A North American Arctic aerosol climatology using ground based sunphotometry

ABSTRACT. The Arctic is known as a key area for the detection of climate changes and atmospheric pollution on a global scale. In this paper we describe a new Canadian sunphotometer network called AEROCAN, whose primary mandate is to establish a climatology of atmospheric aerosols. This network is pa...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Amadou I. Bokoye, Alain Royer, N. T. O’neill, L. J. Bruce Mcarthur
Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
Format: Text
Language:English
Published: 2002
Subjects:
Arctic
Bonanza
Alaska
Online Access:http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.576.6108
http://pubs.aina.ucalgary.ca/arctic/arctic55-3-215.pdf
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Summary:ABSTRACT. The Arctic is known as a key area for the detection of climate changes and atmospheric pollution on a global scale. In this paper we describe a new Canadian sunphotometer network called AEROCAN, whose primary mandate is to establish a climatology of atmospheric aerosols. This network is part of AERONET, the worldwide federated sunphotometer network managed by the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. The potential of sunphotometer data from the AERONET/AEROCAN network for monitoring of Arctic aerosols is illustrated, using examples of the multiyear variation of aerosol optical properties and atmospheric precipitable water vapour content at some stations, and in particular at Bonanza Creek, Alaska since 1994. Despite its sparse spatial density, the network represents an important tool for monitoring the spatio-temporal variation of Arctic aerosols. It also represents an important source of independent aerosol data, which we feel should be further developed in northern areas to improve our understanding of how atmospheric aerosols influence global climate. Key words: aerosols, sunphotometer, aerosol optical depth RÉSUMÉ. L’Arctique est reconnu comme une région clé pour la détection des changements climatiques et de la pollution atmosphérique à l’échelle planétaire. Cet article présente un nouveau réseau canadien de photomètres solaires (AEROCAN) dont le mandat principal est d’établir une climatologie des aérosols atmosphériques. Ce réseau est intégré au réseau fédéré mondial de photomètres solaires AERONET géré par le Centre des vols spatiaux Goddard de la NASA. Le potentiel des données héliophotométriques générées par le réseau AERONET/AEROCAN pour la surveillance des aérosols dans l’Arctique est illustré

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