Comparison of reported measurements of the change in the direct and total hemispheric solar irradiances at Barrow, Alaska between days with and without visible haze with values computed from aerosol models with different imaginary parts of the refractive index leads to the conclusion that the haze is only weakly absorbing. Using the value of the single scattering albedo deduced from the comparison the reduction in the effective local planetary albedo of the Arctic due to Arctic haze is estimated to be about 0.03.