A new method of quantifying aerosol concentrations in atmosphere

Abstract

Africa is one of the sources of biomass burning emissions. It is estimated that about 6 million tons of fuel per day is consumed in the southern hemisphere. Biomass burning has an important contribution on aerosol particle concentrations in the atmosphere. Efforts have been made to conduct research in Gaborone to monitor the concentration of atmospheric aerosol particles. These studies were mainly confined to measurement of concentration of aerosol particles and establishing a relation with determinants such as carbon dioxide concentration, biomass burning, and precipitation among others. However, very little seems to have been done in relating the empirical data to levels of aerosol concentrations through a mathematical model. In this paper an objective criterion of classifying levels of aerosol concentrations in terms of their severity is provided. A mathematical model for severity levels is built. Furthermore, two indices, namely, an index of dispersion when applied to the observed annual data indicated that intensity of atmospheric aerosol are on increase in the city of Gaborone, Botswana, and an index of drift which establishes that aerosol severity states showed larger drift during the year 2006–2007 than in the year 2007–2008.