Aethalometer (Magee_AE31)

Permanent HAC station instrument: Aethalometer (Magee_AE31)

The Aethalometer installed at Helmos Mt st. in August of 2016. AE31 is an instrument that provides a real-time readout of the concentration of “Black” or “Elemental” carbon aerosol particles (BC or EC) in an air stream and sampled aerosol through a PM10 cut-off inlet. It is a self- contained instrument that measures the rate of change of optical transmission through a spot on a filter where aerosol is being continuously collected and uses the information to calculate the concentration of optically absorbing material in the sampled air stream. The instrument measures the transmitted light intensities through the “sensing” portion of the filter, on which the aerosol spot is being collected, and a “reference” portion of the filter as a check on the stability of the optical source. The data from these three measurements is used to determine the mean BC content of the air stream.