In the spring of 1988 an interagency consortium of Federal Land Managers and the Environmental Protection Agency initiated a national visibility and aerosol monitoring network to track spatial and temporal trends of visibility and visibility‐reducing particles. The monitoring network consists of 36 stations located mostly in the western United States. The major visibility‐reducing aerosol species, sulfates, nitrates, organics, light‐absorbing carbon, and wind‐blown dust are monitored as well as light scattering and extinction. Sulfates and organics are responsible for most of the extinction at most locations throughout the United States, while at sites in southern California nitrates are dominant. In the eastern United States, sulfates contribute to about two thirds of the extinction. In almost all cases, extinction and the major aerosol types are highest in the summer and lowest during the winter months.

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During the winter and summer months of 1990 a special study called Project MOHAVE (measurement of haze and visual effects) was carried out with the principle objective of attributing aerosol species to extinction and scattering and the aerosol species to sources and/or source regions. The study area included much of southern California and Nevada, Arizona, and Utah; however, the intensive monitoring sites and primary focus of the study was on the Colorado Plateau of northern Arizona, southern Nevada, and Utah. This paper reports on the apportionment of various aerosol species to measured fine and coarse mass concentrations and these species to scattering and extinction. The study is unique in that a number of “ambient” integrating nephelometers were operated to measure the ambient scattering coefficient, while transmissometers were used to measure atmospheric extinction. Comparison of measured scattering, extinction, and aerosol species concentration, both statistically and theoretically, allows for an estimate of scattering and absorption efficiencies. Analysis suggests that using elemental carbon, derived from thermal optical techniques, to estimate absorption may significantly underestimate absorption. Using elemental carbon, absorption is estimated to be 5% of extinction, while direct measurements of absorption suggest that it is about 30% of measured extinction. Furthermore, because light absorption by soil is usually not accounted for, soil extinction is underestimated by about 30%.

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Under the IMPROVE visibility monitoring network, federal land managers have monitored visibility and fine particle concentrations at 29 Class I area sites (mostly national parks and wilderness areas) and Washington, DC since 1988. This paper evaluates trends in reconstructed visibility and fine particles for the 10th (best visibility days), 50th (average visibility days), and 90th (worst visibility days) percentiles over the nine-year period from 1988-96. Data from these sites provides an indication of regional trends in air quality and visibility resulting from implementation of various emission reduction strategies.