Comparison of aerosol properties over Beijing and Kanpur: Optical, physical properties and aerosol component composition retrieved from 12 years ground‐based Sun‐sky radiometer remote sensing data

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Abstract
Aerosol mixtures composed of coarse and fine particles occur frequently in metropolitan areas in the world, especially in developing countries. Beijing, China, and Kanpur, India, are both in Asian monsoon regions and experience strong aerosol loading because of increased economic activities, vehicles, and urbanization. Observations originating from the Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) have played a vital role in the field of aerosol study. In order to understand the variations of aerosol optical, physical properties and component composition over Beijing and Kanpur, we focus on AERONET measurements collected at these two sites from 2002 to 2013 and employ a five‐component (including black carbon, BC; mineral dust, DU; brown carbon, BrC; ammonium sulfate like, AS; and aerosol water content, AW) aerosol mixture model to retrieve the aerosol component composition. Particle size distribution, spectral characteristics of single‐scattering albedo, and refractive indices of the aerosols over Beijing and Kanpur are found to be distinct and with regular seasonal variations. Correspondingly, aerosol components show distinct temporal characteristics at both sites. In Beijing, BC shows a significant decrease from 2002 to 2013 (especially after 2007) with an average declining rate of 0.69 mg m−2 yr−1. Among the five components, BC and BrC are higher during winter and autumn especially at Beijing, while DU and AS are higher during spring and summer at the two sites. With respect to site differences, BC and BrC are usually higher in Beijing in most of the year, while DU and AS are higher in Kanpur especially from April to June. Moreover, AW is similar and quite comparable at two sites.
Funding Information
  • National Basic Research Program of China (2010CB950800, 2010CB950801)
  • National Natural Science Foundation of China (41222007)
  • Sino-German Science Foundation (GZ-659)
  • Major Scientific Project of State Key Laboratory of Remote Sensing (12ZD-06)

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