NOAB1 (North Absaroka, WY, Lat. 44.7448, Long. -109.3816, Alt. 2480) Print-Friendly Version Print-Friendly Version (B&W)
3 years aerosol data are available in North Absaroka during the sampling period of 1997 - 2002. As shown in Figure 1, the overall average total light extinction coefficient (Bext) is 22.2 Mm-1 (Visual Range ~ 176 Km; Deciview ~ 8.0). The average PM2.5 mass concentration is 2.6 mg/m3. The average contributions of the major aerosol components to North Absaroka haze are particulate sulfate 17.6%, nitrate 5.6%, organic matter (OMC) 17.5%, elemental carbon (light absorbing carbon, LAC) 4.6%, fine soil 2.1% and coarse mass (CM) 7.6%.
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 25.0 Mm-1, which is about 5.9 times of the value of 4.2 Mm-1 during the 20% best days and 2.4 times of the value of 10.4 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 ~ 41% in worst days. Sulfate also contributes about 24% in the worst days.
Figure 3 suggests that the highest occurrence of the 20% worst days happened in August, in which ~ 67% of the sampling days are the 20% haziest days at North Absaroka. As shown in Figure 4, OMC is the largest aerosol contributor to haze in the summer, with a contribution of more than 50% in the 20% worst days in August.
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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