This project was co-financed by Eurostars grant E!4825, coordinated by Aerosol d.o.o. and with Paul Scherrer Institute, PSI, as a scientific partner, and inNET Monitoring AG. The final result of this project lead to the Aethalometer AE33; and numerous scientific publications.

Goal of the project is a development of a new generation of an Aethalometer to measure not only Black Carbon but also light absorbing carbonaceous aerosols (LACA) across the visible light spectrum. The Aethalometer is the only optical multi-wavelength instrument on the market that enables the characterization of biomass combustion LACA with a field deployable, stand-alone, real time, and affordable instrument. Sandradewi 2008b showed that the use of multiple wavelength light absorption measurements can be used to quantitatively assess the source contribution of wood burning versus traffic which is very important for air quality abatement strategies.  We plan to extend the capabilities of the existing instrument considerably further: we will develop a fast new instrument which will measure optical absorption of the LACA at 7 different wavelengths with a measured compensation of loading effects. Interpretation of this compensation measurement will not depend on any assumptions of aerosol properties. It will enable ambient measurements and measurements at the source due to its extremely fast response to changes in aerosol concentrations that occur when sampling a combustion engine exhaust or a stack.