Gamma ray characterization of the albedo of atmospheric dust from Southeast Anatolia, Turkey

Abstract

Atmospheric dust samples were collected using PM₁₀ (particulate matter less than 10 µm) and PM_2.5 (particulate matter less than 2.5 µm) filters in 2019 from Southeast Anatolia, Turkey. The direction and source of the dust were determined using the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) satellite view and Hybrid Single Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory (HYSPLIT) model. X-ray diffraction (XRD) has shown the presence of calcite and quartz as major components of the aerosol dust. The albedo parameters of atmospheric dust were experimentally determined for 59.54 keV photons emitted from an Am-241 source. Compton and coherent scattered peaks were acquired with a high purity germanium detector. The sample collected in May has a higher density than in June. The sample density at PM₁₀ is larger than PM_2.5 and the density of 23 June 2019 is smaller than for the other dates. The albedo parameters of the filter in June and May for PM₁₀ are greater than those of PM_2.5. The dust of larger particles is more reflected by the high-energy photons.

Keywords:

• Albedo parameters
• atmospheric dust
• Compton and coherent scattering
• X-ray diffraction (XRD)
• X-ray fluorescence (XRF)

Acknowledgments

XRD measurements were performed at the HUBTAM Research Center at Harran University. XRF measurements were performed at Atatürk University laboratories. The authors thank these universities for their valuable contributions to these measurements.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).