Aerosol Characterization over Penang, Malaysia Using Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET)

Abstract

Ground-based solar photometer measurements were utilized in the ambiance of Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) Penang and Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) Penang during September-November 2013 with a specific end goal to portray the characteristics of the local atmospheric environment. This both sites were established as being component of the collaborative work of the Seven South East Asian Studies (7SEAS) regional aerosol measurement project. This study concentrates on the Angstrom exponent (α), that is the gradient of the logarithm of the aerosol optical depth (AOD) against the logarithm of the wavelength as well as being commonly used to characterize the wavelength reliance of AOD and to furnish some critical data on the aerosol size distribution. In most situations fine mode aerosols appear to be the predominant category with marginally substantial contributions of coarse mode particles resulting from the particle growing, blending processes with other aerosol types, precipitation factors and relative distance to the seashore.