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Effects of Atmospheric Aerosol Types on Ultraviolet Flux at different stations in Indo-Gangetic plain
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1  Environmental Sciences and Biomedical Metrology Division, CSIR-National Physical Laboratory, New Delhi-110012, India.
2  Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR), AcSIR Headquarters CSIR-HRDC Campus, Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh 201002, India.
Academic Editor: Patricia Quinn

Abstract:

Atmospheric aerosols play a crucial role in the scattering and absorption of solar radiation, directly influencing the UV flux reaching the Earth's surface. This study investigates the impact of different atmospheric aerosol types on the ultraviolet (UV) flux at four stations over Indo-Gangetic plain (IGP). For this study, high-resolution 1°x1° UVA and UVB data was obtained from Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES). Various aerosol types present in the atmosphere were categorized based upon their optical properties and their quantitative influence on UVA and UVB flux was examined. Ground-level aerosol products were obtained from the NASA-based Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) at four stations in the IGP. Based on the optical properties of aerosols (fine mode fraction, single scattering albedo, aerosol optical depth and angstrom exponent), four distinct atmospheric aerosol types were inferred, namely, dust dominant (DT), anthropogenic aerosols dominant (AAD), black carbon dominant (BCD), and organic carbon dominant (OCD). OCD and AAD showed the highest concentration at Kanpur and Lahore respectively whereas BCD showed lowest contribution at Karachi and Jaipur. The UVA and UVB fluxes were found to be highly influenced by DT at Jaipur, OCD at Kanpur, BCD and OCD at Karachi and DT at Lahore. As the UVA and UVB flux are affected by solar zenith angle and ozone column concentration, the effects of the same has also been studied on UVA and UVB for different aerosol types.

Keywords: Aerosol types, UVA, UVB, AERONET, CERES

 
 
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