Height dependent absorption of solar radiation in the arctic atmosphere

Measured profiles of the total flux of solar radiation are carried out under conditions of the arctic haze during spring in the Arctic. Vertical profiles of the arctic atmosphere heating rate obtained show the complex, multilayer structures of the arctic haze aerosol. These investigations yielded no considerable differences in the haze structure both in the Canadian and in the Russian sectors of the Arctic. Atmosphere heating rate due to the absorption of solar fluxes was found up to 1.8 K/day. The minimum of the aerosol density was found to be northward of Greenland. The heating rates in this region were comparable with the values peculiar to the standard atmosphere. The investigations of the horizontal distribution of the broadband solar radiation fluxes have shown that the aerosol structure of arctic haze is highly inhomogeneous over all regions of observations. The changes of aerosol vertical distributions were notable over the distance 200 km. It was also found, that the aerosol layers located in the altitudes region of 4000–7000 m were playing the predominant role in the absorption of solar radiation.