to the refractive index, n = 1.5-0.31, improves the agreement, suggesting that the aerosol in the city plume may have significant absorptive characteristics.

• Research Organization: Battelle Pacific Northwest Labs., Richland, Wash. (USA)
• OSTI ID: 7286353
• Report Number(s): BNWL-SA-5538; CONF-760519-2
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

500200* -- Environment
Atmospheric-- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport-- (-1989)
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
AEROSOLS
AIR POLLUTION
COLLOIDS
DISPERSIONS
DISTRIBUTION
MEASURING METHODS
OPTICAL PROPERTIES
PARTICLE SIZE
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
PLUMES
POLLUTION
REFRACTIVITY
SIZE
SOLS
TURBIDITY
URBAN AREAS
VOLUME