Conference on Visibility, Aerosols and Atmospheric Optics

01.09.2006

September 3 - 6, 2006

University of Vienna, Institute of Experimental Physics, Vienna, Austria

The conference will address all aspects of atmospheric aerosol particles: their interaction with light, resulting with degradation of visual quality and/or alteration of radiative balance, the origin and processes leading to these particles, the documentation ov visibility and its trends, as well as the effectivity of air pollution strategies on improvement of visual quality.

The meeting will be held at

Institute of Experimental Physics of the University of Vienna
Boltzmanngasse 5, A-1090, Vienna, Austria


Sponsor: Chemisch-Physikalische Gesellschaft, Vienna

Co-sponsors: Clean Air Commission of the Austrian Academy of Sciences,
Gesellschaft fuer Aerosolforschung, (Association for Aerosol Research) GAeF, Germany


Scientific Committee:

L. Alados Arboledas, University of Granada, Granada, Spain, P. Chazette, Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement, Gif-sur-Yvette, France, J. Colls, Institute of Environmental Sciences, University of Nottingham, U.K., H. Horvath, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria, W. v. Hoyningen Huene, Institute of Environmental Physics, Univ. of Bremen, Germany,  N. Laulainen, Northwest Laboratories, Richland, Washington W.C. Malm, National Park Service, Ft. Collins, Colorado,  T. Nakajima, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan. S. Kinne, Max Plank Institute for Meteorology, Hamburg, T. Raunemaa, University of Kuopio, Kuopio, Finland, E. Zege, Belarus Academy of Sciences, Minsk, Belarus, A. Cheremisin, Krasnoyarsk State Technical  Univerisity, Krasnoyarsk, Russia

It is planned to publish the papers presented at this conference in one, separate issue of Atmospheric Environment, please submit the papers for review at the conference, i.e. no later than September 6, 2006


Call for Papers

Please submit one page abstracts (only new work, please!!) until April 15, 2006 to:

H. Horvath, Institute of Experimental Physics, University of Vienna, Boltzmanngasse 5, A-1090 Vienna, Austria, Europe, E-mail: helmuth.horvath@UNIVIE.AC.AT
homepage: visibility.exp.univie.ac.at

The following topics have been selected for the coference:

Basic Aerosol and Atmospheric Optics: Recent advances in numerical computation now permit the calculation of scattering by irregular particles with surprising results and consequences. The evaluation of satellite data usually was disturbed by the "aerosol noise". But improved algorithms now give reliable aerosol data from sattellite measurements.
Effect of the Aerosol on Global Climate: Usually the aerosol has a negative forcing and thus conteracts the greenhouse effect. Light absorbing aerosols may have a positive forcing, on the one hand, but some types of aerosols have a strong negative forcing. More insight is needed,
Light Absorption by Aerosol Particles and its Influence on Visibility and Radiative Balance: Black carbon absorbs light, strongly depending on the mixing state. Absorption of HULIS and by organic materials is not well known. Light absorption may reduce scenic beauty of a vista and can cause a positive radiative forcing. The increased concern of UV radiation in the atmosphere is strongly influenced by the absorption of aerosol particles, especially organic material.
Combustion Particles and the Transformation of Particles in the Atmosphere: Combustion processes are a major source of particles globally. Increased use of biomass in industrialized countries will add particles to the atmosphere. During the residence in the atmosphere the particles usually undergo many processes such as chemical reactions, condensation, humidity growth, evaporation, coagulation. These can completely change the optical properties.
Observsation Methods, especially Remote Sensing: Due to the half life time of about one week and the inhomogeneous distribution of sources, the aerosol in very inhonogeneously. Advanced observation methods are needed to obtain globally representative data.
Effects of Aerosols on Visibility, Trends in Visibility, Legislation (America, Europe): Good visibility is a public asset and deserves to be protected. The US have long experience with visibility legislation, wheras in Europe it seems to be non existent, but visibility has improved over the last decades.
Sources of Atmospheric Particles: The biggest unknown in any textbook on aerosols is the strength of the sources for atmospheric particles. Various estimates differ by at least a factor two. With new observational methods the confidence limits could be made smaller.
Photophoresis in the Atmosphere: In the upper atmosphere the pressure is small enough so that photophoretic forces can lift some particles upwards and keep them in a stable position. Several layers have been found in the stratosphere and investigations on appearence of layers their size and shape and composition are needed.

Time Schedule:

April 15, 2006: deadline for abstracts
June 1, 2006: second circular and preliminary program
July 31, 2006: make hotel reservation
September 03, 2006: pre-registration
September 04, 2006: begin conference
September 06, 2006: deadline submission of papers


H. Horvath
Institute for Experimental Physics
University of Vienna
Boltzmanngasse 5
1090 Vienna, Austria
E-mail helmuth.horvath@univie.ac.at
Tel: +4314277 51177
FAX: +4314277 51186