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Title: Aerosol optical properties calculated from size distribution measurements: An uncertainty study

Journal Article · · Aerosol Science and Technology
ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [2]; ORCiD logo [3]
  1. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Boulder, CO (United States); University of Colorado, Boulder, CO (United States)
  2. University of California, Riverside, CA (United States)
  3. Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
+ Show Author Affiliations

We use Monte Carlo uncertainty propagation to estimate the uncertainty of aerosol scattering coefficients, σs, that have been derived from measured particle size distributions. We consider the particular case where the size distributions are measured using a combination of a scanning mobility particle sizer (SMPS) and an aerodynamic particle sizer (APS). Uncertainties that are propagated include those intrinsic to the instruments and those that arise from variabilities in aerosol microphysical properties, including particle shape, density, and complex refractive index. Particular emphasis is put on the size dependent counting efficiency of both instruments which have weaknesses in a particle size range that dominates aerosol optical properties. The T-matrix method is utilized to simulate the effect of particle shapes on σs. To narrow the probability distribution of aerosol properties we discuss uncertainties for a single geographic location, which is the Southern Great Plains site (SGP) of the Department of Energy’s Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) User Facility. We estimate a 95% confidence interval for σs between -40% and +68%. A partial dependence analysis, for which we use generalized additive models, identifies uncertainties in counting efficiency and particle shapes as the dominant contributors to the size of the confidence interval.

Research Organization:
Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER); USDOE
Grant/Contract Number:
SC0012704; SC0008112
OSTI ID:
1971704
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1974175
Report Number(s):
BNL-224281-2023-JAAM
Journal Information:
Aerosol Science and Technology, Vol. 57, Issue 7; ISSN 0278-6826
Publisher:
Taylor & FrancisCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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