Topics in Particle and Dispersion Science

Imaginary part of the refractive index of desert aerosol

Parent topic

Fig. 1. Imaginary part, m", of the complex refractive index of refractive index of m = m' - m"i, of desert aerosol.
 
Dark blue, red, and black symbols: three samples of desert aerosol, each collected over a period of 10 days in southern New Mexico (Lindberg JD and Laude 1974). The measured values are connected merely to visualize the trend. The values shown here were calculated by using Eq. 3 in Refractive index: Introduction with the "absorption coefficient" obtained by applying the Kubelka-Munk theory of diffusive reflectance (for example, Kortüm G 1969) to samples of the dust diluted in BaSO₄. That coefficient is about 2 times greater than the absorption coefficient defined in relation to the Lambert law (Lindberg JD and Laude 1974). Hence, the values shown (see also a data file) here are 1/2 of those listed by Lindberg JD and Laude. The accuracy of the measurement of m" has been estimated by those authors at 25%.
 
The bright green vertical line at 0.44 µm shows a range of m" obtained for Saharan aerosol by radiative theory modeling of sun radiometer data (Tafuro AM et al 2006).
 
The blue symbols (connected merely to visualize the trend) and cyan bars represent respectively the particle size-averaged value and ±1 standard deviation of the imaginary part, m", of the refractive index of aerosols at a location in Morocco, influenced by the Sahara (Kandler K et al 2009). The refractive index is evaluated from the aerosol chemical composition by volume averaging. The horizontal solid and dashed blue lines represent respectively the particle size-averaged value and the lower limit of m", similarly evaluated, of Saharan aerosols at Tenerife, Spain, in the visible part of the spectrum (Kandler K et al 2007).

CITATION: Jonasz M. 2006. Refractive index of desert aerosol: Data (www.tpdsci.com/Tpc/RIAtmAerDesDat.php). In: Top. Part. Disp. Sci. (www.tpdsci.com).

HISTORY: Published: 24-Nov-2006 Modified: 29-Jun-2009 Peer-reviewed: PENDING

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