KAIS1 (Kaiser, CA, Lat. 37.218, Long. -119.1558, Alt. 2573) Print-Friendly Version Print-Friendly Version (B&W)
2 years aerosol data are available in Kaiser during the sampling period of 1997 - 2002. As shown in Figure 1, the overall average total light extinction coefficient (Bext) is 28.5 Mm-1 (Visual Range ~ 137 Km; Deciview ~ 10.5). The average PM2.5 mass concentration is 3.8 mg/m3. The average contributions of the major aerosol components to Kaiser haze are particulate sulfate 15.3%, nitrate 13.0%, organic matter (OMC) 20.3%, elemental carbon (light absorbing carbon, LAC) 6.7%, fine soil 2.3% and coarse mass (CM) 7.5%.
Figure 1 Average contributions of major aerosol chemical components to light extinction (Based on data available in 1997-2002) (B&W)
Figure 2 Average contributions of major aerosol chemical components to light extinction in 20% best, middle 60% and 20% worst days (Based on data available in 1997-2002) (Data Table) (B&W)
As Figure 2 indicates, the average aerosol light extinction coefficient (Bext – Rayleigh Scattering (10 Mm-1)) during the 20% worst days is 41.8 Mm-1, which is about 10.7 times of the value of 3.9 Mm-1 during the 20% best days and 2.8 times of the value of 15.1 Mm-1 during the middle 60% days. OMC is the largest contributor to aerosol light extinction during the 20% worst days, and the contribution of OMC to aerosol light extinction is ~ 35.4% in worst days. Nitrate and sulfate contribute about 21.6% and 18.9% to aerosol light extinction in the 20% worst days.
Figure 3 suggests that the highest occurrence of the 20% worst days happened in August, in which ~ 80% of the sampling days are the 20% haziest days at Kaiser. As shown in Figure 4, OMC is the largest aerosol contributor to haze in August, with a contribution of ~40%.
Figure 3 Percentage of sampling days that are 20% worst days in each month (Based on data available in 1997-2002) (Data Table) (B&W)
Figure 4 Average contributions of major aerosol chemical components to light extinction during 20% worst days in each month (Based on data available in 1997-2002) (Data Table) (B&W)
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