Anomalous Selective Absorption of Smoke Aerosol during Forest Fires in Alaska in July–August 2019

Abstract

According to the monitoring data of the optical and microphysical characteristics of smoke aerosol at AERONET stations during forest fires in the summer of 2019 in Alaska, anomalous selective absorption of smoke aerosol was detected in the visible and near infrared spectral range from 440 to 1020 nm. With anomalous selective absorption, the imaginary part of the refractive index of smoke aerosol reached 0.315 at a wavelength of 1020 nm. A power-law approximation of the spectral dependence of the imaginary part of the refractive index with an exponent from 0.26 to 2.35 is proposed. It is shown that for anomalous selective absorption, power-law approximations of the spectral dependences of the aerosol optical extinction and absorption depths are applicable with an Angstrom exponent from 0.96 to 1.65 for the aerosol optical extinction depth and from 0.97 to –0.89 for the aerosol optical absorption depth, which reached 0.72. Single scattering albedo varied from 0.62 to 0.96. In the size distribution of smoke aerosol particles with anomalous selective absorption, the fine fraction of particles of condensation origin dominated. The similarity of the fraction of particles distinguished by anomalous selective absorption with the fraction of tar balls detected by electron microscopy in smoke aerosol, which, apparently, arise during the condensation of terpenes and their oxygen-containing derivatives, is noted.