Monthly measurements made at 15 stations along the axis of the upper Neuse River estuary show a highly variable degree of correlation between concentration of suspended particulate material (SPM) and attenuation coefficient (c) of light as measured by transmissometer. Coefficients of determination along transect lines ranged from $0.12{sim}0.93$ and calibration slopes ranged from $0.50{sim}5.63$. When examined on a station-by-station basis, coefficients of determination ranged from $0.21{sim}0.96$ and calibration slopes ranged from $1.04{sim}4.94$. Surface calibrations made at individual stations over the full 13-month period were the most consistent of all observations and were considerably better than calibrations made using all of the stations on a given day. Organic content, which can dominate the suspended sediment load during some months, does not appear to explain the variations in reliability of the calibrations. However, an abundance of large aggregates with time-varying size and shape distributions may be partly responsible for variations in optical properties of the sediments, and thus may confound the relationship between SPM and c in the Neuse River estuary Time-varying calibrations to account for non-negligible changes in optical properties may not suffice in complex estuarine environments where the in situ particle dynamics are poorly understood. However, the best use of Beam Transmissometer will continue to be for applications such as detecting water-column events or for use in situations where wide error bars in establishing SPM concentrations are acceptable.