Site specific aerosol optical thickness characteristics over Mysore

As a part of Indian Space Research Organization's RESPOND programme, a study has been carried out on clear sky days of the winter months December 2005 and January 2006. Spectral Aerosol Optical Thicknesses (AOT) were measured with a MICROTOPS II sun photometer at four sites of specific topography: a hill top, busy downtown, a calm water bed, and university campus with greenery. These sites are situated within the urban agglomeration of Mysore, a low latitude (12.3°N) continental location. Daytime decreasing trend in AOT was observed. Forenoon-afternoon asymmetry was exhibited at all the sites. These features were also found to be site-specific in nature. The present work focuses on the characteristics of atmospheric aerosols at different sites located in and around Mysore City. The future interest is to cover some more sites around Mysore City having varied aerosol characteristics