| Cavity ringdown turbidimetry has been developed as a sensitive indicator of particulate matter in the atmosphere. When high reflectivity mirrors are coupled with a copper vapor laser operating at 10 kHz, minimal detectable extinction coefficients on the order of 10−6 m −1 are achieved. The high sensitivity allows nearly continuous monitoring of particulate matter in the atmosphere, a substantial improvement over current techniques which require a 5–72 h sampling period prior to analysis.; This dissertation has utilized the nngdown technique along with other techniques to measure key optical and physical properties of the atmospheric aerosol at our location to determine if it induces a warming or cooling trend on the earth/atmosphere system. Taken as a whole, the data presented within indicates the aerosol induces a small negative direct radiative forcing at our location of magnitude ∼−5.5 × 10−4 W/m3. Our results suggest the cooling influence of aerosol direct forcing is reduced by more than a factor of 2 due to the presence of light absorbing particles within the aerosol layer. |
