Scale-Free Universal Spectrum for Atmospheric Aerosol Size Distribution for Davos, Mauna Loa and Izana

Atmospheric flows exhibit fractal fluctuations and inverse power law for power spectra indicates an eddy continuum structure for the self-similar fluctuations. A general systems theory for aerosol size distribution based on fractal fluctuations is proposed. The model predicts universal (scale-free) inverse power law for fractal fluctuations expressed in terms of the golden mean. Atmospheric particulates are held in suspension in the fractal fluctuations of vertical wind velocity. The mass or radius (size) distribution for homogeneous suspended atmospheric particulates is expressed as a universal scale-independent function of the golden mean, the total number concentration and the mean volume radius. Model predicted spectrum is compared with the total averaged radius size spectra for the AERONET (aerosol inversions) stations Davos and Mauna Loa for the year 2010 and Izana for the year 2009. There is close agreement between the model predicted and the observed aerosol spectra. The proposed model for universal aerosol size spectrum will have applications in computations of radiation balance of earth–atmosphere system in climate models.

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