Book Description

Three years of high quality total light scattering data from a four-wavelength integrating nephelometer have been acquired at Mauna Loa Observatory as part of the Geophysical Monitoring for Climate Change (GMCC) program. These data may be representative of the upper troposphere under certain weather conditions and may therefore be used to deduce background global aerosol properties and their possible effect on climate. A light scattering value of about b[subscript sp] (550 nm) = 10−7 m−1 appears to be a good estimate of the light scattering of aerosols during the cleanest background conditions at Mauna Loa Observatory.