A fixed frequency aerosol albedometer

A new method for the measurement of aerosol single scatter albedo (omega) at 532 nm was developed. The method employs cavity ring-down spectroscopy (CRDS) for measurement of aerosol extinction coefficient (b(ext)) and an integrating sphere nephelometer for determination of aerosol scattering coefficient (b(scat)). A unique feature of this method is that the extinction and scattering measurements are conducted simultaneously, on the exact same sample volume. Limits of detection (3s) for the extinction and scattering channel were 0.61 Mm(-1) and 2.7 Mm(-1) respectively. (c) 2008 Optical Society of America.