A study of aerosol optical properties at the global GAW station Bukit Kototabang, Sumatra, Indonesia

There have been very few studies carried out in Indonesia on the atmospheric aerosol optical properties and their impact on the earth climate. This study utilized solar radiation and aerosol measurement results of Indonesian GAW station Bukit Kototabang in Sumatra. The radiation data of nine years were used as input to a radiation simulation code for retrieving optically equivalent parameters of aerosols, i.e., aerosol optical thickness (AOT), coarse particle to fine particle ratio (γ-ratio), and soot fraction. Retrieval of aerosol properties shows that coarse particles dominated at the station due to high relative humidity (RH) reaching more than 80% throughout the year. AOT time series showed a distinct two peak structure with peaks in MJJ and NDJ periods. The second peak corresponds to the period of high RH suggesting it was formed by active particle growth with large RH near 90%. On the other hand the time series of hot spot number, though it is only for the year of 2004, suggests the first peak was strongly contributed by biomass burning aerosols. The γ-ratio took a value near 10 throughout the year except for November and December when it took a larger value. The soot fraction varies in close relation with the γ-ratio, i.e. low values when γ was large, as consistent with our proposal of active particle growth in the high relative periods.

► The study shows radiative properties of aerosols thus obtained at Bukit Kototabang station undergo a characteristic seasonal variation and large temporal change particularly related with the tropical atmospheric condition. ► Retrieval of aerosol properties shows that coarse particles dominated at the station due to high relative humidity (RH) reaching more than 80% throughout the year. AOT time series showed a distinct two peak structure with peaks in MJJ and NDJ periods. ► Results of the study showed large contribution of biomass burning aerosols to the AOT500 in dry season period. ► It was found from the study that direct and diffuse radiation fluxes were useful to retrieve particle size γ and soot fraction fsoot, while NIR flux was useful for estimate optical aerosol thickness AOT500.