OLYM1 (Olympic National Park, WA, Lat. 48.0065, Long. -122.9726, Alt. 600) Print-Friendly Version Print-Friendly Version (B&W)
1 year and 5 month aerosol data are available in Olympic National Park during the sampling period of 1997 - 2002. As shown in Figure 1, the overall average total light extinction coefficient (Bext) is 32.0 Mm-1 (Visual Range ~ 122 Km; Deciview ~ 11.6). The average PM2.5 mass concentration is 3.0 mg/m3. The average contributions of the major aerosol components to Olympic National Park haze are particulate sulfate 31.8%, nitrate 12.7%, organic matter (OMC) 15.5%, elemental carbon (light absorbing carbon, LAC) 4.6%, fine soil 0.4% and coarse mass (CM) 3.7%.
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 40.1 Mm-1, which is about 6.2 times of the value of 6.5 Mm-1 during the 20% best days and 1.9 times of the value of 21.0 Mm-1 during the middle 60% days. Sulfate is the largest contributor to aerosol light extinction during the 20% worst days, and the contribution of sulfate to aerosol light extinction is ~ 45% in worst days. OMC also contributes about 23% in the worst days.
Figure 3 suggests that the highest occurrence of the 20% worst days happened in October, in which ~ 40% of the sampling days are the 20% haziest days at Olympic National Park. As shown in Figure 4, sulfate is the largest aerosol contributor to haze the whole year except November, with a contribution of ~ 30 - 50% in the 20% worst days. Nitrate contributes ~ 30% to haze in the 20% worst days in November, and is the largest contributor to haze.
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)
