Long-term observations of aerosol optical properties at Wuhan, an urban site in Central China

Abstract

Aerosol optical properties including aerosol optical depth (AOD), Ångström exponent (α), single scattering albedo (SSA), aerosol size distribution and refractive index at urban Wuhan in Central China are investigated based on the measurements from a CIMEL sun-photometer during 2007–2013. AOD500 nm is found to be relatively high all year round and the highest value 1.52 occurs in June 2012 and the lowest (0.57) in November 2012. α shows a significant monthly variation, with the highest value in June 2010 (1.71) and the lowest value (0.78) in April 2012. Analysis of AOD and α frequencies indicate that this region is populated with fine-mode particles. Monthly variations of SSA for total, fine and coarse-mode particles are closely related to the aerosol hygroscopic growth, fossil fuel and biomass burning. The aerosol volume size distributions (bi-modal pattern) show distinct differences in particle radius for different seasons, the radius for fine-mode particles generally increase from spring to summer month, for example, the highest peak is around radius 0.15 μm in March, while the peak radius is around 0.25 μm in June. Finally, monthly statistics of real and imaginary parts of the complex refractive index are analyzed, the highest averages of real (1.50) and imaginary parts (0.0395) are found in spring and autumn, respectively at wavelength 440–1020 nm.