Instrumentation to Measure Aerosol Mass and Composition for Research to Improve Satellite Remote Sensing and Modeling of Atmospheric Composition

悬浮在大气中的微粒，即所谓的气溶胶，在气候变化和空气质量中起着重要作用。气溶胶通过散射和吸收太阳辐射以及通过影响云的性质来影响气候。吸入的气溶胶是一种严重的健康危害。通过卫星遥感观测气溶胶和通过全球模拟表示气溶胶过程的算法的发展得益于现有的对整个大气柱气溶胶的地面太阳光度计测量。然而，这些气溶胶在地面上的比例以及它们的化学成分仍然不确定。我们建议在现有的太阳光度计位置测量地面气溶胶的质量和成分。这些测量结果将产生有价值的信息，以评估和改进大气气溶胶的卫星观测，以及气溶胶过程的全球模拟。

Particles suspended in the atmosphere, known as aerosols, have major roles in climate change and air quality. Aerosols affect climate by scattering and absorbing solar radiation, and by affecting cloud properties. Respired aerosols are a significant health hazard. The development of algorithms to observe aerosols through satellite remote sensing, and to represent aerosol processes through global modelling, benefits from existing ground-based sun-photometer measurements of aerosol in the entire atmospheric column. However, uncertainty remains about the fraction of those aerosols at ground-level, and about their chemical composition. We propose instrumentation to measure ground-level aerosol mass and composition at existing sun-photometer locations. Together these measurements would yield valuable information to evaluate and improve satellite observations of atmospheric aerosols, and global modeling of aerosol processes.