Development of a cavity enhanced aerosol albedometer

Abstract

Abstract. We report on the development of a cavity enhanced aerosol single scattering albedometer incorporating incoherent broad-band cavity-enhanced spectroscopy (IBBCEAS) approach and an integrating sphere (IS) for simultaneous in situ measurements of aerosol scattering and extinction coefficients in the exact same sample volume. The cavity enhanced albedometer employed a blue light-emitting diode (LED) based IBBCEAS approach for the measurement of wavelength-resolved aerosol optical extinction over the spectral range of 445–480 nm. An integrating sphere nephelometer coupled to the IBBCEAS setup was used for the measurement of aerosol scattering. The scattering signal was measured with a single channel photomultiplier tube (PMT), providing an integrated value over a narrow bandwidth (FWHM ~ 9 nm) in the spectral region of 465–474 nm. A scattering coefficient at a wavelength of 470 nm was deduced as an averaged scattering value and used for data analysis and instrumental performance comparison. Performance evaluation of the albedometer was carried out using laboratory-generated particles and ambient aerosol. The scattering and extinction measurements of monodisperse polystyrene latex (PSL) spheres generated in laboratory proved excellent correlation between two channels of the albedometer. The retrieved refractive index (RI) from the measured scattering and extinction efficiencies agreed well with the values reported in previously published papers. Aerosol light scattering and extinction coefficients, single scattering albedo (SSA) and NO2 concentrations in an ambient sample were directly and simultaneously measured using the developed albedometer. The developed instrument was validated via an intercomparison of the measured aerosol scattering coefficient and NO2 trace concentration against a TSI 3563 integrating nephelometer and a chemiluminescence detector, respectively.