Progress toward clean cloud water at Whiteface Mountain New York

Dukett, James E.; Aleksic, Nenad; Houck, Nathan; Snyder, P. K.; Casson, P.; Cantwell, Michael F.

doi:10.1016/j.atmosenv.2011.08.070

Cited by 14 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…With a summit elevation of 1483 m, it is the fifth highest peak in the Adirondacks, and the most westerly peak of the 46 High Peaks in the region. Atmospheric chemistry and physics as well as forest ecology have been monitored at Whiteface Mountain since the 1980s as part of the State University of New York at Albany Atmospheric Science Research Center [ Lovett and Kinsman , ; Miller et al, ; Dukett et al, ]. Atmospheric monitoring stations are located at 610 m and at the summit, and cloudwater collection occurs at the summit.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Deposition of mercury in forests across a montane elevation gradient: Elevational and seasonal patterns in methylmercury inputs and production

et al. 2017

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Global mercury contamination largely results from direct primary atmospheric and secondary legacy emissions, which can be deposited to ecosystems, converted to methylmercury, and bioaccumulated along food chains. We examined organic horizon soil samples collected across an elevational gradient on Whiteface Mountain in the Adirondack region of New York State, USA to determine spatial patterns in methylmercury concentrations across a forested montane landscape. We found that soil methylmercury concentrations were highest in the midelevation coniferous zone (0.39 ± 0.07 ng/g) compared to the higher elevation alpine zone (0.28 ± 0.04 ng/g) and particularly the lower elevation deciduous zone (0.17 ± 0.02 ng/g), while the percent of total mercury as methylmercury in soils decreased with elevation. We also found a seasonal pattern in soil methylmercury concentrations, with peak methylmercury values occurring in July. Given elevational patterns in temperature and bioavailable total mercury (derived from mineralization of soil organic matter), soil methylmercury concentrations appear to be driven by soil processing of ionic Hg, as opposed to atmospheric deposition of methylmercury. These methylmercury results are consistent with spatial patterns of mercury concentrations in songbird species observed from other studies, suggesting that future declines in mercury emissions could be important for reducing exposure of mercury to montane avian species.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Deposition of mercury in forests across a montane elevation gradient: Elevational and seasonal patterns in methylmercury inputs and production

et al. 2017

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“…to sulfate formation upon dissolution and oxidation of SO 2 in cloud droplets (Mohnen and Kadlecek, 1989), water-soluble organic gases can also be incorporated into cloud droplets and undergo aqueous reactions (Blando and Turpin, 2000) depending on their solubility (Ervens et al, 2011). Modeling has shown that including cloud processing reactions improves prediction of secondary organic aerosol (SOA) mass concentrations (Carlton et al, 2008).…”

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confidence: 99%

“…However, there is substantial inconsistency between the chemical composition of laboratory-generated and ambient organic aerosol, in part likely due to aqueous processing (Chen et al, 2015). Potential products of aqueous processing include carboxylic acids, esters, organosulfur compounds, polyols, amines, amino acids, and highly oxygenated oligomeric species (Blando and Turpin, 2000;Ervens et al, 2011). However, only limited ambient evidence of cloud processing involving high molecular weight organic compounds has been reported (Boone et al, 2015;Feng and Möller, 2004;Lee et al, 2011Lee et al, , 2012Pratt et al, 2013;Sagona et al, 2014;van Pinxteren et al, 2016;Zhao et al, 2013).…”

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Biogenic, urban, and wildfire influences on the molecular composition of dissolved organic compounds in cloud water

Cook¹,

Lin²,

Peng³

et al. 2017

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Abstract. Organic aerosol formation and transformation occurs within aqueous aerosol and cloud droplets, yet little is known about the composition of high molecular weight organic compounds in cloud water. Cloud water samples collected at Whiteface Mountain, New York during August&#8211;September 2014 were analyzed by ultrahigh-resolution mass spectrometry to investigate the molecular composition of dissolved organic carbon, with focus on sulfur- and nitrogen-containing compounds. Organic molecular composition was evaluated in the context of cloud water inorganic ion concentrations, pH, and total organic carbon concentrations to gain insights into the sources and aqueous phase processes of the observed high molecular weight organic compounds. The molecular composition of the cloud water depended on the influencing sources (biogenic, urban, wildfire) and showed evidence of aqueous-phase processes. Cloud water acidity was correlated with the average oxygen:carbon ratio of the organic constituents, suggesting the influence of aqueous acid-catalyzed oxidation processes. Organosulfate compounds, with both biogenic and anthropogenic volatile organic compound precursors, were detected for cloud water samples influenced by air masses that had traveled over forested and populated areas. Oxidation products of long-chain (C10-12) alkane precursors were detected during urban influence. Influence of Canadian wildfires resulted in increased numbers of identified sulfur-containing compounds and oligomeric species, including those formed through aqueous-phase reactions involving methylglyoxal. Light absorbing aqueous-phase products of syringol and guaiacol oxidation were observed in the wildfire-influenced samples, and dinitroaromatic compounds were observed in all cloud water samples (wildfire, biogenic/urban, and urban-influenced).

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“…An in-depth summary of Whiteface Mountain cloud water studies has been published elsewhere (Schwab et al, 2016a). Whiteface Mountain cloud water is more acidic than rainwater, with higher sulfate and nitrate concentrations (Aleksic et al, 2009), which are attributed to fossil fuel combustion (Dukett et al, 2011). Cloud deposition of total soluble sulfur accounts for 80-90 % of total sulfur deposition during June-September (Baumgardner et al, 2003).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Biogenic, urban, and wildfire influences on the molecular composition of dissolved organic compounds in cloud water

Cook¹,

Lin²,

Peng³

et al. 2017

Atmos. Chem. Phys.

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Abstract. Organic aerosol formation and transformation occurs within aqueous aerosol and cloud droplets, yet little is known about the composition of high molecular weight organic compounds in cloud water. Cloud water samples collected at Whiteface Mountain, New York, during AugustSeptember 2014 were analyzed by ultra-high-resolution mass spectrometry to investigate the molecular composition of dissolved organic carbon, with a focus on sulfur-and nitrogen-containing compounds. Organic molecular composition was evaluated in the context of cloud water inorganic ion concentrations, pH, and total organic carbon concentrations to gain insights into the sources and aqueous-phase processes of the observed high molecular weight organic compounds. Cloud water acidity was positively correlated with the average oxygen : carbon ratio of the organic constituents, suggesting the possibility for aqueous acid-catalyzed (prior to cloud droplet activation or during/after cloud droplet evaporation) and/or radical (within cloud droplets) oxidation processes. Many tracer compounds recently identified in laboratory studies of bulk aqueous-phase reactions were identified in the cloud water. Organosulfate compounds, with both biogenic and anthropogenic volatile organic compound precursors, were detected for cloud water samples influenced by air masses that had traveled over forested and populated areas. Oxidation products of long-chain (C 10−12 ) alkane precursors were detected during urban influence. Influence of Canadian wildfires resulted in increased numbers of identified sulfur-containing compounds and oligomeric species, including those formed through aqueous-phase reactions involving methylglyoxal. Light-absorbing aqueous-phase products of syringol and guaiacol oxidation were observed in the wildfire-influenced samples, and dinitroaromatic compounds were observed in all cloud water samples (wildfire, biogenic, and urban-influenced). Overall, the cloud water molecular composition depended on air mass source influence and reflected aqueous-phase reactions involving biogenic, urban, and biomass burning precursors.

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Progress toward clean cloud water at Whiteface Mountain New York

Cited by 14 publications

References 16 publications

Deposition of mercury in forests across a montane elevation gradient: Elevational and seasonal patterns in methylmercury inputs and production

Deposition of mercury in forests across a montane elevation gradient: Elevational and seasonal patterns in methylmercury inputs and production

Biogenic, urban, and wildfire influences on the molecular composition of dissolved organic compounds in cloud water

Biogenic, urban, and wildfire influences on the molecular composition of dissolved organic compounds in cloud water

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