After I have applied both AAE and EAE there appears to be a sort of slight overlap between aerosol of biomass burning and industrial origin. On which other bases can a very clear distinction be created between this aerosol sources.
Biomass burning aerosols tend to have a higher potassium to PM2.5 mass ratio than urban/industrial aerosol.
There are several organic markers of biomass burning such as levoglucosan. To get good Angstrom exponent values you need a 7 wavelength aethalomter. If you only have the dual wavelength unit, we have found that the difference between UVBC (370 nm) and BC (880 nm) called Delta-C is a good indicator of biomass burning.
Optically speaking you could also look at the single scattering albedo (scattering/(scattering+absorption) ) and its wavelength dependence.
Use the BC measurement at 880 nm to determine Black Carbon (BC) mass, the light absorbing organics usually do not absorb significantly there. Regression plots between BC from biomass burning and levoglucosan should provide the information on the robustness of your two-component Aethalometer model (biomass, fossil fuel). The intersect (BC at zero levoglucosan concentration) is an indicator of the levoglucosan stability and the accuracy of the fossil AAE.
Olusegun
What data do you have yourself? Are they from an aethsalometer sunphotometer or satellite?
@Harry ten Brink, I am working with sunphotometer measurements from AERONET data. I have used trajectory analysis to create clusters of aerosol types. I am now trying to assess the microphysical and optical properties of these clusters.
Then I fully agree with professor Hopke, who kindly gave his advice above
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