Results of a Comprehensive Atmospheric Aerosol-Radiation Experiment in the Southwestern United States. Part II: Radiation Flux Measurements and Theoretical Interpretation

Abstract

The experimental results in Part I are used in the theoretical interpretation of the radiation flux measurements which were taken with an aircraft. The absorption term of the complex refractive index of aerosols is estimated to be approximately 0.01 for a real part of 1.5 for the wavelength bandwidth 0.32–0.68 μm. A regional variation in the refractive index is noted. Atmospheric heating and cooling rates due to aerosol and molecular absorption in the solar and terrestrial wavelengths are determined from the radiation flux measurements. The magnitudes of these rates are compared and their relative importance is discussed.