Simultaneous measurements of atmospheric pollutants and visibility with a long-path doas system in urban areas

In this paper, the applicability of a Long-Path Differential Optical Absorption Spectroscopy (LP-DOAS) system was checked for the feasibility of the simultaneous measurement of trace gases (such as O3, NO2, SO2, and HCHO) and atmospheric visibility (light extinction by aerosols) in Asian urban areas. Field studies show that an LP-DOAS system can simultaneously measure the key pollutants (such as O3, NO2, SO2, and HCHO) at detection limits in the ppb/sub-ppb range as well as the Mie extinction coefficient with an uncertainty of ∼ 0.1 km−1 at time resolution of a few minutes. It is thus concluded that the use of LP-DOAS system is feasible for simultaneous measurement of gaseous pollutants as well as an atmospheric extinction coefficient which is tightly bound to fine particulate concentration.