Recent Progress of Aerosol Light-scattering Enhancement Factor Studies in China

Assessment of the radiative forcing of aerosols in models still lacks sufficient input data for aerosol hygroscopicity. The light scattering enhancement factor [f(RH, lambda)] is a crucial parameter for describing aerosol hygroscopic growth properties. In this paper, we provide a survey of f(RH, lambda) studies in China for the past seven years, including instrument developments of humidified nephelometers, ambient f(RH, lambda) measurements in China, f(RH, lambda) parameterization schemes, and f(RH, lambda) applications in aerosol measurements. Comparisons of different f(RH, lambda) parameterizations are carried out to check their performance in China using field measurement datasets. We also summary the parameterization schemes for predicting f(RH, lambda) with aerosol chemical compositions. The recently developed methods to observe other aerosol properties using f(RH, lambda) measurements, such as calculating the aerosol hygroscopicity parameter, cloud condensation nuclei number concentration, aerosol liquid water content, and aerosol asymmetry factor, are introduced. Suggestions for further research on f(RH, lambda)in China are given.