Measuring fast optical depth variations in cloud edges with a CCD-array spectrometer

High frequency measurements of direct solar flux have been performed with a CCD spectrometer in six narrowband channels along the visible range. Measurements were performed in 1-sec intervals for conditions ranging from clear sky to scattered-to-broken cloud fields. The comparison between close time measurements allows obtaining information on the fast changes in optical depth associated to the pass of clouds or other changes in atmospheric conditions and constituents. The method used does not depend on the absolute calibration of the instrument, and minimizes the effects of changes in instrumental conditions (as temperature) and in air mass. The variations in optical depth in the sight direction can be associated to cloud and/or aerosol optical depth, provided that other atmospheric constituents, as ozone, remain constant. The aerosol exponent is used to characterize the spectral dependence of the changes in optical depth and for describing the evolution of the conglomerate of particles (either cloud droplets or aerosol particles) along the measurement periods. We found that rates in optical depth variations above 0.1/sec have to be attributed to sunlight occultation by cloud edges, as the spectral exponent drops to values near zero or even slightly negative. Variations in optical depth at rates below 0.01/sec are mainly related to aerosol effects.