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Variations of aerosol optical depth and Angstrom parameters at a suburban location in Iran during 2009–2010

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Solar irradiance is attenuated spectrally when passing through the earth’s atmosphere and it is strongly dependent on sky conditions, cleanliness of the atmosphere, composition of aerosols and gaseous constituents. In this paper, aerosol optical properties including aerosol optical depth (AOD), Angstrom exponent (α) and Angstrom turbidity coefficient (β) have been investigated during December 2009 to October 2010, in a suburban area of Zanjan (36°N, 43°E, 1700 m), in the north–west of Iran, using meteorological and sun photometric data. Results show that turbidity varies on all time scales, from the seasonal to hourly, because of changes in the atmospheric meteorological parameters. The values of α range from near zero to 1.67. The diurnal variation of AOD in Zanjan is about 15%. The diurnal variability of AOD, showed a similar variation pattern in spring (including March, April, May) and winter (December, January, February) and had a different variation pattern in summer (June, July, August) and autumn (September and October). During February, spring and early summer winds transport continental aerosols mostly from the Iraq (dust events) and cause the increase of beta and turbidity of atmosphere of Zanjan.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to greatly thank Professor G Vaughan from the School of Earth, Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences of the University of Manchester for his technical support and revision of this paper. We also acknowledge the support of Iranian Meteorological Organization and Institute for Advanced Studies in Basic Sciences (IASBS) of Zanjan for data acquisition for this work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Meteorology, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran

    M Khoshsima

  2. Institute of Geophysics, University of Tehran, Tehran, P. O. Box 14155-6466, Iran

    A A Bidokhti & F Ahmadi-Givi

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  1. M Khoshsima
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Correspondence to M Khoshsima.

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Khoshsima, M., Bidokhti, A.A. & Ahmadi-Givi, F. Variations of aerosol optical depth and Angstrom parameters at a suburban location in Iran during 2009–2010. J Earth Syst Sci 123, 187–199 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12040-013-0380-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12040-013-0380-1

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