Aerosol Messgeraete

The Aethalometer is an instrument that measures aerosol black carbon rapidly and accurately. The aerosol is continuously collected on a quartz fiber filter whose optical absorption is determined. Sience soot has an absorption coefficient more than 10⁴ times higher than other aerosol species, the absorption is accurately interpreted as a mass of aerosol black carbon on the filter.

This technique has been very extensively calibrated and compared against chemical analysis protocols, to verify the equivalence of the optical measurement. The mass concentration readings of aerosol black carbon are obtained continuously, and the filter tape advances automatically when the aerosol spot reaches a certain saturation.