A New Method for Determining the Ångström Turbidity Coefficient from Broadband Filter Measurements

Abstract In this work, a new method for determining Angstrom turbidity coefficients is presented. This method is based on broadband filter irradiance measurements. By combining measurements obtained with different filters it is possible to obtain a single value of the turbidity coefficient representative of the whole measurement range of the pyrheliometer. The results provided by this new method are compared with the original Angstrom method and turbidity coefficient values derived by spectroradiometric measurements. The results reproduce the actual values, as measured by a spectroradiometer, better than the previous best correlation did, thus demonstrating the advantage of analyzing the optical thickness from bands covering the whole spectral range.