Table 4: Intensive aerosol properties derived from CMDL network

Table 4: Intensive aerosol properties derived from CMDL network

å	The Angstrom exponent, defined by the power-law s_sp proportional to l^-å, describes the wavelength-dependence of scattered light. In the figures below, a is calculated from measurements at 550 and 500 nm wavelengths. Situations where the scattering is dominated by submicrometer particles typically have values around 2, while values close to 0 occur when the scattering is dominated by particles larger than a few microns in diameter.
w_o	The aerosol single-scattering albedo, defined as s_sp/(s_ap + s_sp), describes the relative contributions of scattering and absorption to the total light extinction. Strongly absorbing aerosols (e.g., elemental carbon) have values around 0.3.
g, b	Radiative transfer models commonly require one of two integral properties of the angular distribution of scattered light (phase function): the asymmetry factor g or the hemispheric backscatter fraction b. The asymmetry factor is the cosine-weighted average of the phase function, ranging from a value of -1 for entirely backscattered light to +1 for entirely forward-scattered light. The hemispheric backscatter fraction b is s_bsp/s_sp.
a_i	The mass scattering efficiency for species i, defined as the slope of the linear regression line relating ssp and the mass concentration of the chemical species, is used in chemical transport models to evaluate the radiative effects of each chemical species prognosed by the model. This parameter has typical units of m²g^-1.