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- ItemMeasurements of aerosol and CCN properties in the Mackenzie River delta (Canadian Arctic) during spring-summer transition in May 2014(Katlenburg-Lindau : EGU, 2018) Herenz, Paul; Wex, Heike; Henning, Silvia; Kristensen, Thomas Bjerring; Rubach, Florian; Roth, Anja; Borrmann, Stephan; Bozem, Heiko; Schulz, Hannes; Stratmann, FrankWithin the framework of the RACEPAC (Radiation-Aerosol-Cloud Experiment in the Arctic Circle) project, the Arctic aerosol, arriving at a ground-based station in Tuktoyaktuk (Mackenzie River delta area, Canada), was characterized during a period of 3 weeks in May 2014. Basic meteorological parameters and particle number size distributions (PNSDs) were observed and two distinct types of air masses were found. One type were typical Arctic haze air masses, termed accumulation-type air masses, characterized by a monomodal PNSD with a pronounced accumulation mode at sizes above 100 nm. These air masses were observed during a period when back trajectories indicate an air mass origin in the north-east of Canada. The other air mass type is characterized by a bimodal PNSD with a clear minimum around 90ĝ€†nm and with an Aitken mode consisting of freshly formed aerosol particles. Back trajectories indicate that these air masses, termed Aitken-type air masses, originated from the North Pacific. In addition, the application of the PSCF receptor model shows that air masses with their origin in active fire areas in central Canada and Siberia, in areas of industrial anthropogenic pollution (Norilsk and Prudhoe Bay Oil Field) and the north-west Pacific have enhanced total particle number concentrations (N CN). Generally, N CN ranged from 20 to 500 cmg'3, while cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) number concentrations were found to cover a range from less than 10 up to 250 cmg'3 for a supersaturation (SS) between 0.1 and 0.7 %. The hygroscopicity parameter of the CCN was determined to be 0.23 on average and variations in were largely attributed to measurement uncertainties.
Furthermore, simultaneous PNSD measurements at the ground station and on the Polar 6 research aircraft were performed. We found a good agreement of ground-based PNSDs with those measured between 200 and 1200 m. During two of the four overflights, particle number concentrations at 3000 m were found to be up to 20 times higher than those measured below 2000 m; for one of these two flights, PNSDs measured above 2000 m showed a different shape than those measured at lower altitudes. This is indicative of long-range transport from lower latitudes into the Arctic that can advect aerosol from different regions in different heights. - ItemGARRLiC and LIRIC: Strengths and limitations for the characterization of dust and marine particles along with their mixtures(Katlenburg-Lindau : Copernicus, 2017) Tsekeri, Alexandra; Lopatin, Anton; Amiridis, Vassilis; Marinou, Eleni; Igloffstein, Julia; Siomos, Nikolaos; Solomos, Stavros; Kokkalis, Panagiotis; Engelmann, Ronny; Baars, Holger; Gratsea, Myrto; Raptis, Panagiotis I.; Binietoglou, Ioannis; Mihalopoulos, Nikolaos; Kalivitis, Nikolaos; Kouvarakis, Giorgos; Bartsotas, Nikolaos; Kallos, George; Basart, Sara; Schuettemeyer, Dirk; Wandinger, Ulla; Ansmann, Albert; Chaikovsky, Anatoli P.; Dubovik, OlegThe Generalized Aerosol Retrieval from Radiometer and Lidar Combined data algorithm (GARRLiC) and the LIdar-Radiometer Inversion Code (LIRIC) provide the opportunity to study the aerosol vertical distribution by combining ground-based lidar and sun-photometric measurements. Here, we utilize the capabilities of both algorithms for the characterization of Saharan dust and marine particles, along with their mixtures, in the south-eastern Mediterranean during the CHARacterization of Aerosol mixtures of Dust and Marine origin Experiment (CHARADMExp). Three case studies are presented, focusing on dust-dominated, marinedominated and dust-marine mixing conditions. GARRLiC and LIRIC achieve a satisfactory characterization for the dust-dominated case in terms of particle microphysical properties and concentration profiles. The marine-dominated and the mixture cases are more challenging for both algorithms, although GARRLiC manages to provide more detailed microphysical retrievals compared to AERONET, while LIRIC effectively discriminates dust and marine particles in its concentration profile retrievals. The results are also compared with modelled dust and marine concentration profiles and surface in situ measurements.
- ItemThe Fifth International Workshop on Ice Nucleation phase 2 (FIN-02): Laboratory intercomparison of ice nucleation measurements(Katlenburg-Lindau : Copernicus, 2018) DeMott, Paul J.; Möhler, Ottmar; Cziczo, Daniel J.; Hiranuma, Naruki; Petters, Markus D.; Petters, Sarah S.; Belosi, Franco; Bingemer, Heinz G.; Brooks, Sarah D.; Budke, Carsten; Burkert-Kohn, Monika; Collier, Kristen N.; Danielczok, Anja; Eppers, Oliver; Felgitsch, Laura; Garimella, Sarvesh; Grothe, Hinrich; Herenz, Paul; Hill, Thomas C. J.; Höhler, Kristina; Kanji, Zamin A.; Kiselev, Alexei; Koop, Thomas; Kristensen, Thomas B.; Krüger, Konstantin; Kulkarni, Gourihar; Levin, Ezra J. T.; Murray, Benjamin J.; Nicosia, Alessia; O'Sullivan, Daniel; Peckhaus, Andreas; Polen, Michael J.; Price, Hannah C.; Reicher, Naama; Rothenberg, Daniel A.; Rudich, Yinon; Santachiara, Gianni; Schiebel, Thea; Schrod, Jann; Seifried, Teresa M.; Stratmann, Frank; Sullivan, Ryan C.; Suski, Kaitlyn J.; Szakáll, Miklós; Taylor, Hans P.; Ullrich, Romy; Vergara-Temprado, Jesus; Wagner, Robert; Whale, Thomas F.; Weber, Daniel; Welti, André; Wilson, Theodore W.; Wolf, Martin J.; Zenker, JakeThe second phase of the Fifth International Ice Nucleation Workshop (FIN-02) involved the gathering of a large number of researchers at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology's Aerosol Interactions and Dynamics of the Atmosphere (AIDA) facility to promote characterization and understanding of ice nucleation measurements made by a variety of methods used worldwide. Compared to the previous workshop in 2007, participation was doubled, reflecting a vibrant research area. Experimental methods involved sampling of aerosol particles by direct processing ice nucleation measuring systems from the same volume of air in separate experiments using different ice nucleating particle (INP) types, and collections of aerosol particle samples onto filters or into liquid for sharing amongst measurement techniques that post-process these samples. In this manner, any errors introduced by differences in generation methods when samples are shared across laboratories were mitigated. Furthermore, as much as possible, aerosol particle size distribution was controlled so that the size limitations of different methods were minimized. The results presented here use data from the workshop to assess the comparability of immersion freezing measurement methods activating INPs in bulk suspensions, methods that activate INPs in condensation and/or immersion freezing modes as single particles on a substrate, continuous flow diffusion chambers (CFDCs) directly sampling and processing particles well above water saturation to maximize immersion and subsequent freezing of aerosol particles, and expansion cloud chamber simulations in which liquid cloud droplets were first activated on aerosol particles prior to freezing. The AIDA expansion chamber measurements are expected to be the closest representation to INP activation in atmospheric cloud parcels in these comparisons, due to exposing particles freely to adiabatic cooling. The different particle types used as INPs included the minerals illite NX and potassium feldspar (K-feldspar), two natural soil dusts representative of arable sandy loam (Argentina) and highly erodible sandy dryland (Tunisia) soils, respectively, and a bacterial INP (Snomax®). Considered together, the agreement among post-processed immersion freezing measurements of the numbers and fractions of particles active at different temperatures following bulk collection of particles into liquid was excellent, with possible temperature uncertainties inferred to be a key factor in determining INP uncertainties. Collection onto filters for rinsing versus directly into liquid in impingers made little difference. For methods that activated collected single particles on a substrate at a controlled humidity at or above water saturation, agreement with immersion freezing methods was good in most cases, but was biased low in a few others for reasons that have not been resolved, but could relate to water vapor competition effects. Amongst CFDC-style instruments, various factors requiring (variable) higher supersaturations to achieve equivalent immersion freezing activation dominate the uncertainty between these measurements, and for comparison with bulk immersion freezing methods. When operated above water saturation to include assessment of immersion freezing, CFDC measurements often measured at or above the upper bound of immersion freezing device measurements, but often underestimated INP concentration in comparison to an immersion freezing method that first activates all particles into liquid droplets prior to cooling (the PIMCA-PINC device, or Portable Immersion Mode Cooling chAmber-Portable Ice Nucleation Chamber), and typically slightly underestimated INP number concentrations in comparison to cloud parcel expansions in the AIDA chamber; this can be largely mitigated when it is possible to raise the relative humidity to sufficiently high values in the CFDCs, although this is not always possible operationally. Correspondence of measurements of INPs among direct sampling and post-processing systems varied depending on the INP type. Agreement was best for Snomax® particles in the temperature regime colder than -10°C, where their ice nucleation activity is nearly maximized and changes very little with temperature. At temperatures warmer than -10°C, Snomax® INP measurements (all via freezing of suspensions) demonstrated discrepancies consistent with previous reports of the instability of its protein aggregates that appear to make it less suitable as a calibration INP at these temperatures. For Argentinian soil dust particles, there was excellent agreement across all measurement methods; measures ranged within 1 order of magnitude for INP number concentrations, active fractions and calculated active site densities over a 25 to 30°C range and 5 to 8 orders of corresponding magnitude change in number concentrations. This was also the case for all temperatures warmer than -25°C in Tunisian dust experiments. In contrast, discrepancies in measurements of INP concentrations or active site densities that exceeded 2 orders of magnitude across a broad range of temperature measurements found at temperatures warmer than -25°C in a previous study were replicated for illite NX. Discrepancies also exceeded 2 orders of magnitude at temperatures of -20 to -25°C for potassium feldspar (K-feldspar), but these coincided with the range of temperatures at which INP concentrations increase rapidly at approximately an order of magnitude per 2°C cooling for K-feldspar. These few discrepancies did not outweigh the overall positive outcomes of the workshop activity, nor the future utility of this data set or future similar efforts for resolving remaining measurement issues. Measurements of the same materials were repeatable over the time of the workshop and demonstrated strong consistency with prior studies, as reflected by agreement of data broadly with parameterizations of different specific or general (e.g., soil dust) aerosol types. The divergent measurements of the INP activity of illite NX by direct versus post-processing methods were not repeated for other particle types, and the Snomax° data demonstrated that, at least for a biological INP type, there is no expected measurement bias between bulk collection and direct immediately processed freezing methods to as warm as -10°C. Since particle size ranges were limited for this workshop, it can be expected that for atmospheric populations of INPs, measurement discrepancies will appear due to the different capabilities of methods for sampling the full aerosol size distribution, or due to limitations on achieving sufficient water supersaturations to fully capture immersion freezing in direct processing instruments. Overall, this workshop presents an improved picture of present capabilities for measuring INPs than in past workshops, and provides direction toward addressing remaining measurement issues.
- ItemComparison of particle number size distribution trends in ground measurements and climate models(Katlenburg-Lindau : EGU, 2022) Leinonen, Ville; Kokkola, Harri; Yli-Juuti, Taina; Mielonen, Tero; Kühn, Thomas; Nieminen, Tuomo; Heikkinen, Simo; Miinalainen, Tuuli; Bergman, Tommi; Carslaw, Ken; Decesari, Stefano; Fiebig, Markus; Hussein, Tareq; Kivekäs, Niku; Krejci, Radovan; Kulmala, Markku; Leskinen, Ari; Massling, Andreas; Mihalopoulos, Nikos; Mulcahy, Jane P.; Noe, Steffen M.; van Noije, Twan; O'Connor, Fiona M.; O'Dowd, Colin; Olivie, Dirk; Pernov, Jakob B.; Petäjä, Tuukka; Seland, Øyvind; Schulz, Michael; Scott, Catherine E.; Skov, Henrik; Swietlicki, Erik; Tuch, Thomas; Wiedensohler, Alfred; Virtanen, Annele; Mikkonen, SanttuDespite a large number of studies, out of all drivers of radiative forcing, the effect of aerosols has the largest uncertainty in global climate model radiative forcing estimates. There have been studies of aerosol optical properties in climate models, but the effects of particle number size distribution need a more thorough inspection. We investigated the trends and seasonality of particle number concentrations in nucleation, Aitken, and accumulation modes at 21 measurement sites in Europe and the Arctic. For 13 of those sites, with longer measurement time series, we compared the field observations with the results from five climate models, namely EC-Earth3, ECHAM-M7, ECHAM-SALSA, NorESM1.2, and UKESM1. This is the first extensive comparison of detailed aerosol size distribution trends between in situ observations from Europe and five earth system models (ESMs). We found that the trends of particle number concentrations were mostly consistent and decreasing in both measurements and models. However, for many sites, climate models showed weaker decreasing trends than the measurements. Seasonal variability in measured number concentrations, quantified by the ratio between maximum and minimum monthly number concentration, was typically stronger at northern measurement sites compared to other locations. Models had large differences in their seasonal representation, and they can be roughly divided into two categories: for EC-Earth and NorESM, the seasonal cycle was relatively similar for all sites, and for other models the pattern of seasonality varied between northern and southern sites. In addition, the variability in concentrations across sites varied between models, some having relatively similar concentrations for all sites, whereas others showed clear differences in concentrations between remote and urban sites. To conclude, although all of the model simulations had identical input data to describe anthropogenic mass emissions, trends in differently sized particles vary among the models due to assumptions in emission sizes and differences in how models treat size-dependent aerosol processes. The inter-model variability was largest in the accumulation mode, i.e. sizes which have implications for aerosol-cloud interactions. Our analysis also indicates that between models there is a large variation in efficiency of long-range transportation of aerosols to remote locations. The differences in model results are most likely due to the more complex effect of different processes instead of one specific feature (e.g. the representation of aerosol or emission size distributions). Hence, a more detailed characterization of microphysical processes and deposition processes affecting the long-range transport is needed to understand the model variability.
- ItemLong-term cloud condensation nuclei number concentration, particle number size distribution and chemical composition measurements at regionally representative observatories(Katlenburg-Lindau : EGU, 2018) Schmale, Julia; Henning, Silvia; Decesari, Stefano; Henzing, Bas; Keskinen, Helmi; Sellegri, Karine; Ovadnevaite, Jurgita; Pöhlker, Mira L.; Brito, Joel; Bougiatioti, Aikaterini; Kristensson, Adam; Kalivitis, Nikos; Stavroulas, Iasonas; Carbone, Samara; Jefferson, Anne; Park, Minsu; Schlag, Patrick; Iwamoto, Yoko; Aalto, Pasi; Äijälä, Mikko; Bukowiecki, Nicolas; Ehn, Mikael; Frank, Göran; Fröhlich, Roman; Frumau, Arnoud; Herrmann, Erik; Herrmann, Hartmut; Holzinger, Rupert; Kos, Gerard; Kulmala, Markku; Mihalopoulos, Nikolaos; Nenes, Athanasios; O'Dowd, Colin; Petäjä, Tuukka; Picard, David; Pöhlker, Christopher; Pöschl, Ulrich; Poulain, Laurent; Prévôt, André Stephan Henry; Swietlicki, Erik; Andreae, Meinrat O.; Artaxo, Paulo; Wiedensohler, Alfred; Ogren, John; Matsuki, Atsushi; Yum, Seong Soo; Stratmann, Frank; Baltensperger, Urs; Gysel, MartinAerosol-cloud interactions (ACI) constitute the single largest uncertainty in anthropogenic radiative forcing. To reduce the uncertainties and gain more confidence in the simulation of ACI, models need to be evaluated against observations, in particular against measurements of cloud condensation nuclei (CCN). Here we present a data set - ready to be used for model validation - of long-term observations of CCN number concentrations, particle number size distributions and chemical composition from 12 sites on 3 continents. Studied environments include coastal background, rural background, alpine sites, remote forests and an urban surrounding. Expectedly, CCN characteristics are highly variable across site categories. However, they also vary within them, most strongly in the coastal background group, where CCN number concentrations can vary by up to a factor of 30 within one season. In terms of particle activation behaviour, most continental stations exhibit very similar activation ratios (relative to particles 20nm) across the range of 0.1 to 1.0% supersaturation. At the coastal sites the transition from particles being CCN inactive to becoming CCN active occurs over a wider range of the supersaturation spectrum. Several stations show strong seasonal cycles of CCN number concentrations and particle number size distributions, e.g. at Barrow (Arctic haze in spring), at the alpine stations (stronger influence of polluted boundary layer air masses in summer), the rain forest (wet and dry season) or Finokalia (wildfire influence in autumn). The rural background and urban sites exhibit relatively little variability throughout the year, while short-term variability can be high especially at the urban site. The average hygroscopicity parameter, calculated from the chemical composition of submicron particles was highest at the coastal site of Mace Head (0.6) and lowest at the rain forest station ATTO (0.2-0.3). We performed closure studies based on -Köhler theory to predict CCN number concentrations. The ratio of predicted to measured CCN concentrations is between 0.87 and 1.4 for five different types of . The temporal variability is also well captured, with Pearson correlation coefficients exceeding 0.87. Information on CCN number concentrations at many locations is important to better characterise ACI and their radiative forcing. But long-term comprehensive aerosol particle characterisations are labour intensive and costly. Hence, we recommend operating migrating-CCNCs to conduct collocated CCN number concentration and particle number size distribution measurements at individual locations throughout one year at least to derive a seasonally resolved hygroscopicity parameter. This way, CCN number concentrations can only be calculated based on continued particle number size distribution information and greater spatial coverage of long-term measurements can be achieved.
- ItemLeipzig Ice Nucleation chamber Comparison (LINC): Intercomparison of four online ice nucleation counters(Katlenburg-Lindau : EGU, 2017) Burkert-Kohn, Monika; Wex, Heike; Welti, André; Hartmann, Susan; Grawe, Sarah; Hellner, Lisa; Herenz, Paul; Atkinson, James D.; Stratmann, Frank; Kanji, Zamin A.Ice crystal formation in atmospheric clouds has a strong effect on precipitation, cloud lifetime, cloud radiative properties, and thus the global energy budget. Primary ice formation above 235 K is initiated by nucleation on seed aerosol particles called ice-nucleating particles (INPs). Instruments that measure the ice-nucleating potential of aerosol particles in the atmosphere need to be able to accurately quantify ambient INP concentrations. In the last decade several instruments have been developed to investigate the ice-nucleating properties of aerosol particles and to measure ambient INP concentrations. Therefore, there is a need for intercomparisons to ensure instrument differences are not interpreted as scientific findings. In this study, we intercompare the results from parallel measurements using four online ice nucleation chambers. Seven different aerosol types are tested including untreated and acid-treated mineral dusts (microcline, which is a K-feldspar, and kaolinite), as well as birch pollen washing waters. Experiments exploring heterogeneous ice nucleation above and below water saturation are performed to cover the whole range of atmospherically relevant thermodynamic conditions that can be investigated with the intercompared chambers. The Leipzig Aerosol Cloud Interaction Simulator (LACIS) and the Portable Immersion Mode Cooling chAmber coupled to the Portable Ice Nucleation Chamber (PIMCA-PINC) performed measurements in the immersion freezing mode. Additionally, two continuous-flow diffusion chambers (CFDCs) PINC and the Spectrometer for Ice Nuclei (SPIN) are used to perform measurements below and just above water saturation, nominally presenting deposition nucleation and condensation freezing. The results of LACIS and PIMCA-PINC agree well over the whole range of measured frozen fractions (FFs) and temperature. In general PINC and SPIN compare well and the observed differences are explained by the ice crystal growth and different residence times in the chamber. To study the mechanisms responsible for the ice nucleation in the four instruments, the FF (from LACIS and PIMCA-PINC) and the activated fraction, AF (from PINC and SPIN), are compared. Measured FFs are on the order of a factor of 3 higher than AFs, but are not consistent for all aerosol types and temperatures investigated. It is shown that measurements from CFDCs cannot be assumed to produce the same results as those instruments exclusively measuring immersion freezing. Instead, the need to apply a scaling factor to CFDCs operating above water saturation has to be considered to allow comparison with immersion freezing devices. Our results provide further awareness of factors such as the importance of dispersion methods and the quality of particle size selection for intercomparing online INP counters.
- ItemNew particle formation in the Svalbard region 2006-2015(Katlenburg-Lindau : EGU, 2017) Heintzenberg, Jost; Tunved, Peter; Galí, Martí; Leck, CarolineEvents of new particle formation (NPF) were analyzed in a 10-year data set of hourly particle size distributions recorded on Mt. Zeppelin, Spitsbergen, Svalbard. Three different types of NPF events were identified through objective search algorithms. The first and simplest algorithm utilizes short-term increases in particle concentrations below 25 nm (PCT (percentiles) events). The second one builds on the growth of the sub-50 nm diameter median (DGR (diameter growth) events) and is most closely related to the classical "banana type" of event. The third and most complex, multiple-size approach to identifying NPF events builds on a hypothesis suggesting the concurrent production of polymer gel particles at several sizes below ca. 60 nm (MEV (multisize growth) events). As a first and general conclusion, we can state that NPF events are a summer phenomenon and not related to Arctic haze, which is a late winter to early spring feature. The occurrence of NPF events appears to be somewhat sensitive to the available data on precipitation. The seasonal distribution of solar flux suggests some photochemical control that may affect marine biological processes generating particle precursors and/or atmospheric photochemical processes that generate condensable vapors from precursor gases. Notably, the seasonal distribution of the biogenic methanesulfonate (MSA) follows that of the solar flux although it peaks before the maxima in NPF occurrence. A host of ancillary data and findings point to varying and rather complex marine biological source processes. The potential source regions for all types of new particle formation appear to be restricted to the marginal-ice and open-water areas between northeastern Greenland and eastern Svalbard. Depending on conditions, yet to be clarified new particle formation may become visible as short bursts of particles around 20 nm (PCT events), longer events involving condensation growth (DGR events), or extended events with elevated concentrations of particles at several sizes below 100 nm (MEV events). The seasonal distribution of NPF events peaks later than that of MSA and DGR, and in particular than that of MEV events, which reach into late summer and early fall with open, warm, and biologically active waters around Svalbard. Consequently, a simple model to describe the seasonal distribution of the total number of NPF events can be based on solar flux and sea surface temperature, representing environmental conditions for marine biological activity and condensation sink, controlling the balance between new particle nucleation and their condensational growth. Based on the sparse knowledge about the seasonal cycle of gel-forming marine microorganisms and their controlling factors, we hypothesize that the seasonal distribution of DGR and, more so, MEV events reflect the seasonal cycle of the gel-forming phytoplankton.
- ItemA novel method for deriving the aerosol hygroscopicity parameter based only on measurements from a humidified nephelometer system(Katlenburg-Lindau : EGU, 2017) Kuang, Ye; Zhao, Chunsheng; Tao, Jiangchuan; Bian, Yuxuan; Ma, Nan; Zhao, GangAerosol hygroscopicity is crucial for understanding roles of aerosol particles in atmospheric chemistry and aerosol climate effects. Light-scattering enhancement factor f (RH, λ) is one of the parameters describing aerosol hygroscopicity, which is defined as f (RH, λ) = δsp(RH, λ)=δsp(dry, λ), where δsp(RH, λ) or δsp(dry, λ) represents δsp at wavelength λ under certain relative humidity (RH) or dry conditions. Traditionally, an overall hygroscopicity parameter κ can be retrieved from measured f (RH, λ), hereinafter referred to as κf(RH), by combining concurrently measured particle number size distribution (PNSD) and mass concentration of black carbon. In this paper, a new method is proposed to directly derive κf(RH) based only on measurements from a three-wavelength humidified nephelometer system. The advantage of this newly proposed approach is that κf(RH) can be estimated without any additional information about PNSD and black carbon. This method is verified with measurements from two different field campaigns. Values of κf(RH) estimated from this new method agree very well with those retrieved by using the traditional method: all points lie near the 1 : 1 line and the square of correlation coefficient between them is 0.99. The verification results demonstrate that this newly proposed method of deriving κf(RH) is applicable at different sites and in seasons of the North China Plain and might also be applicable in other regions around the world.
- ItemContributions of transported Prudhoe Bay oil field emissions to the aerosol population in Utqiaġvik, Alaska(Katlenburg-Lindau : EGU, 2017) Gunsch, Matthew J.; Kirpes, Rachel M.; Kolesar, Katheryn R.; Barrett, Tate E.; China, Swarup; Sheesley, Rebecca J.; Laskin, Alexander; Wiedensohler, Alfred; Tuch, Thomas; Pratt, Kerri A.Loss of sea ice is opening the Arctic to increasing development involving oil and gas extraction and shipping. Given the significant impacts of absorbing aerosol and secondary aerosol precursors emitted within the rapidly warming Arctic region, it is necessary to characterize local anthropogenic aerosol sources and compare to natural conditions. From August to September 2015 in Utqiaġvik (Barrow), AK, the chemical composition of individual atmospheric particles was measured by computer-controlled scanning electron microscopy with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (0.13-4 μm projected area diameter) and real-time single-particle mass spectrometry (0.2-1.5 μm vacuum aerodynamic diameter). During periods influenced by the Arctic Ocean (70 % of the study), our results show that fresh sea spray aerosol contributed ∼ 20 %, by number, of particles between 0.13 and 0.4 μm, 40-70 % between 0.4 and 1 μm, and 80-100 % between 1 and 4 μm particles. In contrast, for periods influenced by emissions from Prudhoe Bay (10 % of the study), the third largest oil field in North America, there was a strong influence from submicron (0.13-1 μm) combustion-derived particles (20-50 % organic carbon, by number; 5-10 % soot by number). While sea spray aerosol still comprised a large fraction of particles (90 % by number from 1 to 4 μm) detected under Prudhoe Bay influence, these particles were internally mixed with sulfate and nitrate indicative of aging processes during transport. In addition, the overall mode of the particle size number distribution shifted from 76 nm during Arctic Ocean influence to 27 nm during Prudhoe Bay influence, with particle concentrations increasing from 130 to 920 cm-3 due to transported particle emissions from the oil fields. The increased contributions of carbonaceous combustion products and partially aged sea spray aerosol should be considered in future Arctic atmospheric composition and climate simulations.
- ItemIce nucleating particles over the Eastern Mediterranean measured by unmanned aircraft systems(Katlenburg-Lindau : EGU, 2017) Schrod, Jann; Weber, Daniel; Drücke, Jaqueline; Keleshis, Christos; Pikridas, Michael; Ebert, Martin; Cvetković, Bojan; Nickovic, Slobodan; Marinou, Eleni; Baars, Holger; Ansmann, Albert; Vrekoussis, Mihalis; Mihalopoulos, Nikos; Sciare, Jean; Curtius, Joachim; Bingemer, Heinz G.During an intensive field campaign on aerosol, clouds, and ice nucleation in the Eastern Mediterranean in April 2016, we measured the abundance of ice nucleating particles (INPs) in the lower troposphere from unmanned aircraft systems (UASs). Aerosol samples were collected by miniaturized electrostatic precipitators onboard the UASs at altitudes up to 2.5 km. The number of INPs in these samples, which are active in the deposition and condensation modes at temperatures from -20 to -30 °C, were analyzed immediately after collection on site using the ice nucleus counter FRIDGE (FRankfurt Ice nucleation Deposition freezinG Experiment). During the 1-month campaign, we encountered a series of Saharan dust plumes that traveled at several kilometers' altitude. Here we present INP data from 42 individual flights, together with aerosol number concentrations, observations of lidar backscattering, dust concentrations derived by the dust transport model DREAM (Dust Regional Atmospheric Model), and results from scanning electron microscopy. The effect of the dust plumes is reflected by the coincidence of INPs with the particulate matter (PM), the lidar signal, and the predicted dust mass of the model. This suggests that mineral dust or a constituent related to dust was a major contributor to the ice nucleating properties of the aerosol. Peak concentrations of above 100 INPs std L-1 were measured at -30 °C. The INP concentration in elevated plumes was on average a factor of 10 higher than at ground level. Since desert dust is transported for long distances over wide areas of the globe predominantly at several kilometers' altitude, we conclude that INP measurements at ground level may be of limited significance for the situation at the level of cloud formation.