Nephelometer Measurement of Aerosol Scattering Coefficients at Seoul

Abstract

Aerosol scattering coefficients for three different wavelengths (λ= 450, 550, 700 nm) are measured almost continuously by a nephelometer in Seoul for a period of 13 months (February 2007-February 2008), which includes two weeks break in August 2007 for measurements at Daegwallyeong and YoungJongdo. The mean of the daily average scattering coefficients at ？ λ= 550 nm is 194.1±144.2 Mm- and the minimum and maximum are 14.3 Mm- and 998.1 Mm-, respectively. The scattering coefficient shows a general increasing trend with atmospheric relative humidity (RH). When the data are classified according to weather conditions, the days with no major weather events show the smallest scattering coefficient and also the lowest RH. Surprisingly haze/fog days show the largest scattering coefficient and Asian dust days comes in second. Although the variation is large within a season, winter shows the largest and autumn shows the smallest scattering coefficient. The average Angstrom exponent is 1.40±0.32 for the entire Seoul measurement. As expected, Asian dust days show the smallest Angstrom exponent and haze/fog days are the next, suggesting more efficient hygroscopic growth of aerosols for this weather condition. Aerosol scattering coefficient seems to show better correspondence with CCN concentration rather than total aerosol concentration, which may indicate that CCN active aerosols are also good scattering aerosols.