absorption coefficient

From Glossary of Meteorology
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A measure of the extinction due to absorption of monochromatic radiation as it traverses a medium.

Usually expressed as a volume absorption coefficient, kv, with units of reciprocal length (i.e., area per unit volume), but also as a mass absorption coefficient, km, with units of area per unit mass. The two are related by kv = ρkm, where ρ is the density of the absorber.
See also absorption optical thickness.


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