Early calibration problems detected in TOMS Earth-Probe aerosol signal

Sensitivity of TOMS aerosol index to boundary layer height: Implications for detection of mineral aerosol sources

[1] The TOMS aerosol index (AI) is proposed as a powerful tool in determining the sources of mineral aerosols. The sensitivity of the AI to the height of the aerosol layer has been noted previously, but the implications of this sensitivity for deducing sources has not been explicitly considered. Here, we present a methodology and sensitivity test to show the importance of spatial and temporal v...

Calibration of the Passive Cavity Aerosol Spectrometer Probe for Airborne Determination of the Size Distribution

This work describes calibration methods for the particle sizing and particle concentration systems of the passive cavity aerosol spectrometer probe (PCASP). Laboratory calibrations conducted over six years, in support of the deployment of a PCASP on a cloud physics research aircraft, are analyzed. Instead of using the many calibration sizes recommended by the PCASP manufacturer, a relationship ...

Early Earth

Empirical TOMS index for dust aerosol: Applications to model validation and source characterization

[1] An empirical relation is developed to express the Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) aerosol index (AI) for the case of dust plumes, as an explicit function of four physical quantities: the single scattering albedo, optical thickness, altitude of the plume and surface pressure. This relation allows sensitivity analysis of the TOMS AI with physical properties, quantitative comparison wi...

Field calibration of aerosol absorption measurement techniques

O. Schmid, P. Artaxo, W. P. Arnott, D. Chand, L. V. Gatti, G. P. Frank, A. Hoffer, M. Schnaiter, and M. O. Andreae Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, Department of Biogeochemistry, PO Box 3060, 55020 Mainz, Germany University of São Paulo, Institute of Physics, São Paulo, Brazil Desert Research Institute, Division of Atmospheric Science, Reno, NV, USA Institute of Nuclear Energy Research, Atmo...