We report Thermal Desorption Chemical Ionization Mass Spectrometer (TDCIMS) measurements of the composition of ambient 10–33 nm diameter particles formed from nucleation on 16 March 2006 in Tecamac, Mexico during the Megacity Initiative: Local and Global Research Observations (MILAGRO) field study. On this day, nucleated particles contained far more organics than sulfates: average ion molar ratios with measurement uncertainties for nitrate, organics and sulfur species were 6 ± 2%, 84 ± 5%, and 10 ± 1%, respectively. The measured organic species include nitrogen‐containing organic compounds, organic acids, and hydroxy organic acids. Independent calculations show that sulfuric acid condensation could have accounted for only 10 ± 2% of the growth that was observed on this day, which is consistent with the TDCIMS measurements of composition. It follows that organic compounds play a dominant role the high growth rates that were observed.
[1] Organic aerosols in general and secondary organic aerosol (SOA) in particular are known to contribute significantly to the atmospheric population of cloud condensation nuclei (CCN). However, current knowledge is limited with respect to the nature of this contribution. This study presents a series of experiments wherein the potential for biogenically derived SOA to act as CCN is explored. Five compounds were studied: four monoterpenes (a-pinene, b-pinene, limonene, and D 3 -carene) and one terpenoid alcohol (terpinene-4-ol). In each case the aerosol formation was driven by the reaction of ozone with the biogenic precursor. The SOA produced in each experiment was allowed to age for several hours, during which CCN concentrations were periodically measured at four supersaturations: S = 0.27%, 0.32%, 0.54%, and 0.80%. The calculated relationships between particle dry diameter and critical supersaturation were found to fall in the range of previously reported data for single-component organic aerosols; of the systems studied, a-pinene SOA was the least CCN active, while limonene SOA exhibited the strongest CCN activity. Interestingly, the inferred critical supersaturation of the SOA products was considerably more sensitive to particle diameter than was found in previous studies. Furthermore, the relationships between particle size and critical supersaturation for the monoterpene SOA shifted considerably over the course of the experiments, with the aerosol becoming less hygroscopic over time. These results are consistent with the progressive oligomerization of the SOA.
[1] Our understanding of the activation of aerosol particles into cloud drops during the formation of warm cumulus clouds presently has a limited observational foundation. Detailed observations of aerosol size and composition, cloud microphysics and dynamics, and atmospheric thermodynamic state were collected in a systematic study of 21 cumulus clouds by the Center for Interdisciplinary Remotely-Piloted Aircraft Studies (CIRPAS) Twin Otter aircraft during NASA's Cirrus Regional Study of Tropical Anvils and Cirrus Layers-Florida Area Cirrus Experiment (CRYSTAL-FACE). An ''aerosol-cloud'' closure study was carried out in which a detailed cloud activation parcel model, which predicts cloud drop concentration using observed aerosol concentration, size distribution, cloud updraft velocity, and thermodynamic state, is evaluated against observations. On average, measured droplet concentration in adiabatic cloud regions is within 15% of the predictions. This agreement is corroborated by independent measurements of aerosol activation carried out by two cloud condensation nucleus (CCN) counters on the aircraft. Variations in aerosol concentration, which ranged from 300 to 3300 cm À3 , drives large microphysical differences (250-2300 cm À3 ) observed among continental and maritime clouds in the South Florida region. This is the first known study in which a cloud parcel model is evaluated in a closure study using a constraining set of data collected from a single platform. Likewise, this is the first known study in which relationships among aerosol size distribution, CCN spectrum, and cloud droplet concentration are all found to be consistent with theory within experimental uncertainties much less than 50%. Vertical profiles of cloud microphysical properties (effective radius, droplet concentration, dispersion) clearly demonstrate the boundary layer aerosol's effect on cloud microphysics throughout the lowest 1 km of cloud depth. Onboard measurements of aerosol hygroscopic growth and the organic to sulfate mass ratio are related to CCN properties. These chemical data are used to quantify the range of uncertainty associated with the simplified treatment of aerosol composition assumed in the closure study.
[1] During July 2002, measurements of cloud condensation nuclei were made in the vicinity of southwest Florida as part of the Cirrus Regional Study of Tropical Anvils and Cirrus Layers-Florida Area Cirrus Experiment (CRYSTAL-FACE) field campaign. These observations, at supersaturations of 0.2 and 0.85%, are presented here. The performance of each of the two CCN counters was validated through laboratory calibration and an in situ intercomparison. The measurements indicate that the aerosol sampled during the campaign was predominantly marine in character: the median concentrations were 233 cm À3 (at S = 0.2%) and 371 cm À3 (at S = 0.85%). Three flights during the experiment differed from this general trend; the aerosol sampled during the two flights on 18 July was more continental in character, and the observations on 28 July indicate high spatial variability and periods of very high aerosol concentrations. This study also includes a simplified aerosol/CCN closure analysis. Aerosol size distributions were measured simultaneously with the CCN observations, and these data are used to predict a CCN concentration using Köhler theory. For the purpose of this analysis, an idealized composition of pure ammonium sulfate was assumed. The analysis indicates that in this case, there was good general agreement between the predicted and observed CCN concentrations: at S = 0.2%, N predicted /N observed = 1.047 (R 2 = 0.911); at S = 0.85%, N predicted /N observed = 1.201 (R 2 = 0.835). The impacts of the compositional assumption and of including in-cloud data in the analysis are addressed. The effect of removing the data from the 28 July flight is also examined; doing so improves the result of the closure analysis at S = 0.85%. When omitting that atypical flight, N predicted /N observed = 1.085 (R 2 = 0.770) at S = 0.85%.
Materials and methods Model descriptionWe use a 48-km square horizontal by 24-km vertical domain with uniform 500-m horizontal by 375-m vertical grid spacing. A dynamics model (S1) integrates the anelastic equations for deep convection (S2) in conservative form using a 5-s time step, a third-order advection scheme, a standard Smagorinsky subgrid parameterization, and a sponge layer
While much is known about marine aerosol generation, little is known about aerosol produced from breaking waves in large freshwater environments or about what implications this aerosol may have for air quality and climate. We present here evidence of significant particle production from the surface of the Great Lakes. In 2009, vertical profiles of the submicron particle size distribution were measured over Lake Michigan, where we found substantial increases in ultrafine particle concentrations with the source at or near the lake surface. The Aitken mode aerosol concentration exhibits an exponential correlation with wind speed, suggesting that breaking waves along the surface were causing the observed particle formation. A calculated dry particle size distribution based on analysis of the lake water shows reasonable agreement with our observed size spectra. This new particle production source is previously un‐studied and could significantly impact atmospheric composition in the region surrounding fresh water lakes.
SUMMARYSimulations of a cumulonimbus cloud observed in the Cirrus Regional Study of Tropical Anvils and Cirrus Layers-Florida Area Cirrus Experiment (CRYSTAL-FACE) with an advanced version of the Explicit Microphysics Model (EMM) are presented. The EMM has size-resolved aerosols and predicts the time evolution of sizes, bulk densities and axial ratios of ice particles. Observations by multiple aircraft in the troposphere provide inputs to the model, including observations of the ice nuclei and of the entire size distribution of condensation nuclei.Homogeneous droplet freezing is found to be the source of almost all of the ice crystals in the anvil updraught of this particular model cloud. Most of the simulated droplets that freeze to form anvil crystals appear to be nucleated by activation of aerosols far above cloud base in the interior of the cloud ('secondary' or 'in-cloud' droplet nucleation). This is partly because primary droplets formed at cloud base are invariably depleted by accretion before they can reach the anvil base in the updraught, which promotes an increase with height of the average supersaturation in the updraught aloft. More than half of these aerosols, activated far above cloud base, are entrained into the updraught of this model cloud from the lateral environment above about 5 km above mean sea level. This confirms the importance of remote sources of atmospheric aerosol for anvil glaciation.Other nucleation processes impinge indirectly upon the anvil glaciation by modifying the concentration of supercooled droplets in the upper levels of the mixed-phase region. For instance, the warm-rain process produces a massive indirect impact on the anvil crystal concentration, because it determines the mass of precipitation forming in the updraught. It competes with homogeneous freezing as a sink for cloud droplets. The effects from turbulent enhancement of the warm-rain process and from other nucleation processes on the anvil ice properties are assessed.
Abstract. Long-range aerosol transport affects locations hundreds of kilometers from the point of emission, leading to distant particle sources influencing rural environments that have few major local sources. Source apportionment was conducted using real-time aerosol chemistry measurements made in July 2014 at the forested University of Michigan Biological Station near Pellston, Michigan, a site representative of the remote forested Great Lakes region. Size-resolved chemical composition of individual 0.5-2.0 µm particles was measured using an aerosol time-of-flight mass spectrometer (ATOFMS), and non-refractory aerosol mass less than 1 µm (PM 1 ) was measured with a high-resolution aerosol mass spectrometer (HR-AMS). The field site was influenced by air masses transporting Canadian wildfire emissions and urban pollution from Milwaukee and Chicago. During wildfireinfluenced periods, 0.5-2.0 µm particles were primarily aged biomass burning particles (88 % by number). These particles were heavily coated with secondary organic aerosol (SOA) formed during transport, with organics (average O/C ratio of 0.8) contributing 89 % of the PM 1 mass. During urban-influenced periods, organic carbon, elemental carbonorganic carbon, and aged biomass burning particles were identified, with inorganic secondary species (ammonium, sulfate, and nitrate) contributing 41 % of the PM 1 mass, indicative of atmospheric processing. With current models underpredicting organic carbon in this region and biomass burning being the largest combustion contributor to SOA by mass, these results highlight the importance for regional chemical transport models to accurately predict the impact of longrange transported particles on air quality in the upper Midwest, United States, particularly considering increasing intensity and frequency of Canadian wildfires.
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