Aerosol size distribution derived from 2010 New Year’s spectrometric data in Manila Observatory, Philippines

Abstract

A parametric approach was used to compute the volume size distribution from aerosol optical depth values measurements during the 2010 New Year celebration. A fine mode (<0.1 μm) was observed after midnight, corresponding to the onset of the firework activity. The appearance of a coarser mode (>0.1 μm) at around 3am is attributed to high relative humidity values and low difference between ambient and dew point temperatures, both facilitating condensation and thus an increase in particulate radius.