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Abstract
Measurements of particle size distributions taken over Southern Africa since 2000 from an airborne platform are analysed. Particle measurements are made in situ with the Particle Measuring System (PMS) optical particle counter Passive Cavity Aerosol Spectrometer (PCASP), the PMS Forward Scattering Spectrometer Probe (FSSP), and a Cloud Condensation Nuclei (CCN) counter, set up onboard two South African Weather Services 690A Aerocommanders. Acquired particle size distributions are fitted as multi-modal log-normal distributions and aerosol optical properties are computed according to Mie theory.
An overview of aerosol characteristics in Southern Africa is provided, in terms of number of particle layers, number of particle modes, and particle scattering coefficient. Moreover, vertical profiles were acquired over ground-based stations of the AERONET network in order to make inter-comparisons of aerosol optical thickness.