aethalometer

The aethalometer was commercialized in 1986.

The Aethalometer principle is based upon the continuous filter-tape sampler developed in the 1950s for the measurement of coefficient of haze.

The word aethalometer is derived from the Classical Greek verb 'aethaloun', meaning 'to blacken with soot'.

Real-time aethalometer measurements at multiple wavelengths are claimed to separate these different contributions and can apportion the total impact to different categories of sources.

The aethalometer, the name of which is derived from a Greek word that means "to blacken with soot", is today the mostly widely used instrument worldwide for measuring atmospheric concentrations of black carbon.

An aethalometer is an instrument for measuring the concentration of optically absorbing ('black') suspended particulates in a gas colloid stream; commonly visualized as smoke or haze, often seen in ambient air under polluted conditions.

Novakov's aerosol research group, which included Hal Rosen, Ted Chang, Anthony Hansen, Ray Dod, and Lara Gundel, developed new analytical techniques for measuring black carbon, the most notable of which is the aethalometer.

There are various proprietary optical smoke measurement devices such as the 'nephelometer' or the 'aethalometer' which use several different optical methods, including more than one wavelength of light, inside a single instrument and apply an algorithm to give a good estimate of smoke.

During 1983 and 1984 as part of the NOAA AGASP program, the first measurements of such distributions in the Arctic atmosphere were obtained with an aethalometer which had the capability of measuring black carbon on a real-time basis.

The Aethalometer has been developed into rack-mounted instruments for use in stationary air quality monitoring installations; transportable instruments which are often used at off-grid locations, operating from batteries or photovoltaic panels in order to make measurements at remote locations; and hand-held portable versions for measurements of personal exposure to combustion emissions.