EXAMINING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ATMOSPHERIC AEROSOLS AND LIGHT EXTINCTION AT MOUNT-RAINIER-NATIONAL-PARK AND NORTH-CASCADES-NATIONAL-PARK

During the summer of 1990, the National Park Service carried out a study in the state of Washington called the Pacific Northwest Regional Visibility Experiment using Natural Tracers (PREVENT). The goal of the study was to apportion atmospheric aerosols to scattering and extinction and to source types at Mount Rainier and North Cascades National Parks. The study was designed to collect all necessary emissions, meteorology, ambient concentrations, and atmospheric optical data necessary to support a variety of source attribution techniques. This paper will report on the apportionment of various aerosol species to measured fine mass concentrations and ambient scattering coefficients. One highlight of this study was the near-ambient measurement of atmospheric scattering with a modified integrating nephelometer. It is therefore possible to explore the relationship between hygroscopic aerosols and scattering in the ambient atmosphere.