Sample records for aerosol general dynamic

  1. Wavelet and adaptive methods for time dependent problems and applications in aerosol dynamics

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Guo, Qiang

    Time dependent partial differential equations (PDEs) are widely used as mathematical models of environmental problems. Aerosols are now clearly identified as an important factor in many environmental aspects of climate and radiative forcing processes, as well as in the health effects of air quality. The mathematical models for the aerosol dynamics with respect to size distribution are nonlinear partial differential and integral equations, which describe processes of condensation, coagulation and deposition. Simulating the general aerosol dynamic equations on time, particle size and space exhibits serious difficulties because the size dimension ranges from a few nanometer to several micrometer while the spatial dimension is usually described with kilometers. Therefore, it is an important and challenging task to develop efficient techniques for solving time dependent dynamic equations. In this thesis, we develop and analyze efficient wavelet and adaptive methods for the time dependent dynamic equations on particle size and further apply them to the spatial aerosol dynamic systems. Wavelet Galerkin method is proposed to solve the aerosol dynamic equations on time and particle size due to the fact that aerosol distribution changes strongly along size direction and the wavelet technique can solve it very efficiently. Daubechies' wavelets are considered in the study due to the fact that they possess useful properties like orthogonality, compact support, exact representation of polynomials to a certain degree. Another problem encountered in the solution of the aerosol dynamic equations results from the hyperbolic form due to the condensation growth term. We propose a new characteristic-based fully adaptive multiresolution numerical scheme for solving the aerosol dynamic equation, which combines the attractive advantages of adaptive multiresolution technique and the characteristics method. On the aspect of theoretical analysis, the global existence and uniqueness of

  2. Aerosol processing of materials: Aerosol dynamics and microstructure evolution

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Gurav, Abhijit Shankar

    Spray pyrolysis is an aerosol process commonly used to synthesize a wide variety of materials in powder or film forms including metals, metal oxides and non-oxide ceramics. It is capable of producing high purity, unagglomerated, and micrometer to submicron-size powders, and scale-up has been demonstrated. This dissertation deals with the study of aerosol dynamics during spray pyrolysis of multicomponent systems involving volatile phases/components, and aspects involved with using fuel additives during spray processes to break apart droplets and particles in order to produce powders with smaller sizes. The gas-phase aerosol dynamics and composition size distributions were measured during spray pyrolysis of (Bi, Pb)-Sr-Ca-Cu-O, and Sr-Ru-O and Bi-Ru-O at different temperatures. A differential mobility analyzer (DMA) was used in conjunction with a condensation particle counter (CPC) to monitor the gas-phase particle size distributions, and a Berner-type low-pressure impactor was used to obtain mass size distributions and size-classified samples for chemical analysis. (Bi, Pb)-Sr-Ca-Cu-O powders made at temperatures up to 700sp°C maintained their initial stoichiometry over the whole range of particle sizes monitored, however, those made at 800sp°C and above were heavily depleted in lead in the size range 0.5-5.0 mum. When the reactor temperature was raised from 700 and 800sp°C to 900sp°C, a large number ({˜}10sp7\\ #/cmsp3) of new ultrafine particles were formed from PbO vapor released from the particles and the reactor walls at the beginning of high temperature runs (at 900sp°C). The metal ruthenate systems showed generation of ultrafine particles (<40-50 nm) at the beginning of runs at 800-900sp°C and also as a steady state process at a reactor temperature of 1000sp°C. The methods of aerosol dynamics measurements were also used to monitor the gas-phase particle size distributions during the generation of fullerene (Csb{60}) nano-particles (30 to 50 nm size

  3. Pulmonary aerosol delivery and the importance of growth dynamics.

    PubMed

    Haddrell, Allen E; Lewis, David; Church, Tanya; Vehring, Reinhard; Murnane, Darragh; Reid, Jonathan P

    2017-12-01

    Aerosols are dynamic systems, responding to variations in the surrounding environmental conditions by changing in size, composition and phase. Although, widely used in inhalation therapies, details of the processes occurring on aerosol generation and during inhalation have received little attention. Instead, research has focused on improvements to the formulation of the drug prior to aerosolization and the resulting clinical efficacy of the treatment. Here, we highlight the processes that occur during aerosol generation and inhalation, affecting aerosol disposition when deposited and, potentially, impacting total and regional doses. In particular, we examine the response of aerosol particles to the humid environment of the respiratory tract, considering both the capacity of particles to grow by absorbing moisture and the timescale for condensation to occur. [Formula: see text].

  4. Dynamics and Properties of Global Aerosol using MODIS, AERONET and GOCART Model

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Kaufman, Yoram; Chin, Mian; Reme, Lorraine; Tanre, Didier; Mattoo, Shana

    2002-01-01

    Recently produced daily Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aerosol data for the whole year of 2001 are used to show the concentration and dynamics of aerosol over ocean and large parts of the continents. The data were validated against the Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) measurements over land and ocean in a special issue in GRL now in press. Monthly averages and a movie based on the daily data are produced and used to demonstrate the spatial and temporal evolution of aerosol. The MODIS wide spectral range is used to distinguish fine smoke and pollution aerosol from coarse dust and salt. The aerosol is observed above ocean and land. The movie produced from the MODIS data provides a new dimension to aerosol observations by showing the dynamics of the system. For example in February smoke and dust emitted from the Sahel and West Africa is shown to travel to the North-East Atlantic. In April heavy dust and pollution from East Asia is shown to travel to North America. In May-June pollution and dust play a dynamical dance in the Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal. In Aug-September smoke from South Africa and South America is shown to pulsate in tandem and to periodically to be transported to the otherwise pristine Southern part of the Southern Hemisphere. The MODIS data are compared with the Georgia Tech/Goddard Global Ozone Chemistry Aerosol Radiation Transport (GOCART) model to test and adjust source and sink strengths in the model and to study the effect of clouds on the representation of the satellite data.

  5. Size distribution dynamics reveal particle-phase chemistry in organic aerosol formation

    PubMed Central

    Shiraiwa, Manabu; Yee, Lindsay D.; Schilling, Katherine A.; Loza, Christine L.; Craven, Jill S.; Zuend, Andreas; Ziemann, Paul J.; Seinfeld, John H.

    2013-01-01

    Organic aerosols are ubiquitous in the atmosphere and play a central role in climate, air quality, and public health. The aerosol size distribution is key in determining its optical properties and cloud condensation nucleus activity. The dominant portion of organic aerosol is formed through gas-phase oxidation of volatile organic compounds, so-called secondary organic aerosols (SOAs). Typical experimental measurements of SOA formation include total SOA mass and atomic oxygen-to-carbon ratio. These measurements, alone, are generally insufficient to reveal the extent to which condensed-phase reactions occur in conjunction with the multigeneration gas-phase photooxidation. Combining laboratory chamber experiments and kinetic gas-particle modeling for the dodecane SOA system, here we show that the presence of particle-phase chemistry is reflected in the evolution of the SOA size distribution as well as its mass concentration. Particle-phase reactions are predicted to occur mainly at the particle surface, and the reaction products contribute more than half of the SOA mass. Chamber photooxidation with a midexperiment aldehyde injection confirms that heterogeneous reaction of aldehydes with organic hydroperoxides forming peroxyhemiacetals can lead to a large increase in SOA mass. Although experiments need to be conducted with other SOA precursor hydrocarbons, current results demonstrate coupling between particle-phase chemistry and size distribution dynamics in the formation of SOAs, thereby opening up an avenue for analysis of the SOA formation process. PMID:23818634

  6. Size distribution dynamics reveal particle-phase chemistry in organic aerosol formation.

    PubMed

    Shiraiwa, Manabu; Yee, Lindsay D; Schilling, Katherine A; Loza, Christine L; Craven, Jill S; Zuend, Andreas; Ziemann, Paul J; Seinfeld, John H

    2013-07-16

    Organic aerosols are ubiquitous in the atmosphere and play a central role in climate, air quality, and public health. The aerosol size distribution is key in determining its optical properties and cloud condensation nucleus activity. The dominant portion of organic aerosol is formed through gas-phase oxidation of volatile organic compounds, so-called secondary organic aerosols (SOAs). Typical experimental measurements of SOA formation include total SOA mass and atomic oxygen-to-carbon ratio. These measurements, alone, are generally insufficient to reveal the extent to which condensed-phase reactions occur in conjunction with the multigeneration gas-phase photooxidation. Combining laboratory chamber experiments and kinetic gas-particle modeling for the dodecane SOA system, here we show that the presence of particle-phase chemistry is reflected in the evolution of the SOA size distribution as well as its mass concentration. Particle-phase reactions are predicted to occur mainly at the particle surface, and the reaction products contribute more than half of the SOA mass. Chamber photooxidation with a midexperiment aldehyde injection confirms that heterogeneous reaction of aldehydes with organic hydroperoxides forming peroxyhemiacetals can lead to a large increase in SOA mass. Although experiments need to be conducted with other SOA precursor hydrocarbons, current results demonstrate coupling between particle-phase chemistry and size distribution dynamics in the formation of SOAs, thereby opening up an avenue for analysis of the SOA formation process.

  7. Atmospheric aerosols in Rome, Italy: sources, dynamics and spatial variations during two seasons

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Struckmeier, Caroline; Drewnick, Frank; Fachinger, Friederike; Gobbi, Gian Paolo; Borrmann, Stephan

    2016-12-01

    every day at the urban location, at the suburban location they were only found under favourable meteorological conditions, but were independent of advection of the Rome emission plume. Particles from sources in the metropolitan area of Rome and particles advected from outside Rome contributed 42-70 and 30-58 % to the total measured PM1, respectively. Apart from the general aerosol characteristics, in this study the properties (e.g. emission strength) and dynamics (e.g. temporal behaviour) of each identified aerosol type is investigated in detail to provide a better understanding of the observed seasonal and spatial differences.

  8. Probing into the aging dynamics of biomass burning aerosol by using satellite measurements of aerosol optical depth and carbon monoxide

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Konovalov, Igor B.; Beekmann, Matthias; Berezin, Evgeny V.; Formenti, Paola; Andreae, Meinrat O.

    2017-04-01

    Carbonaceous aerosol released into the atmosphere from open biomass burning (BB) is known to undergo considerable chemical and physical transformations (aging). However, there is substantial controversy about the nature and observable effects of these transformations. A shortage of consistent observational evidence on BB aerosol aging processes under different environmental conditions and at various temporal scales hinders development of their adequate representations in chemistry transport models (CTMs). In this study, we obtain insights into the BB aerosol dynamics by using available satellite measurements of aerosol optical depth (AOD) and carbon monoxide (CO). The basic concept of our method is to consider AOD as a function of the BB aerosol photochemical age (that is, the time period characterizing the exposure of BB aerosol emissions to atmospheric oxidation reactions) predicted by means of model tracers. We evaluate the AOD enhancement ratio (ER) defined as the ratio of optical depth of actual BB aerosol with respect to that of a modeled aerosol tracer that is assumed to originate from the same fires as the real BB aerosol but that is not affected by any aging processes. To limit possible effects of model transport errors, the AOD measurements are normalized to CO column amounts that are also retrieved from satellite measurements. The method is applied to the analysis of the meso- and synoptic-scale evolution of aerosol in smoke plumes from major wildfires that occurred in Siberia in summer 2012. AOD and CO retrievals from MODIS and IASI measurements, respectively, are used in combination with simulations performed with the CHIMERE CTM. The analysis indicates that aging processes strongly affected the evolution of BB aerosol in the situation considered, especially in dense plumes (with spatial average PM2. 5 concentration exceeding 100 µg m-3). For such plumes, the ER is found to increase almost 2-fold on the scale of ˜ 10 h of daytime aerosol

  9. Sulfate and MSA Aerosol Dynamics in the Marine Boundary Layer

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1997-09-30

    Kilauea Volcano as they move out over the Pacific Ocean, to understand what happens to marine and continental aerosols when they mix. This dataset will...SULFATE AND MSA AEROSOL DYNAMICS IN THE MARINE BOUNDARY LAYER P.I. - Barry J. Huebert Department of Oceanography University of Hawaii 1000 Pope Rd...6. AUTHOR(S) 5d. PROJECT NUMBER 5e. TASK NUMBER 5f. WORK UNIT NUMBER 7. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) University of Hawaii

  10. The Sectional Stratospheric Sulfate Aerosol module (S3A-v1) within the LMDZ general circulation model: description and evaluation against stratospheric aerosol observations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kleinschmitt, Christoph; Boucher, Olivier; Bekki, Slimane; Lott, François; Platt, Ulrich

    2017-09-01

    Stratospheric aerosols play an important role in the climate system by affecting the Earth's radiative budget as well as atmospheric chemistry, and the capabilities to simulate them interactively within global models are continuously improving. It is important to represent accurately both aerosol microphysical and atmospheric dynamical processes because together they affect the size distribution and the residence time of the aerosol particles in the stratosphere. The newly developed LMDZ-S3A model presented in this article uses a sectional approach for sulfate particles in the stratosphere and includes the relevant microphysical processes. It allows full interaction between aerosol radiative effects (e.g. radiative heating) and atmospheric dynamics, including e.g. an internally generated quasi-biennial oscillation (QBO) in the stratosphere. Sulfur chemistry is semi-prescribed via climatological lifetimes. LMDZ-S3A reasonably reproduces aerosol observations in periods of low (background) and high (volcanic) stratospheric sulfate loading, but tends to overestimate the number of small particles and to underestimate the number of large particles. Thus, it may serve as a tool to study the climate impacts of volcanic eruptions, as well as the deliberate anthropogenic injection of aerosols into the stratosphere, which has been proposed as a method of geoengineering to abate global warming.

  11. Coupled turbulence and aerosol dynamics modeling of vehicle exhaust plumes using the CTAG model

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wang, Yan Jason; Zhang, K. Max

    2012-11-01

    This paper presents the development and evaluation of an environmental turbulent reacting flow model, the Comprehensive Turbulent Aerosol Dynamics and Gas Chemistry (CTAG) model. CTAG is designed to simulate transport and transformation of multiple air pollutants, e.g., from emission sources to ambient background. For the on-road and near-road applications, CTAG explicitly couples the major turbulent mixing processes, i.e., vehicle-induced turbulence (VIT), road-induced turbulence (RIT) and atmospheric boundary layer turbulence with gas-phase chemistry and aerosol dynamics. CTAG's transport model is referred to as CFD-VIT-RIT. This paper presents the evaluation of the CTAG model in simulating the dynamics of individual plumes in the “tailpipe-to-road” stage, i.e., VIT behind a moving van and aerosol dynamics in the wake of a diesel car by comparing the modeling results against the respective field measurements. Combined with sensitivity studies, we analyze the relative roles of VIT, sulfuric acid induced nucleation, condensation of organic compounds and presence of soot-mode particles in capturing the dynamics of exhaust plumes as well as their implications in vehicle emission controls.

  12. On the characteristics of aerosol indirect effect based on dynamic regimes in global climate models

    DOE PAGES

    Zhang, Shipeng; Wang, Minghuai; Ghan, Steven J.; ...

    2016-03-04

    Aerosol–cloud interactions continue to constitute a major source of uncertainty for the estimate of climate radiative forcing. The variation of aerosol indirect effects (AIE) in climate models is investigated across different dynamical regimes, determined by monthly mean 500 hPa vertical pressure velocity ( ω 500), lower-tropospheric stability (LTS) and large-scale surface precipitation rate derived from several global climate models (GCMs), with a focus on liquid water path (LWP) response to cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) concentrations. The LWP sensitivity to aerosol perturbation within dynamic regimes is found to exhibit a large spread among these GCMs. It is in regimes of strongmore » large-scale ascent ( ω 500  <  −25 hPa day −1) and low clouds (stratocumulus and trade wind cumulus) where the models differ most. Shortwave aerosol indirect forcing is also found to differ significantly among different regimes. Shortwave aerosol indirect forcing in ascending regimes is close to that in subsidence regimes, which indicates that regimes with strong large-scale ascent are as important as stratocumulus regimes in studying AIE. It is further shown that shortwave aerosol indirect forcing over regions with high monthly large-scale surface precipitation rate (> 0.1 mm day −1) contributes the most to the total aerosol indirect forcing (from 64 to nearly 100 %). Results show that the uncertainty in AIE is even larger within specific dynamical regimes compared to the uncertainty in its global mean values, pointing to the need to reduce the uncertainty in AIE in different dynamical regimes.« less

  13. The Influence of the 2006 Indonesian Biomass Burning Aerosols on Tropical Dynamics Studied with the GEOS-5 AGCM

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Ott, Lesley; Duncan, Bryan; Pawson, Steven; Colarco, Peter; Chin, Mian; Randles, Cynthia; Diehl, Thomas; Nielsen, Eric

    2009-01-01

    The direct and semi-direct effects of aerosols produced by Indonesian biomass burning (BB) during August November 2006 on tropical dynamics have been examined using NASA's Goddard Earth Observing System, Version 5 (GEOS-5) atmospheric general circulation model (AGCM). The AGCM includes CO, which is transported by resolved and sub-grid processes and subject to a linearized chemical loss rate. Simulations were driven by two sets of aerosol forcing fields calculated offline, one that included Indonesian BB aerosol emissions and one that did not. In order to separate the influence of the aerosols from internal model variability, the means of two ten-member ensembles were compared. Diabatic heating from BB aerosols increased temperatures over Indonesia between 150 and 400 hPa. The higher temperatures resulted in strong increases in upward grid-scale vertical motion, which increased water vapor and CO over Indonesia. In October, the largest increases in water vapor were found in the mid-troposphere (25%) while the largest increases in CO occurred just below the tropopause (80 ppbv or 50%). Diabatic heating from the Indonesian BB aerosols caused CO to increase by 9% throughout the tropical tropopause layer in November and 5% in the lower stratosphere in December. The results demonstrate that aerosol heating plays an important role in the transport of BB pollution and troposphere-to-stratosphere transport. Changes in vertical motion and cloudiness induced by aerosol heating can also alter the transport and phase of water vapor in the upper troposphere/lower stratosphere.

  14. A one-dimensional sectional aerosol model integrated with mesoscale meteorological data to study marine boundary layer aerosol dynamics

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Caffrey, Peter F.; Hoppel, William A.; Shi, Jainn J.

    2006-12-01

    The dynamics of aerosols in the marine boundary layer are simulated with a one-dimensional, multicomponent, sectional aerosol model using vertical profiles of turbulence, relative humidity, temperature, vertical velocity, cloud cover, and precipitation provided by 3-D mesoscale meteorological model output. The Naval Research Laboratory's (NRL) sectional aerosol model MARBLES (Fitzgerald et al., 1998a) was adapted to use hourly meteorological input taken from NRL's Coupled Ocean-Atmosphere Prediction System (COAMPS). COAMPS-generated turbulent mixing coefficients and large-scale vertical velocities determine vertical exchange within the marine boundary layer and exchange with the free troposphere. Air mass back trajectories were used to define the air column history along which the meteorology was retrieved for use with the aerosol model. Details on the integration of these models are described here, as well as a description of improvements made to the aerosol model, including transport by large-scale vertical motions (such as subsidence and lifting), a revised sea-salt aerosol source function, and separate tracking of sulfate mass from each of the five sources (free tropospheric, nucleated, condensed from gas phase oxidation products, cloud-processed, and produced from heterogeneous oxidation of S(IV) on sea-salt aerosol). Results from modeling air masses arriving at Oahu, Hawaii, are presented, and the relative contribution of free-tropospheric sulfate particles versus sea-salt aerosol from the surface to CCN concentrations is discussed. Limitations and benefits of the method are presented, as are sensitivity analyses of the effect of large-scale vertical motions versus turbulent mixing.

  15. A size-composition resolved aerosol model for simulating the dynamics of externally mixed particles: SCRAM (v 1.0)

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zhu, S.; Sartelet, K. N.; Seigneur, C.

    2015-06-01

    The Size-Composition Resolved Aerosol Model (SCRAM) for simulating the dynamics of externally mixed atmospheric particles is presented. This new model classifies aerosols by both composition and size, based on a comprehensive combination of all chemical species and their mass-fraction sections. All three main processes involved in aerosol dynamics (coagulation, condensation/evaporation and nucleation) are included. The model is first validated by comparison with a reference solution and with results of simulations using internally mixed particles. The degree of mixing of particles is investigated in a box model simulation using data representative of air pollution in Greater Paris. The relative influence on the mixing state of the different aerosol processes (condensation/evaporation, coagulation) and of the algorithm used to model condensation/evaporation (bulk equilibrium, dynamic) is studied.

  16. Simulating Titan's aerosols in a three dimensional general circulation model

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Larson, Erik J. L.; Toon, Owen B.; Friedson, Andrew J.

    2014-11-01

    We present results from a new three dimensional GCM with a complete microphysics treatment of the aerosols. We used the Titan Community Atmospheres Model (CAM), to which we have coupled the Community Aerosol and Radiation Model for Atmospheres (CARMA). This model was unable to reproduce superrotating winds without an ad hoc forcing of the zonal winds. Our model was validated by comparing the extinction, optical depth, phase functions, and number densities with data from Cassini and Huygens, as well as other space based and ground based observations. These comparisons allowed us to constrain the microphysical properties of Titan's haze in the tropics at the time of the Huygens descent. Our best fit of the free aerosol parameters include a haze production rate of 1 × 10-14 g cm-2 s-1 and a charge to radius ratio on the particles of 7.5 e-/μm. Despite recent evidence of equatorial precipitation on Titan, we find the aerosols are only slowly removed by rainfall, less than once in 50 Earth years. One way to fit the wavelength dependence of the optical depth is to model the haze as fractal particles with a changing fractal dimension of 2 above 80 km that increases to 2.8 below 30 km. We investigate the spatial and seasonal variability of Titan's haze in our model. We find that the haze particle size and number density responds to the dynamics and creates a seasonal cycle in Titan's albedo.

  17. Modelling non-equilibrium secondary organic aerosol formation and evaporation with the aerosol dynamics, gas- and particle-phase chemistry kinetic multilayer model ADCHAM

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Roldin, P.; Eriksson, A. C.; Nordin, E. Z.

    2014-08-11

    We have developed the novel Aerosol Dynamics, gas- and particle- phase chemistry model for laboratory CHAMber studies (ADCHAM). The model combines the detailed gas phase Master Chemical Mechanism version 3.2, an aerosol dynamics and particle phase chemistry module (which considers acid catalysed oligomerization, heterogeneous oxidation reactions in the particle phase and non-ideal interactions between organic compounds, water and inorganic ions) and a kinetic multilayer module for diffusion limited transport of compounds between the gas phase, particle surface and particle bulk phase. In this article we describe and use ADCHAM to study: 1) the mass transfer limited uptake of ammonia (NH3)more » and formation of organic salts between ammonium (NH4+) and carboxylic acids (RCOOH), 2) the slow and almost particle size independent evaporation of α-pinene secondary organic aerosol (SOA) particles, and 3) the influence of chamber wall effects on the observed SOA formation in smog chambers.« less

  18. Vacuum FTIR Observation on the Dynamic Hygroscopicity of Aerosols under Pulsed Relative Humidity.

    PubMed

    Leng, Chun-Bo; Pang, Shu-Feng; Zhang, Yun; Cai, Chen; Liu, Yong; Zhang, Yun-Hong

    2015-08-04

    A novel approach based on a combination of a pulse RH controlling system and a rapid scan vacuum FTIR spectrometer (PRHCS-RSVFTIR) was utilized to investigate dynamic hygroscopicity of two atmospheric aerosols: ammonium sulfate ((NH4)2SO4) and magnesium sulfate (MgSO4). In this approach, rapid-scan infrared spectra of water vapor and aerosols were obtained to determine relative humidity (RH) in sample cell and hygroscopic property of aerosols with a subsecond time resolution. Heterogeneous nucleation rates of (NH4)2SO4 were, for the first time, measured under low RH conditions (<35% RH). In addition, studies of MgSO4 aerosols revealed that water mass transport may be limited by different processes depending on RH values (surface limited at 40% < RH < 52% and bulk phase limited at RH < 40%). Furthermore, we are also the first to report water diffusion constants in micron size MgSO4 aerosols at very low RH values. Our results have shown that the PRHCS-RSVFTIR is well-suited for determination of hygroscopicity of atmospheric aerosols and water transport and nucleation kinetics of liquid aerosols.

  19. Development and evaluation of the aerosol dynamics and gas phase chemistry model ADCHEM

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Roldin, P.; Swietlicki, E.; Schurgers, G.; Arneth, A.; Lehtinen, K. E. J.; Boy, M.; Kulmala, M.

    2011-06-01

    The aim of this work was to develop a model suited for detailed studies of aerosol dynamics, gas and particle phase chemistry within urban plumes, from local scale (1 × 1 km2) to regional scale. This article describes and evaluates the trajectory model for Aerosol Dynamics, gas and particle phase CHEMistry and radiative transfer (ADCHEM). The model treats both vertical and horizontal dispersion perpendicular to an air mass trajectory (2-space dimensions). The Lagrangian approach enables a more detailed representation of the aerosol dynamics, gas and particle phase chemistry and a finer spatial and temporal resolution compared to that of available regional 3D-CTMs. These features make it among others well suited for urban plume studies. The aerosol dynamics model includes Brownian coagulation, dry deposition, wet deposition, in-cloud processing, condensation, evaporation, primary particle emissions and homogeneous nucleation. The organic mass partitioning was either modeled with a 2-dimensional volatility basis set (2D-VBS) or with the traditional two-product model approach. In ADCHEM these models consider the diffusion limited and particle size dependent condensation and evaporation of 110 and 40 different organic compounds respectively. The gas phase chemistry model calculates the gas phase concentrations of 61 different species, using 130 different chemical reactions. Daily isoprene and monoterpene emissions from European forests were simulated separately with the vegetation model LPJ-GUESS, and included as input to ADCHEM. ADCHEM was used to simulate the ageing of the urban plumes from the city of Malmö in southern Sweden (280 000 inhabitants). Several sensitivity tests were performed concerning the number of size bins, size structure method, aerosol dynamic processes, vertical and horizontal mixing, coupled or uncoupled condensation and the secondary organic aerosol formation. The simulations show that the full-stationary size structure gives accurate results

  20. Development and evaluation of the aerosol dynamic and gas phase chemistry model ADCHEM

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Roldin, P.; Swietlicki, E.; Schurgers, G.; Arneth, A.; Lehtinen, K. E. J.; Boy, M.; Kulmala, M.

    2010-08-01

    The aim of this work was to develop a model ideally suited for detailed studies on aerosol dynamics, gas and particle phase chemistry within urban plumes, from local scale (1×1 km2) to regional or global scale. This article describes and evaluates the trajectory model for Aerosol Dynamics, gas and particle phase CHEMistry and radiative transfer (ADCHEM), which has been developed and used at Lund University since 2007. The model treats both vertical and horizontal dispersion perpendicular to an air mass trajectory (2-space dimensions), which is not treated in Lagrangian box-models (0-space dimensions). The Lagrangian approach enables a more detailed representation of the aerosol dynamics, gas and particle phase chemistry and a finer spatial and temporal resolution compared to that of available regional 3D-CTMs. These features make it among others ideally suited for urban plume studies. The aerosol dynamics model includes Brownian coagulation, dry deposition, wet deposition, in-cloud processing, condensation, evaporation, primary particle emissions and homogeneous nucleation. The gas phase chemistry model calculates the gas phase concentrations of 63 different species, using 119 different chemical reactions. Daily isoprene and monoterpene emissions from European forests were simulated separately with the vegetation model LPJ-GUESS, and included as input to ADCHEM. ADCHEM was used to simulate the ageing of the urban plumes from the city of Malmö in Southern Sweden (280 000 inhabitants). Several sensitivity tests were performed concerning the number of size bins, size structure method, coupled or uncoupled condensation, the volatility basis set (VBS) or traditional 2-product model for secondary organic aerosol formation, different aerosol dynamic processes and vertical and horizontal mixing. The simulations show that the full-stationary size structure gives accurate results with little numerical diffusion when more than 50 size bins are used between 1.5 and 2500 nm

  1. Effects of Atmospheric Dynamics and Aerosols on the Fraction of Supercooled Water Clouds

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Li, J.

    2016-12-01

    Based on the 8 years (2007-2015) of data of cloud phase information from the GCM-Oriented Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation (CALIPSO) Cloud Product (GOCCP), aerosol products from CALIPSO, and meteorological parameters from the ERA-Interim products, this study investigates the effects of atmospheric dynamics on the supercooled liquid cloud fraction (SCF) under different aerosol loadings at a global scale in order to better understand the conditions under which supercooled liquid water will gradually transform to ice phase. Statistical results indicate that aerosols' effect on nucleation cannot fully explain all SCF changes, especially in those regions where aerosols' effect on nucleation is not a first-order influence (e.g., due to low IN aerosol frequency). By performing the temporal and spatial correlations between SCFs and different meteorological factors, we find that the impacts of different meteorological factors on SCFs contain obvious regional differences. In the tropics, obvious positive correlations between SCFs and vertical velocity and relative humidity indicate that high vertical velocity and relative humidity suppress ice formation. However, the impacts of LTSS, skin temperature and horizontal wind on SCFs are relatively complex than those of vertical velocity and humidity. But, their effects are predominantly located in middle and high latitudes, and the temporal correlations with SCFs depend on latitude or surface type. In addition, this study also indicates that strong horizontal wind inhibits the glaciation of supercooled droplets in the middle and high latitudes. Our results verify the importance and regional of dynamical factors on the changes of supercooled water cloud fraction, thus have potential implications for further improving the parameterization of the cloud phase and determining the climate feedbacks.

  2. Growth Kinetics and Size Distribution Dynamics of Viscous Secondary Organic Aerosol

    DOE PAGES

    Zaveri, Rahul A.; Shilling, John E.; Zelenyuk, Alla; ...

    2017-12-15

    Low bulk diffusivity inside viscous semisolid atmospheric secondary organic aerosol (SOA) can prolong equilibration time scale, but its broader impacts on aerosol growth and size distribution dynamics are poorly understood. In this article, we present quantitative insights into the effects of bulk diffusivity on the growth and evaporation kinetics of SOA formed under dry conditions from photooxidation of isoprene in the presence of a bimodal aerosol consisting of Aitken (ammonium sulfate) and accumulation (isoprene or α-pinene SOA) mode particles. Aerosol composition measurements and evaporation kinetics indicate that isoprene SOA is composed of several semivolatile organic compounds (SVOCs), with some reversiblymore » reacting to form oligomers. Model analysis shows that liquid-like bulk diffusivities can be used to fit the observed evaporation kinetics of accumulation mode particles but fail to explain the growth kinetics of bimodal aerosol by significantly under-predicting the evolution of the Aitken mode. In contrast, the semisolid scenario successfully reproduces both evaporation and growth kinetics, with the interpretation that hindered partitioning of SVOCs into large viscous particles effectively promotes the growth of smaller particles that have shorter diffusion time scales. This effect has important implications for the growth of atmospheric ultrafine particles to climatically active sizes.« less

  3. Growth Kinetics and Size Distribution Dynamics of Viscous Secondary Organic Aerosol

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Zaveri, Rahul A.; Shilling, John E.; Zelenyuk, Alla

    Low bulk diffusivity inside viscous semisolid atmospheric secondary organic aerosol (SOA) can prolong equilibration time scale, but its broader impacts on aerosol growth and size distribution dynamics are poorly understood. In this article, we present quantitative insights into the effects of bulk diffusivity on the growth and evaporation kinetics of SOA formed under dry conditions from photooxidation of isoprene in the presence of a bimodal aerosol consisting of Aitken (ammonium sulfate) and accumulation (isoprene or α-pinene SOA) mode particles. Aerosol composition measurements and evaporation kinetics indicate that isoprene SOA is composed of several semivolatile organic compounds (SVOCs), with some reversiblymore » reacting to form oligomers. Model analysis shows that liquid-like bulk diffusivities can be used to fit the observed evaporation kinetics of accumulation mode particles but fail to explain the growth kinetics of bimodal aerosol by significantly under-predicting the evolution of the Aitken mode. In contrast, the semisolid scenario successfully reproduces both evaporation and growth kinetics, with the interpretation that hindered partitioning of SVOCs into large viscous particles effectively promotes the growth of smaller particles that have shorter diffusion time scales. This effect has important implications for the growth of atmospheric ultrafine particles to climatically active sizes.« less

  4. Aerosol-Cloud Interactions during Tropical Deep Convection: Evidence for the Importance of Free Tropospheric Aerosols

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Ackerman, A.; Jensen, E.; Stevens, D.; Wang, D.; Heymsfield, A.; Miloshevich, L.; Twohy, C.; Poellot, M.; VanReken, T.; Fridland, Ann

    2003-01-01

    NASA's 2002 CRYSTAL-FACE field experiment focused on the formation and evolution of tropical cirrus cloud systems in southern Florida. Multiple aircraft extensively sampled cumulonimbus dynamical and microphysical properties, as well as characterizing ambient aerosol populations both inside and outside the full depth of the convective column. On July 18, unique measurements were taken when a powerful updraft was traversed directly by aircraft, providing a window into the primary source region of cumulonimbus anvil crystals. Observations of the updraft, entered at approximately l0 km altitude and -34 C, indicated more than 200 cloud particles per mL at vertical velocities exceeding 20 m/s and the presence of significant condensation nuclei and liquid water within the core. In this work, aerosol and cloud phase observations are integrated by simulating the updraft conditions using a large-eddy resolving model with 3 explicit multiphase microphysics, including treatment of size-resolved aerosol fields, aerosol activation and freezing, and evaporation of cloud particles back to the aerosol phase. Simulations were initialized with observed thermodynamic and aerosol size distributions profiles and convection was driven by surface fluxes assimilated from the ARPS forecast model. Model results are consistent with the conclusions that most crystals are homogeneously frozen droplets and that entrained free tropospheric aerosols may contribute a significant fraction of the crystals. Thus most anvil crystals appear to be formed aloft in updraft cores, well above cloud base. These conclusions are supported by observations of hydrometeor size distribution made while traversing the dore, as well as aerosol and cloud particle size distributions generally observed by aircraft below 4km and crystal properties generally observed by aircraft above 12km.

  5. Exploration of the link between Emiliania huxleyi bloom dynamics and aerosol fluxes to the lower Atmosphere

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Trainic, M.

    2013-12-01

    Phytoplankton blooms are responsible for about 50% of the global photosynthesis, thus are a key component of the major nutrient cycles in the ocean. These blooms can be a significant source for flux of volatiles and aerosols, affecting physical chemical processes in the atmosphere. One of the most widely distributed and abundant phytoplankton species in the oceans is the coccolithophore Emiliania huxleyi. In this research, we explore the influence of the different stages of E. huxleyi bloom on the emission of primary aerosols. For this purpose, we conducted a series of controlled lab experiments to measure aerosol emissions during the growth of E. huxleyi. The cultures were grown in a specially designed growth chamber, and the aerosols were generated in a bubbling system. We collected the emitted aerosol particles on filters, and conducted a series of analysis. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis of the aerosols emitted from E.huxleyi 1216 cultures demonstrate emission of CaCO3 platelets from their exoskeleton into the air, while coccolithophores cells were absent. The results suggest that while healthy coccolithophore cells are too heavy to aerosolize, during cell lysis the coccoliths shed from the coccolithophore cells are emitted into the atmosphere. Therefore, aerosol production during bloom demise may be greater than from healthy E.huxleyi populations. We also investigated the size distribution of the aerosols at various stages of E. huxleyi growth. The presence of calcified cells greatly effects the size distribution of the emitted aerosol population. This work motivated us to explore aerosols emitted during E. huxleyi spring bloom, in a laboratory we constructed onboard the R/V Knorr research vessel, as part of the North Atlantic Virus Infection of Coccolithophore Expedition (June-July 2012). These results have far-reaching implications on the effect of E. huxleyi bloom dynamics on aerosol properties. We not only show that the E. huxleyi calcite

  6. Dynamic viscosity mapping of the oxidation of squalene aerosol particles.

    PubMed

    Athanasiadis, Athanasios; Fitzgerald, Clare; Davidson, Nicholas M; Giorio, Chiara; Botchway, Stanley W; Ward, Andrew D; Kalberer, Markus; Pope, Francis D; Kuimova, Marina K

    2016-11-09

    Organic aerosols (OAs) play important roles in multiple atmospheric processes, including climate change, and can impact human health. The physico-chemical properties of OAs are important for all these processes and can evolve through reactions with various atmospheric components, including oxidants. The dynamic nature of these reactions makes it challenging to obtain a true representation of their composition and surface chemistry. Here we investigate the microscopic viscosity of the model OA composed of squalene, undergoing chemical aging. We employ Fluorescent Lifetime Imaging Microscopy (FLIM) in conjunction with viscosity sensitive probes termed molecular rotors, in order to image the changes in microviscosity in real time during oxidation with ozone and hydroxyl radicals, which are two key oxidising species in the troposphere. We also recorded the Raman spectra of the levitated particles to follow the reactivity during particle ozonolysis. The levitation of droplets was achieved via optical trapping that enabled simultaneous levitation and measurement via FLIM or Raman spectroscopy and allowed the true aerosol phase to be probed. Our data revealed a very significant increase in viscosity of the levitated squalene droplets upon ozonolysis, following their transformation from the liquid to solid phase that was not observable when the oxidation was carried out on coverslip mounted droplets. FLIM imaging with sub-micron spatial resolution also revealed spatial heterogeneity in the viscosity distribution of oxidised droplets. Overall, a combination of molecular rotors, FLIM and optical trapping is able to provide powerful insights into OA chemistry and the microscopic structure that enables the dynamic monitoring of microscopic viscosity in aerosol particles in their true phase.

  7. Modeling Atmospheric Aerosols in WRF/Chem

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Zhang, Yang; Hu, X.-M.; Howell, G.

    2005-06-01

    In this study, three aerosol modules are tested and compared. The first module is the Modal Aerosol Dynamics Model for Europe (MADE) with the secondary organic aerosol model (SORGAM) (referred to as MADE/SORGAM). The second module is the Model for Simulating Aerosol Interactions and Chemistry (MOSAIC). The third module is the Model of Aerosol Dynamics, Reaction, Ionization and Dissolution (MADRID). The three modules differ in terms of size representation used, chemical species treated, assumptions and numerical algorithms used. Table 1 compares the major processes among the three aerosol modules.

  8. Spatial and temporal dynamics of a pulsed spark microplasma used for aerosol analysis

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zheng, Lina; Kulkarni, Pramod; Diwakar, Prasoon

    2018-06-01

    The spatial and temporal dynamics of a pulsed, electrical spark microplasma used for spectrochemical analysis of aerosols was investigated. The spark discharge was generated by applying a high voltage pulse between a coaxial anode and cathode. Aerosol particles of black carbon were collected on the cathode for 2 min, following which the pulsed microplasma was introduced, leading to ablation and atomization of the collected particles. The space- and time-resolved emission spectra showed that the atomic emission signal from the carbon species originated from the region close to the cathode surface during the early evolution of the microplasma. The C I and C II atomic emission reached peak intensities at 11 and 6 μs delay time, respectively. Peak emission intensities occurred between 0.5-1.3 mm above the cathode surface. The average excitation temperature and the electron number density of the spark microplasma were estimated to be 23,000 K, and 1.6 × 1017 cm-3, respectively. The effects of pulse energy on the excitation temperature and electron density were also investigated. The results provide insights into the dynamics of the pulsed spark microplasma and are helpful in optimizing elemental analysis of aerosols using this technique.

  9. Aerosol indirect effects - general circulation model intercomparison and evaluation with satellite data

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Quaas, J.; Ming, Y.; Menon, S.; Takemura, T.; Wang, M.; Penner, J. E.; Gettelman, A.; Lohmann, U.; Bellouin, N.; Boucher, O.; Sayer, A. M.; Thomas, G. E.; McComiskey, A.; Feingold, G.; Hoose, C.; Kristjánsson, J. E.; Liu, X.; Balkanski, Y.; Donner, L. J.; Ginoux, P. A.; Stier, P.; Grandey, B.; Feichter, J.; Sednev, I.; Bauer, S. E.; Koch, D.; Grainger, R. G.; Kirkevåg, A.; Iversen, T.; Seland, Ø.; Easter, R.; Ghan, S. J.; Rasch, P. J.; Morrison, H.; Lamarque, J.-F.; Iacono, M. J.; Kinne, S.; Schulz, M.

    2009-11-01

    Aerosol indirect effects continue to constitute one of the most important uncertainties for anthropogenic climate perturbations. Within the international AEROCOM initiative, the representation of aerosol-cloud-radiation interactions in ten different general circulation models (GCMs) is evaluated using three satellite datasets. The focus is on stratiform liquid water clouds since most GCMs do not include ice nucleation effects, and none of the model explicitly parameterises aerosol effects on convective clouds. We compute statistical relationships between aerosol optical depth (τa) and various cloud and radiation quantities in a manner that is consistent between the models and the satellite data. It is found that the model-simulated influence of aerosols on cloud droplet number concentration (Nd) compares relatively well to the satellite data at least over the ocean. The relationship between τa and liquid water path is simulated much too strongly by the models. This suggests that the implementation of the second aerosol indirect effect mainly in terms of an autoconversion parameterisation has to be revisited in the GCMs. A positive relationship between total cloud fraction (fcld) and τa as found in the satellite data is simulated by the majority of the models, albeit less strongly than that in the satellite data in most of them. In a discussion of the hypotheses proposed in the literature to explain the satellite-derived strong fcld-τa relationship, our results indicate that none can be identified as a unique explanation. Relationships similar to the ones found in satellite data between τa and cloud top temperature or outgoing long-wave radiation (OLR) are simulated by only a few GCMs. The GCMs that simulate a negative OLR-τa relationship show a strong positive correlation between τa and fcld. The short-wave total aerosol radiative forcing as simulated by the GCMs is strongly influenced by the simulated anthropogenic fraction of τa, and parameterisation

  10. Aerosol indirect effects -- general circulation model intercomparison and evaluation with satellite data

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Quaas, Johannes; Ming, Yi; Menon, Surabi

    2009-04-10

    Aerosol indirect effects continue to constitute one of the most important uncertainties for anthropogenic climate perturbations. Within the international AEROCOM initiative, the representation of aerosol-cloud-radiation interactions in ten different general circulation models (GCMs) is evaluated using three satellite datasets. The focus is on stratiform liquid water clouds since most GCMs do not include ice nucleation effects, and none of the model explicitly parameterizes aerosol effects on convective clouds. We compute statistical relationships between aerosol optical depth (Ta) and various cloud and radiation quantities in a manner that is consistent between the models and the satellite data. It is found thatmore » the model-simulated influence of aerosols on cloud droplet number concentration (Nd) compares relatively well to the satellite data at least over the ocean. The relationship between Ta and liquid water path is simulated much too strongly by the models. It is shown that this is partly related to the representation of the second aerosol indirect effect in terms of autoconversion. A positive relationship between total cloud fraction (fcld) and Ta as found in the satellite data is simulated by the majority of the models, albeit less strongly than that in the satellite data in most of them. In a discussion of the hypotheses proposed in the literature to explain the satellite-derived strong fcld - Ta relationship, our results indicate that none can be identified as unique explanation. Relationships similar to the ones found in satellite data between Ta and cloud top temperature or outgoing long-wave radiation (OLR) are simulated by only a few GCMs. The GCMs that simulate a negative OLR - Ta relationship show a strong positive correlation between Ta and fcld The short-wave total aerosol radiative forcing as simulated by the GCMs is strongly influenced by the simulated anthropogenic fraction of Ta, and parameterisation assumptions such as a lower bound on

  11. Evaluation of atmospheric aerosol and tropospheric ozone effects on global terrestrial ecosystem carbon dynamics

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Chen, Min

    The increasing human activities have produced large amounts of air pollutants ejected into the atmosphere, in which atmospheric aerosols and tropospheric ozone are considered to be especially important because of their negative impacts on human health and their impacts on global climate through either their direct radiative effect or indirect effect on land-atmosphere CO2 exchange. This dissertation dedicates to quantifying and evaluating the aerosol and tropospheric ozone effects on global terrestrial ecosystem dynamics using a modeling approach. An ecosystem model, the integrated Terrestrial Ecosystem Model (iTem), is developed to simulate biophysical and biogeochemical processes in terrestrial ecosystems. A two-broad-band atmospheric radiative transfer model together with the Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) measured atmospheric parameters are used to well estimate global downward solar radiation and the direct and diffuse components in comparison with observations. The atmospheric radiative transfer modeling framework were used to quantify the aerosol direct radiative effect, showing that aerosol loadings cause 18.7 and 12.8 W m -2 decrease of direct-beam Photosynthetic Active Radiation (PAR) and Near Infrared Radiation (NIR) respectively, and 5.2 and 4.4 W m -2 increase of diffuse PAR and NIR, respectively, leading to a total 21.9 W m-2 decrease of total downward solar radiation over the global land surface during the period of 2003-2010. The results also suggested that the aerosol effect may be overwhelmed by clouds because of the stronger extinction and scattering ability of clouds. Applications of the iTem with solar radiation data and with or without considering the aerosol loadings shows that aerosol loading enhances the terrestrial productions [Gross Primary Production (GPP), Net Primary Production (NPP) and Net Ecosystem Production (NEP)] and carbon emissions through plant respiration (RA) in global terrestrial ecosystems over the

  12. Aerosol modelling and validation during ESCOMPTE 2001

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Cousin, F.; Liousse, C.; Cachier, H.; Bessagnet, B.; Guillaume, B.; Rosset, R.

    The ESCOMPTE 2001 programme (Atmospheric Research. 69(3-4) (2004) 241) has resulted in an exhaustive set of dynamical, radiative, gas and aerosol observations (surface and aircraft measurements). A previous paper (Atmospheric Research. (2004) in press) has dealt with dynamics and gas-phase chemistry. The present paper is an extension to aerosol formation, transport and evolution. To account for important loadings of primary and secondary aerosols and their transformation processes in the ESCOMPTE domain, the ORISAM aerosol module (Atmospheric Environment. 35 (2001) 4751) was implemented on-line in the air-quality Meso-NH-C model. Additional developments have been introduced in ORganic and Inorganic Spectral Aerosol Module (ORISAM) to improve the comparison between simulations and experimental surface and aircraft field data. This paper discusses this comparison for a simulation performed during one selected day, 24 June 2001, during the Intensive Observation Period IOP2b. Our work relies on BC and OCp emission inventories specifically developed for ESCOMPTE. This study confirms the need for a fine resolution aerosol inventory with spectral chemical speciation. BC levels are satisfactorily reproduced, thus validating our emission inventory and its processing through Meso-NH-C. However, comparisons for reactive species generally denote an underestimation of concentrations. Organic aerosol levels are rather well simulated though with a trend to underestimation in the afternoon. Inorganic aerosol species are underestimated for several reasons, some of them have been identified. For sulphates, primary emissions were introduced. Improvement was obtained too for modelled nitrate and ammonium levels after introducing heterogeneous chemistry. However, no modelling of terrigeneous particles is probably a major cause for nitrates and ammonium underestimations. Particle numbers and size distributions are well reproduced, but only in the submicrometer range. Our work points out

  13. Competing influence of greenhouse warming and aerosols on thermodynamic and dynamic controls of the Asian monoon

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lau, W. K. M.; Kim, K. M.

    2016-12-01

    In this study, we investigate the relative roles of greenhouse gas (GHG) warming and aerosol forcing on the Asian monsoon. A baseline for global warming response is established from analysis of the multi-model mean (MMM) of 33 CMIP5 models based on a 140-year integration of 1% per year CO2 experiment. The relative roles of GHG warming and aerosol forcing on Asian monsoon precipitation changes are then assessed based on the 20th century historical runs, under a) all-forcing including GHG and aerosols, and b) GHG only. Results show that under CO2 warming, the Asian monsoon atmosphere can get wetter, no change, or drier regionally, depending on changes in moisture availability, atmospheric moist static stability, and topography. Rainfall is generally increased over the Asian monsoon tropical land and adjacent oceanic regions. However, in subtropical and extratropical land region over East Asia, monsoon rainfall increase is minimal, unchanged, or even suppressed. This is due to increased subsidence, and reduction of mid-tropopsheric relative humidity from an enhanced Hadley circulation, which weakens the monsoon meridional overturning circulation. These create the apparent paradox of a monsoon with increased rainfall, but weakened monsoon circulation under GHG warming. The monsoon response to GHG-only forcing in the historical run is similar to the baseline. On the other hand, as inferred from the difference of the all-forcing and the GHG-only runs, aerosols through solar dimming (SDM) and semi-direct effects suppress monsoon precipitation, causing a further weakening of the Asian monsoon. A scale analysis of precipitation shows that under a hypothetical GHG-only forcing in the past century, the "effective precipitation efficiency" (EPE) would have to be strongly reduced in order to achieve water balance between dynamics and thermodynamics. Under all-forcing (including aerosol), the reduction in EPE is much smaller. Here, the weaker monsoon circulation needed for water

  14. Aerosol indirect effects ? general circulation model intercomparison and evaluation with satellite data

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Quaas, Johannes; Ming, Yi; Menon, Surabi

    2010-03-12

    Aerosol indirect effects continue to constitute one of the most important uncertainties for anthropogenic climate perturbations. Within the international AEROCOM initiative, the representation of aerosol-cloud-radiation interactions in ten different general circulation models (GCMs) is evaluated using three satellite datasets. The focus is on stratiform liquid water clouds since most GCMs do not include ice nucleation effects, and none of the model explicitly parameterises aerosol effects on convective clouds. We compute statistical relationships between aerosol optical depth ({tau}{sub a}) and various cloud and radiation quantities in a manner that is consistent between the models and the satellite data. It is foundmore » that the model-simulated influence of aerosols on cloud droplet number concentration (N{sub d}) compares relatively well to the satellite data at least over the ocean. The relationship between {tau}{sub a} and liquid water path is simulated much too strongly by the models. This suggests that the implementation of the second aerosol indirect effect mainly in terms of an autoconversion parameterisation has to be revisited in the GCMs. A positive relationship between total cloud fraction (f{sub cld}) and {tau}{sub a} as found in the satellite data is simulated by the majority of the models, albeit less strongly than that in the satellite data in most of them. In a discussion of the hypotheses proposed in the literature to explain the satellite-derived strong f{sub cld} - {tau}{sub a} relationship, our results indicate that none can be identified as a unique explanation. Relationships similar to the ones found in satellite data between {tau}{sub a} and cloud top temperature or outgoing long-wave radiation (OLR) are simulated by only a few GCMs. The GCMs that simulate a negative OLR - {tau}{sub a} relationship show a strong positive correlation between {tau}{sub a} and f{sub cld} The short-wave total aerosol radiative forcing as simulated by the

  15. Global Radiative Forcing of Coupled Tropospheric Ozone and Aerosols in a Unified General Circulation Model

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Liao, Hong; Seinfeld, John H.; Adams, Peter J.; Mickley, Loretta J.

    2008-01-01

    Global simulations of sea salt and mineral dust aerosols are integrated into a previously developed unified general circulation model (GCM), the Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) GCM II', that simulates coupled tropospheric ozone-NOx-hydrocarbon chemistry and sulfate, nitrate, ammonium, black carbon, primary organic carbon, and secondary organic carbon aerosols. The fully coupled gas-aerosol unified GCM allows one to evaluate the extent to which global burdens, radiative forcing, and eventually climate feedbacks of ozone and aerosols are influenced by gas-aerosol chemical interactions. Estimated present-day global burdens of sea salt and mineral dust are 6.93 and 18.1 Tg with lifetimes of 0.4 and 3.9 days, respectively. The GCM is applied to estimate current top of atmosphere (TOA) and surface radiative forcing by tropospheric ozone and all natural and anthropogenic aerosol components. The global annual mean value of the radiative forcing by tropospheric ozone is estimated to be +0.53 W m(sup -2) at TOA and +0.07 W m(sup -2) at the Earth's surface. Global, annual average TOA and surface radiative forcing by all aerosols are estimated as -0.72 and -4.04 W m(sup -2), respectively. While the predicted highest aerosol cooling and heating at TOA are -10 and +12 W m(sup -2) respectively, surface forcing can reach values as high as -30 W m(sup -2), mainly caused by the absorption by black carbon, mineral dust, and OC. We also estimate the effects of chemistry-aerosol coupling on forcing estimates based on currently available understanding of heterogeneous reactions on aerosols. Through altering the burdens of sulfate, nitrate, and ozone, heterogeneous reactions are predicted to change the global mean TOA forcing of aerosols by 17% and influence global mean TOA forcing of tropospheric ozone by 15%.

  16. Effects of atmospheric dynamics and aerosols on the fraction of supercooled water clouds

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Li, Jiming; Lv, Qiaoyi; Zhang, Min; Wang, Tianhe; Kawamoto, Kazuaki; Chen, Siyu; Zhang, Beidou

    2017-02-01

    Based on 8 years of (January 2008-December 2015) cloud phase information from the GCM-Oriented Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation (CALIPSO) Cloud Product (GOCCP), aerosol products from CALIPSO and meteorological parameters from the ERA-Interim products, the present study investigates the effects of atmospheric dynamics on the supercooled liquid cloud fraction (SCF) during nighttime under different aerosol loadings at global scale to better understand the conditions of supercooled liquid water gradually transforming to ice phase. Statistical results indicate that aerosols' effect on nucleation cannot fully explain all SCF changes, especially in those regions where aerosols' effect on nucleation is not a first-order influence (e.g., due to low ice nuclei aerosol frequency). By performing the temporal and spatial correlations between SCFs and different meteorological factors, this study presents specifically the relationship between SCF and different meteorological parameters under different aerosol loadings on a global scale. We find that the SCFs almost decrease with increasing of aerosol loading, and the SCF variation is closely related to the meteorological parameters but their temporal relationship is not stable and varies with the different regions, seasons and isotherm levels. Obviously negative temporal correlations between SCFs versus vertical velocity and relative humidity indicate that the higher vertical velocity and relative humidity the smaller SCFs. However, the patterns of temporal correlation for lower-tropospheric static stability, skin temperature and horizontal wind are relatively more complex than those of vertical velocity and humidity. For example, their close correlations are predominantly located in middle and high latitudes and vary with latitude or surface type. Although these statistical correlations have not been used to establish a certain causal relationship, our results may provide a unique point of view

  17. SIMULATION OF AEROSOL DYNAMICS: A COMPARATIVE REVIEW OF ALGORITHMS USED IN AIR QUALITY MODELS

    EPA Science Inventory

    A comparative review of algorithms currently used in air quality models to simulate aerosol dynamics is presented. This review addresses coagulation, condensational growth, nucleation, and gas/particle mass transfer. Two major approaches are used in air quality models to repres...

  18. Temporal dynamics of optical-microphysical characteristics of atmospheric aerosol at the Spitsbergen Archipelago in 2011-2014

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Chernov, D. G.; Kozlov, V. S.; Panchenko, M. V.; Turchinovich, Yu. S.; Radionov, V. F.; Gubin, A. V.; Prakhov, A. N.

    2015-11-01

    In 2011-2014, the Institute of Atmospheric Optics (IAO SB RAS, Tomsk) and the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute (AARI, St. Petersburg) conducted field investigations of the near-ground aerosol characteristics near Barentsburg (Spitsbergen Archipelago) in the spring and summer seasons. The particle number density in the size range 0.3-20 μm, size distribution of particles, and mass concentrations of aerosol and black carbon were measured round-the-clock every hour with Grimm 1.108 and 1.109; and AZ-10 optical counters. The mass concentration of black carbon was measured by the MDA-02 aethalometer developed by the IAO SB RAS. Series of observations are obtained, annual and seasonal average values and their standard deviations are estimated, and seasonal and annual dynamics of the studied parameters is analyzed. Peculiarities of the temporal dynamics of average values of the aerosol characteristics are revealed and compared with the data of observations at other stations of the Spitsbergen Archipelago and in different regions of the Russian Arctic and Subarctic.

  19. Separating Real and Apparent Effects of Cloud, Humidity, and Dynamics on Aerosol Optical Thickness near Cloud Edges

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Jeong, Myeong-Jae; Li, Zhanqing

    2010-01-01

    Aerosol optical thickness (AOT) is one of aerosol parameters that can be measured on a routine basis with reasonable accuracy from Sun-photometric observations at the surface. However, AOT-derived near clouds is fraught with various real effects and artifacts, posing a big challenge for studying aerosol and cloud interactions. Recently, several studies have reported correlations between AOT and cloud cover, pointing to potential cloud contamination and the aerosol humidification effect; however, not many quantitative assessments have been made. In this study, various potential causes of apparent correlations are investigated in order to separate the real effects from the artifacts, using well-maintained observations from the Aerosol Robotic Network, Total Sky Imager, airborne nephelometer, etc., over the Southern Great Plains site operated by the U.S. Department of Energy's Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Program. It was found that aerosol humidification effects can explain about one fourth of the correlation between the cloud cover and AOT. New particle genesis, cloud-processed particles, atmospheric dynamics, and aerosol indirect effects are likely to be contributing to as much as the remaining three fourth of the relationship between cloud cover and AOT.

  20. Effects of Aerosol on Atmospheric Dynamics and Hydrologic Processes During Boreal Spring and Summer

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Lau, William K. M.; Kim, M. K.; Kim, K. M.; Chin, Mian

    2005-01-01

    Global and regional climate impacts of present-day aerosol loading during boreal spring are investigated using the NASA finite volume General Circulation Model (fvGCM). Three-dimensional distributions of loadings of five species of tropospheric aerosols, i.e., sulfate, black carbon, organic carbon, soil dust, and sea salt are prescribed from outputs of the Goddard Ozone Chemistry Aerosol Radiation and Transport model (GOCART). The aerosol loadings are used to calculate the extinction coefficient, single scattering albedo, and asymmetric factor at eleven spectral wavelengths in the radiative transfer code. We find that aerosol-radiative forcing during boreal spring excites a wavetrain-like pattern in tropospheric temperature and geopotential height that emanates from Northern Africa, through Eurasia, to northeastern Pacific. Associated with the teleconnection is strong surface cooling over regions with large aerosol loading, i.e., China, India, and Africa. Low-to-mid tropospheric heating due to shortwave absorption is found in regions with large loading of dust (Northern Africa, and central East Asia), and black carbon (South and East Asia). In addition pronounced surface cooling is found over the Caspian Sea and warming over Eurasian and northeastern Asia, where aerosol loadings are relatively low. These warming and cooling are components of teleconnection pattern produced primarily by atmospheric heating from absorbing aerosols, i.e., dust from North Africa and black carbon from South and East Asia. Effects of aerosols on atmospheric hydrologic cycle in the Asian monsoon region are also investigated. Results show that absorbing aerosols, i.e., black carbon and dust, induce large-scale upper-level heating anomaly over the Tibetan Plateau in April and May, ushering in an early onset of the Indian summer monsoon. Absorbing aerosols also enhance lower-level heating and anomalous ascent over northern India, intensifying the Indian monsoon. Overall, the aerosol

  1. Effects of Aerosol on Atmospheric Dynamics and Hydrologic Processes during Boreal Spring and Summer

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Lau, William K. M.; Kim, M. K.; Chin, Mian; Kim, K. M.

    2005-01-01

    Global and regional climate impacts of present-day aerosol loading during boreal spring are investigated using the NASA finite volume General Circulation Model (fvGCM). Three-dimensional distributions of loadings of five species of tropospheric aerosols, i.e., sulfate, black carbon, organic carbon, soil dust, and sea salt are prescribed from outputs of the Goddard Ozone Chemistry Aerosol Radiation and Transport model (GOCART). The aerosol loadings are used to calculate the extinction coefficient, single scattering albedo, and asymmetric factor at eleven spectral wavelengths in the radiative transfer code. We find that aerosol-radiative forcing during boreal spring excites a wavetrain-like pattern in tropospheric temperature and geopotential height that emanates from Northern Africa, through Eurasia, to northeastern Pacific. Associated with the teleconnection is strong surface cooling over regions with large aerosol loading, i.e., China, India, and Africa. Low-to-mid tropospheric heating due to shortwave absorption is found in regions with large loading of dust (Northern Africa, and central East Asia), and black carbon (South and East Asia). In addition pronounced surface cooling is found over the Caspian Sea and warming over Eurasian and northeastern Asia, where aerosol loadings are relatively low. These warming and cooling are components of teleconnection pattern produced primarily by atmospheric heating from absorbing aerosols, i.e., dust from North Africa and.black carbon from South and East Asia. Effects of aerosols on atmospheric hydrologic cycle in the Asian monsoon region are also investigated. Results show that absorbing aerosols, i.e., black carbon and dust, induce large-scale upper-level heating anomaly over the Tibetan Plateau in April and May, ushering in an early onset of the Indian summer monsoon. Absorbing aerosols also enhance lower-level heating and anomalous ascent over northern India, intensifying the Indian monsoon. Overall, the aerosol

  2. A COMPUTATIONALLY EFFICIENT HYBRID APPROACH FOR DYNAMIC GAS/AEROSOL TRANSFER IN AIR QUALITY MODELS. (R826371C005)

    EPA Science Inventory

    Dynamic mass transfer methods have been developed to better describe the interaction of the aerosol population with semi-volatile species such as nitrate, ammonia, and chloride. Unfortunately, these dynamic methods are computationally expensive. Assumptions are often made to r...

  3. Breakdown of dynamic balance of a particle in a quadrupole cell by laser-induced aerosol heating.

    PubMed

    Itoh, M; Lwamoto, T; Takahashi, K; Kuno, S

    1992-08-20

    The retention stability of an aerosol particle in a quadrupole cell exposed to horizontal irradiation with a CO(2) laser is investigated for several sizes of single spherical carbon particles. The stability of dynamic balance for the particle levitation is affected significantly by the irradiation and breaks down at a power higher than 10(5) W/m(2). The particle is pushed away along the beam line, and its trajectory is slightly upward owing to the laser-induced aerosol heating.

  4. Comparing the mechanism of water condensation and evaporation in glassy aerosol.

    PubMed

    Bones, David L; Reid, Jonathan P; Lienhard, Daniel M; Krieger, Ulrich K

    2012-07-17

    Atmospheric models generally assume that aerosol particles are in equilibrium with the surrounding gas phase. However, recent observations that secondary organic aerosols can exist in a glassy state have highlighted the need to more fully understand the kinetic limitations that may control water partitioning in ambient particles. Here, we explore the influence of slow water diffusion in the condensed aerosol phase on the rates of both condensation and evaporation, demonstrating that significant inhibition in mass transfer occurs for ultraviscous aerosol, not just for glassy aerosol. Using coarse mode (3-4 um radius) ternary sucrose/sodium chloride/aqueous droplets as a proxy for multicomponent ambient aerosol, we demonstrate that the timescale for particle equilibration correlates with bulk viscosity and can be ≫10(3) s. Extrapolation of these timescales to particle sizes in the accumulation mode (e.g., approximately 100 nm) by applying the Stokes-Einstein equation suggests that the kinetic limitations imposed on mass transfer of water by slow bulk phase diffusion must be more fully investigated for atmospheric aerosol. Measurements have been made on particles covering a range in dynamic viscosity from < 0.1 to > 10(13) Pa s. We also retrieve the radial inhomogeneities apparent in particle composition during condensation and evaporation and contrast the dynamics of slow dissolution of a viscous core into a labile shell during condensation with the slow percolation of water during evaporation through a more homogeneous viscous particle bulk.

  5. Urban aerosols harbor diverse and dynamic bacterial populations

    PubMed Central

    Brodie, Eoin L.; DeSantis, Todd Z.; Parker, Jordan P. Moberg; Zubietta, Ingrid X.; Piceno, Yvette M.; Andersen, Gary L.

    2007-01-01

    Considering the importance of its potential implications for human health, agricultural productivity, and ecosystem stability, surprisingly little is known regarding the composition or dynamics of the atmosphere's microbial inhabitants. Using a custom high-density DNA microarray, we detected and monitored bacterial populations in two U.S. cities over 17 weeks. These urban aerosols contained at least 1,800 diverse bacterial types, a richness approaching that of some soil bacterial communities. We also reveal the consistent presence of bacterial families with pathogenic members including environmental relatives of select agents of bioterrorism significance. Finally, using multivariate regression techniques, we demonstrate that temporal and meteorological influences can be stronger factors than location in shaping the biological composition of the air we breathe. PMID:17182744

  6. The dynamic surface tension of atmospheric aerosol surfactants reveals new aspects of cloud activation.

    PubMed

    Nozière, Barbara; Baduel, Christine; Jaffrezo, Jean-Luc

    2014-02-25

    The activation of aerosol particles into cloud droplets in the Earth's atmosphere is both a key process for the climate budget and a main source of uncertainty. Its investigation is facing major experimental challenges, as no technique can measure the main driving parameters, the Raoult's term and surface tension, σ, for sub-micron atmospheric particles. In addition, the surfactant fraction of atmospheric aerosols could not be isolated until recently. Here we present the first dynamic investigation of the total surfactant fraction of atmospheric aerosols, evidencing adsorption barriers that limit their gradient (partitioning) in particles and should enhance their cloud-forming efficiency compared with current models. The results also show that the equilibration time of surfactants in sub-micron atmospheric particles should be beyond the detection of most on-line instruments. Such instrumental and theoretical shortcomings would be consistent with atmospheric and laboratory observations and could have limited the understanding of cloud activation until now.

  7. Biology of the Coarse Aerosol Mode: Insights Into Urban Aerosol Ecology

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Dueker, E.; O'Mullan, G. D.; Montero, A.

    2015-12-01

    Microbial aerosols have been understudied, despite implications for climate studies, public health, and biogeochemical cycling. Because viable bacterial aerosols are often associated with coarse aerosol particles, our limited understanding of the coarse aerosol mode further impedes our ability to develop models of viable bacterial aerosol production, transport, and fate in the outdoor environment, particularly in crowded urban centers. To address this knowledge gap, we studied aerosol particle biology and size distributions in a broad range of urban and rural settings. Our previously published findings suggest a link between microbial viability and local production of coarse aerosols from waterways, waste treatment facilities, and terrestrial systems in urban and rural environments. Both in coastal Maine and in New York Harbor, coarse aerosols and viable bacterial aerosols increased with increasing wind speeds above 4 m s-1, a dynamic that was observed over time scales ranging from minutes to hours. At a New York City superfund-designated waterway regularly contaminated with raw sewage, aeration remediation efforts resulted in significant increases of coarse aerosols and bacterial aerosols above that waterway. Our current research indicates that bacterial communities in aerosols at this superfund site have a greater similarity to bacterial communities in the contaminated waterway with wind speeds above 4 m s-1. Size-fractionated sampling of viable microbial aerosols along the urban waterfront has also revealed significant shifts in bacterial aerosols, and specifically bacteria associated with coarse aerosols, when wind direction changes from onshore to offshore. This research highlights the key connections between bacterial aerosol viability and the coarse aerosol fraction, which is important in assessments of production, transport, and fate of bacterial contamination in the urban environment.

  8. 77 FR 41808 - General Dynamics Itronix Corporation, a Subsidiary of General Dynamics Corporation, Including...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2012-07-16

    ... DEPARTMENT OF LABOR Employment and Training Administration [TA-W-81,448] General Dynamics Itronix Corporation, a Subsidiary of General Dynamics Corporation, Including Remote Workers Reporting to Sunrise, FL... application, I conclude that the claim is of sufficient weight to justify reconsideration of the U.S...

  9. Aerosol and CCN in southwest Saudi Arabia

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Collins, Don; Li, Runjun; Axisa, Duncan; Kucera, Paul; Burger, Roelof

    2010-05-01

    As part of an ongoing study of the microphysical and dynamical controls on precipitation in southwest Saudi Arabia, a number of surface and aircraft-based instruments were used in summer / fall 2009 to measure the size distribution, hygroscopic properties, and cloud droplet nucleation efficiency of the local aerosol. Submicron size distributions were measured using differential mobility analyzers both on the ground and on board the aircraft, while an aerodynamic particle sizer and a forward scattering spectrometer probe were used to measure the supermicron size distributions on the ground and from on board the aircraft, respectively. Identical continuous flow cloud condensation nuclei counters were used to measure CCN spectra at the surface and aloft and a humidified tandem differential mobility analyzer was operated on the ground to measure size-resolved hygroscopicity. The aerosol in this arid environment is characterized by a persistent accumulation mode having hygroscopic and CCN efficiency properties consistent with a sulfate-rich aged aerosol. The particles in that background aerosol are generally sufficiently large and hygroscopic to activate at those supersaturations expected in the convective clouds responsible for most of the regional precipitation, which consequently acts as a lower bound on the resulting cloud droplet concentrations. Though the concentration, size distribution, and properties of the submicron aerosol generally changed very slowly over periods of several hours, abrupt ~doubling in concentration almost always accompanied the arrival of the sea breeze front that began along the Red Sea. Interestingly, the hygroscopicity and the shape of the size distribution differed little in the pre- and post-sea breeze air masses. The dust-dominated coarse mode typically contributed significantly more to the aerosol mass concentration than did the submicron mode and likely controlled the ice nuclei concentration, though no direct measurements were made

  10. SECONDARY ORGANIC AEROSOL FORMATION FROM THE OXIDATION OF AROMATIC HYDROCARBONS IN THE PRESENCE OF DRY SUBMICRON AMMONIUM SULFATE AEROSOL

    EPA Science Inventory

    A laboratory study was conducted to examine formation of secondary organic aerosols. A smog chamber system was developed for studying gas-aerosol interactions in a dynamic flow reactor. These experiments were conducted to investigate the fate of gas and aerosol phase compounds ...

  11. Simulation of the Pinatubo aerosol cloud in general circulation model

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Boville, Byron A.; Holton, James R.; Mote, Philip W.

    1991-01-01

    The global transport and dispersion of the Pinatubo aerosol cloud are simulated by means of a high-resolution stratospheric version of the NCAR Community Climate Model (CCM2) with an annual cycle. A passive tracer was injected into the model stratosphere over the Philippine Islands on June 15, and the transport was simulated for 180 d using an accurate semi-Lagrangian advection scheme. The simulated volcanic aerosol cloud initially drifted westward and expanded in longitude and latitude. The bulk of the aerosol cloud dispersed zonally to form a continuous belt in longitude, and remained confined to the tropics, centered near the 20-mb level for the entire 180-d model run, although a small amount was transported episodically into the upper troposphere in association with convective disturbances. Aerosol transported to the troposphere was dispersed within a few weeks into the Northern Hemisphere extratropics. In the Southern Hemisphere, the aerosol was mixed into the region equatorward of the core of the polar night jet during the first 50 d, but penetration into southern polar latitudes was delayed until the final warming in November.

  12. Aerosol scattering and absorption modulation transfer function

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sadot, Dan; Kopeika, Norman S.

    1993-08-01

    Recent experimental measurements of overall atmospheric modulation transfer function (MTF) indicate significant difference between the turbulence and overall atmospheric MTFs, except often at midday when turbulence is strong. We suggest here a physical explanation for those results which essentially relates to what we call a practical instrumentation-based atmospheric aerosol MTF which is a modification of the classical aerosol MTF theory. It is shown that system field-of-view and dynamic range affect strongly aerosol and overall atmospheric MTFs. It is often necessary to choose between MTF and SNR depending upon dynamic range requirements. Also, a new approach regarding aerosol absorption is presented. It is shown that aerosol-absorbed irradiance is spatial frequency dependent and enhances the degradation in image quality arising from received scattered light. This is most relevant for thermal imaging. An analytically corrected model for the aerosol MTF is presented which is relevant for imaging. An important conclusion is that the aerosol MTF is often the dominant part in the actual overall atmospheric MTF all across the optical spectral region.

  13. Aerosol mobility size spectrometer

    DOEpatents

    Wang, Jian; Kulkarni, Pramod

    2007-11-20

    A device for measuring aerosol size distribution within a sample containing aerosol particles. The device generally includes a spectrometer housing defining an interior chamber and a camera for recording aerosol size streams exiting the chamber. The housing includes an inlet for introducing a flow medium into the chamber in a flow direction, an aerosol injection port adjacent the inlet for introducing a charged aerosol sample into the chamber, a separation section for applying an electric field to the aerosol sample across the flow direction and an outlet opposite the inlet. In the separation section, the aerosol sample becomes entrained in the flow medium and the aerosol particles within the aerosol sample are separated by size into a plurality of aerosol flow streams under the influence of the electric field. The camera is disposed adjacent the housing outlet for optically detecting a relative position of at least one aerosol flow stream exiting the outlet and for optically detecting the number of aerosol particles within the at least one aerosol flow stream.

  14. A one-dimensional sectional model to simulate multicomponent aerosol dynamics in the marine boundary layer 3. Numerical methods and comparisons with exact solutions

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Gelbard, F.; Fitzgerald, J.W.; Hoppel, W.A.

    1998-07-01

    We present the theoretical framework and computational methods that were used by {ital Fitzgerald} {ital et al.} [this issue (a), (b)] describing a one-dimensional sectional model to simulate multicomponent aerosol dynamics in the marine boundary layer. The concepts and limitations of modeling spatially varying multicomponent aerosols are elucidated. New numerical sectional techniques are presented for simulating multicomponent aerosol growth, settling, and eddy transport, coupled to time-dependent and spatially varying condensing vapor concentrations. Comparisons are presented with new exact solutions for settling and particle growth by simultaneous dynamic condensation of one vapor and by instantaneous equilibration with a spatially varying secondmore » vapor. {copyright} 1998 American Geophysical Union« less

  15. Background aerosol over the Himalayas and Tibetan Plateau: observed characteristics of aerosol mass loading

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Liu, B.; Cong, Z.; Wang, Y.; Xin, J.; Wan, X.; Pan, Y.; Liu, Z.; Wang, Y.; Zhang, G.; Kang, S.

    2016-12-01

    To investigate the atmospheric aerosols of the Himalayas and Tibetan Plateau (HTP), an observation network was established within the region's various ecosystems, including at Ngari, Qomolangma (QOMS), Nam Co, and SouthEastern Tibetan (SET) stations. In this paper we illustrate aerosol mass loadings by integrating in situ measurements with satellite and ground-based remote sensing datasets for the 2011-2013 period, on both local and large scales. Mass concentrations of these surface atmospheric aerosols were relatively low and varied with land cover, showing a general tendency of Ngari and QOMS (barren sites) > Nam Co (grassland site) > SET (forest site). Bimodal mass distributions of size-segregated particles were found at all sites, with a relatively small peak in accumulation mode and a more notable peak in coarse mode. Diurnal variations in fine aerosol masses generally displayed a bi-peak pattern at the QOMS, Nam Co and SET stations and a single-peak pattern at the Ngari station, controlled by the effects of local geomorphology, mountain-valley breeze circulation and aerosol emissions. Combining surface aerosols data and atmospheric-column aerosol optical properties, the TSP mass and aerosol optical depth (AOD) of the Multi-angle Imaging Spectroradiometer (MISR) generally decreased as land cover changed from barren to forest, in inverse relation to the PM2.5 ratios. The seasonality of aerosol mass parameters was land-cover dependent. Over forest and grassland areas, TSP mass, PM2.5 mass, MISR-AOD and fine-mode AOD were higher in spring and summer, followed by relatively lower values in autumn and winter. At the barren site (the QOMS station), there were inconsistent seasonal variations between surface TSP mass (PM2.5 mass) and atmospheric column AOD (fine-mode AOD). Our findings implicate that, HTP aerosol masses (especially their reginal characteristics and fine particle emissions) need to be treated sensitively in relation to assessments of their climatic

  16. Influence of Aerosol Acidity on the Formation of Secondary Organic Aerosol from Biogenic Precursor Hydrocarbons

    EPA Science Inventory

    Secondary organic aerosol (SOA) formation and dynamics may be important factors for the role of aerosols in adverse health effects, visibility and climate change. Formation of SOA occurs when a parent volatile organic compound is oxidized to create products that form in a conden...

  17. Classifying aerosol type using in situ surface spectral aerosol optical properties

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Schmeisser, Lauren; Andrews, Elisabeth; Ogren, John A.; Sheridan, Patrick; Jefferson, Anne; Sharma, Sangeeta; Kim, Jeong Eun; Sherman, James P.; Sorribas, Mar; Kalapov, Ivo; Arsov, Todor; Angelov, Christo; Mayol-Bracero, Olga L.; Labuschagne, Casper; Kim, Sang-Woo; Hoffer, András; Lin, Neng-Huei; Chia, Hao-Ping; Bergin, Michael; Sun, Junying; Liu, Peng; Wu, Hao

    2017-10-01

    Knowledge of aerosol size and composition is important for determining radiative forcing effects of aerosols, identifying aerosol sources and improving aerosol satellite retrieval algorithms. The ability to extrapolate aerosol size and composition, or type, from intensive aerosol optical properties can help expand the current knowledge of spatiotemporal variability in aerosol type globally, particularly where chemical composition measurements do not exist concurrently with optical property measurements. This study uses medians of the scattering Ångström exponent (SAE), absorption Ångström exponent (AAE) and single scattering albedo (SSA) from 24 stations within the NOAA/ESRL Federated Aerosol Monitoring Network to infer aerosol type using previously published aerosol classification schemes.Three methods are implemented to obtain a best estimate of dominant aerosol type at each station using aerosol optical properties. The first method plots station medians into an AAE vs. SAE plot space, so that a unique combination of intensive properties corresponds with an aerosol type. The second typing method expands on the first by introducing a multivariate cluster analysis, which aims to group stations with similar optical characteristics and thus similar dominant aerosol type. The third and final classification method pairs 3-day backward air mass trajectories with median aerosol optical properties to explore the relationship between trajectory origin (proxy for likely aerosol type) and aerosol intensive parameters, while allowing for multiple dominant aerosol types at each station.The three aerosol classification methods have some common, and thus robust, results. In general, estimating dominant aerosol type using optical properties is best suited for site locations with a stable and homogenous aerosol population, particularly continental polluted (carbonaceous aerosol), marine polluted (carbonaceous aerosol mixed with sea salt) and continental dust/biomass sites

  18. Dynamics of Aerosol Particles in Stationary, Isotropic Turbulence

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Collins, Lance R.; Meng, Hui

    2004-01-01

    A detailed study of the dynamics of sub-Kolmogorov-size aerosol particles in stationary isotropic turbulence has been performed. The study combined direct numerical simulations (DNS; directed by Prof. Collins) and high-resolution experimental measurements (directed by Prof. Meng) under conditions of nearly perfect geometric and parametric overlap. The goal was to measure the accumulation of particles in low-vorticity regions of the flow that arises from the effect commonly referred to as preferential concentration. The grant technically was initiated on June 13, 2000; however, funding was not available until July 11, 2000. The grant was originally awarded to Penn State University (numerical simulations) and SUNY-Buffalo (experiments); however, Prof. Collins effort was moved to Cornell University on January 2002 when he joined that university. He completed the study there. A list of the specific tasks that were completed under this study is presented.

  19. Imaging aerosol viscosity

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Pope, Francis; Athanasiadis, Thanos; Botchway, Stan; Davdison, Nicholas; Fitzgerald, Clare; Gallimore, Peter; Hosny, Neveen; Kalberer, Markus; Kuimova, Marina; Vysniauskas, Aurimas; Ward, Andy

    2017-04-01

    Organic aerosol particles play major roles in atmospheric chemistry, climate, and public health. Aerosol particle viscosity is important since it can determine the ability of chemical species such as oxidants, organics or water to diffuse into the particle bulk. Recent measurements indicate that OA may be present in highly viscous states; however, diffusion rates of small molecules such as water appear not to be limited by these high viscosities. We have developed a technique for measuring viscosity that allows for the imaging of aerosol viscosity in micron sized aerosols through use of fluorescence lifetime imaging of viscosity sensitive dyes which are also known as 'molecular rotors'. These rotors can be introduced into laboratory generated aerosol by adding minute quantities of the rotor to aerosol precursor prior to aerosolization. Real world aerosols can also be studied by doping them in situ with the rotors. The doping is achieved through generation of ultrafine aerosol particles that contain the rotors; the ultrafine aerosol particles deliver the rotors to the aerosol of interest via impaction and coagulation. This work has been conducted both on aerosols deposited on microscope coverslips and on particles that are levitated in their true aerosol phase through the use of a bespoke optical trap developed at the Central Laser Facility. The technique allows for the direct observation of kinetic barriers caused by high viscosity and low diffusivity in aerosol particles. The technique is non-destructive thereby allowing for multiple experiments to be carried out on the same sample. It can dynamically quantify and track viscosity changes during atmospherically relevant processes such oxidation and hygroscopic growth (1). This presentation will focus on the oxidation of aerosol particles composed of unsaturated and saturated organic species. It will discuss how the type of oxidant, oxidation rate and the composition of the oxidized products affect the time

  20. Global Aerosol Remote Sensing from MODIS

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Ichoku, Charles; Kaufman, Yoram J.; Remer, Lorraine A.; Chu, D. Allen; Mattoo, Shana; Tanre, Didier; Levy, Robert; Li, Rong-Rong; Martins, Jose V.; Lau, William K. M. (Technical Monitor)

    2002-01-01

    The physical characteristics, composition, abundance, spatial distribution and dynamics of global aerosols are still very poorly known, and new data from satellite sensors have long been awaited to improve current understanding and to give a boost to the effort in future climate predictions. The derivation of aerosol parameters from the MODerate resolution Imaging Spectro-radiometer (MODIS) sensors aboard the Earth Observing System (EOS) Terra and Aqua polar-orbiting satellites ushers in a new era in aerosol remote sensing from space. Terra and Aqua were launched on December 18, 1999 and May 4, 2002 respectively, with daytime equator crossing times of approximately 10:30 am and 1:30 pm respectively. Several aerosol parameters are retrieved at 10-km spatial resolution (level 2) from MODIS daytime data. The MODIS aerosol algorithm employs different approaches to retrieve parameters over land and ocean surfaces, because of the inherent differences in the solar spectral radiance interaction with these surfaces. The parameters retrieved include: aerosol optical thickness (AOT) at 0.47, 0.55 and 0.66 micron wavelengths over land, and at 0.47, 0.55, 0.66, 0.87, 1.2, 1.6, and 2.1 micron over ocean; Angstrom exponent over land and ocean; and effective radii, and the proportion of AOT contributed by the small mode aerosols over ocean. To ensure the quality of these parameters, a substantial part of the Terra-MODIS aerosol products were validated globally and regionally, based on cross correlation with corresponding parameters derived from ground-based measurements from AERONET (AErosol RObotic NETwork) sun photometers. Similar validation efforts are planned for the Aqua-MODIS aerosol products. The MODIS level 2 aerosol products are operationally aggregated to generate global daily, eight-day (weekly), and monthly products at one-degree spatial resolution (level 3). MODIS aerosol data are used for the detailed study of local, regional, and global aerosol concentration

  1. CATS Aerosol Typing and Future Directions

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    McGill, Matt; Yorks, John; Scott, Stan; Palm, Stephen; Hlavka, Dennis; Hart, William; Nowottnick, Ed; Selmer, Patrick; Kupchock, Andrew; Midzak, Natalie; hide

    2016-01-01

    The Cloud Aerosol Transport System (CATS), launched in January of 2015, is a lidar remote sensing instrument that will provide range-resolved profile measurements of atmospheric aerosols and clouds from the International Space Station (ISS). CATS is intended to operate on-orbit for at least six months, and up to three years. Status of CATS Level 2 and Plans for the Future:Version. 1. Aerosol Typing (ongoing): Mode 1: L1B data released later this summer; L2 data released shortly after; Identify algorithm biases (ex. striping, FOV (field of view) biases). Mode 2: Processed Released Currently working on correcting algorithm issues. Version 2 Aerosol Typing (Fall, 2016): Implementation of version 1 modifications Integrate GEOS-5 aerosols for typing guidance for non spherical aerosols. Version 3 Aerosol Typing (2017): Implementation of 1-D Var Assimilation into GEOS-5 Dynamic lidar ratio that will evolve in conjunction with simulated aerosol mixtures.

  2. Dynamics of phytoplankton community structure in the South China Sea in response to the East Asian aerosol input

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Guo, C.; Yu, J.; Ho, T.-Y.; Wang, L.; Song, S.; Kong, L.; Liu, H.

    2012-04-01

    Recent studies have demonstrated atmospheric deposition as an important source of bioreactive compounds to the ocean. The South China Sea (SCS), where aerosol loading is among the highest in the world, however, is poorly studied, particularly on the in situ response of phytoplankton community structures to atmospheric deposition. By conducting a series of microcosm bioassays at different hydrographical locations and simulating different aerosol event scales, we observed both positive and negative responses to the input of East Asian (EA) aerosol with high nitrogen (N) and trace metal contents, in terms of biomass, composition and physiological characteristics of phytoplankton communities. High levels of aerosol loading relieved phytoplankton nitrogen and trace metal limitations in SCS, and thus increased total phytoplankton biomass, enhanced their physiological indicators (e.g. photosynthetic efficiency) and shifted phytoplankton assemblages from being dominated by picoplankton to microphytoplanton, especially diatoms. However, under low levels of aerosol loading, the composition shift and biomass accumulation were not apparent, suggesting that the stimulation effects might be counterbalanced by enhanced grazing mortality indicated by increased abundance of protist grazers. Trace metal toxicity of the aerosols might also be the reason for the reduction of picocyanobacteria when amended with high EA aerosols. The magnitude and duration of the deposition event, as well as the hydrographical and trophic conditions of receiving waters are also important factors when predicting the influence of an aerosol deposition event. Our results demonstrated different responses of phytoplankton and microbial food web dynamics to different scales of atmospheric input events in SCS and highlighted the need for achieving an accurate comprehension of atmospheric nutrient on the biogeochemical cycles of the oceans.

  3. Comparison of MADE3-simulated and observed aerosol distributions with a focus on aerosol vertical profiles

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kaiser, Christopher; Hendricks, Johannes; Righi, Mattia; Jöckel, Patrick

    2016-04-01

    The reliability of aerosol radiative forcing estimates from climate models depends on the accuracy of simulated global aerosol distribution and composition, as well as on the models' representation of the aerosol-cloud and aerosol-radiation interactions. To help improve on previous modeling studies, we recently developed the new aerosol microphysics submodel MADE3 that explicitly tracks particle mixing state in the Aitken, accumulation, and coarse mode size ranges. We implemented MADE3 into the global atmospheric chemistry general circulation model EMAC and evaluated it by comparison of simulated aerosol properties to observations. Compared properties include continental near-surface aerosol component concentrations and size distributions, continental and marine aerosol vertical profiles, and nearly global aerosol optical depth. Recent studies have shown the specific importance of aerosol vertical profiles for determination of the aerosol radiative forcing. Therefore, our focus here is on the evaluation of simulated vertical profiles. The observational data is taken from campaigns between 1990 and 2011 over the Pacific Ocean, over North and South America, and over Europe. The datasets include black carbon and total aerosol mass mixing ratios, as well as aerosol particle number concentrations. Compared to other models, EMAC with MADE3 yields good agreement with the observations - despite a general high bias of the simulated mass mixing ratio profiles. However, BC concentrations are generally overestimated by many models in the upper troposphere. With MADE3 in EMAC, we find better agreement of the simulated BC profiles with HIPPO data than the multi-model average of the models that took part in the AeroCom project. There is an interesting difference between the profiles from individual campaigns and more "climatological" datasets. For instance, compared to spatially and temporally localized campaigns, the model simulates a more continuous decline in both total

  4. Aerosol as a player in the Arctic Amplification - an aerosol-climate model evaluation study

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Schacht, Jacob; Heinold, Bernd; Tegen, Ina

    2017-04-01

    Climate warming is much more pronounced in the Arctic than in any other region on Earth - a phenomenon referred to as the "Arctic Amplification". This is closely related to a variety of specific feedback mechanisms, which relative importance, however, is not yet sufficiently understood. The local changes in the Arctic climate are far-reaching and affect for example the general atmospheric circulation and global energy transport. Aerosol particles from long-range transport and local sources play an important role in the Arctic system by modulating the energy balance (directly by interaction with solar and thermal infrared radiation and indirectly by changing cloud properties and atmospheric dynamics). The main source regions of anthropogenic aerosol are Europe and East Asia, but also local shipping and oil/gas extraction may contribute significantly. In addition, important sources are widespread, mainly natural boreal forest fires. Most of the European aerosol is transported through the lower atmospheric layers in wintertime. The Asian aerosol is transported through higher altitudes. Because of the usually pristine conditions in the Arctic even small absolute changes in aerosol concentration can have large impacts on the Arctic climate. Using global and Arctic-focused model simulations, we aim at investigating the sources and transport pathways of natural and anthropogenic aerosol to the Arctic region, as well as their impact on radiation and clouds. Here, we present first results from an aerosol-climate model evaluation study. Simulations were performed with the global aerosol-climate model ECHAM6-HAM2, using three different state-of-the-art emission inventories (ACCMIP, ACCMIP + GFAS emissions for wildfires and ECLIPSE). The runs were performed in nudged mode at T63 horizontal resolution (approximately 1.8°) with 47 vertical levels for the 10-year period 2006-2015. Black carbon (BC) and sulphate (SO4) are of particular interest. BC is highly absorbing in the

  5. Perspective: Aerosol microphysics: From molecules to the chemical physics of aerosols

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bzdek, Bryan R.; Reid, Jonathan P.

    2017-12-01

    Aerosols are found in a wide diversity of contexts and applications, including the atmosphere, pharmaceutics, and industry. Aerosols are dispersions of particles in a gas, and the coupling of the two phases results in highly dynamic systems where chemical and physical properties like size, composition, phase, and refractive index change rapidly in response to environmental perturbations. Aerosol particles span a wide range of sizes from 1 nm to tens of micrometres or from small molecular clusters that may more closely resemble gas phase molecules to large particles that can have similar qualities to bulk materials. However, even large particles with finite volumes exhibit distinct properties from the bulk condensed phase, due in part to their higher surface-to-volume ratio and their ability to easily access supersaturated solute states inaccessible in the bulk. Aerosols represent a major challenge for study because of the facile coupling between the particle and gas, the small amounts of sample available for analysis, and the sheer breadth of operative processes. Time scales of aerosol processes can be as short as nanoseconds or as long as years. Despite their very different impacts and applications, fundamental chemical physics processes serve as a common theme that underpins our understanding of aerosols. This perspective article discusses challenges in the study of aerosols and highlights recent chemical physics advancements that have enabled improved understanding of these complex systems.

  6. Assessing the Dynamics of Organic Aerosols over the North Atlantic Ocean

    PubMed Central

    Kasparian, Jérôme; Hassler, Christel; Ibelings, Bas; Berti, Nicolas; Bigorre, Sébastien; Djambazova, Violeta; Gascon-Diez, Elena; Giuliani, Grégory; Houlmann, Raphaël; Kiselev, Denis; de Laborie, Pierric; Le, Anh-Dao; Magouroux, Thibaud; Neri, Tristan; Palomino, Daniel; Pfändler, Stéfanie; Ray, Nicolas; Sousa, Gustavo; Staedler, Davide; Tettamanti, Federico; Wolf, Jean-Pierre; Beniston, Martin

    2017-01-01

    The influence of aerosols on climate is highly dependent on the particle size distribution, concentration, and composition. In particular, the latter influences their ability to act as cloud condensation nuclei, whereby they impact cloud coverage and precipitation. Here, we simultaneously measured the concentration of aerosols from sea spray over the North Atlantic on board the exhaust-free solar-powered vessel “PlanetSolar”, and the sea surface physico-chemical parameters. We identified organic-bearing particles based on individual particle fluorescence spectra. Organic-bearing aerosols display specific spatio-temporal distributions as compared to total aerosols. We propose an empirical parameterization of the organic-bearing particle concentration, with a dependence on water salinity and sea-surface temperature only. We also show that a very rich mixture of organic aerosols is emitted from the sea surface. Such data will certainly contribute to providing further insight into the influence of aerosols on cloud formation, and be used as input for the improved modeling of aerosols and their role in global climate processes. PMID:28361985

  7. Sensitivity of aerosol radiative forcing efficiency to the coarse mode contributions across aerosol regimes

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    McComiskey, A. C.; Telg, H.; Sheridan, P. J.; Kassianov, E.

    2017-12-01

    The coarse mode contribution to the aerosol radiative effect in a range of clean and turbid aerosol regimes has not been well quantified. While the coarse-mode radiative effect in turbid conditions is generally assumed to be consequential, the effect in clean conditions has likely been underestimated. We survey ground-based in situ measurements of the coarse mode fraction of aerosol optical properties measured around the globe over the past 20 years by the DOE Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Facility and the NOAA Global Monitoring Division. The aerosol forcing efficiency is presented, allowing an evaluation of where the aerosol coarse mode might be climatologically significant.

  8. Unexpected Benefits of Reducing Aerosol Cooling Effects

    EPA Science Inventory

    Impacts of aerosol cooling are not limited to changes in surface temperature since modulation of atmospheric dynamics resulting from the increased stability can deteriorate local air quality and impact human health. Health impacts from two manifestations of the aerosol direct eff...

  9. Characterizing the Retrieval of Cloud Optical Thickness and Droplet Effective Radius to Overlying Aerosols Using a General Inverse Theory Approach

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Coddington, O.; Pilewskie, P.; Schmidt, S.

    2013-12-01

    The upwelling shortwave irradiance measured by the airborne Solar Spectral Flux Radiometer (SSFR) flying above a cloud and aerosol layer is influenced by the properties of the cloud and aerosol particles below, just as would the radiance measured from satellite. Unlike satellite measurements, those from aircraft provide the unique capability to fly a lower-level leg above the cloud, yet below the aerosol layer, to characterize the extinction of the aerosol layer and account for its impact on the measured cloud albedo. Previous work [Coddington et al., 2010] capitalized on this opportunity to test the effects of aerosol particles (or more appropriately, the effects of neglecting aerosols in forward modeling calculations) on cloud retrievals using data obtained during the Intercontinental Chemical Transport Experiment/Intercontinental Transport and Chemical Transformation of anthropogenic pollution (INTEX-A/ITCT) study. This work showed aerosols can cause a systematic bias in the cloud retrieval and that such a bias would need to be distinguished from a true aerosol indirect effect (i.e. the brightening of a cloud due to aerosol effects on cloud microphysics) as theorized by Haywood et al., [2004]. The effects of aerosols on clouds are typically neglected in forward modeling calculations because their pervasiveness, variable microphysical properties, loading, and lifetimes makes forward modeling calculations under all possible combinations completely impractical. Using a general inverse theory technique, which propagates separate contributions from measurement and forward modeling errors into probability distributions of retrieved cloud optical thickness and droplet effective radius, we have demonstrated how the aerosol presence can be introduced as a spectral systematic error in the distributions of the forward modeling solutions. The resultant uncertainty and bias in cloud properties induced by the aerosols is identified by the shape and peak of the posteriori

  10. Columnar Aerosol Properties from Sun-and-star Photometry: Statistical Comparisons and Day-to-night Dynamic

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Ramirez, Daniel Perez; Lyamani, H.; Olmo, F. J.; Whiteman, D. N.; Alados-Arboledas, L.

    2012-01-01

    This work presents the first analysis of longterm correlative day-to-night columnar aerosol optical properties. The aim is to better understand columnar aerosol dynamic from ground-based observations, which are poorly studied until now. To this end we have used a combination of sun-and-star photometry measurements acquired in the city of Granada (37.16 N, 3.60 W, 680 ma.s.l.; South-East of Spain) from 2007 to 2010. For the whole study period, mean aerosol optical depth (AOD) around 440 nm (+/-standard deviation) is 0.18 +/- 0.10 and 0.19 +/- 0.11 for daytime and nighttime, respectively, while the mean Angstr¨om exponent (alpha ) is 1.0 +/- 0.4 and 0.9 +/- 0.4 for daytime and nighttime. The ANOVA statistical tests reveal that there are no significant differences between AOD and obtained at daytime and those at nighttime. Additionally, the mean daytime values of AOD and obtained during this study period are coherent with the values obtained in the surrounding AERONET stations. On the other hand, AOD around 440 nm present evident seasonal patterns characterised by large values in summer (mean value of 0.20 +/- 0.10 both at daytime and nighttime) and low values in winter (mean value of 0.15 +/- 0.09 at daytime and 0.17 +/- 0.10 at nighttime). The Angstr¨om exponents also present seasonal patterns, but with low values in summer (mean values of 0.8 +/- 0.4 and 0.9 +/- 0.4 at dayand night-time) and relatively large values in winter (mean values of 1.2 +/- 0.4 and 1.0 +/- 0.3 at daytime and nighttime). These seasonal patterns are explained by the differences in the meteorological conditions and by the differences in the strength of the aerosol sources. To take more insight about the changes in aerosol particles between day and night, the spectral differences of the Angstrom exponent as function of the Angstr¨om exponent are also studied. These analyses reveal increases of the fine mode radius and of the fine mode contribution to AOD during nighttime, being more

  11. Interactions between aerosol absorption, thermodynamics, dynamics, and microphysics and their impacts on a multiple-cloud system

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lee, Seoung Soo; Li, Zhanqing; Mok, Jungbin; Ahn, Myoung-Hwan; Kim, Byung-Gon; Choi, Yong-Sang; Jung, Chang-Hoon; Yoo, Hye Lim

    2017-12-01

    This study investigates how the increasing concentration of black carbon aerosols, which act as radiation absorbers as well as agents for the cloud-particle nucleation, affects stability, dynamics and microphysics in a multiple-cloud system using simulations. Simulations show that despite increases in stability due to increasing concentrations of black carbon aerosols, there are increases in the averaged updraft mass fluxes (over the whole simulation domain and period). This is because aerosol-enhanced evaporative cooling intensifies convergence near the surface. This increase in the intensity of convergence induces an increase in the frequency of updrafts with the low range of speeds, leading to the increase in the averaged updraft mass fluxes. The increase in the frequency of updrafts induces that in the number of condensation entities and this leads to more condensation and cloud liquid that acts to be a source of the accretion of cloud liquid by precipitation. Hence, eventually, there is more accretion that offsets suppressed autoconversion, which results in negligible changes in cumulative precipitation as aerosol concentrations increase. The increase in the frequency of updrafts with the low range of speeds alters the cloud-system organization (represented by cloud-depth spatiotemporal distributions and cloud-cell population) by supporting more low-depth clouds. The altered organization in turn alters precipitation spatiotemporal distributions by generating more weak precipitation events. Aerosol-induced reduction in solar radiation that reaches the surface induces more occurrences of small-value surface heat fluxes, which in turn supports the more low-depth clouds and weak precipitation together with the greater occurrence of low-speed updrafts.

  12. The impact of precipitation evaporation on the atmospheric aerosol distribution in EC-Earth v3.2.0

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    de Bruine, Marco; Krol, Maarten; van Noije, Twan; Le Sager, Philippe; Röckmann, Thomas

    2018-04-01

    The representation of aerosol-cloud interaction in global climate models (GCMs) remains a large source of uncertainty in climate projections. Due to its complexity, precipitation evaporation is either ignored or taken into account in a simplified manner in GCMs. This research explores various ways to treat aerosol resuspension and determines the possible impact of precipitation evaporation and subsequent aerosol resuspension on global aerosol burdens and distribution. The representation of aerosol wet deposition by large-scale precipitation in the EC-Earth model has been improved by utilising additional precipitation-related 3-D fields from the dynamical core, the Integrated Forecasting System (IFS) general circulation model, in the chemistry and aerosol module Tracer Model, version 5 (TM5). A simple approach of scaling aerosol release with evaporated precipitation fraction leads to an increase in the global aerosol burden (+7.8 to +15 % for different aerosol species). However, when taking into account the different sizes and evaporation rate of raindrops following Gong et al. (2006), the release of aerosols is strongly reduced, and the total aerosol burden decreases by -3.0 to -8.5 %. Moreover, inclusion of cloud processing based on observations by Mitra et al. (1992) transforms scavenged small aerosol to coarse particles, which enhances removal by sedimentation and hence leads to a -10 to -11 % lower aerosol burden. Finally, when these two effects are combined, the global aerosol burden decreases by -11 to -19 %. Compared to the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) satellite observations, aerosol optical depth (AOD) is generally underestimated in most parts of the world in all configurations of the TM5 model and although the representation is now physically more realistic, global AOD shows no large improvements in spatial patterns. Similarly, the agreement of the vertical profile with Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP

  13. Impact of aerosol size representation on modeling aerosol-cloud interactions

    DOE PAGES

    Zhang, Y.; Easter, R. C.; Ghan, S. J.; ...

    2002-11-07

    In this study, we use a 1-D version of a climate-aerosol-chemistry model with both modal and sectional aerosol size representations to evaluate the impact of aerosol size representation on modeling aerosol-cloud interactions in shallow stratiform clouds observed during the 2nd Aerosol Characterization Experiment. Both the modal (with prognostic aerosol number and mass or prognostic aerosol number, surface area and mass, referred to as the Modal-NM and Modal-NSM) and the sectional approaches (with 12 and 36 sections) predict total number and mass for interstitial and activated particles that are generally within several percent of references from a high resolution 108-section approach.more » The modal approach with prognostic aerosol mass but diagnostic number (referred to as the Modal-M) cannot accurately predict the total particle number and surface areas, with deviations from the references ranging from 7-161%. The particle size distributions are sensitive to size representations, with normalized absolute differences of up to 12% and 37% for the 36- and 12-section approaches, and 30%, 39%, and 179% for the Modal-NSM, Modal-NM, and Modal-M, respectively. For the Modal-NSM and Modal-NM, differences from the references are primarily due to the inherent assumptions and limitations of the modal approach. In particular, they cannot resolve the abrupt size transition between the interstitial and activated aerosol fractions. For the 12- and 36-section approaches, differences are largely due to limitations of the parameterized activation for non-log-normal size distributions, plus the coarse resolution for the 12-section case. Differences are larger both with higher aerosol (i.e., less complete activation) and higher SO2 concentrations (i.e., greater modification of the initial aerosol distribution).« less

  14. Neural network computer simulation of medical aerosols.

    PubMed

    Richardson, C J; Barlow, D J

    1996-06-01

    Preliminary investigations have been conducted to assess the potential for using artificial neural networks to simulate aerosol behaviour, with a view to employing this type of methodology in the evaluation and design of pulmonary drug-delivery systems. Details are presented of the general purpose software developed for these tasks; it implements a feed-forward back-propagation algorithm with weight decay and connection pruning, the user having complete run-time control of the network architecture and mode of training. A series of exploratory investigations is then reported in which different network structures and training strategies are assessed in terms of their ability to simulate known patterns of fluid flow in simple model systems. The first of these involves simulations of cellular automata-generated data for fluid flow through a partially obstructed two-dimensional pipe. The artificial neural networks are shown to be highly successful in simulating the behaviour of this simple linear system, but with important provisos relating to the information content of the training data and the criteria used to judge when the network is properly trained. A second set of investigations is then reported in which similar networks are used to simulate patterns of fluid flow through aerosol generation devices, using training data furnished through rigorous computational fluid dynamics modelling. These more complex three-dimensional systems are modelled with equal success. It is concluded that carefully tailored, well trained networks could provide valuable tools not just for predicting but also for analysing the spatial dynamics of pharmaceutical aerosols.

  15. Effects of surface-active organic matter on carbon dioxide nucleation in atmospheric wet aerosols: a molecular dynamics study.

    PubMed

    Daskalakis, Vangelis; Charalambous, Fevronia; Panagiotou, Fostira; Nearchou, Irene

    2014-11-21

    Organic matter (OM) uptake in cloud droplets produces water-soluble secondary organic aerosols (SOA) via aqueous chemistry. These play a significant role in aerosol properties. We report the effects of OM uptake in wet aerosols, in terms of the dissolved-to-gas carbon dioxide nucleation using molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. Carbon dioxide has been implicated in the natural rainwater as well as seawater acidity. Variability of the cloud and raindrop pH is assumed in space and time, as regional emissions, local human activities and geophysical characteristics differ. Rain scavenging of inorganic SOx, NOx and NH3 plays a major role in rain acidity in terms of acid-base activity, however carbon dioxide solubility also remains a key parameter. Based on the MD simulations we propose that the presence of surface-active OM promotes the dissolved-to-gas carbon dioxide nucleation in wet aerosols, even at low temperatures, strongly decreasing carbon dioxide solubility. A discussion is made on the role of OM in controlling the pH of a cloud or raindrop, as a consequence, without involving OM ionization equilibrium. The results are compared with experimental and computational studies in the literature.

  16. Characterization of Florida red tide aerosol and the temporal profile of aerosol concentration.

    PubMed

    Cheng, Yung Sung; Zhou, Yue; Pierce, Richard H; Henry, Mike; Baden, Daniel G

    2010-05-01

    Red tide aerosols containing aerosolized brevetoxins are produced during the red tide bloom and transported by wind to coastal areas of Florida. This study reports the characterization of Florida red tide aerosols in human volunteer studies, in which an asthma cohort spent 1h on Siesta Beach (Sarasota, Florida) during aerosolized red tide events and non-exposure periods. Aerosol concentrations, brevetoxin levels, and particle size distribution were measured. Hourly filter samples were taken and analyzed for brevetoxin and NaCl concentrations. In addition, the aerosol mass concentration was monitored in real time. The results indicated that during a non-exposure period in October 2004, no brevetoxin was detected in the water, resulting in non-detectable levels of brevetoxin in the aerosol. In March 2005, the time-averaged concentrations of brevetoxins in water samples were moderate, in the range of 5-10 microg/L, and the corresponding brevetoxin level of Florida red tide aerosol ranged between 21 and 39 ng/m(3). The temporal profiles of red tide aerosol concentration in terms of mass, NaCl, and brevetoxin were in good agreement, indicating that NaCl and brevetoxins are components of the red tide aerosol. By continuously monitoring the marine aerosol and wind direction at Siesta Beach, we observed that the marine aerosol concentration varied as the wind direction changed. The temporal profile of the Florida red tide aerosol during a sampling period could be explained generally with the variation of wind direction. Copyright 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  17. Multi-sensor cloud and aerosol retrieval simulator and remote sensing from model parameters - Part 2: Aerosols

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wind, Galina; da Silva, Arlindo M.; Norris, Peter M.; Platnick, Steven; Mattoo, Shana; Levy, Robert C.

    2016-07-01

    The Multi-sensor Cloud Retrieval Simulator (MCRS) produces a "simulated radiance" product from any high-resolution general circulation model with interactive aerosol as if a specific sensor such as the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) were viewing a combination of the atmospheric column and land-ocean surface at a specific location. Previously the MCRS code only included contributions from atmosphere and clouds in its radiance calculations and did not incorporate properties of aerosols. In this paper we added a new aerosol properties module to the MCRS code that allows users to insert a mixture of up to 15 different aerosol species in any of 36 vertical layers.This new MCRS code is now known as MCARS (Multi-sensor Cloud and Aerosol Retrieval Simulator). Inclusion of an aerosol module into MCARS not only allows for extensive, tightly controlled testing of various aspects of satellite operational cloud and aerosol properties retrieval algorithms, but also provides a platform for comparing cloud and aerosol models against satellite measurements. This kind of two-way platform can improve the efficacy of model parameterizations of measured satellite radiances, allowing the assessment of model skill consistently with the retrieval algorithm. The MCARS code provides dynamic controls for appearance of cloud and aerosol layers. Thereby detailed quantitative studies of the impacts of various atmospheric components can be controlled.In this paper we illustrate the operation of MCARS by deriving simulated radiances from various data field output by the Goddard Earth Observing System version 5 (GEOS-5) model. The model aerosol fields are prepared for translation to simulated radiance using the same model subgrid variability parameterizations as are used for cloud and atmospheric properties profiles, namely the ICA technique. After MCARS computes modeled sensor radiances equivalent to their observed counterparts, these radiances are presented as input to

  18. Multi-Sensor Cloud and Aerosol Retrieval Simulator and Remote Sensing from Model Parameters . Part 2; Aerosols

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Wind, Galina; Da Silva, Arlindo M.; Norris, Peter M.; Platnick, Steven; Mattoo, Shana; Levy, Robert C.

    2016-01-01

    The Multi-sensor Cloud Retrieval Simulator (MCRS) produces a simulated radiance product from any high-resolution general circulation model with interactive aerosol as if a specific sensor such as the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) were viewing a combination of the atmospheric column and land ocean surface at a specific location. Previously the MCRS code only included contributions from atmosphere and clouds in its radiance calculations and did not incorporate properties of aerosols. In this paper we added a new aerosol properties module to the MCRS code that allows users to insert a mixture of up to 15 different aerosol species in any of 36 vertical layers. This new MCRS code is now known as MCARS (Multi-sensor Cloud and Aerosol Retrieval Simulator). Inclusion of an aerosol module into MCARS not only allows for extensive, tightly controlled testing of various aspects of satellite operational cloud and aerosol properties retrieval algorithms, but also provides a platform for comparing cloud and aerosol models against satellite measurements. This kind of two-way platform can improve the efficacy of model parameterizations of measured satellite radiances, allowing the assessment of model skill consistently with the retrieval algorithm. The MCARS code provides dynamic controls for appearance of cloud and aerosol layers. Thereby detailed quantitative studies of the impacts of various atmospheric components can be controlled. In this paper we illustrate the operation of MCARS by deriving simulated radiances from various data field output by the Goddard Earth Observing System version 5 (GEOS-5) model. The model aerosol fields are prepared for translation to simulated radiance using the same model sub grid variability parameterizations as are used for cloud and atmospheric properties profiles, namely the ICA technique. After MCARS computes modeled sensor radiances equivalent to their observed counterparts, these radiances are presented as input to

  19. Identifying Aerosol Type/Mixture from Aerosol Absorption Properties Using AERONET

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Giles, D. M.; Holben, B. N.; Eck, T. F.; Sinyuk, A.; Dickerson, R. R.; Thompson, A. M.; Slutsker, I.; Li, Z.; Tripathi, S. N.; Singh, R. P.; hide

    2010-01-01

    Aerosols are generated in the atmosphere through anthropogenic and natural mechanisms. These sources have signatures in the aerosol optical and microphysical properties that can be used to identify the aerosol type/mixture. Spectral aerosol absorption information (absorption Angstrom exponent; AAE) used in conjunction with the particle size parameterization (extinction Angstrom exponent; EAE) can only identify the dominant absorbing aerosol type in the sample volume (e.g., black carbon vs. iron oxides in dust). This AAE/EAE relationship can be expanded to also identify non-absorbing aerosol types/mixtures by applying an absorption weighting. This new relationship provides improved aerosol type distinction when the magnitude of absorption is not equal (e.g, black carbon vs. sulfates). The Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) data provide spectral aerosol optical depth and single scattering albedo - key parameters used to determine EAE and AAE. The proposed aerosol type/mixture relationship is demonstrated using the long-term data archive acquired at AERONET sites within various source regions. The preliminary analysis has found that dust, sulfate, organic carbon, and black carbon aerosol types/mixtures can be determined from this AAE/EAE relationship when applying the absorption weighting for each available wavelength (Le., 440, 675, 870nm). Large, non-spherical dust particles absorb in the shorter wavelengths and the application of 440nm wavelength absorption weighting produced the best particle type definition. Sulfate particles scatter light efficiently and organic carbon particles are small near the source and aggregate over time to form larger less absorbing particles. Both sulfates and organic carbon showed generally better definition using the 870nm wavelength absorption weighting. Black carbon generation results from varying combustion rates from a number of sources including industrial processes and biomass burning. Cases with primarily black carbon showed

  20. CURRENT AND EMERGING TECHNIQUES FOR CHARACTERIZING TROPOSPHERIC AEROSOLS

    EPA Science Inventory

    Particulate matter generally includes dust, smoke, soot, or aerosol particles. Environmental research addresses the origin, size, chemical composition, and the formation mechanics of aerosols. In the troposphere, fine aerosols (e.g. with diameters < 2.5 um) remain suspended until...

  1. Gas Dynamics, Characterization, and Calibration of Fast Flow Flight Cascade Impactor Quartz Crystal Microbalances (QCM) for Aerosol Measurements

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Grant, J.R.; Thorpe, A. N.; James, C.; Michael, A.; Ware, M.; Senftle, F.; Smith, S.

    1997-01-01

    During recent high altitude flights, we have tested the aerosol section of the fast flow flight cascade impactor quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) on loan to Howard University from NASA. The aerosol mass collected during these flights was disappointingly small. Increasing the flow through the QCM did not correct the problem. It was clear that the instrument was not being operated under proper conditions for aerosol collect ion primarily because the gas dynamics is not well understood. A laboratory study was therefore undertaken using two different fast flow QCM's in an attempt to establish the gas flow characteristics of the aerosol sections and its effect on particle collection, Some tests were made at low temperatures but most of the work reported here was carried out at room temperature. The QCM is a cascade type impactor originally designed by May (1945) and later modified by Anderson (1966) and Mercer et al (1970) for chemical gas analysis. The QCM has been used extensively for collecting and sizing stratospheric aerosol particles. In this paper all flow rates are given or corrected and referred to in terms of air at STP. All of the flow meters were kept at STP. Although there have been several calibration and evaluation studies of moderate flow cascade impactors of less than or equal to 1 L/rein., there is little experimental information on the gas flow characteristics for fast flow rates greater than 1 L/rein.

  2. Aerosol Enhancements in the Upper Troposphere Over The Amazon Forest: Do Amazonian Clouds Produce Aerosols?

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Andreae, M. O.; Afchine, A.; Albrecht, R. I.; Artaxo, P.; Borrmann, S.; Cecchini, M. A.; Costa, A.; Dollner, M.; Fütterer, D.; Järvinen, E.; Klimach, T.; Konemann, T.; Kraemer, M.; Krüger, M. L.; Machado, L.; Mertes, S.; Pöhlker, C.; Poeschl, U.; Sauer, D. N.; Schnaiter, M.; Schneider, J.; Schulz, C.; Spanu, A.; Walser, A.; Weinzierl, B.; Wendisch, M.

    2015-12-01

    The German-Brazilian cooperative aircraft campaign ACRIDICON-CHUVA (Aerosol, Cloud, Precipitation, and Radiation Interactions and Dynamics of Convective Cloud Systems) on the German research aircraft HALO took place over the Amazon Basin in September/October 2014, with the objective of studying tropical deep convective clouds over the Amazon rainforest and their interactions with trace gases, aerosol particles, and atmospheric radiation. The aircraft was equipped with about 30 remote sensing and in-situ instruments for meteorological, trace gas, aerosol, cloud, precipitation, and solar radiation measurements. Fourteen research flights were conducted during this campaign. Observations during ACRIDICON-CHUVA showed high aerosol concentrations in the upper troposphere (UT) over the Amazon Basin, with concentrations after normalization to standard conditions often exceeding those in the boundary layer (BL). This behavior was consistent between several aerosol metrics, including condensation nuclei (CN), cloud condensation nuclei (CCN), and chemical species mass concentrations. These UT aerosols were different in their composition and size distribution from the aerosol in the BL, making convective transport of particles unlikely as a source. The regions in the immediate outflow of deep convective clouds were found to be depleted in aerosol particles, whereas enhanced aerosol number and mass concentrations were found in UT regions that had experienced outflow from deep convection in the preceding 24-48 hours. This suggests that aerosol production takes place in the UT based on volatile and condensable material brought up by deep convection. Subsequently, downward mixing and transport of upper tropospheric aerosol may be a source of particles to the BL, where they increase in size by the condensation of biogenic volatile organic carbon (BVOC) oxidation products. This may be an important source of aerosol particles in the Amazonian BL, where aerosol nucleation and new

  3. Comprehensive mapping and characteristic regimes of aerosol effects on the formation and evolution of pyro-convective clouds

    DOE PAGES

    Chang, D.; Cheng, Y.; Reutter, P.; ...

    2015-09-21

    Here, a recent parcel model study (Reutter et al., 2009) showed three deterministic regimes of initial cloud droplet formation, characterized by different ratios of aerosol concentrations ( N CN) to updraft velocities. This analysis, however, did not reveal how these regimes evolve during the subsequent cloud development. To address this issue, we employed the Active Tracer High Resolution Atmospheric Model (ATHAM) with full microphysics and extended the model simulation from the cloud base to the entire column of a single pyro-convective mixed-phase cloud. A series of 2-D simulations (over 1000) were performed over a wide range of N CN andmore » dynamic conditions. The integrated concentration of hydrometeors over the full spatial and temporal scales was used to evaluate the aerosol and dynamic effects. The results show the following. (1) The three regimes for cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) activation in the parcel model (namely aerosol-limited, updraft-limited, and transitional regimes) still exist within our simulations, but net production of raindrops and frozen particles occurs mostly within the updraft-limited regime. (2) Generally, elevated aerosols enhance the formation of cloud droplets and frozen particles. The response of raindrops and precipitation to aerosols is more complex and can be either positive or negative as a function of aerosol concentrations. The most negative effect was found for values of N CN of ~ 1000 to 3000 cm –3. (3) The nonlinear properties of aerosol–cloud interactions challenge the conclusions drawn from limited case studies in terms of their representativeness, and ensemble studies over a wide range of aerosol concentrations and other influencing factors are strongly recommended for a more robust assessment of the aerosol effects.« less

  4. Multi-Parameter Aerosol Scattering Sensor

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Greenberg, Paul S.; Fischer, David G.

    2011-01-01

    This work relates to the development of sensors that measure specific aerosol properties. These properties are in the form of integrated moment distributions, i.e., total surface area, total mass, etc., or mathematical combinations of these moment distributions. Specifically, the innovation involves two fundamental features: a computational tool to design and optimize such sensors and the embodiment of these sensors in actual practice. The measurement of aerosol properties is a problem of general interest. Applications include, but are not limited to, environmental monitoring, assessment of human respiratory health, fire detection, emission characterization and control, and pollutant monitoring. The objectives for sensor development include increased accuracy and/or dynamic range, the inclusion in a single sensor of the ability to measure multiple aerosol properties, and developing an overall physical package that is rugged, compact, and low in power consumption, so as to enable deployment in harsh or confined field applications, and as distributed sensor networks. Existing instruments for this purpose include scattering photometers, direct-reading mass instruments, Beta absorption devices, differential mobility analyzers, and gravitational samplers. The family of sensors reported here is predicated on the interaction of light and matter; specifically, the scattering of light from distributions of aerosol particles. The particular arrangement of the sensor, e.g. the wavelength(s) of incident radiation, the number and location of optical detectors, etc., can be derived so as to optimize the sensor response to aerosol properties of practical interest. A key feature of the design is the potential embodiment as an extremely compact, integrated microsensor package. This is of fundamental importance, as it enables numerous previously inaccessible applications. The embodiment of these sensors is inherently low maintenance and high reliability by design. The novel and

  5. Satellite Remote Sensing of Aerosol Forcing

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Remer, Lorraine; Kaufman, Yoram; Ramaprasad, Jaya; Procopio, Aline; Levin, Zev

    1999-01-01

    The role of aerosol forcing remains one of the largest uncertainties in estimating man's impact on the global climate system. One school of thought suggests that remote sensing by satellite sensors will provide the data necessary to narrow these uncertainties. While satellite measurements of direct aerosol forcing appear to be straightforward, satellite measurements of aerosol indirect forcing will be more complicated. Pioneering studies identified indirect aerosol forcing using AVHRR data in the biomass burning regions of Brazil. We have expanded this analysis with AVHRR to include an additional year of data and assimilated water vapor fields. The results show similar latitudinal dependence as reported by Kaufman and Fraser, but by using water vapor observations we conclude that latitude is not a proxy for water vapor and the strength of the indirect effect is not correlated to water vapor amounts. In addition to the AVHRR study we have identified indirect aerosol forcing in Brazil at much smaller spatial scales using the MODIS Airborne Simulator. The strength of the indirect effect appears to be related to cloud type and cloud dynamics. There is a suggestion that some of the cloud dynamics may be influenced by smoke destabilization of the atmospheric column. Finally, this study attempts to quantify remote sensing limitations due to the accuracy limits of the retrieval algorithms. We use a combination of numerical aerosol transport models, ground-based AERONET data and ISCCP cloud climatology to determine how much of the forcing occurs in regions too clean to determine from satellite retrievals.

  6. Development of an Operational Multi-sensor and Multi-channel Aerosol Assimilation Package

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2011-08-18

    2010, EGU General Assembly 2010. Shi, Y., J. Zhang, J. S. Reid, E. Hyer, Evaluation of MISR Aerosol Optical Depth Product for Aerosol Data...empirical correction procedures for generating data-assimilation-friendly over-water MODIS aerosol products. This study has been published (Shi et al...type as large r\\ values are generally related to fine mode aerosols, such as sulfate and smoke aerosols, and small r\\ values typically indicate sea

  7. A one-dimensional sectional model to simulate multicomponent aerosol dynamics in the marine boundary layer 2. Model application

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Fitzgerald, James W.; Hoppel, William A.; Frick, Glendon M.

    1998-07-01

    The dynamics of aerosols in the marine boundary layer (MBL) are simulated with the marine boundary layer aerosol model (MARBLES), a one-dimensional, multicomponent sectional aerosol model [{ital Fitzgerald} {ital et al.}, this issue; {ital Gelbard} {ital et al.}, this issue]. First, to illustrate how the various aerosol processes influence the particle size distribution, the model was run with one or two processes operating on the same initial size distribution. Because of current interest in the effects of cloud processing of aerosols and exchange of aerosols with the free troposphere (FT) on marine aerosol size distributions, these two processes are examinedmore » in considerable detail. The simulations show that the effect of cloud processing (characteristic double-peaked size distribution) in the upper part of the MBL is manifested at the surface on a timescale that is much faster than changes due to exchange with the FT, assuming a typical exchange velocity of 0.6 cmthinsps{sup {minus}1}. The model predicts that the FT can be a significant source of particles for the MBL in the size range of the cloud-processing minimum, between the unactivated interstitial particles and the cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) which have grown as a result of conversion of dissolved SO{sub 2} to sulfate in cloud droplets. The model was also used to simulate the evolution of the aerosol size distribution in an air mass advecting from the east coast of the United States out over the ocean for up to 10 days. The modification of a continental aerosol size distribution to one that is remote marine in character occurs on a timescale of 6{endash}8 days. Nucleation was not observed in the base case 10-day advection simulation which assumed rather typical meteorological conditions. However, significant nucleation was predicted under a more favorable (albeit, atypical) combination of conditions which included significant precipitation scavenging (5 mmthinsph{sup {minus}1} of rain for 12

  8. Introduction of the new concept: Potential Aerosol Mass (PAM) for Inorganic and Organic Secondary Aerosol

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kang, E.; Root, M. J.; Brune, W. H.

    2006-12-01

    A new concept, the Potential Aerosol Mass (PAM), is being developed and tested in the laboratory with the goal of deploying instruments to measure PAM in the atmosphere. PAM can be defined as the maximum aerosol mass that precursor gases can be oxidized to form. In the PAM concept, all precursor gases are oxidized to low volatile compounds with excessive amount of oxidants in a small continuous-flow Teflon cylinder, resulting in aerosol formation. Excessive amounts of OH and O3 are produced by a UV light that shines into the Teflon chamber. For our studies, the aerosol mass is then detected with a real-time aerosol mass measurement instrument, the Rupprecht and Patashnick Tapered Element Oscillating Microbalance (TEOM) and Filter Dynamic Measurement System (FDMS). As a test of the system, SO2 was oxidized to sulfate; the measured and calculated conversion ratios of sulfate aerosol mass to SO2 mass agree to within 10%. We will discuss the results of a series of laboratory tests that have been conducted with α-pinene to determine the variables that most affect its Secondary Organic Aerosol (SOA) yield. We will also discuss the results of some atmospheric measurement tests made at a site on the Penn State University campus.

  9. Reallocation in modal aerosol models: impacts on predicting aerosol radiative effects

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Korhola, T.; Kokkola, H.; Korhonen, H.; Partanen, A.-I.; Laaksonen, A.; Lehtinen, K. E. J.; Romakkaniemi, S.

    2013-08-01

    In atmospheric modelling applications the aerosol particle size distribution is commonly represented by modal approach, in which particles in different size ranges are described with log-normal modes within predetermined size ranges. Such method includes numerical reallocation of particles from a mode to another for example during particle growth, leading to potentially artificial changes in the aerosol size distribution. In this study we analysed how this reallocation affects climatologically relevant parameters: cloud droplet number concentration, aerosol-cloud interaction coefficient and light extinction coefficient. We compared these parameters between a modal model with and without reallocation routines, and a high resolution sectional model that was considered as a reference model. We analysed the relative differences of the parameters in different experiments that were designed to cover a wide range of dynamic aerosol processes occurring in the atmosphere. According to our results, limiting the allowed size ranges of the modes and the following numerical remapping of the distribution by reallocation, leads on average to underestimation of cloud droplet number concentration (up to 100%) and overestimation of light extinction (up to 20%). The analysis of aerosol first indirect effect is more complicated as the ACI parameter can be either over- or underestimated by the reallocating model, depending on the conditions. However, for example in the case of atmospheric new particle formation events followed by rapid particle growth, the reallocation can cause around average 10% overestimation of the ACI parameter. Thus it is shown that the reallocation affects the ability of a model to estimate aerosol climate effects accurately, and this should be taken into account when using and developing aerosol models.

  10. Aerosols and water vapor dynamics over the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Farahat, Ashraf; El-Askary, Hesham; Al-Shaibani, Abdulaziz; Dogan, Umran

    2014-05-01

    The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia contains a vast desert area and the home of some of the largest deserts worldwide. This nature subjects the area to numerous dust storms. This is in addition to local emissions transported from industrial activities. The Arabian Peninsula dust storms have a major impact on air quality and affects dust cycle around the world. The nature of dust also affects air, ground traffics, and human health. Aerosols play a pivotal role in global climate change through their effects on the hydrological cycle and solar energy budget. Recently there have been some trials to study the nature of dust over the kingdom using satellite remote sensing and modeling to investigate the impact of aerosols of natural and anthropogenic origins from both local emissions and long-range transport on the air quality and atmospheric composition, yet a lot more needs to be done. In this study, data obtained from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board of Terra and Aqua satellites are used to analyze aerosols properties over the thirteen provinces of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia from April 2003 to January 2012. This analysis will help to characterize aerosol and cloud properties, and the seasonal hydrological factors to establish the relative contributions of aerosols derived from different regions to the different Saudi provinces and their impacts on local atmospheric composition and air quality. During this period, we have examined possible nature and anthropogenic/natural aerosols/dust sources. The analysis is based on important parameters including the aerosol optical depth (AOD), fine mode fraction (FMF), cloud properties including cloud top temperature (CTT), cloud top pressure (CTP) and the water vapor column. Correlation between water vapor and AOD was observed over three provinces which could be a result of pollution aerosols rather than dust and is, hence, acting as cloud condensation nuclei (CCN). Increasing anomalous aerosols pattern

  11. A Sulfate Aerosol Trigger for the Sturtian Neoproterozoic Snowball Event

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wordsworth, R. D.; Macdonald, F. A.

    2017-12-01

    Despite the dominance of the carbon cycle in determining the evolution of Earth's climate in general, certain events defy easy explanation via atmospheric CO2 changes alone. Here we discuss the particular role that transient planetary albedo changes via sulfate aerosol formation can play in major climate transitions. Specifically, we propose that SO2 outgassing associated with the eruption of the Franklin Large Igneous Province (LIP) led to the first Neoproterozoic Snowball event, the Sturtian, 716 Ma. We summarize U/Pb zircon and baddeleyite dating indicating the synchronicity of the Franklin eruptions and the onset of the Sturtian, and paleomagnetic data indicating that the Franklin erupted close to the equator. We then discuss in detail the modeling we have performed of eruption rate, the plume height achieved during basaltic fissure volcanism, the chemistry and microphysics of sulfate aerosol formation, and the dependence of aerosol longwave and shortwave radiative effects on atmospheric loading, particle size and surface albedo. We discuss the critical importance of the latitude of eruption, the tropopause height, and ocean dynamics in determining the strength and sign of aerosol radiative forcing. We finish by comparing the Franklin event with other LIP emplacement events in Earth history and make suggestions for future modeling.

  12. Global Aerosol Optical Models and Lookup Tables for the New MODIS Aerosol Retrieval over Land

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Levy, Robert C.; Remer, Loraine A.; Dubovik, Oleg

    2007-01-01

    Since 2000, MODIS has been deriving aerosol properties over land from MODIS observed spectral reflectance, by matching the observed reflectance with that simulated for selected aerosol optical models, aerosol loadings, wavelengths and geometrical conditions (that are contained in a lookup table or 'LUT'). Validation exercises have showed that MODIS tends to under-predict aerosol optical depth (tau) in cases of large tau (tau greater than 1.0), signaling errors in the assumed aerosol optical properties. Using the climatology of almucantur retrievals from the hundreds of global AERONET sunphotometer sites, we found that three spherical-derived models (describing fine-sized dominated aerosol), and one spheroid-derived model (describing coarse-sized dominated aerosol, presumably dust) generally described the range of observed global aerosol properties. The fine dominated models were separated mainly by their single scattering albedo (omega(sub 0)), ranging from non-absorbing aerosol (omega(sub 0) approx. 0.95) in developed urban/industrial regions, to neutrally absorbing aerosol (omega(sub 0) approx.90) in forest fire burning and developing industrial regions, to absorbing aerosol (omega(sub 0) approx. 0.85) in regions of savanna/grassland burning. We determined the dominant model type in each region and season, to create a 1 deg. x 1 deg. grid of assumed aerosol type. We used vector radiative transfer code to create a new LUT, simulating the four aerosol models, in four MODIS channels. Independent AERONET observations of spectral tau agree with the new models, indicating that the new models are suitable for use by the MODIS aerosol retrieval.

  13. Quantifying the radiative and microphysical impacts of fire aerosols on cloud dynamics in the tropics using temporally offset satellite observations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Tosca, M. G.; Diner, D. J.; Garay, M. J.; Kalashnikova, O.

    2013-12-01

    Anthropogenic fires in Southeast Asia and Central America emit smoke that affects cloud dynamics, meteorology, and climate. We measured the cloud response to direct and indirect forcing from biomass burning aerosols using aerosol retrievals from the Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) and non-synchronous cloud retrievals from the MODerate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) from collocated morning and afternoon overpasses. Level 2 data from thirty-one individual scenes acquired between 2006 and 2010 were used to quantify changes in cloud fraction, cloud droplet size, cloud optical depth and cloud top temperature from morning (10:30am local time) to afternoon (1:30pm local time) in the presence of varying aerosol burdens. We accounted for large-scale meteorological differences between scenes by normalizing observed changes to the mean difference per individual scene. Elevated AODs reduced cloud fraction and cloud droplet size and increased cloud optical depths in both Southeast Asia and Central America. In mostly cloudy regions, aerosols significantly reduced cloud fraction and cloud droplet sizes, but in clear skies, cloud fraction, cloud optical thickness and cloud droplet sizes increased. In clouds with vertical development, aerosols reduced cloud fraction via semi-direct effects but spurred cloud growth via indirect effects. These results imply a positive feedback loop between anthropogenic burning and cloudiness in both Central America and Southeast Asia, and are consistent with previous studies linking smoke aerosols to both cloud reduction and convective invigoration.

  14. Background aerosol over the Himalayas and Tibetan Plateau: observed characteristics of aerosol mass loading

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Liu, Bin; Cong, Zhiyuan; Wang, Yuesi; Xin, Jinyuan; Wan, Xin; Pan, Yuepeng; Liu, Zirui; Wang, Yonghong; Zhang, Guoshuai; Wang, Zhongyan; Wang, Yongjie; Kang, Shichang

    2017-01-01

    To investigate the atmospheric aerosols of the Himalayas and Tibetan Plateau (HTP), an observation network was established within the region's various ecosystems, including at the Ngari, Qomolangma (QOMS), Nam Co, and Southeastern Tibetan (SET) stations. In this paper we illustrate aerosol mass loadings by integrating in situ measurements with satellite and ground-based remote sensing datasets for the 2011-2013 period, on both local and large scales. Mass concentrations of these surface atmospheric aerosols were relatively low and varied with land cover, showing a general tendency of Ngari and QOMS (barren sites) > Nam Co (grassland site) > SET (forest site). Daily averages of online PM2.5 (particulates with aerodynamic diameters below 2.5 µm) at these sites were sequentially 18.2 ± 8.9, 14.5 ± 7.4, 11.9 ± 4.9 and 11.7 ± 4.7 µg m-3. Correspondingly, the ratios of PM2.5 to total suspended particles (TSP) were 27.4 ± 6.65, 22.3 ± 10.9, 37.3 ± 11.1 and 54.4 ± 6.72 %. Bimodal mass distributions of size-segregated particles were found at all sites, with a relatively small peak in accumulation mode and a more notable peak in coarse mode. Diurnal variations in fine-aerosol masses generally displayed a bi-peak pattern at the QOMS, Nam Co and SET stations and a single-peak pattern at the Ngari station, controlled by the effects of local geomorphology, mountain-valley breeze circulation and aerosol emissions. Dust aerosol content in PM2.1 samples gave fractions of 26 % at the Ngari station and 29 % at the QOMS station, or ˜ 2-3 times that of reported results at human-influenced sites. Furthermore, observed evidence confirmed the existence of the aerodynamic conditions necessary for the uplift of fine particles from a barren land surface. Combining surface aerosol data and atmospheric-column aerosol optical properties, the TSP mass and aerosol optical depth (AOD) of the Multi-angle Imaging Spectroradiometer (MISR) generally decreased as land cover changed from

  15. Seasonal variability of aerosol optical depth over Indian subcontinent

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Prasad, A.K.; Singh, R.P.; Singh, A.; Kafatos, M.

    2005-01-01

    Ganga basin extends 2000 km E-W and about 400 km N-S and is bounded by Himalayas in the north. This basin is unequivocally found to be affected by high aerosols optical depth (AOD) (>0.6) throughout the year. Himalayas restricts movement of aerosols toward north and as a result dynamic nature of aerosol is seen over the Ganga basin. High AOD in this region has detrimental effects on health of more than 460 million people living in this part of India besides adversely affecting clouds formation, monsoonal rainfall pattern and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI). Severe drought events (year 2002) in Ganga basin and unexpected failure of monsoon several times, occurred in different parts of Indian subcontinent. Significant rise in AOD (18.7%) over the central part of basin (Kanpur region) have been found to cause substantial decrease in NDVI (8.1%) since 2000. A negative relationship is observed between AOD and NDVI, magnitude of which differs from region to region. Efforts have been made to determine general distribution of AOD and its dominant departure in recent years spatially using Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data. The seasonal changes in aerosol optical depth over the Indo-Gangetic basin is found to very significant as a result of the increasing dust storm events in recent years. ?? 2005 IEEE.

  16. Interfacing the NRL 1-D High Vertical Resolution Aerosol Model with COAMPS

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2006-09-30

    model integrated with mesoscale meterological data to study marine boundary layer aerosol dynamics, J. Geophys. Res., in press, 2006. Hoppel, W. A...W.A. Hoppel, J.J. Shi: A one-dimensional sectional aerosol model integrated with mesoscale meterological data to study marine boundary layer aerosol

  17. Information Content of Aerosol Retrievals in the Sunglint Region

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Ottaviani, M.; Knobelspiesse, K.; Cairns, B.; Mishchenko, M.

    2013-01-01

    We exploit quantitative metrics to investigate the information content in retrievals of atmospheric aerosol parameters (with a focus on single-scattering albedo), contained in multi-angle and multi-spectral measurements with sufficient dynamical range in the sunglint region. The simulations are performed for two classes of maritime aerosols with optical and microphysical properties compiled from measurements of the Aerosol Robotic Network. The information content is assessed using the inverse formalism and is compared to that deriving from observations not affected by sunglint. We find that there indeed is additional information in measurements containing sunglint, not just for single-scattering albedo, but also for aerosol optical thickness and the complex refractive index of the fine aerosol size mode, although the amount of additional information varies with aerosol type.

  18. In Situ Measurement of Aerosol Extinction

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Strawa, Anthony W.; Castaneda, R.; Owano, T. G.; Bear, D.; Gore, Warren J. (Technical Monitor)

    2001-01-01

    Aerosols are important contributors to the radiative forcing in the atmosphere. Much of the uncertainty in our knowledge of climate forcing is due to uncertainties in the radiative forcing due to aerosols as illustrated in the IPCC reports of the last ten years. Improved measurement of aerosol optical properties, therefore, is critical to an improved understanding of atmospheric radiative forcing. Additionally, attempts to reconcile in situ and remote measurements of aerosol radiative properties have generally not been successful. This is due in part to the fact that it has been impossible to measure aerosol extinction in situ in the past. In this presentation we introduce a new instrument that employs the techniques used in cavity ringdown spectroscopy to measure the aerosol extinction and scattering coefficients in situ. A prototype instrument has been designed and tested in the lab and the field. It is capable of measuring aerosol extinction coefficient to 2x10(exp -6) per meter. This prototype instrument is described and results are presented.

  19. The effect of aerosols on northern hemisphere wintertime stationary waves

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lewinschal, Anna; Ekman, Annica M. L.

    2010-05-01

    Aerosol particles have a considerable impact on the energy budget of the atmosphere because of their ability to scatter and absorb incoming solar radiation. Since the beginning of the industrialisation a large increase has been seen mainly in the concentrations of sulphate and black carbon as a result of combustion of fossil fuel and biomass burning. Aerosol particles have a relatively short residence time in the atmosphere why the aerosol concentration shows a large variation spatially as well as in time where high concentrations are found close to emission sources. This leads to a highly varying radiative forcing pattern which modifies temperature gradients which in turn can alter the pressure distribution and lead to changes in the circulation in the atmosphere. In this study, the effect on the wintertime planetary scale waves on the northern hemisphere is specifically considered together with the regional climate impact due to changes in the stationary waves. To investigate the effect of aerosols on the circulation a global general circulation model based on the ECMWF operational forecast model is used (EC-Earth). The aerosol description in EC-Earth consists of prescribed monthly mean mass concentration fields of five different types of aerosols: sulphate, black carbon, organic carbon, dust and sea salt. Only the direct radiative effect is considered and the different aerosol types are treated as external mixtures. Changes in the stationary wave pattern are determined by comparing model simulations using present-day and pre-industrial concentrations of aerosol particles. Since the planetary scale waves largely influence the storm tracks and are an important part of the meridional heat transport, changes in the wave pattern may have substantial impact on the climate globally and locally. By looking at changes in the model simulations globally it can be found that the aerosol radiative forcing has the potential to change the stationary wave pattern. Furthermore

  20. Studying Diurnal Variations of Aerosols with NASA MERRA-2 Reanalysis Data

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Shen, Suhung; Ostrenga, Dana M.; Zeng, Jian; Vollmer, Bruce E.

    2018-01-01

    Aerosols play an important role in atmospheric dynamics, climate variations, and Earth's energy cycle by altering the radiation balance in the atmosphere through interaction with clouds, providing fertilizer for forests and canopy, and as a supply of iron to the ocean over long time periods. Studies suggest that much of the feedback between dust aerosols and dynamics is associated with diurnal and synoptic scale variability. However, the lack of sub-daily resolution of aerosols from satellite observations makes it difficult to study the diurnal characteristics, especially over tropical and subtropical regions. Investigation of this topic utilizes over 37 years of simulated global aerosol products from NASA atmospheric reanalysis, in the second Modern-Era Retrospective analysis for Research and Applications (MERRA-2) data set, available from NASA Goddard Earth Science Data and Information Services Center (GES DISC). MERRA-2 covers the period 1980-present, and is continuing as an ongoing climate analysis. Aerosol assimilation is included throughout the period, using data from MODIS, MISR, AERONET, and AVHRR (in the pre-EOS period). The aerosols are assimilated using the MERRA-2 aerosol model, which interacts directly with radiation parameterization, and is radiatively coupled with atmospheric model dynamics in the Goddard Earth Observing System Model, Version 5 (GEOS-5). Hourly, monthly, and monthly diurnal data are available at spatial resolution of 0.5o x 0.625o (latitude x longitude). By using MERRA-2 hourly and monthly diurnal products, different aerosol diurnal variabilities are observed over North America, Africa, Asia, and Australia, that may be due to different meteorological conditions and aerosol sources. The presentation will also provide an overview of MERRA-2 data services at GES DISC, such as how to find and download data, and how to quickly visualize and analyze data online with Giovanni.

  1. A review of our understanding of the aerosol-cloud interaction from the perspective of a bin resolved cloud scale modelling

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Flossmann, Andrea I.; Wobrock, Wolfram

    2010-09-01

    This review compiles the main results obtained using a mesoscale cloud model with bin resolved cloud micophysics and aerosol particle scavenging, as developed by our group over the years and applied to the simulation of shallow and deep convective clouds. The main features of the model are reviewed in different dynamical frameworks covering parcel model dynamics, as well as 1.5D, 2D and 3D dynamics. The main findings are summarized to yield a digested presentation which completes the general understanding of cloud-aerosol interaction, as currently available from textbook knowledge. Furthermore, it should provide support for general cloud model development, as it will suggest potentially minor processes that might be neglected with respect to more important ones and can support development of parameterizations for air quality, chemical transport and climate models. Our work has shown that in order to analyse dedicated campaign results, the supersaturation field and the complex dynamics of the specific clouds needs to be reproduced. Only 3D dynamics represents the variation of the supersaturation over the entire cloud, the continuous nucleation and deactivation of hydrometeors, and the dependence upon initial particle size distribution and solubility. However, general statements on certain processes can be obtained also by simpler dynamics. In particular, we found: Nucleation incorporates about 90% of the initial aerosol particle mass inside the cloud drops. Collision and coalescence redistributes the scavenged aerosol particle mass in such a way that the particle mass follows the main water mass. Small drops are more polluted than larger ones, as pollutant mass mixing ratio decreases with drops size. Collision and coalescence mixes the chemical composition of the generated drops. Their complete evaporation will release processed particles that are mostly larger and more hygroscopic than the initial particles. An interstitial aerosol is left unactivated between the

  2. A New Paradigm for Diagnosing Contributions to Model Aerosol Forcing Error: Diagnosing Model Aerosol Forcing Error

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Jones, A. L.; Feldman, D. R.; Freidenreich, S.

    A new paradigm in benchmark absorption-scattering radiative transfer is presented that enables both the globally averaged and spatially resolved testing of climate model radiation parameterizations in order to uncover persistent sources of biases in the aerosol instantaneous radiative effect (IRE). A proof of concept is demonstrated with the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory AM4 and Community Earth System Model 1.2.2 climate models. Instead of prescribing atmospheric conditions and aerosols, as in prior intercomparisons, native snapshots of the atmospheric state and aerosol optical properties from the participating models are used as inputs to an accurate radiation solver to uncover model-relevant biases. Thesemore » diagnostic results show that the models' aerosol IRE bias is of the same magnitude as the persistent range cited (~1 W/m 2) and also varies spatially and with intrinsic aerosol optical properties. The findings presented here underscore the significance of native model error analysis and its dispositive ability to diagnose global biases, confirming its fundamental value for the Radiative Forcing Model Intercomparison Project.« less

  3. A New Paradigm for Diagnosing Contributions to Model Aerosol Forcing Error: Diagnosing Model Aerosol Forcing Error

    DOE PAGES

    Jones, A. L.; Feldman, D. R.; Freidenreich, S.; ...

    2017-12-07

    A new paradigm in benchmark absorption-scattering radiative transfer is presented that enables both the globally averaged and spatially resolved testing of climate model radiation parameterizations in order to uncover persistent sources of biases in the aerosol instantaneous radiative effect (IRE). A proof of concept is demonstrated with the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory AM4 and Community Earth System Model 1.2.2 climate models. Instead of prescribing atmospheric conditions and aerosols, as in prior intercomparisons, native snapshots of the atmospheric state and aerosol optical properties from the participating models are used as inputs to an accurate radiation solver to uncover model-relevant biases. Thesemore » diagnostic results show that the models' aerosol IRE bias is of the same magnitude as the persistent range cited (~1 W/m 2) and also varies spatially and with intrinsic aerosol optical properties. The findings presented here underscore the significance of native model error analysis and its dispositive ability to diagnose global biases, confirming its fundamental value for the Radiative Forcing Model Intercomparison Project.« less

  4. What Aerosol Water do Organic Compounds See?

    EPA Science Inventory

    Large amounts of aerosol water are associated with inorganic salts such as ammonium sulfate with generally smaller but important contributions from hydrophilic organics. Ambient aerosols can be externally or internally mixed in addition to containing one or multiple phases. The d...

  5. Aircraft-based investigation of Dynamics-Aerosol-Chemistry-Cloud Interactions in Southern West Africa

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Flamant, Cyrille

    2017-04-01

    The EU-funded project DACCIWA (Dynamics-Aerosol-Chemistry-Cloud Interactions in West Africa, http://www.dacciwa.eu) is investigating the relationship between weather, climate and air pollution in southern West Africa. The air over the coastal region of West Africa is a unique mixture of natural and anthropogenic gases, liquids and particles, emitted in an environment, in which multi-layer cloud decks frequently form. These exert a large influence on the local weather and climate, mainly due to their impact on radiation, the surface energy balance and thus the diurnal cycle of the atmospheric boundary layer. The main objective for the aircraft detachment was to build robust statistics of cloud properties in southern West Africa in different chemical landscapes to investigate the physical processes involved in their life cycle in such a complex chemical environment. As part of the DACCIWA field campaigns, three European aircraft (the German DLR Falcon 20, the French SAFIRE ATR 42 and the British BAS Twin Otter) conducted a total of 50 research flights across Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, and Benin from 27 June to 16 July 2016 for a total of 155 flight hours, including hours sponsored through 3 EUFAR projects. The aircraft were used in different ways based on their strengths, but all three had comparable instrumentation with the the capability to do gas-phase chemistry, aerosol and clouds, thereby generating a rich dataset of atmospheric conditions across the region. Eight types of flight objectives were conducted to achieve the goals of the DACCIWA: (i) Stratus clouds, (ii) Land-sea breeze clouds, (iii) Mid-level clouds, (iv) Biogenic emission, (v) City emissions, (vi) Flaring and ship emissions, (vii) Dust and biomass burning aerosols, and (viii) air-sea interactions. An overview of the DACCIWA aircraft campaign as well as first highlights from the airborne observations will be presented.

  6. In Silico Models of Aerosol Delivery to the Respiratory Tract – Development and Applications

    PubMed Central

    Longest, P. Worth; Holbrook, Landon T.

    2011-01-01

    This review discusses the application of computational models to simulate the transport and deposition of inhaled pharmaceutical aerosols from the site of particle or droplet formation to deposition within the respiratory tract. Traditional one-dimensional (1-D) whole-lung models are discussed briefly followed by a more in-depth review of three-dimensional (3-D) computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations. The review of CFD models is organized into sections covering transport and deposition within the inhaler device, the extrathoracic (oral and nasal) region, conducting airways, and alveolar space. For each section, a general review of significant contributions and advancements in the area of simulating pharmaceutical aerosols is provided followed by a more in-depth application or case study that highlights the challenges, utility, and benefits of in silico models. Specific applications presented include the optimization of an existing spray inhaler, development of charge-targeted delivery, specification of conditions for optimal nasal delivery, analysis of a new condensational delivery approach, and an evaluation of targeted delivery using magnetic aerosols. The review concludes with recommendations on the need for more refined model validations, use of a concurrent experimental and CFD approach for developing aerosol delivery systems, and development of a stochastic individual path (SIP) model of aerosol transport and deposition throughout the respiratory tract. PMID:21640772

  7. Probing aerosol indirect effect on deep convection using idealized cloud-resolving simulations with parameterized large-scale dynamics.

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Anber, U.; Wang, S.; Gentine, P.; Jensen, M. P.

    2017-12-01

    A framework is introduced to investigate the indirect impact of aerosol loading on tropical deep convection using 3-dimentional idealized cloud-system resolving simulations with coupled large-scale circulation. The large scale dynamics is parameterized using a spectral weak temperature gradient approximation that utilizes the dominant balance in the tropics between adiabatic cooling and diabatic heating. Aerosol loading effect is examined by varying the number concentration of nuclei (CCN) to form cloud droplets in the bulk microphysics scheme over a wide range from 30 to 5000 without including any radiative effect as the radiative cooling is prescribed at a constant rate, to isolate the microphysical effect. Increasing aerosol number concentration causes mean precipitation to decrease monotonically, despite the increase in cloud condensates. Such reduction in precipitation efficiency is attributed to reduction in the surface enthalpy fluxes, and not to the divergent circulation, as the gross moist stability remains unchanged. We drive a simple scaling argument based on the moist static energy budget, that enables a direct estimation of changes in precipitation given known changes in surfaces enthalpy fluxes and the constant gross moist stability. The impact on cloud hydrometers and microphysical properties is also examined and is consistent with the macro-physical picture.

  8. Importance of Anthropogenic Aerosols for Climate Prediction: a Study on East Asian Sulfate Aerosols

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bartlett, R. E.; Bollasina, M. A.

    2017-12-01

    Climate prediction is vital to ensure that we are able to adapt to our changing climate. Understandably, the main focus for such prediction is greenhouse gas forcing, as this will be the main anthropogenic driver of long-term global climate change; however, other forcings could still be important. Atmospheric aerosols represent one such forcing, especially in regions with high present-day aerosol loading such as Asia; yet, uncertainty in their future emissions are under-sampled by commonly used climate forcing projections, such as the Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs). Globally, anthropogenic aerosols exert a net cooling, but their effects show large variation at regional scales. Studies have shown that aerosols impact locally upon temperature, precipitation and hydroclimate, and also upon larger scale atmospheric circulation (for example, the Asian monsoon) with implications for climate remote from aerosol sources. We investigate how future climate could evolve differently given the same greenhouse gas forcing pathway but differing aerosol emissions. Specifically, we use climate modelling experiments (using HadGEM2-ES) of two scenarios based upon RCP2.6 greenhouse gas forcing but with large differences in sulfur dioxide emissions over East Asia. Results show that increased sulfate aerosols (associated with increased sulfur dioxide) lead to large regional cooling through aerosol-radiation and aerosol-cloud interactions. Focussing on dynamical mechanisms, we explore the consequences of this cooling for the Asian summer and winter monsoons. In addition to local temperature and precipitation changes, we find significant changes to large scale atmospheric circulation. Wave-like responses to upper-level atmospheric changes propagate across the northern hemisphere with far-reaching effects on surface climate, for example, cooling over Europe. Within the tropics, we find alterations to zonal circulation (notably, shifts in the Pacific Walker cell) and monsoon

  9. GCM Simulations of the Aerosol Indirect Effect: Sensitivity to Cloud Parameterization and Aerosol Burden

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Menon, Surabi; DelGenio, Anthony D.; Koch, Dorothy; Tselioudis, George; Hansen, James E. (Technical Monitor)

    2001-01-01

    We describe the coupling of the Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) general circulation model (GCM) to an online sulfur chemistry model and source models for organic matter and sea-salt that is used to estimate the aerosol indirect effect. The cloud droplet number concentration is diagnosed empirically from field experiment datasets over land and ocean that observe droplet number and all three aerosol types simultaneously; corrections are made for implied variations in cloud turbulence levels. The resulting cloud droplet number is used to calculate variations in droplet effective radius, which in turn allows us to predict aerosol effects on cloud optical thickness and microphysical process rates. We calculate the aerosol indirect effect by differencing the top-of-the-atmosphere net cloud radiative forcing for simulations with present-day vs. pre-industrial emissions. Both the first (radiative) and second (microphysical) indirect effects are explored. We test the sensitivity of our results to cloud parameterization assumptions that control the vertical distribution of cloud occurrence, the autoconversion rate, and the aerosol scavenging rate, each of which feeds back significantly on the model aerosol burden. The global mean aerosol indirect effect for all three aerosol types ranges from -1.55 to -4.36 W m(exp -2) in our simulations. The results are quite sensitive to the pre-industrial background aerosol burden, with low pre-industrial burdens giving strong indirect effects, and to a lesser extent to the anthropogenic aerosol burden, with large burdens giving somewhat larger indirect effects. Because of this dependence on the background aerosol, model diagnostics such as albedo-particle size correlations and column cloud susceptibility, for which satellite validation products are available, are not good predictors of the resulting indirect effect.

  10. GCM Simulations of the Aerosol Indirect Effect: Sensitivity to Cloud Parameterization and Aerosol Burden

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Menon, Surabi; DelGenio, Anthony D.; Koch, Dorothy; Tselioudis, George; Hansen, James E. (Technical Monitor)

    2001-01-01

    We describe the coupling of the Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) general circulation model (GCM) to an online sulfur chemistry model and source models for organic matter and sea-salt that is used to estimate the aerosol indirect effect. The cloud droplet number concentration is diagnosed empirically from field experiment datasets over land and ocean that observe droplet number and all three aerosol types simultaneously; corrections are made for implied variations in cloud turbulence levels. The resulting cloud droplet number is used to calculate variations in droplet effective radius, which in turn allows us to predict aerosol effects on cloud optical thickness and microphysical process rates. We calculate the aerosol indirect effect by differencing the top-of-the-atmosphere net cloud radiative forcing for simulations with present-day vs. pre-industrial emissions. Both the first (radiative) and second (microphysical) indirect effects are explored. We test the sensitivity of our results to cloud parameterization assumptions that control the vertical distribution of cloud occurrence, the autoconversion rate, and the aerosol scavenging rate, each of which feeds back significantly on the model aerosol burden. The global mean aerosol indirect effect for all three aerosol types ranges from -1.55 to -4.36 W/sq m in our simulations. The results are quite sensitive to the pre-industrial background aerosol burden, with low pre-industrial burdens giving strong indirect effects, and to a lesser extent to the anthropogenic aerosol burden, with large burdens giving somewhat larger indirect effects. Because of this dependence on the background aerosol, model diagnostics such as albedo-particle size correlations and column cloud susceptibility, for which satellite validation products are available, are not good predictors of the resulting indirect effect.

  11. To Which Extent can Aerosols Affect Alpine Mixed-Phase Clouds?

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Henneberg, O.; Lohmann, U.

    2017-12-01

    Aerosol-cloud interactions constitute a high uncertainty in regional climate and changing weather patterns. Such uncertainties are due to the multiple processes that can be triggered by aerosol especially in mixed-phase clouds. Mixed-phase clouds most likely result in precipitation due to the formation of ice crystals, which can grow to precipitation size. Ice nucleating particles (INPs) determine how fast these clouds glaciate and form precipitation. The potential for INP to transfer supercooled liquid clouds to precipitating clouds depends on the available humidity and supercooled liquid. Those conditions are determined by dynamics. Moderately high updraft velocities result in persistent mixed-phase clouds in the Swiss Alps [1], which provide an ideal testbed to investigate the effect of aerosol on precipitation in mixed-phase clouds. To address the effect of aerosols in orographic winter clouds under different dynamic conditions, we run a number of real case ensembles with the regional climate model COSMO on a horizontal resolution of 1.1 km. Simulations with different INP concentrations within the range observed at the GAW research station Jungfraujoch in the Swiss Alps are conducted and repeated within the ensemble. Microphysical processes are described with a two-moment scheme. Enhanced INP concentrations enhance the precipitation rate of a single precipitation event up to 20%. Other precipitation events of similar strength are less affected by the INP concentration. The effect of CCNs is negligible for precipitation from orographic winter clouds in our case study. There is evidence for INP to change precipitation rate and location more effectively in stronger dynamic regimes due to the enhanced potential to transfer supercooled liquid to ice. The classification of the ensemble members according to their dynamics will quantify the interaction of aerosol effects and dynamics. Reference [1] Lohmann et al, 2016: Persistence of orographic mixed-phase clouds, GRL

  12. Observational evidence for the aerosol impact on ice cloud properties regulated by cloud/aerosol types

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zhao, B.; Gu, Y.; Liou, K. N.; Jiang, J. H.; Li, Q.; Liu, X.; Huang, L.; Wang, Y.; Su, H.

    2016-12-01

    The interactions between aerosols and ice clouds (consisting only of ice) represent one of the largest uncertainties in global radiative forcing from pre-industrial time to the present. The observational evidence for the aerosol impact on ice cloud properties has been quite limited and showed conflicting results, partly because previous observational studies did not consider the distinct features of different ice cloud and aerosol types. Using 9-year satellite observations, we find that, for ice clouds generated from deep convection, cloud thickness, cloud optical thickness (COT), and ice cloud fraction increase and decrease with small-to-moderate and high aerosol loadings, respectively. For in-situ formed ice clouds, however, the preceding cloud properties increase monotonically and more sharply with aerosol loadings. The case is more complicated for ice crystal effective radius (Rei). For both convection-generated and in-situ ice clouds, the responses of Rei to aerosol loadings are modulated by water vapor amount in conjunction with several other meteorological parameters, but the sensitivities of Rei to aerosols under the same water vapor amount differ remarkably between the two ice cloud types. As a result, overall Rei slightly increases with aerosol loading for convection-generated ice clouds, but decreases for in-situ ice clouds. When aerosols are decomposed into different types, an increase in the loading of smoke aerosols generally leads to a decrease in COT of convection-generated ice clouds, while the reverse is true for dust and anthropogenic pollution. In contrast, an increase in the loading of any aerosol type can significantly enhance COT of in-situ ice clouds. The modulation of the aerosol impacts by cloud/aerosol types is demonstrated and reproduced by simulations using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model. Adequate and accurate representations of the impact of different cloud/aerosol types in climate models are crucial for reducing the

  13. Observational evidence for the aerosol impact on ice cloud properties regulated by cloud/aerosol types

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zhao, B.; Gu, Y.; Liou, K. N.; Jiang, J. H.; Li, Q.; Liu, X.; Huang, L.; Wang, Y.; Su, H.

    2017-12-01

    The interactions between aerosols and ice clouds (consisting only of ice) represent one of the largest uncertainties in global radiative forcing from pre-industrial time to the present. The observational evidence for the aerosol impact on ice cloud properties has been quite limited and showed conflicting results, partly because previous observational studies did not consider the distinct features of different ice cloud and aerosol types. Using 9-year satellite observations, we find that, for ice clouds generated from deep convection, cloud thickness, cloud optical thickness (COT), and ice cloud fraction increase and decrease with small-to-moderate and high aerosol loadings, respectively. For in-situ formed ice clouds, however, the preceding cloud properties increase monotonically and more sharply with aerosol loadings. The case is more complicated for ice crystal effective radius (Rei). For both convection-generated and in-situ ice clouds, the responses of Rei to aerosol loadings are modulated by water vapor amount in conjunction with several other meteorological parameters, but the sensitivities of Rei to aerosols under the same water vapor amount differ remarkably between the two ice cloud types. As a result, overall Rei slightly increases with aerosol loading for convection-generated ice clouds, but decreases for in-situ ice clouds. When aerosols are decomposed into different types, an increase in the loading of smoke aerosols generally leads to a decrease in COT of convection-generated ice clouds, while the reverse is true for dust and anthropogenic pollution. In contrast, an increase in the loading of any aerosol type can significantly enhance COT of in-situ ice clouds. The modulation of the aerosol impacts by cloud/aerosol types is demonstrated and reproduced by simulations using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model. Adequate and accurate representations of the impact of different cloud/aerosol types in climate models are crucial for reducing the

  14. Development of an Operational Multi-sensor and Multi-channel Aerosol Assimilation Package Using NAAPS and NAVDAS

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2010-09-30

    5593-1, 2010, EGU General Assembly 2010. Shi, Y., J. Zhang, J. S. Reid, E. Hyer, Evaluation of MISR Aerosol Optical Depth Product for Aerosol Data...a surrogate for aerosol type, as large η values are generally related to fine mode aerosols, such as sulfate and smoke aerosols, and small η values

  15. Global Aerosol Radiative Forcing Derived from Sea WiFS-Inferred Aerosol Optical Properties

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Chou, Ming-Dah; Chan, Pui-King; Wang, Menghua

    1999-01-01

    Aerosol optical properties inferred from the Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor (SeaWiFS) radiance measurements are used to compute the aerosol shortwave radiative forcing using a radiative transfer model. The aerosol optical thickness at the wavelength of 865-nm is taken from the SeaWIFS archive. It is found that the nominal optical thickness over oceans ranges from 0.1 to 0.2. Using a maritime aerosol model and the radiances measured at the various SeaWiFS channels, the Angstrom exponent is determined to be 0.2174, the single-scattering albedo to be 0.995, and the asymmetry factor to be 0.786. The radiative transfer model has eight bands in the visible and ultraviolet spectral regions and three bands in the near infrared. It includes the absorption due to aerosols, water vapor, carbon dioxide, and oxygen, and the scattering due to aerosols and gases (Rayleigh scattering). The radiative forcing is computed over global oceans for four months (January, April, July, and October, 1998) to represent four seasons. It is found that the aerosol radiative forcing is large and changes significantly with seasons near the continents with large-scale forest fires and desert dust. Averaged over oceans and the four months, the aerosol radiative forcing is approximately 7 W/sq m at the top of the atmosphere. This large radiative forcing is expected to have a significant cooling effect on the Earth's climate as implied from simulations of a number of general circulation models.

  16. Landscape fires dominate terrestrial natural aerosol - climate feedbacks

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Scott, C.; Arnold, S.; Monks, S. A.; Asmi, A.; Paasonen, P.; Spracklen, D. V.

    2017-12-01

    The terrestrial biosphere is an important source of natural aerosol including landscape fire emissions and secondary organic aerosol (SOA) formed from biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOCs). Atmospheric aerosol alters the Earth's climate by absorbing and scattering radiation (direct radiative effect; DRE) and by perturbing the properties of clouds (aerosol indirect effect; AIE). Natural aerosol sources are strongly controlled by, and can influence, climate; giving rise to potential natural aerosol-climate feedbacks. Earth System Models (ESMs) include a description of some of these natural aerosol-climate feedbacks, predicting substantial changes in natural aerosol over the coming century with associated radiative perturbations. Despite this, the sensitivity of natural aerosols simulated by ESMs to changes in climate or emissions has not been robustly tested against observations. Here we combine long-term observations of aerosol number and a global aerosol microphysics model to assess terrestrial natural aerosol-climate feedbacks. We find a strong positive relationship between the summertime anomaly in observed concentration of particles greater than 100 nm diameter and the anomaly in local air temperature. This relationship is reproduced by the model and driven by variability in dynamics and meteorology, as well as natural sources of aerosol. We use an offline radiative transfer model to determine radiative effects due to changes in two natural aerosol sources: landscape fire and biogenic SOA. We find that interannual variability in the simulated global natural aerosol radiative effect (RE) is negatively related to the global temperature anomaly. The magnitude of global aerosol-climate feedback (sum of DRE and AIE) is estimated to be -0.15 Wm-2 K-1 for landscape fire aerosol and -0.06 Wm-2 K-1 for biogenic SOA. These feedbacks are comparable in magnitude, but opposite in sign to the snow albedo feedback, highlighting the need for natural aerosol feedbacks to

  17. Validation of TOMS Aerosol Products using AERONET Observations

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Bhartia, P. K.; Torres, O.; Sinyuk, A.; Holben, B.

    2002-01-01

    The Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) aerosol algorithm uses measurements of radiances at two near UV channels in the range 331-380 nm to derive aerosol optical depth and single scattering albedo. Because of the low near UV surface albedo of all terrestrial surfaces (between 0.02 and 0.08), the TOMS algorithm has the capability of retrieving aerosol properties over the oceans and the continents. The Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) routinely derives spectral aerosol optical depth and single scattering albedo at a large number of sites around the globe. We have performed comparisons of both aerosol optical depth and single scattering albedo derived from TOMS and AERONET. In general, the TOMS aerosol products agree well with the ground-based observations, Results of this validation will be discussed.

  18. Cloud-Resolving Model Simulations of Aerosol-Cloud Interactions Triggered by Strong Aerosol Emissions in the Arctic

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wang, H.; Kravitz, B.; Rasch, P. J.; Morrison, H.; Solomon, A.

    2014-12-01

    Previous process-oriented modeling studies have highlighted the dependence of effectiveness of cloud brightening by aerosols on cloud regimes in warm marine boundary layer. Cloud microphysical processes in clouds that contain ice, and hence the mechanisms that drive aerosol-cloud interactions, are more complicated than in warm clouds. Interactions between ice particles and liquid drops add additional levels of complexity to aerosol effects. A cloud-resolving model is used to study aerosol-cloud interactions in the Arctic triggered by strong aerosol emissions, through either geoengineering injection or concentrated sources such as shipping and fires. An updated cloud microphysical scheme with prognostic aerosol and cloud particle numbers is employed. Model simulations are performed in pure super-cooled liquid and mixed-phase clouds, separately, with or without an injection of aerosols into either a clean or a more polluted Arctic boundary layer. Vertical mixing and cloud scavenging of particles injected from the surface is still quite efficient in the less turbulent cold environment. Overall, the injection of aerosols into the Arctic boundary layer can delay the collapse of the boundary layer and increase low-cloud albedo. The pure liquid clouds are more susceptible to the increase in aerosol number concentration than the mixed-phase clouds. Rain production processes are more effectively suppressed by aerosol injection, whereas ice precipitation (snow) is affected less; thus the effectiveness of brightening mixed-phase clouds is lower than for liquid-only clouds. Aerosol injection into a clean boundary layer results in a greater cloud albedo increase than injection into a polluted one, consistent with current knowledge about aerosol-cloud interactions. Unlike previous studies investigating warm clouds, the impact of dynamical feedback due to precipitation changes is small. According to these results, which are dependent upon the representation of ice nucleation

  19. Characterize Aerosols from MODIS/MISR/OMI/MERRA-2: Dynamic Image Browse Perspective

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wei, J. C.; Yang, W.; Shen, S.; Zhao, P.; Albayrak, A.; Johnson, J. E.; Kempler, S. J.; Pham, L.

    2016-12-01

    Among the known atmospheric constituents, aerosols still represent the greatest uncertainty in climate research. To understand the uncertainty is to bring altogether of observational (in-situ and remote sensing) and modeling datasets and inter-compare them synergistically for a wide variety of applications that can bring far-reaching benefits to the science community and the broader society. These benefits can best be achieved if these earth science data (satellite and modeling) are well utilized and interpreted. Unfortunately, this is not always the case, despite the abundance and relative maturity of numerous satellite-borne sensors routinely measure aerosols. There is often disagreement between similar aerosol parameters retrieved from different sensors, leaving users confused as to which sensors to trust for answering important science questions about the distribution, properties, and impacts of aerosols. NASA Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center (GES DISC) have developed multiple MAPSS (Multi-sensor Aerosol Products Sampling System) applications as a part of Giovanni (Geospatial Interactive Online Visualization and Analysis Interface) data visualization and analysis tool since 2007. The MAPSS database provides spatio-temporal statistics for multiple spatial spaceborne Level 2 aerosol products (MODIS Terra, MODIS Aqua, MISR, POLDER, OMI, CALIOP, SeaWiFS Deep Blue, and VIIRS) sampled over AERONET ground stations. In this presentation, I will demonstrate a new visualization service (NASA Level 2 Data Quality Visualization, DQViz) supporting various visualization and data accessing capabilities from satellite Level 2 (MODIS/MISR/OMI) and long term assimilated aerosols from NASA Modern-Era Retrospective analysis for Research and Applications, Version 2 (MERRA-2 displaying at their own native physical-retrieved spatial resolution. Functionality will include selecting data sources (e.g., multiple parameters under the same measurement), defining

  20. Regional Exploratory Analysis Between Atomospheric Aerosols and Precipitable Water in the Lower Troposhere via Inferential Statistics

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Martinez, B. S.; Ye, H.; Levy, R. C.; Fetzer, E. J.; Remer, L.

    2017-12-01

    Atmospheric aerosols expose high levels of uncertainty in regard to Earth's changing atmospheric energy budget. Continued exploration and analysis is necessary to obtain more complete understanding in which, and to what degree, aerosols contribute within climate feedbacks and global climate change. With the advent of global satellite retrievals, along with specific aerosol optical depth (AOD) Dark Target and Deep Blue algorithms, aerosols can now be better measured and analyzed. Aerosol effect on climate depends primarily on altitude, the reflectance albedo of the underlying surface, along with the presence of clouds and the dynamics thereof. As currently known, the majority of aerosol distribution and mixing occur in the lower troposphere from the surface upwards to around 2km. Additionally, being a primary greenhouse gas contributor, water vapor is significant to climate feedbacks and Earth's radiation budget. Feedbacks are generally reported from the top of atmosphere (TOA). Therefore, little is known of the relationship between water vapor and aerosols; specifically, in regional areas of the globe known for aerosol loading such as anthropogenic biomass burning in South America and naturally occurring dust blowing off the deserts in the African and Arabian peninsulas. Statistical regression and timeseries analysis are used in determining significant probabilities suggesting trends of both regional precipitable water (PW) and AOD increase and decrease over a 13-year time period from 2003-2015. Regions with statistically significant positive or negative trends of AOD and PW are analyzed in determining correlations, or lack thereof. This initial examination helps to deduce and better understand how aerosols contribute to the radiation budget and assessing climate change.

  1. Infection of phytoplankton by aerosolized marine viruses

    PubMed Central

    Sharoni, Shlomit; Trainic, Miri; Schatz, Daniella; Lehahn, Yoav; Flores, Michel J.; Bidle, Kay D.; Ben-Dor, Shifra; Rudich, Yinon; Vardi, Assaf

    2015-01-01

    Marine viruses constitute a major ecological and evolutionary driving force in the marine ecosystems. However, their dispersal mechanisms remain underexplored. Here we follow the dynamics of Emiliania huxleyi viruses (EhV) that infect the ubiquitous, bloom-forming phytoplankton E. huxleyi and show that EhV are emitted to the atmosphere as primary marine aerosols. Using a laboratory-based setup, we showed that the dynamic of EhV aerial emission is strongly coupled to the host–virus dynamic in the culture media. In addition, we recovered EhV DNA from atmospheric samples collected over an E. huxleyi bloom in the North Atlantic, providing evidence for aerosolization of marine viruses in their natural environment. Decay rate analysis in the laboratory revealed that aerosolized viruses can remain infective under meteorological conditions prevailing during E. huxleyi blooms in the ocean, allowing potential dispersal and infectivity over hundreds of kilometers. Based on the combined laboratory and in situ findings, we propose that atmospheric transport of EhV is an effective transmission mechanism for spreading viral infection over large areas in the ocean. This transmission mechanism may also have an important ecological impact on the large-scale host–virus “arms race” during bloom succession and consequently the turnover of carbon in the ocean. PMID:25964340

  2. Radiative and Chemical Response to Interactive Stratospheric Sulfate Aerosols in Fully Coupled CESM1(WACCM): Stratospheric Aerosols in CESM1(WACCM)

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Mills, Michael J.; Richter, Jadwiga H.; Tilmes, Simone

    We present a new version of the Community Earth System Model, version 1 (CESM1) with the Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model (WACCM) featuring numerous improvements that are unique among earth system models. Improved horizontal resolution, dynamics, and chemistry now provide the development of an internally generated quasi-biennial oscillation, and significant improvements to temperatures and ozone throughout the stratosphere. The prognostic treatment of stratospheric sulfate aerosols is shown to represent well the evolution of stratospheric aerosol optical depth and perturbations to solar and longwave radiation following volcanic eruptions. We identify the inclusion of interactive OH chemistry as crucial to the studymore » of aerosol formation following large inputs of SO2 to the stratosphere. We show that depletion of OH levels within the dense SO2 cloud in the first weeks following the June 1991 eruption of Mt. Pinatubo significantly prolonged the e-folding decay time for SO2 oxidation to 47 days. Previous observational and model studies showing a 30-day decay time have not accounted for the large initial losses of SO2 on ash and ice in the first 7-9 days following the eruption, and have not correctly accounted for OH depletion. The completeness of the chemistry, dynamics, and aerosol microphysics in WACCM uniquely qualify it for studies of stratospheric sulfate aerosol geoengineering.« less

  3. Estimated SAGE II ozone mixing ratios in early 1993 and comparisons with Stratospheric Photochemistry, Aerosols and Dynamic Expedition measurements

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Yue, G. K.; Veiga, R. E.; Poole, L. R.; Zawodny, J. M.; Proffitt, M. H.

    1994-01-01

    An empirical time-series model for estimating ozone mixing ratios based on Stratospheric Aerosols and Gas Experiment II (SAGE II) monthly mean ozone data for the period October 1984 through June 1991 has been developed. The modeling results for ozone mixing ratios in the 10- to 30- km region in early months of 1993 are presented. In situ ozone profiles obtained by a dual-beam UV-absorption ozone photometer during the Stratospheric Photochemistry, Aerosols and Dynamics Expedition (SPADE) campaign, May 1-14, 1993, are compared with the model results. With the exception of two profiles at altitudes below 16 km, ozone mixing ratios derived by the model and measured by the ozone photometer are in relatively good agreement within their individual uncertainties. The identified discrepancies in the two profiles are discussed.

  4. Gravitational Agglomeration of Post-HCDA LMFBR Nonspherical Aerosols.

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1980-12-01

    equations for two particle motions are developed . A computer program NGCEFF is constructed., the Navier-Stokes equation is solved by the finite difference...dynamic equations for two particle motions are developed . A computer program NGCEFF I is constructed, the Navier-Stokes equation is solved by the...spatial inhomogeneities for the aerosol. Thus, following an HCDA, an aerosol mixture of sodium compounds, fuel and core structural materials will

  5. Wavelength dependence of aerosol backscatter coefficients obtained by multiple wavelength Lidar measurements

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Sasano, Y.; Browell, E. V.

    1986-01-01

    Aerosols are often classified into several general types according to their origins and composition, such as maritime, continental, and stratospheric aerosols, and these aerosol types generally have different characteristics in chemical and physical properties. The present study aims at demonstrating the potential for distinguishing these aerosol types by the wavelength dependence of their backscatter coefficients obtained from quantitative analyses of multiple wavelength lidar signals. Data from the NASA Airborne Differential Abosrption lidar (DIAL) S ystems, which can measure aerosol backscatter profiles at wavelenghts of 300, 600, and 1064 nm and ozone profiles of backscatter coefficients for these three wavelength were derived from the observations of aerosols of different types. Observations were performed over the Atlantic Ocean, the Southwestern United States, and French Guyana.

  6. Elevated Aerosol Layers and Their Radiative Impact over Kanpur During Monsoon Onset Period

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Sarangi, Chandan; Tripathi, S. N.; Mishra, A. K.; Welton, E. J.

    2016-01-01

    Accurate information about aerosol vertical distribution is needed to reduce uncertainties in aerosol radiative forcing and its effect on atmospheric dynamics. The present study deals with synergistic analyses of aerosol vertical distribution and aerosol optical depth (AOD) with meteorological variables using multisatellite and ground-based remote sensors over Kanpur in central Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP). Micro-Pulse Lidar Network-derived aerosol vertical extinction (sigma) profiles are analyzed to quantify the interannual and daytime variations during monsoon onset period (May-June) for 2009-2011. The mean aerosol profile is broadly categorized into two layers viz., a surface layer (SL) extending up to 1.5 km (where sigma decreased exponentially with height) and an elevated aerosol layer (EAL) extending between 1.5 and 5.5 km. The increase in total columnar aerosol loading is associated with relatively higher increase in contribution from EAL loading than that from SL. The mean contributions of EALs are about 60%, 51%, and 50% to total columnar AOD during 2009, 2010, and 2011, respectively. We observe distinct parabolic EALs during early morning and late evening but uniformly mixed EALs during midday. The interannual and daytime variations of EALs are mainly influenced by long-range transport and convective capacity of the local emissions, respectively. Radiative flux analysis shows that clear-sky incoming solar radiation at surface is reduced with increase in AOD, which indicates significant cooling at surface. Collocated analysis of atmospheric temperature and aerosol loading reveals that increase in AOD not only resulted in surface dimming but also reduced the temperature (approximately 2-3 C) of lower troposphere (below 3 km altitude). Radiative transfer simulations indicate that the reduction of incoming solar radiation at surface is mainly due to increased absorption by EALs (with increase in total AOD). The observed cooling in lower troposphere in high

  7. Aerosol typing - key information from aerosol studies

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mona, Lucia; Kahn, Ralph; Papagiannopoulos, Nikolaos; Holzer-Popp, Thomas; Pappalardo, Gelsomina

    2016-04-01

    Aerosol typing is a key source of aerosol information from ground-based and satellite-borne instruments. Depending on the specific measurement technique, aerosol typing can be used as input for retrievals or represents an output for other applications. Typically aerosol retrievals require some a priori or external aerosol type information. The accuracy of the derived aerosol products strongly depends on the reliability of these assumptions. Different sensors can make use of different aerosol type inputs. A critical review and harmonization of these procedures could significantly reduce related uncertainties. On the other hand, satellite measurements in recent years are providing valuable information about the global distribution of aerosol types, showing for example the main source regions and typical transport paths. Climatological studies of aerosol load at global and regional scales often rely on inferred aerosol type. There is still a high degree of inhomogeneity among satellite aerosol typing schemes, which makes the use different sensor datasets in a consistent way difficult. Knowledge of the 4d aerosol type distribution at these scales is essential for understanding the impact of different aerosol sources on climate, precipitation and air quality. All this information is needed for planning upcoming aerosol emissions policies. The exchange of expertise and the communication among satellite and ground-based measurement communities is fundamental for improving long-term dataset consistency, and for reducing aerosol type distribution uncertainties. Aerosol typing has been recognized as one of its high-priority activities of the AEROSAT (International Satellite Aerosol Science Network, http://aero-sat.org/) initiative. In the AEROSAT framework, a first critical review of aerosol typing procedures has been carried out. The review underlines the high heterogeneity in many aspects: approach, nomenclature, assumed number of components and parameters used for the

  8. Cloud Cover Increase with Increasing Aerosol Absorptivity: A Counterexample to the Conventional Semidirect Aerosol Effect

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Perlwitz, Jan; Miller, Ron L.

    2010-01-01

    We reexamine the aerosol semidirect effect using a general circulation model and four cases of the single-scattering albedo of dust aerosols. Contrary to the expected decrease in low cloud cover due to heating by tropospheric aerosols, we find a significant increase with increasing absorptivity of soil dust particles in regions with high dust load, except during Northern Hemisphere winter. The strongest sensitivity of cloud cover to dust absorption is found over land during Northern Hemisphere summer. Here even medium and high cloud cover increase where the dust load is highest. The cloud cover change is directly linked to the change in relative humidity in the troposphere as a result of contrasting changes in specific humidity and temperature. More absorption by aerosols leads to larger diabatic heating and increased warming of the column, decreasing relative humidity. However, a corresponding increase in the specific humidity exceeds the temperature effect on relative humidity. The net effect is more low cloud cover with increasing aerosol absorption. The higher specific humidity where cloud cover strongly increases is attributed to an enhanced convergence of moisture driven by dust radiative heating. Although in some areas our model exhibits a reduction of low cloud cover due to aerosol heating consistent with the conventional description of the semidirect effect, we conclude that the link between aerosols and clouds is more varied, depending also on changes in the atmospheric circulation and the specific humidity induced by the aerosols. Other absorbing aerosols such as black carbon are expected to have a similar effect.

  9. Aerosol and monsoon climate interactions over Asia

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Li, Zhanqing; Lau, W. K.-M.; Ramanathan, V.; Wu, G.; Ding, Y.; Manoj, M. G.; Liu, J.; Qian, Y.; Li, J.; Zhou, T.; Fan, J.; Rosenfeld, D.; Ming, Y.; Wang, Y.; Huang, J.; Wang, B.; Xu, X.; Lee, S.-S.; Cribb, M.; Zhang, F.; Yang, X.; Zhao, C.; Takemura, T.; Wang, K.; Xia, X.; Yin, Y.; Zhang, H.; Guo, J.; Zhai, P. M.; Sugimoto, N.; Babu, S. S.; Brasseur, G. P.

    2016-12-01

    The increasing severity of droughts/floods and worsening air quality from increasing aerosols in Asia monsoon regions are the two gravest threats facing over 60% of the world population living in Asian monsoon regions. These dual threats have fueled a large body of research in the last decade on the roles of aerosols in impacting Asian monsoon weather and climate. This paper provides a comprehensive review of studies on Asian aerosols, monsoons, and their interactions. The Asian monsoon region is a primary source of emissions of diverse species of aerosols from both anthropogenic and natural origins. The distributions of aerosol loading are strongly influenced by distinct weather and climatic regimes, which are, in turn, modulated by aerosol effects. On a continental scale, aerosols reduce surface insolation and weaken the land-ocean thermal contrast, thus inhibiting the development of monsoons. Locally, aerosol radiative effects alter the thermodynamic stability and convective potential of the lower atmosphere leading to reduced temperatures, increased atmospheric stability, and weakened wind and atmospheric circulations. The atmospheric thermodynamic state, which determines the formation of clouds, convection, and precipitation, may also be altered by aerosols serving as cloud condensation nuclei or ice nuclei. Absorbing aerosols such as black carbon and desert dust in Asian monsoon regions may also induce dynamical feedback processes, leading to a strengthening of the early monsoon and affecting the subsequent evolution of the monsoon. Many mechanisms have been put forth regarding how aerosols modulate the amplitude, frequency, intensity, and phase of different monsoon climate variables. A wide range of theoretical, observational, and modeling findings on the Asian monsoon, aerosols, and their interactions are synthesized. A new paradigm is proposed on investigating aerosol-monsoon interactions, in which natural aerosols such as desert dust, black carbon from

  10. Investigation of multiple scattering effects in aerosols

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Deepak, A.

    1980-01-01

    The results are presented of investigations on the various aspects of multiple scattering effects on visible and infrared laser beams transversing dense fog oil aerosols contained in a chamber (4' x 4' x 9'). The report briefly describes: (1) the experimental details and measurements; (2) analytical representation of the aerosol size distribution data by two analytical models (the regularized power law distribution and the inverse modified gamma distribution); (3) retrieval of aerosol size distributions from multispectral optical depth measurements by two methods (the two and three parameter fast table search methods and the nonlinear least squares method); (4) modeling of the effects of aerosol microphysical (coagulation and evaporation) and dynamical processes (gravitational settling) on the temporal behavior of aerosol size distribution, and hence on the extinction of four laser beams with wavelengths 0.44, 0.6328, 1.15, and 3.39 micrometers; and (5) the exact and approximate formulations for four methods for computing the effects of multiple scattering on the transmittance of laser beams in dense aerosols, all of which are based on the solution of the radiative transfer equation under the small angle approximation.

  11. Investigation of multiple scattering effects in aerosols

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Deepak, A.

    1980-05-01

    The results are presented of investigations on the various aspects of multiple scattering effects on visible and infrared laser beams transversing dense fog oil aerosols contained in a chamber (4' x 4' x 9'). The report briefly describes: (1) the experimental details and measurements; (2) analytical representation of the aerosol size distribution data by two analytical models (the regularized power law distribution and the inverse modified gamma distribution); (3) retrieval of aerosol size distributions from multispectral optical depth measurements by two methods (the two and three parameter fast table search methods and the nonlinear least squares method); (4) modeling of the effects of aerosol microphysical (coagulation and evaporation) and dynamical processes (gravitational settling) on the temporal behavior of aerosol size distribution, and hence on the extinction of four laser beams with wavelengths 0.44, 0.6328, 1.15, and 3.39 micrometers; and (5) the exact and approximate formulations for four methods for computing the effects of multiple scattering on the transmittance of laser beams in dense aerosols, all of which are based on the solution of the radiative transfer equation under the small angle approximation.

  12. An AERONET-Based Aerosol Classification Using the Mahalanobis Distance

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Hamill, Patrick; Giordano, Marco; Ward, Carolyne; Giles, David; Holben, Brent

    2016-01-01

    We present an aerosol classification based on AERONET aerosol data from 1993 to 2012. We used the AERONET Level 2.0 almucantar aerosol retrieval products to define several reference aerosol clusters which are characteristic of the following general aerosol types: Urban-Industrial, Biomass Burning, Mixed Aerosol, Dust, and Maritime. The classification of a particular aerosol observation as one of these aerosol types is determined by its five-dimensional Mahalanobis distance to each reference cluster. We have calculated the fractional aerosol type distribution at 190 AERONET sites, as well as the monthly variation in aerosol type at those locations. The results are presented on a global map and individually in the supplementary material. Our aerosol typing is based on recognizing that different geographic regions exhibit characteristic aerosol types. To generate reference clusters we only keep data points that lie within a Mahalanobis distance of 2 from the centroid. Our aerosol characterization is based on the AERONET retrieved quantities, therefore it does not include low optical depth values. The analysis is based on point sources (the AERONET sites) rather than globally distributed values. The classifications obtained will be useful in interpreting aerosol retrievals from satellite borne instruments.

  13. Modelling the optical properties of aerosols in a chemical transport model

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Andersson, E.; Kahnert, M.

    2015-12-01

    According to the IPCC fifth assessment report (2013), clouds and aerosols still contribute to the largest uncertainty when estimating and interpreting changes to the Earth's energy budget. Therefore, understanding the interaction between radiation and aerosols is both crucial for remote sensing observations and modelling the climate forcing arising from aerosols. Carbon particles are the largest contributor to the aerosol absorption of solar radiation, thereby enhancing the warming of the planet. Modelling the radiative properties of carbon particles is a hard task and involves many uncertainties arising from the difficulties of accounting for the morphologies and heterogeneous chemical composition of the particles. This study aims to compare two ways of modelling the optical properties of aerosols simulated by a chemical transport model. The first method models particle optical properties as homogeneous spheres and are externally mixed. This is a simple model that is particularly easy to use in data assimilation methods, since the optics model is linear. The second method involves a core-shell internal mixture of soot, where sulphate, nitrate, ammonia, organic carbon, sea salt, and water are contained in the shell. However, by contrast to previously used core-shell models, only part of the carbon is concentrated in the core, while the remaining part is homogeneously mixed with the shell. The chemical transport model (CTM) simulations are done regionally over Europe with the Multiple-scale Atmospheric Transport and CHemistry (MATCH) model, developed by the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute (SMHI). The MATCH model was run with both an aerosol dynamics module, called SALSA, and with a regular "bulk" approach, i.e., a mass transport model without aerosol dynamics. Two events from 2007 are used in the analysis, one with high (22/12-2007) and one with low (22/6-2007) levels of elemental carbon (EC) over Europe. The results of the study help to assess the

  14. New Satellite Project Aerosol-UA: Remote Sensing of Aerosols in the Terrestrial Atmosphere

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Milinevsky, G.; Yatskiv, Ya.; Degtyaryov, O.; Syniavskyi, I.; Mishchenko, Michael I.; Rosenbush, V.; Ivanov, Yu.; Makarov, A.; Bovchaliuk, A.; Danylevsky, V.; hide

    2016-01-01

    We discuss the development of the Ukrainian space project Aerosol-UA which has the following three main objectives: (1) to monitor the spatial distribution of key characteristics of terrestrial tropospheric and stratospheric aerosols; (2) to provide a comprehensive observational database enabling accurate quantitative estimates of the aerosol contribution to the energy budget of the climate system; and (3) quantify the contribution of anthropogenic aerosols to climate and ecological processes. The remote sensing concept of the project is based on precise orbital measurements of the intensity and polarization of sunlight scattered by the atmosphere and the surface with a scanning polarimeter accompanied by a wide-angle multispectral imager-polarimeter. Preparations have already been made for the development of the instrument suite for the Aerosol-UA project, in particular, of the multi-channel scanning polarimeter (ScanPol) designed for remote sensing studies of the global distribution of aerosol and cloud properties (such as particle size, morphology, and composition) in the terrestrial atmosphere by polarimetric and spectrophotometric measurements of the scattered sunlight in a wide range of wavelengths and viewing directions from which a scene location is observed. ScanPol is accompanied by multispectral wide-angle imager-polarimeter (MSIP) that serves to collect information on cloud conditions and Earths surface image. Various components of the polarimeter ScanPol have been prototyped, including the opto-mechanical and electronic assemblies and the scanning mirror controller. Preliminary synthetic data simulations for the retrieval of aerosol parameters over land surfaces have been performed using the Generalized Retrieval of Aerosol and Surface Properties (GRASP) algorithm. Methods for the validation of satellite data using ground-based observations of aerosol properties are also discussed. We assume that designing, building, and launching into orbit a multi

  15. A Lidar at Clermont-Ferrand—France to describe the boundary layer dynamics, aerosols, cirrus and tropospheric water vapor

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Baray, J. L.; Fréville, P.; Montoux, N.; Chauvigné, A.; Hadad, D.; Sellegri, K.

    2018-04-01

    A Rayleigh-Mie-Raman LIDAR provides vertical profiles of tropospheric variables at Clermont-Ferrand (France) since 2008, in order to describe the boundary layer dynamics, tropospheric aerosols, cirrus and water vapor. It is included in the EARLINET network. We performed hardware/software developments in order to upgrade the quality, calibration and improve automation. We present an overview of the system and some examples of measurements and a preliminary geophysical analysis of the data.

  16. Global observations of aerosol-cloud-precipitation-climate interactions

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Rosenfeld, Daniel; Andreae, Meinrat O.; Asmi, Ari; Chin, Mian; de Leeuw, Gerrit; Donovan, David P.; Kahn, Ralph; Kinne, Stefan; Kivekäs, Niku; Kulmala, Markku; Lau, William; Schmidt, K. Sebastian; Suni, Tanja; Wagner, Thomas; Wild, Martin; Quaas, Johannes

    2014-12-01

    Cloud drop condensation nuclei (CCN) and ice nuclei (IN) particles determine to a large extent cloud microstructure and, consequently, cloud albedo and the dynamic response of clouds to aerosol-induced changes to precipitation. This can modify the reflected solar radiation and the thermal radiation emitted to space. Measurements of tropospheric CCN and IN over large areas have not been possible and can be only roughly approximated from satellite-sensor-based estimates of optical properties of aerosols. Our lack of ability to measure both CCN and cloud updrafts precludes disentangling the effects of meteorology from those of aerosols and represents the largest component in our uncertainty in anthropogenic climate forcing. Ways to improve the retrieval accuracy include multiangle and multipolarimetric passive measurements of the optical signal and multispectral lidar polarimetric measurements. Indirect methods include proxies of trace gases, as retrieved by hyperspectral sensors. Perhaps the most promising emerging direction is retrieving the CCN properties by simultaneously retrieving convective cloud drop number concentrations and updraft speeds, which amounts to using clouds as natural CCN chambers. These satellite observations have to be constrained by in situ observations of aerosol-cloud-precipitation-climate (ACPC) interactions, which in turn constrain a hierarchy of model simulations of ACPC. Since the essence of a general circulation model is an accurate quantification of the energy and mass fluxes in all forms between the surface, atmosphere and outer space, a route to progress is proposed here in the form of a series of box flux closure experiments in the various climate regimes. A roadmap is provided for quantifying the ACPC interactions and thereby reducing the uncertainty in anthropogenic climate forcing.

  17. Spatial and temporal variations of aerosols around Beijing in summer 2006: 2. Local and column aerosol optical properties

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Matsui, Hitoshi; Koike, Makoto; Kondo, Yutaka

    Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF)-chem model calculations were conducted to study aerosol optical properties around Beijing, China, during the Campaign of Air Quality Research in Beijing and Surrounding Region 2006 (CAREBeijing-2006) period. In this paper, we interpret aerosol optical properties in terms of aerosol mass concentrations and their chemical compositions by linking model calculations with measurements. In general, model calculations reproduced observed features of spatial and temporal variations of various surface and column aerosol optical parameters in and around Beijing. Spatial and temporal variations of aerosol absorption, scattering, and extinction coefficient corresponded well to those of elemental carbon (primary aerosol),more » sulfate (secondary aerosol), and the total aerosol mass concentration, respectively. These results show that spatial and temporal variations of the absorption coefficient are controlled by local emissions (within 100 km around Beijing during the preceding 24 h), while those of the scattering coefficient are controlled by regional-scale emissions (within 500 km around Beijing during the preceding 3 days) under synoptic-scale meteorological conditions, as discussed in our previous study of aerosol mass concentration. Vertical profiles of aerosol extinction revealed that the contribution of secondary aerosols and their water uptake increased with altitude within the planetary boundary layer, leading to a considerable increase in column aerosol optical depth (AOD) around Beijing. These effects are the main factors causing differences in regional and temporal variations between particulate matter (PM) mass concentration at the surface and column AOD over a wide region in the northern part of the Great North China Plain.« less

  18. The Aerosol-Monsoon Climate System of Asia

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Lau, William K. M.; Kyu-Myong, Kim

    2012-01-01

    In Asian monsoon countries such as China and India, human health and safety problems caused by air-pollution are worsening due to the increased loading of atmospheric pollutants stemming from rising energy demand associated with the rapid pace of industrialization and modernization. Meanwhile, uneven distribution of monsoon rain associated with flash flood or prolonged drought, has caused major loss of human lives, and damages in crop and properties with devastating societal impacts on Asian countries. Historically, air-pollution and monsoon research are treated as separate problems. However a growing number of recent studies have suggested that the two problems may be intrinsically intertwined and need to be studied jointly. Because of complexity of the dynamics of the monsoon systems, aerosol impacts on monsoons and vice versa must be studied and understood in the context of aerosol forcing in relationship to changes in fundamental driving forces of the monsoon climate system (e.g. sea surface temperature, land-sea contrast etc.) on time scales from intraseasonal variability (weeks) to climate change ( multi-decades). Indeed, because of the large contributions of aerosols to the global and regional energy balance of the atmosphere and earth surface, and possible effects of the microphysics of clouds and precipitation, a better understanding of the response to climate change in Asian monsoon regions requires that aerosols be considered as an integral component of a fully coupled aerosol-monsoon system on all time scales. In this paper, using observations and results from climate modeling, we will discuss the coherent variability of the coupled aerosol-monsoon climate system in South Asia and East Asia, including aerosol distribution and types, with respect to rainfall, moisture, winds, land-sea thermal contrast, heat sources and sink distributions in the atmosphere in seasonal, interannual to climate change time scales. We will show examples of how elevated

  19. WRF-Chem simulations of aerosols and anthropogenic aerosol radiative forcing in East Asia

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Gao, Yi; Zhao, Chun; Liu, Xiaohong; Zhang, Meigen; Leung, L. Ruby

    2014-08-01

    This study aims to provide a first comprehensive evaluation of WRF-Chem for modeling aerosols and anthropogenic aerosol radiative forcing (RF, including direct, semi-direct and indirect forcing) over East Asia. Several numerical experiments were conducted from November 2007 to December 2008. Comparison between model results and observations shows that the model can generally reproduce the observed spatial distributions of aerosol concentration, aerosol optical depth (AOD) and single scattering albedo (SSA) from measurements at many sites, including the relatively higher aerosol concentration and AOD over East China and the relatively lower AOD over Southeast Asia, Korea, and Japan. The model also depicts the seasonal variation and transport of pollutions over East Asia. Particulate matter of 10 μm or less in the aerodynamic diameter (PM10), black carbon (BC), sulfate (SO42-), nitrate (NO3-) and ammonium (NH4+) concentrations are higher in spring than other seasons in Japan, which indicates the possible influence of pollutant transport from polluted area of East Asia. The model underestimates SO42- and organic carbon (OC) concentrations over mainland China by about a factor of 2, while overestimates NO3- concentration in autumn along the Yangtze River. The model captures the dust events at the Zhangye site in the semi-arid region of China. AOD is high over Southwest and Central China in winter and spring and over North China in winter, spring and summer while is low over South China in summer due to monsoon precipitation. SSA is lowest in winter and highest in summer. Anthropogenic aerosol RF is estimated to range from -5 to -20 W m-2 over land and -20 to -40 W m-2 over adjacent oceans at the top of atmosphere (TOA), 5-30 W m-2 in the atmosphere (ATM) and -15 to -40 W m-2 at the bottom (BOT). The warming effect of anthropogenic aerosol in ATM results from BC aerosol while the negative aerosol RF at TOA is caused by scattering aerosols such as SO42-, NO3- and NH4

  20. Interactive Finite Elements for General Engine Dynamics Analysis

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Adams, M. L.; Padovan, J.; Fertis, D. G.

    1984-01-01

    General nonlinear finite element codes were adapted for the purpose of analyzing the dynamics of gas turbine engines. In particular, this adaptation required the development of a squeeze-film damper element software package and its implantation into a representative current generation code. The ADINA code was selected because of prior use of it and familiarity with its internal structure and logic. This objective was met and the results indicate that such use of general purpose codes is viable alternative to specialized codes for general dynamics analysis of engines.

  1. A DMA-train for precision measurement of sub-10 nm aerosol dynamics

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Stolzenburg, Dominik; Steiner, Gerhard; Winkler, Paul M.

    2017-05-01

    Measurements of aerosol dynamics in the sub-10 nm size range are crucially important for quantifying the impact of new particle formation onto the global budget of cloud condensation nuclei. Here we present the development and characterization of a differential mobility analyzer train (DMA-train), operating six DMAs in parallel for high-time-resolution particle-size-distribution measurements below 10 nm. The DMAs are operated at six different but fixed voltages and hence sizes, together with six state-of-the-art condensation particle counters (CPCs). Two Airmodus A10 particle size magnifiers (PSM) are used for channels below 2.5 nm while sizes above 2.5 nm are detected by TSI 3776 butanol-based or TSI 3788 water-based CPCs. We report the transfer functions and characteristics of six identical Grimm S-DMAs as well as the calibration of a butanol-based TSI model 3776 CPC, a water-based TSI model 3788 CPC and an Airmodus A10 PSM. We find cutoff diameters similar to those reported in the literature. The performance of the DMA-train is tested with a rapidly changing aerosol of a tungsten oxide particle generator during warmup. Additionally we report a measurement of new particle formation taken during a nucleation event in the CLOUD chamber experiment at CERN. We find that the DMA-train is able to bridge the gap between currently well-established measurement techniques in the cluster-particle transition regime, providing high time resolution and accurate size information of neutral and charged particles even at atmospheric particle concentrations.

  2. Regional and local variations in atmospheric aerosols using ground-based sun photometry during Distributed Regional Aerosol Gridded Observation Networks (DRAGON) in 2012

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sano, Itaru; Mukai, Sonoyo; Nakata, Makiko; Holben, Brent N.

    2016-11-01

    Aerosol mass concentrations are affected by local emissions as well as long-range transboundary (LRT) aerosols. This work investigates regional and local variations of aerosols based on Distributed Regional Aerosol Gridded Observation Networks (DRAGON). We constructed DRAGON-Japan and DRAGON-Osaka in spring of 2012. The former network covers almost all of Japan in order to obtain aerosol information in regional scale over Japanese islands. It was determined from the DRAGON-Japan campaign that the values of aerosol optical thickness (AOT) decrease from west to east during an aerosol episode. In fact, the highest AOT was recorded at Fukue Island at the western end of the network, and the value was much higher than that of urban areas. The latter network (DRAGON-Osaka) was set as a dense instrument network in the megalopolis of Osaka, with a population of 12 million, to better understand local aerosol dynamics in urban areas. AOT was further measured with a mobile sun photometer attached to a car. This transect information showed that aerosol concentrations rapidly changed in time and space together when most of the Osaka area was covered with moderate LRT aerosols. The combined use of the dense instrument network (DRAGON-Osaka) and high-frequency measurements provides the motion of aerosol advection, which coincides with the wind vector around the layer between 700 and 850 hPa as provided by the reanalysis data of the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP).

  3. Regional and Local Variations in Atmospheric Aerosols Using Ground-Based Sun Photometry During Distributed Regional Aerosol Gridded Observation Networks (DRAGON) in 2012

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Sano, Itaru; Mukai, Sonoyo; Nakata, Makiko; Holben, Brent N.

    2016-01-01

    Aerosol mass concentrations are affected by local emissions as well as long-range transboundary (LRT) aerosols. This work investigates regional and local variations of aerosols based on Distributed Regional Aerosol Gridded Observation Networks (DRAGON).We constructed DRAGON-Japan and DRAGON-Osaka in spring of 2012. The former network covers almost all of Japan in order to obtain aerosol information in regional scale over Japanese islands. It was determined from the DRAGON-Japan campaign that the values of aerosol optical thickness (AOT) decrease from west to east during an aerosol episode. In fact, the highest AOT was recorded at Fukue Island at the western end of the network, and the value was much higher than that of urban areas. The latter network (DRAGON-Osaka) was set as a dense instrument network in the megalopolis of Osaka, with a population of 12 million, to better understand local aerosol dynamics in urban areas. AOT was further measured with a mobile sun photometer attached to a car. This transect information showed that aerosol concentrations rapidly changed in time and space together when most of the Osaka area was covered with moderate LRT aerosols. The combined use of the dense instrument network (DRAGON-Osaka) and high-frequency measurements provides the motion of aerosol advection, which coincides with the wind vector around the layer between 700 and 850 hPa as provided by the reanalysis data of the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP).

  4. Characterize Aerosols from MODIS MISR OMI MERRA-2: Dynamic Image Browse Perspective

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Wei, Jennifer; Yang, Wenli; Albayrak, Arif; Zhao, Peisheng; Zeng, Jian; Shen, Suhung; Johnson, James; Kempler, Steve

    2016-01-01

    Among the known atmospheric constituents, aerosols still represent the greatest uncertainty in climate research. To understand the uncertainty is to bring altogether of observational (in-situ and remote sensing) and modeling datasets and inter-compare them synergistically for a wide variety of applications that can bring far-reaching benefits to the science community and the broader society. These benefits can best be achieved if these earth science data (satellite and modeling) are well utilized and interpreted. Unfortunately, this is not always the case, despite the abundance and relative maturity of numerous satellite-borne sensors routinely measure aerosols. There is often disagreement between similar aerosol parameters retrieved from different sensors, leaving users confused as to which sensors to trust for answering important science questions about the distribution, properties, and impacts of aerosols. NASA Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center (GES DISC) have developed a new visualization service (NASA Level 2 Data Quality Visualization, DQViz)supporting various visualization and data accessing capabilities from satellite Level 2(MODISMISROMI) and long term assimilated aerosols from NASA Modern-Era Retrospective analysis for Research and Applications, Version 2 (MERRA-2 displaying at their own native physical-retrieved spatial resolution. Functionality will include selecting data sources (e.g., multiple parameters under the same measurement), defining area-of-interest and temporal extents, zooming, panning, overlaying, sliding, and data subsetting and reformatting.

  5. General dynamical density functional theory for classical fluids.

    PubMed

    Goddard, Benjamin D; Nold, Andreas; Savva, Nikos; Pavliotis, Grigorios A; Kalliadasis, Serafim

    2012-09-21

    We study the dynamics of a colloidal fluid including inertia and hydrodynamic interactions, two effects which strongly influence the nonequilibrium properties of the system. We derive a general dynamical density functional theory which shows very good agreement with full Langevin dynamics. In suitable limits, we recover existing dynamical density functional theories and a Navier-Stokes-like equation with additional nonlocal terms.

  6. The Influence of Emission Location on the Magnitude and Spatial Distribution of Aerosols' Climate Effects

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Persad, G.; Caldeira, K.

    2017-12-01

    The global distribution of anthropogenic aerosol emissions has evolved continuously since the preindustrial era - from 20th century North American and Western European emissions hotspots to present-day South and East Asian ones. With this comes a relocation of the regional radiative, dynamical, and hydrological impacts of aerosol emissions, which may influence global climate differently depending on where they occur. A lack of understanding of this relationship between aerosol emissions' location and their global climate effects, however, obscures the potential influence that aerosols' evolving geographic distribution may have on global and regional climate change—a gap which we address in this work. Using a novel suite of experiments in the CESM CAM5 atmospheric general circulation model coupled to a slab ocean, we systematically test and analyze mechanisms behind the relative climate impact of identical black carbon and sulfate aerosol emissions located in each of 8 past, present, or projected future major emissions regions. Results indicate that historically high emissions regions, such as North America and Western Europe, produce a stronger cooling effect than current and projected future high emissions regions. Aerosol emissions located in Western Europe produce 3 times the global mean cooling (-0.34 °C) as those located in East Africa or India (-0.11 °C). The aerosols' in-situ radiative effects remain relatively confined near the emissions region, but large distal cooling results from remote feedback processes - such as ice albedo and cloud changes - that are excited more strongly by emissions from certain regions than others. Results suggest that aerosol emissions from different countries should not be considered equal in the context of climate mitigation accounting, and that the evolving geographic distribution of aerosol emissions may have a substantial impact on the magnitude and spatial distribution of global climate change.

  7. Aqueous aerosol SOA formation: impact on aerosol physical properties.

    PubMed

    Woo, Joseph L; Kim, Derek D; Schwier, Allison N; Li, Ruizhi; McNeill, V Faye

    2013-01-01

    Organic chemistry in aerosol water has recently been recognized as a potentially important source of secondary organic aerosol (SOA) material. This SOA material may be surface-active, therefore potentially affecting aerosol heterogeneous activity, ice nucleation, and CCN activity. Aqueous aerosol chemistry has also been shown to be a potential source of light-absorbing products ("brown carbon"). We present results on the formation of secondary organic aerosol material in aerosol water and the associated changes in aerosol physical properties from GAMMA (Gas-Aerosol Model for Mechanism Analysis), a photochemical box model with coupled gas and detailed aqueous aerosol chemistry. The detailed aerosol composition output from GAMMA was coupled with two recently developed modules for predicting a) aerosol surface tension and b) the UV-Vis absorption spectrum of the aerosol, based on our previous laboratory observations. The simulation results suggest that the formation of oligomers and organic acids in bulk aerosol water is unlikely to perturb aerosol surface tension significantly. Isoprene-derived organosulfates are formed in high concentrations in acidic aerosols under low-NO(x) conditions, but more experimental data are needed before the potential impact of these species on aerosol surface tension may be evaluated. Adsorption of surfactants from the gas phase may further suppress aerosol surface tension. Light absorption by aqueous aerosol SOA material is driven by dark glyoxal chemistry and is highest under high-NO(x) conditions, at high relative humidity, in the early morning hours. The wavelength dependence of the predicted absorption spectra is comparable to field observations and the predicted mass absorption efficiencies suggest that aqueous aerosol chemistry can be a significant source of aerosol brown carbon under urban conditions.

  8. Aerosol algorithm evaluation within aerosol-CCI

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kinne, Stefan; Schulz, Michael; Griesfeller, Jan

    Properties of aerosol retrievals from space are difficult. Even data from dedicated satellite sensors face contaminations which limit the accuracy of aerosol retrieval products. Issues are the identification of complete cloud-free scenes, the need to assume aerosol compositional features in an underdetermined solution space and the requirement to characterize the background at high accuracy. Usually the development of aerosol is a slow process, requiring continuous feedback from evaluations. To demonstrate maturity, these evaluations need to cover different regions and seasons and many different aerosol properties, because aerosol composition is quite diverse and highly variable in space and time, as atmospheric aerosol lifetimes are only a few days. Three years ago the ESA Climate Change Initiative started to support aerosol retrieval efforts in order to develop aerosol retrieval products for the climate community from underutilized ESA satellite sensors. The initial focus was on retrievals of AOD (a measure for the atmospheric column amount) and of Angstrom (a proxy for aerosol size) from the ATSR and MERIS sensors on ENVISAT. The goal was to offer retrieval products that are comparable or better in accuracy than commonly used NASA products of MODIS or MISR. Fortunately, accurate reference data of ground based sun-/sky-photometry networks exist. Thus, retrieval assessments could and were conducted independently by different evaluation groups. Here, results of these evaluations for the year 2008 are summarized. The capability of these newly developed retrievals is analyzed and quantified in scores. These scores allowed a ranking of competing efforts and also allow skill comparisons of these new retrievals against existing and commonly used retrievals.

  9. Aerosols and Aerosol-related haze forecasting in China Meteorological Adminstration

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zhou, Chunhong; Zhang, Xiaoye; Gong, Sunling; Liu, Hongli; Xue, Min

    2017-04-01

    CMA Unified Atmospheric Chemistry Environmental Forecasting System (CUACE) is a unified numerical chemical weather forecasting system with BC, OC, Sulfate, Nitrate, Ammonia, Dust and Sea-Salt aerosols and their sources, gas to particle processes, SOA, microphysics and transformation. With an open interface, CUACE has been online coupled to mesoscale model MM5 and the new NWP system GRAPES (Global/Regional Assimilation and Prediction Enhanced System)min CMA. With Chinese Emissions from Cao and Zhang(2012 and 2013), a forecasting system called CUACE/Haze-fog has been running in real time in CMA and issue 5-days PM10, O3 and Visibility forecasts. A comprehensive ACI scheme has also been developed in CUACE Calculated by a sectional aerosol activation scheme based on the information of size and mass from CUACE and the thermal-dynamic and humid states from the weather model at each time step, the cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) is fed online interactively into a two-moment cloud scheme (WDM6) and a convective parameterization to drive the cloud physics and precipitation formation processes. The results show that interactive aerosols with the WDM6 in CUACE obviously improve the clouds properties and the precipitation, showing 24% to 48% enhancements of TS scoring for 6-h precipitation .

  10. Characterizing the Vertical Distribution of Aerosols Over the ARM SGP Site

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Richard Ferrare, Connor Flynn, David Turner

    This project focused on: 1) evaluating the performance of the DOE ARM SGP Raman lidar system in measuring profiles of water vapor and aerosols, and 2) the use of the Raman lidar measurements of aerosol and water vapor profiles for assessing the vertical distribution of aerosols and water vapor simulated by global transport models and examining diurnal variability of aerosols and water vapor. The highest aerosol extinction was generally observed close to the surface during the nighttime just prior to sunrise. The high values of aerosol extinction are most likely associated with increased scattering by hygroscopic aerosols, since the correspondingmore » average relative humidity values were above 70%. After sunrise, relative humidity and aerosol extinction below 500 m decreased with the growth in the daytime convective boundary layer. The largest aerosol extinction for altitudes above 1 km occurred during the early afternoon most likely as a result of the increase in relative humidity. The water vapor mixing ratio profiles generally showed smaller variations with altitude between day and night. We also compared simultaneous measurements of relative humidity, aerosol extinction, and aerosol optical thickness derived from the ARM SGP Raman lidar and in situ instruments on board a small aircraft flown routinely over the ARM SGP site. In contrast, the differences between the CARL and IAP aerosol extinction measurements are considerably larger. Aerosol extinction derived from the IAP measurements is, on average, about 30-40% less than values derived from the Raman lidar. The reasons for this difference are not clear, but may be related to the corrections for supermicron scattering and relative humidity that were applied to the IAP data. The investigators on this project helped to set up a major field mission (2003 Aerosol IOP) over the DOE ARM SGP site. One of the goals of the mission was to further evaluate the aerosol and water vapor retrievals from this lidar system

  11. Spatial and temporal variations of aerosols around Beijing in summer 2006: 2. Local and column aerosol optical properties

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Matsui, H.; Koike, M.; Kondo, Y.; Takegawa, N.; Fast, J. D.; PöSchl, U.; Garland, R. M.; Andreae, M. O.; Wiedensohler, A.; Sugimoto, N.; Zhu, T.

    2010-11-01

    Model calculations were conducted using the Weather Research and Forecasting model coupled with chemistry (WRF-chem) for the region around Beijing, China, in the summer of 2006, when the CAREBeijing-2006 intensive campaign was conducted. In this paper, we interpret aerosol optical properties in terms of aerosol mass concentrations and their chemical compositions by linking model calculations with measurements. The model calculations generally captured the observed variability of various surface and column aerosol optical parameters in and around Beijing. At the surface, the spatial and temporal variations of aerosol absorption and scattering coefficients corresponded well to those of elemental carbon and sulfate mass concentrations, respectively, and were controlled by local-scale (<100 km and <24 hours) and regional-scale (<500 km and <3 days) emissions, respectively. The contribution of secondary aerosols and their water uptake increased with altitude within the planetary boundary layer. This variation led to a considerable increase in column aerosol optical depth and was responsible for the differences in regional and temporal variations between surface and column aerosol optical properties around Beijing. These processes are expected to be common in other megacity regions as well. Model calculations, however, underestimated or overestimated the absolute levels of aerosol optical properties in and around Beijing by up to 60%. Sensitivity studies showed that these discrepancies were mostly due to the uncertainties in aerosol mixing state and aerosol density (affecting mass extinction efficiency) in the model calculations. Good agreement with measurements is achieved when these aerosol properties are accurately predicted or assumed; however, significant bias can result when these properties are inadequately treated, even if total aerosol mass concentrations are reproduced well in the model calculations.

  12. Microphysical processes affecting stratospheric aerosol particles

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Hamill, P.; Toon, O. B.; Kiang, C. S.

    1977-01-01

    Physical processes which affect stratospheric aerosol particles include nucleation, condensation, evaporation, coagulation and sedimentation. Quantitative studies of these mechanisms to determine if they can account for some of the observed properties of the aerosol are carried out. It is shown that the altitude range in which nucleation of sulfuric acid-water solution droplets can take place corresponds to that region of the stratosphere where the aerosol is generally found. Since heterogeneous nucleation is the dominant nucleation mechanism, the stratospheric solution droplets are mainly formed on particles which have been mixed up from the troposphere or injected into the stratosphere by volcanoes or meteorites. Particle growth by heteromolecular condensation can account for the observed increase in mixing ratio of large particles in the stratosphere. Coagulation is important in reducing the number of particles smaller than 0.05 micron radius. Growth by condensation, applied to the mixed nature of the particles, shows that available information is consistent with ammonium sulfate being formed by liquid phase chemical reactions in the aerosol particles. The upper altitude limit of the aerosol layer is probably due to the evaporation of sulfuric acid aerosol particles, while the lower limit is due to mixing across the tropopause.

  13. Reconciling the aerosol-liquid water path relationship in the ECHAM6-HAM GCM and the Aerosol_cci/Cloud_cci (A)ATSR dataset by minimizing the effect of aerosol swelling

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Neubauer, D.; Christensen, M.; Lohmann, U.; Poulsen, C. A.

    2016-12-01

    Studies using present day variability to assess statistical relationships between aerosol and cloud properties find different strengths of these relationships between satellite data and general circulation model (GCM) data. This discrepancy can be explained by structural uncertainties due to differences in the analysis/observational scale and the process scale or spurious relationships between aerosol and cloud properties. Such spurious relationships are the growth of aerosol particles in the humid environment surrounding clouds, misclassification of partly cloudy satellite pixels as cloud free pixels, brightening of aerosol particles by sunlight reflected at cloud edges, or effects of clouds on aerosol like processing of aerosol particles in clouds by nucleation or impact scavenging and subsequent growth by heterogeneous chemistry and release by cloud droplet evaporation or wet scavenging of aerosol particles. To minimize the effects of spatial aggregation and spurious relationships we apply a new nearest neighbour approach to high resolution (A)ATSR datasets from the Aerosol_cci and Cloud_cci projects of the Climate Change Initiative (CCI) programme of ESA. For the ECHAM6-HAM GCM we quantify the impact of using dry aerosol (without aerosol water) in the analysis to mimic the effect of the nearest neighbour approach. The aerosol-liquid water path relationship in ECHAM6-HAM is systematically stronger than in (A)ATSR data and cannot be explained by an overestimation of autoconversion when using diagnostic precipitation but rather by aerosol swelling in regions where humidity is high and clouds are present. When aerosol water is removed from the analysis in ECHAM6-HAM the strength of the aerosol-liquid water path relationship agrees much better with the ones of (A)ATSR or MODIS. We further find that while the observed relationships of different satellite sensors ((A)ATSR vs. MODIS) are not always consistent for tested environmental conditions the relationships in

  14. DYNAMICS OF AUTOMOTIVE SULFATE EMISSIONS

    EPA Science Inventory

    A preliminary assessment of the potential environmental impact of automotive sulfuric acid (or sulfate) aerosol has been made by analyzing the aerosol dynamics. This analysis leads to the prediction of ambient automotive sulfuric acid aerosol concentrations over and around a larg...

  15. Diagnosing causes of extreme aerosol optical depth events

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bernstein, D. N.; Sullivan, R.; Crippa, P.; Thota, A.; Pryor, S. C.

    2017-12-01

    Aerosol burdens and optical properties exhibit substantial spatiotemporal variability, and simulation of current and possible future aerosol burdens and characteristics exhibits relatively high uncertainty due to uncertainties in emission estimates and in chemical and physical processes associated with aerosol formation, dynamics and removal. We report research designed to improve understanding of the causes and characteristics of extreme aerosol optical depth (AOD) at the regional scale, and diagnose and attribute model skill in simulating these events. Extreme AOD events over the US Midwest are selected by identifying all dates on which AOD in a MERRA-2 reanalysis grid cell exceeds the local seasonally computed 90th percentile (p90) value during 2004-2016 and then finding the dates on which the highest number of grid cells exceed their local p90. MODIS AOD data are subsequently used to exclude events dominated by wildfires. MERRA-2 data are also analyzed within a synoptic classification to determine in what ways the extreme AOD events are atypical and to identify possible meteorological `finger-prints' that can be detected in regional climate model simulations of future climate states to project possible changes in the occurrence of extreme AOD. Then WRF-Chem v3.6 is applied at 12-km resolution and regridded to the MERRA-2 resolution over eastern North America to quantify model performance, and also evaluated using in situ measurements of columnar AOD (AERONET) and near-surface PM2.5 (US EPA). Finally the sensitivity to (i) spin-up time (including procedure used to spin-up the chemistry), (ii) modal versus sectional aerosol schemes, (iii) meteorological nudging, (iv) chemistry initial and boundary conditions, and (v) anthropogenic emissions is quantified. Despite recent declines in mean AOD, supraregional (> 1000 km) extreme AOD events continue to occur. During these events AOD exceeds 0.6 in many Midwestern grid cells for multiple consecutive days. In all

  16. Global aerosol effects on convective clouds

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wagner, Till; Stier, Philip

    2013-04-01

    Atmospheric aerosols affect cloud properties, and thereby the radiation balance of the planet and the water cycle. The influence of aerosols on clouds is dominated by increase of cloud droplet and ice crystal numbers (CDNC/ICNC) due to enhanced aerosols acting as cloud condensation and ice nuclei. In deep convective clouds this increase in CDNC/ICNC is hypothesised to increase precipitation because of cloud invigoration through enhanced freezing and associated increased latent heat release caused by delayed warm rain formation. Satellite studies robustly show an increase of cloud top height (CTH) and precipitation with increasing aerosol optical depth (AOD, as proxy for aerosol amount). To represent aerosol effects and study their influence on convective clouds in the global climate aerosol model ECHAM-HAM, we substitute the standard convection parameterisation, which uses one mean convective cloud for each grid column, with the convective cloud field model (CCFM), which simulates a spectrum of convective clouds, each with distinct values of radius, mixing ratios, vertical velocity, height and en/detrainment. Aerosol activation and droplet nucleation in convective updrafts at cloud base is the primary driver for microphysical aerosol effects. To produce realistic estimates for vertical velocity at cloud base we use an entraining dry parcel sub cloud model which is triggered by perturbations of sensible and latent heat at the surface. Aerosol activation at cloud base is modelled with a mechanistic, Köhler theory based, scheme, which couples the aerosols to the convective microphysics. Comparison of relationships between CTH and AOD, and precipitation and AOD produced by this novel model and satellite based estimates show general agreement. Through model experiments and analysis of the model cloud processes we are able to investigate the main drivers for the relationship between CTH / precipitation and AOD.

  17. Uncertainties of aerosol retrieval from neglecting non-sphericity of dust aerosols

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Li, Chi; Xue, Yong; Yang, Leiku; Guang, Jie

    2013-04-01

    by straightforwardly utilizing Mie theory in dust aerosol retrieval. As expected we find that the uncertainties mainly result from the obvious difference of phase functions (Pspheric and Pspheroid). Errors may be positive or negative, depending on the specific geometry. In scattering angle (θ) regions where Psphericis greater (30°~85° & 145°~180°), we generally get positive Δ?TOA and negative Δ?, and vice versa (85°~145°). For low aerosol loading (? ~0.25) and black surface, |Δ?TOA| could be greater than 0.004 and 0.012 around θ ~120° and θ ~170°, with |Δ?| of ~0.04 and ~0.12 respectively. In most back scattering cases (θ >100°), the magnitude of Δ? is about ten times that of Δ?TOA, while this ratio (|Δ?|/|Δ?TOA|) significantly reduces to as low as ~0.5 for forward scattering, and can reach ~20 at θ ~145°. Moreover, this errors and |Δ?|/|Δ?TOA| can increase more than ten times as aerosol loading gets higher and surface gets brighter. Therefore we conclude that the neglect of non-sphericity introduces substantial errors on radiative transfer simulation and AOD retrieval. As a result of this study, a representative aspheric aerosol model other than Mie calculation is recommended for inversion algorithms related with dust-like non-spherical aerosols. References Dubovik, O., Holben, B. N., Lapyonok, T., Sinyuk, A., Mishchenko, M. I., Yang, P., and Slutsker, I. (2002). Non-spherical aerosol retrieval method employing light scattering by spheroids. Geophyscal Research Letters, 29(10), 1415, doi:10.1029/2001GL014506. Dubovik, O., Sinyuk, A., Lapyonok, T., Holben, B. N., Mishchenko, M., Yang, P., Eck, T. F., Volten, H., Muñoz, O., Veihelmann, B., van der Zande, W. J., Leon, J.-F., Sorokin, M., and Slutsker, I. (2006). Application of spheroid models to account for aerosol particle nonsphericity in remote sensing of desert dust. Journal of Geophysical Research, 111, D11208, doi:10.1029/2005JD006619. Mishchenko, M. I., Lacis, A. A., Carlson, B. E., and

  18. Radiative and Chemical Response to Interactive Stratospheric Sulfate Aerosols in Fully Coupled CESM1(WACCM)

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mills, Michael J.; Richter, Jadwiga H.; Tilmes, Simone; Kravitz, Ben; MacMartin, Douglas G.; Glanville, Anne A.; Tribbia, Joseph J.; Lamarque, Jean-François; Vitt, Francis; Schmidt, Anja; Gettelman, Andrew; Hannay, Cecile; Bacmeister, Julio T.; Kinnison, Douglas E.

    2017-12-01

    We present new insights into the evolution and interactions of stratospheric aerosol using an updated version of the Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model (WACCM). Improved horizontal resolution, dynamics, and chemistry now produce an internally generated quasi-biennial oscillation and significant improvements to stratospheric temperatures and ozone compared to observations. We present a validation of WACCM column ozone and climate calculations against observations. The prognostic treatment of stratospheric sulfate aerosols accurately represents the evolution of stratospheric aerosol optical depth and perturbations to solar and longwave radiation following the June 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo. We confirm the inclusion of interactive OH chemistry as an important factor in the formation and initial distribution of aerosol following large inputs of sulfur dioxide (SO2) to the stratosphere. We calculate that depletion of OH levels within the dense SO2 cloud in the first weeks following the Pinatubo eruption significantly prolonged the average initial e-folding decay time for SO2 oxidation to 47 days. Previous observational and model studies showing a 30 day decay time have not accounted for the large (30-55%) losses of SO2 on ash and ice within 7-9 days posteruption and have not correctly accounted for OH depletion. We examine the variability of aerosol evolution in free-running climate simulations due to meteorology, with comparison to simulations nudged with specified dynamics. We assess calculated impacts of volcanic aerosols on ozone loss with comparisons to observations. The completeness of the chemistry, dynamics, and aerosol microphysics in WACCM qualify it for studies of stratospheric sulfate aerosol geoengineering.

  19. First Evaluation of the CCAM Aerosol Simulation over Africa: Implications for Regional Climate Modeling

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Horowitz, H.; Garland, R. M.; Thatcher, M. J.; Naidoo, M.; van der Merwe, J.; Landman, W.; Engelbrecht, F.

    2015-12-01

    An accurate representation of African aerosols in climate models is needed to understand the regional and global radiative forcing and climate impacts of aerosols, at present and under future climate change. However, aerosol simulations in regional climate models for Africa have not been well-tested. Africa contains the largest single source of biomass-burning smoke aerosols and dust globally. Although aerosols are short-lived relative to greenhouse gases, black carbon in particular is estimated to be second only to carbon dioxide in contributing to warming on a global scale. Moreover, Saharan dust is exported great distances over the Atlantic Ocean, affecting nutrient transport to regions like the Amazon rainforest, which can further impact climate. Biomass burning aerosols are also exported from Africa, westward from Angola over the Atlantic Ocean and off the southeastern coast of South Africa to the Indian Ocean. Here, we perform the first extensive quantitative evaluation of the Conformal-Cubic Atmospheric Model (CCAM) aerosol simulation against monitored data, focusing on aerosol optical depth (AOD) observations over Africa. We analyze historical regional simulations for 1999 - 2012 from CCAM consistent with the experimental design of CORDEX at 50 km global horizontal resolution, through the dynamical downscaling of ERA-Interim data reanalysis data, with the CMIP5 emissions inventory (RCP8.5 scenario). CCAM has a prognostic aerosol scheme for organic carbon, black carbon, sulfate, and dust, and non-prognostic sea salt. The CCAM AOD at 550nm was compared to AOD (observed at 440nm, adjusted to 550nm with the Ångström exponent) from long-term AERONET stations across Africa. Sites strongly impacted by dust and biomass burning and with long continuous records were prioritized. In general, the model captures the monthly trends of the AERONET data. This presentation provides a basis for understanding how well aerosol particles are represented over Africa in

  20. Anomalies of the Asian Monsoon Induced by Aerosol Forcings

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Lau, William K. M.; Kim, M. K.

    2004-01-01

    Impacts of aerosols on the Asian summer monsoon are studied using the NASA finite volume General Circulation Model (fvGCM), with radiative forcing derived from three-dimensional distributions of five aerosol species i.e., black carbon, organic carbon, soil dust, and sea salt from the Goddard Chemistry Aerosol Radiation and Transport Model (GOCART). Results show that absorbing aerosols, i.e., black carbon and dust, induce large-scale upper-level heating anomaly over the Tibetan Plateau in April and May, ushering in & early onset of the Indian summer monsoon. Absorbing aerosols also I i enhance lower-level heating and anomalous ascent over northern India, intensifying the Indian monsoon. Overall, the aerosol-induced large-scale surface' temperature cooling leads to a reduction of monsoon rainfall over the East Asia continent, and adjacent oceanic regions.

  1. Tropospheric Aerosols

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Buseck, P. R.; Schwartz, S. E.

    2003-12-01

    It is widely believed that "On a clear day you can see forever," as proclaimed in the 1965 Broadway musical of the same name. While an admittedly beautiful thought, we all know that this concept is only figurative. Aside from Earth's curvature and Rayleigh scattering by air molecules, aerosols - colloidal suspensions of solid or liquid particles in a gas - limit our vision. Even on the clearest day, there are billions of aerosol particles per cubic meter of air.Atmospheric aerosols are commonly referred to as smoke, dust, haze, and smog, terms that are loosely reflective of their origin and composition. Aerosol particles have arisen naturally for eons from sea spray, volcanic emissions, wind entrainment of mineral dust, wildfires, and gas-to-particle conversion of hydrocarbons from plants and dimethylsulfide from the oceans. However, over the industrial period, the natural background aerosol has been greatly augmented by anthropogenic contributions, i.e., those produced by human activities. One manifestation of this impact is reduced visibility (Figure 1). Thus, perhaps more than in other realms of geochemistry, when considering the composition of the troposphere one must consider the effects of these activities. The atmosphere has become a reservoir for vast quantities of anthropogenic emissions that exert important perturbations on it and on the planetary ecosystem in general. Consequently, much recent research focuses on the effects of human activities on the atmosphere and, through them, on the environment and Earth's climate. For these reasons consideration of the geochemistry of the atmosphere, and of atmospheric aerosols in particular, must include the effects of human activities. (201K)Figure 1. Impairment of visibility by aerosols. Photographs at Yosemite National Park, California, USA. (a) Low aerosol concentration (particulate matter of aerodynamic diameter less than 2.5 μm, PM2.5=0.3 μg m-3; particulate matter of aerodynamic diameter less than 10

  2. The Aerosol Coarse Mode Initiative

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Arnott, W. P.; Adhikari, N.; Air, D.; Kassianov, E.; Barnard, J.

    2014-12-01

    Many areas of the world show an aerosol volume distribution with a significant coarse mode and sometimes a dominant coarse mode. The large coarse mode is usually due to dust, but sea salt aerosol can also play an important role. However, in many field campaigns, the coarse mode tends to be ignored, because it is difficult to measure. This lack of measurements leads directly to a concomitant "lack of analysis" of this mode. Because, coarse mode aerosols can have significant effects on radiative forcing, both in the shortwave and longwave spectrum, the coarse mode -- and these forcings -- should be accounted for in atmospheric models. Forcings based only on fine mode aerosols have the potential to be misleading. In this paper we describe examples of large coarse modes that occur in areas of large aerosol loading (Mexico City, Barnard et al., 2010) as well as small loadings (Sacramento, CA; Kassianov et al., 2012; and Reno, NV). We then demonstrate that: (1) the coarse mode can contribute significantly to radiative forcing, relative to the fine mode, and (2) neglecting the coarse mode may result in poor comparisons between measurements and models. Next we describe -- in general terms -- the limitations of instrumentation to measure the coarse mode. Finally, we suggest a new initiative aimed at examining coarse mode aerosol generation mechanisms; transport and deposition; chemical composition; visible and thermal IR refractive indices; morphology; microphysical behavior when deposited on snow and ice; and specific instrumentation needs. Barnard, J. C., J. D. Fast, G. Paredes-Miranda, W. P. Arnott, and A. Laskin, 2010: Technical Note: Evaluation of the WRF-Chem "Aerosol Chemical to Aerosol Optical Properties" Module using data from the MILAGRO campaign, Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 10, 7325-7340. Kassianov, E. I., M. S. Pekour, and J. C. Barnard, 2012: Aerosols in Central California: Unexpectedly large contribution of coarse mode to aerosol radiative forcing

  3. MODELS-3 COMMUNITY MULTISCALE AIR QUALITY (CMAQ) MODEL AEROSOL COMPONENT 1: MODEL DESCRIPTION

    EPA Science Inventory

    The aerosol component of the Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) model is designed to be an efficient and economical depiction of aerosol dynamics in the atmosphere. The approach taken represents the particle size distribution as the superposition of three lognormal subdis...

  4. Constraining Aerosol-Cloud-Precipitation Interactions of Orographic Mixed-Phase Clouds with Trajectory Budgets

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Glassmeier, F.; Lohmann, U.

    2016-12-01

    Orographic precipitation is prone to strong aerosol-cloud-precipitation interactions because the time for precipitation development is limited to the ascending section of mountain flow. At the same time, cloud microphysical development is constraint by the strong dynamical forcing of the orography. In this contribution, we discuss how changes in the amount and composition of droplet- and ice-forming aerosols influence precipitation in idealized simulations of stratiform orographic mixed-phase clouds. We find that aerosol perturbations trigger compensating responses of different precipitation formation pathways. The effect of aerosols is thus buffered. We explain this buffering by the requirement to fulfill aerosol-independent dynamical constraints. For our simulations, we use the regional atmospheric model COSMO-ART-M7 in a 2D setup with a bell-shaped mountain. The model is coupled to a 2-moment warm and cold cloud microphysics scheme. Activation and freezing rates are parameterized based on prescribed aerosol fields that are varied in number, size and composition. Our analysis is based on the budget of droplet water along trajectories of cloud parcels. The budget equates condensation as source term with precipitation formation from autoconversion, accretion, riming and the Wegener-Bergeron-Findeisen process as sink terms. Condensation, and consequently precipitation formation, is determined by dynamics and largely independent of the aerosol conditions. An aerosol-induced change in the number of droplets or crystals perturbs the droplet budget by affecting precipitation formation processes. We observe that this perturbation triggers adjustments in liquid and ice water content that re-equilibrate the budget. As an example, an increase in crystal number triggers a stronger glaciation of the cloud and redistributes precipitation formation from collision-coalescence to riming and from riming to vapor deposition. We theoretically confirm the dominant effect of water

  5. Simplified aerosol modeling for variational data assimilation

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Huneeus, N.; Boucher, O.; Chevallier, F.

    2009-11-01

    We have developed a simplified aerosol model together with its tangent linear and adjoint versions for the ultimate aim of optimizing global aerosol and aerosol precursor emission using variational data assimilation. The model was derived from the general circulation model LMDz; it groups together the 24 aerosol species simulated in LMDz into 4 species, namely gaseous precursors, fine mode aerosols, coarse mode desert dust and coarse mode sea salt. The emissions have been kept as in the original model. Modifications, however, were introduced in the computation of aerosol optical depth and in the processes of sedimentation, dry and wet deposition and sulphur chemistry to ensure consistency with the new set of species and their composition. The simplified model successfully manages to reproduce the main features of the aerosol distribution in LMDz. The largest differences in aerosol load are observed for fine mode aerosols and gaseous precursors. Differences between the original and simplified models are mainly associated to the new deposition and sedimentation velocities consistent with the definition of species in the simplified model and the simplification of the sulphur chemistry. Furthermore, simulated aerosol optical depth remains within the variability of monthly AERONET observations for all aerosol types and all sites throughout most of the year. Largest differences are observed over sites with strong desert dust influence. In terms of the daily aerosol variability, the model is less able to reproduce the observed variability from the AERONET data with larger discrepancies in stations affected by industrial aerosols. The simplified model however, closely follows the daily simulation from LMDz. Sensitivity analyses with the tangent linear version show that the simplified sulphur chemistry is the dominant process responsible for the strong non-linearity of the model.

  6. The Joint Aerosol-Monsoon Experiment: A New Challenge to Monsoon Climate Research

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Lau, William K. M.

    2008-01-01

    Aerosol and monsoon related droughts and floods are two of the most serious environmental hazards confronting more than 60% of the population of the world living in the Asian monsoon countries. In recent years, thanks to improved satellite and in-situ observations, and better models, great strides have been made in aerosol, and monsoon research respectively. There is now a growing body of evidence suggesting that interaction of aerosol forcing with water cycle dynamics in monsoon regions may substantially alter the redistribution of energy at the earth surface and in the atmosphere, and therefore significantly impact monsoon rainfall variability and long term trends. In this talk, I will describe issues related to societal needs, scientific background, and challenges in studies of aerosol-water cycle interaction in Asian monsoon regions. As a first step towards addressing these issues, the authors call for an integrated observation and modeling research approach aimed at the interactions between aerosol chemistry and radiative effects and monsoon dynamics of the coupled ocean-atmosphere-land system. A Joint Aerosol-Monsoon Experiment (JAMEX) is proposed for 2007-2011, with an enhanced observation period during 2008-09, encompassing diverse arrays of observations from surface, aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicles, and satellites of physical and chemical properties of aerosols, long range aerosol transport as well as meteorological and oceanographic parameters in the Indo-Pacific Asian monsoon region. JAMEX will leverage on coordination among many ongoing and planned national programs on aerosols and monsoon research in China, India, Japan, Nepal, Italy, US, as well as international research programs of the World Climate Research Program (WCRP) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

  7. Dispersion of aerosol particles in the atmosphere: Fukushima

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Haszpra, Tímea; Lagzi, István; Tél, Tamás

    2013-04-01

    Investigation of dispersion and deposition of aerosol particles in the atmosphere is an essential issue, because they have an effect on the biosphere and atmosphere. Moreover, aerosol particles have different transport properties and chemical and physical transformations in the atmosphere compared to gas phase air pollutants. The motion of a particle is described by a set of ordinary differential equations. The large-scale dynamics in the horizontal direction can be described by the equations of passive scalar advection, but in the vertical direction a well-defined terminal velocity should be taken into account as a term added to the vertical wind component. In the planetary boundary layer turbulent diffusion has an important role in the particle dispersion, which is taken into account by adding stochastic terms to the deterministic equations above. Wet deposition is also an essential process in the lower levels of the atmosphere, however, its precise parameterization is a challenge. For the simulations the wind field and other necessary data were taken from the ECMWF ERA-Interim database. In the case of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster (March-April 2011) radioactive aerosol particles were also released in the planetary boundary layer. Simulations (included the continuous and varying emission from the nuclear power plant) will be presented for the period of 14-23 March. Results show that wet deposition also has to be taken into consideration in the lower levels of the atmosphere. Furthermore, dynamical system characteristics are evaluated for the aerosol particle dynamics. The escape rate of particles was estimated both with and without turbulent diffusion, and in both cases when there was no wet deposition and also when wet deposition was taken into consideration.

  8. The impact of aerosol vertical distribution on aerosol optical depth retrieval using CALIPSO and MODIS data: Case study over dust and smoke regions

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wu, Yerong; de Graaf, Martin; Menenti, Massimo

    2017-08-01

    Global quantitative aerosol information has been derived from MODerate Resolution Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MODIS) observations for decades since early 2000 and widely used for air quality and climate change research. However, the operational MODIS Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) products Collection 6 (C6) can still be biased, because of uncertainty in assumed aerosol optical properties and aerosol vertical distribution. This study investigates the impact of aerosol vertical distribution on the AOD retrieval. We developed a new algorithm by considering dynamic vertical profiles, which is an adaptation of MODIS C6 Dark Target (C6_DT) algorithm over land. The new algorithm makes use of the aerosol vertical profile extracted from Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation (CALIPSO) measurements to generate an accurate top of the atmosphere (TOA) reflectance for the AOD retrieval, where the profile is assumed to be a single layer and represented as a Gaussian function with the mean height as single variable. To test the impact, a comparison was made between MODIS DT and Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) AOD, over dust and smoke regions. The results show that the aerosol vertical distribution has a strong impact on the AOD retrieval. The assumed aerosol layers close to the ground can negatively bias the retrievals in C6_DT. Regarding the evaluated smoke and dust layers, the new algorithm can improve the retrieval by reducing the negative biases by 3-5%.

  9. Impact of Assimilated and Interactive Aerosol on Tropical Cyclogenesis

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Reale, O.; Lau, K. M.; daSilva, A.; Matsui, T.

    2014-01-01

    This article investigates the impact 3 of Saharan dust on the development of tropical cyclones in the Atlantic. A global data assimilation and forecast system, the NASA GEOS-5, is used to assimilate all satellite and conventional data sets used operationally for numerical weather prediction. In addition, this new GEOS-5 version includes assimilation of aerosol optical depth from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS). The analysis so obtained comprises atmospheric quantities and a realistic 3-d aerosol and cloud distribution, consistent with the meteorology and validated against Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation (CALIPSO) and CloudSat data. These improved analyses are used to initialize GEOS-5 forecasts, explicitly accounting for aerosol direct radiative effects and their impact on the atmospheric dynamics. Parallel simulations with/without aerosol radiative effects show that effects of dust on static stability increase with time, becoming highly significant after day 5 and producing an environment less favorable to tropical cyclogenesis.

  10. Atmospheric Aerosol Properties and Climate Impacts

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Chin, Mian; Kahn, Ralph A.; Remer, Lorraine A.; Yu, Hongbin; Rind, David; Feingold, Graham; Quinn, Patricia K.; Schwartz, Stephen E.; Streets, David G.; DeCola, Phillip; hide

    2009-01-01

    This report critically reviews current knowledge about global distributions and properties of atmospheric aerosols, as they relate to aerosol impacts on climate. It assesses possible next steps aimed at substantially reducing uncertainties in aerosol radiative forcing estimates. Current measurement techniques and modeling approaches are summarized, providing context. As a part of the Synthesis and Assessment Product in the Climate Change Science Program, this assessment builds upon recent related assessments, including the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC AR4, 2007) and other Climate Change Science Program reports. The objectives of this report are (1) to promote a consensus about the knowledge base for climate change decision support, and (2) to provide a synthesis and integration of the current knowledge of the climate-relevant impacts of anthropogenic aerosols for policy makers, policy analysts, and general public, both within and outside the U.S government and worldwide.

  11. Impact of Aerosols on Convective Clouds and Precipitation

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Tao, Wei-Kuo; Chen, Jen-Ping; Li, Zhanqing; Wang, Chien; Zhang, Chidong

    2012-01-01

    Aerosols are a critical factor in the atmospheric hydrological cycle and radiation budget. As a major agent for clouds to form and a significant attenuator of solar radiation, aerosols affect climate in several ways. Current research suggests that aerosol effects on clouds could further extend to precipitation, both through the formation of cloud particles and by exerting persistent radiative forcing on the climate system that disturbs dynamics. However, the various mechanisms behind these effects, in particular the ones connected to precipitation, are not yet well understood. The atmospheric and climate communities have long been working to gain a better grasp of these critical effects and hence to reduce the significant uncertainties in climate prediction resulting from such a lack of adequate knowledge. Here we review past efforts and summarize our current understanding of the effect of aerosols on convective precipitation processes from theoretical analysis of microphysics, observational evidence, and a range of numerical model simulations. In addition, the discrepancy between results simulated by models, as well as that between simulations and observations, are presented. Specifically, this paper addresses the following topics: (1) fundamental theories of aerosol effects on microphysics and precipitation processes, (2) observational evidence of the effect of aerosols on precipitation processes, (3) signatures of the aerosol impact on precipitation from largescale analyses, (4) results from cloud-resolving model simulations, and (5) results from large-scale numerical model simulations. Finally, several future research directions for gaining a better understanding of aerosol--cloud-precipitation interactions are suggested.

  12. The impact of anthropogenic emissions on the otherwise pristine Amazonian rainforest: Insights on aerosol dynamics as observed during GoAmazon2014/5

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Carbone, S.; Ferreira De Brito, J.; Cirino, G. G.; Rizzo, L. V.; Holanda, B. A.; Barbosa, H. M.; Ditas, F.; Pöhlker, C.; Chi, X.; Krüger, M. L.; Moran, D.; Saturno, J.; Andreae, M. O.; de Sá, S. S.; Liu, Y.; Martin, S. T.; Souza, R. A. F. D.; Wang, J.; Palm, B. B.; Jimenez, J. L.; Artaxo, P.

    2015-12-01

    The Amazon Basin during the wet season has one of the lowest aerosol concentrations worldwide, with air masses with negligible human impact covering thousands of kilometers of pristine forest. The natural environment is strongly modified near urbanized areas, in particular Manaus, a city of nearly two million people. This unique location provides the ideal laboratory to study isolated urban emissions as well the pristine environment by perturbing it in a relatively known fashion. The GoAmazon2014/5 experiment was designed with these questions in mind, combining remote sensing, in situ, and airborne measurements. This manuscript describes the measurements taken at the T0 site, upwind of Manaus, (the Amazonian Tall Tower Observatory, ATTO site), at the T2 site, near Manaus, frequently impacted by relatively fresh emissions from the city and at T3, 60 km downwind of Manaus. This work relates the aerosol dynamics of the mixture of anthropogenic emissions from Manaus and the biogenic air masses, and how it evolves from T2 to T3 under different atmospheric conditions. Focus is on the aerosol size distribution, supported by aerosol mass spectrometry and gas-phase composition, in particular at the T2 site. At T0, the aerosol number concentration has been observed to increase from an average of 380 cm-3 to 1750 cm-3 from the wet to the dry season. The mean geometric diameter increased as well, from 95 nm to 145 nm. Interestingly, at the T2 site no significant difference was observed in number concentration between wet and dry seasons (approximately 4300 cm-3) with an average diameter of 60 nm during the former and 97 nm in the latter. Such measurements provide a unique dataset to understand the aerosol life cycle and the impact of urban emissions in the heart of the Amazon Forest.

  13. Current Status of Aerosol Retrievals from TOMS

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Torres, O.; Herman, J. R.; Bhartia, P. K.; Ginoux, P.

    1999-01-01

    Properties of atmospheric aerosols over all land and water surfaces are retrieved from TOMS measurements of backscattered radiances. The TOMS technique, uses observations at two wavelengths. In the near ultraviolet (330-380 nm) range, where the effects of gaseous absorption are negligible. The retrieved properties are optical depth and a measure of aerosol absorptivity, generally expressed as single scattering albedo. The main sources of error of the TOMS aerosol products are sub-pixel cloud contamination and uncertainty on the height above the surface of UV-absorbing aerosol layers. The first error source is related to the large footprint (50 x 50 km at nadir) of the sensor, and the lack of detection capability of sub-pixel size clouds. The uncertainty associated with the height of the absorbing aerosol layers, on the other hand, is related to the pressure dependence of the molecular scattering process, which is the basis of the near-UV method of absorbing aerosol detection. The detection of non-absorbing aerosols is not sensitive to aerosol layer height. We will report on the ongoing work to overcome both of these difficulties. Coincident measurements of high spatial resolution thermal infrared radiances are used to address the cloud contamination issue. Mostly clear scenes for aerosol retrieval are selected by examining the spatial homogeneity of the IR radiance measurements within a TOMS pixel. The approach to reduce the uncertainty associated with the height of the aerosol layer by making use of a chemical transport model will also be discussed.

  14. Aerosol indirect effects on summer precipitation in a regional climate model for the Euro-Mediterranean region

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Da Silva, Nicolas; Mailler, Sylvain; Drobinski, Philippe

    2018-03-01

    Aerosols affect atmospheric dynamics through their direct and semi-direct effects as well as through their effects on cloud microphysics (indirect effects). The present study investigates the indirect effects of aerosols on summer precipitation in the Euro-Mediterranean region, which is located at the crossroads of air masses carrying both natural and anthropogenic aerosols. While it is difficult to disentangle the indirect effects of aerosols from the direct and semi-direct effects in reality, a numerical sensitivity experiment is carried out using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model, which allows us to isolate indirect effects, all other effects being equal. The Mediterranean hydrological cycle has often been studied using regional climate model (RCM) simulations with parameterized convection, which is the approach we adopt in the present study. For this purpose, the Thompson aerosol-aware microphysics scheme is used in a pair of simulations run at 50 km resolution with extremely high and low aerosol concentrations. An additional pair of simulations has been performed at a convection-permitting resolution (3.3 km) to examine these effects without the use of parameterized convection. While the reduced radiative flux due to the direct effects of the aerosols is already known to reduce precipitation amounts, there is still no general agreement on the sign and magnitude of the aerosol indirect forcing effect on precipitation, with various processes competing with each other. Although some processes tend to enhance precipitation amounts, some others tend to reduce them. In these simulations, increased aerosol loads lead to weaker precipitation in the parameterized (low-resolution) configuration. The fact that a similar result is obtained for a selected area in the convection-permitting (high-resolution) configuration allows for physical interpretations. By examining the key variables in the model outputs, we propose a causal chain that links the aerosol

  15. DEPOSITION OF SULFATE ACID AEROSOLS IN THE DEVELOPING HUMAN LUNG

    EPA Science Inventory

    Computations of aerosol deposition as affected by (i) aerosol hygroscopicity, (ii) human age, and (iii) respiratory intensity are accomplished using a validated mathematical model. he interactive effects are very complicated but systematic. ew general observations can be made; ra...

  16. Lidar measurements of wildfire smoke aerosols in the atmosphere above Sofia, Bulgaria

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Peshev, Zahary Y.; Deleva, Atanaska D.; Dreischuh, Tanja N.; Stoyanov, Dimitar V.

    2016-01-01

    Presented are results of lidar measurements and characterization of wildfire caused smoke aerosols observed in the atmosphere above the city of Sofia, Bulgaria, related to two local wildfires raging in forest areas near the city. A lidar systems based on a frequency-doubled Nd:YAG laser operated at 532 nm and 1064 nm is used in the smoke aerosol observations. It belongs to the Sofia LIDAR Station (at Laser Radars Laboratory, Institute of Electronics, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences), being a part of the European Aerosol Lidar Network. Optical, dynamical, microphysical, and geometrical properties and parameters of the observed smoke aerosol particles and layers are displayed and analyzed, such as: range/height-resolved profiles of the aerosol backscatter coefficient; integral aerosol backscattering; sets of colormaps displaying time series of the height distribution of the aerosol density; topologic, geometric, and volumetric properties of the smoke aerosol layers; time-averaged height profiles of backscatter-related Ångström exponent (BAE). Obtained results of retrieving and profiling smoke aerosols are commented in their relations to available meteorological and air-mass-transport forecasting and modelling data.

  17. Comparing multiple model-derived aerosol optical properties to spatially collocated ground-based and satellite measurements

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ocko, Ilissa B.; Ginoux, Paul A.

    2017-04-01

    Anthropogenic aerosols are a key factor governing Earth's climate and play a central role in human-caused climate change. However, because of aerosols' complex physical, optical, and dynamical properties, aerosols are one of the most uncertain aspects of climate modeling. Fortunately, aerosol measurement networks over the past few decades have led to the establishment of long-term observations for numerous locations worldwide. Further, the availability of datasets from several different measurement techniques (such as ground-based and satellite instruments) can help scientists increasingly improve modeling efforts. This study explores the value of evaluating several model-simulated aerosol properties with data from spatially collocated instruments. We compare aerosol optical depth (AOD; total, scattering, and absorption), single-scattering albedo (SSA), Ångström exponent (α), and extinction vertical profiles in two prominent global climate models (Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, GFDL, CM2.1 and CM3) to seasonal observations from collocated instruments (AErosol RObotic NETwork, AERONET, and Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization, CALIOP) at seven polluted and biomass burning regions worldwide. We find that a multi-parameter evaluation provides key insights on model biases, data from collocated instruments can reveal underlying aerosol-governing physics, column properties wash out important vertical distinctions, and improved models does not mean all aspects are improved. We conclude that it is important to make use of all available data (parameters and instruments) when evaluating aerosol properties derived by models.

  18. Evidence for Limited Indirect Aerosol Forcing in Stratocumulus

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Ackerman, Andrew S.; Toon, O. B.; Stevens, D. E.

    2003-01-01

    Increases in cloud cover and condensed water contribute more than half of the indirect aerosol effect in an ensemble of general circulation model (GCM) simulations estimating the global radiative forcing of anthropogenic aerosols. We use detailed simulations of marine stratocumulus clouds and airborne observations of ship tracks to show that increases in cloud cover and condensed water in reality are far less than represented by the GCM ensemble. Our results offer an explanation for recent simplified inverse climate calculations indicating that indirect aerosol effects are greatly exaggerated in GCMs.

  19. Ground-based Network and Supersite Measurements for Studying Aerosol Properties and Aerosol-Cloud Interactions

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Tsay, Si-Chee; Holben, Brent N.

    2008-01-01

    capability of AERONET SMART-COMMIT in current Asian Monsoon Year-2008 campaigns that are designed and being executed to study the compelling variability in temporal scale of both anthropogenic and natural aerosols (e.g., airborne dust, smoke, mega-city pollutant). Feedback mechanisms between aerosol radiative effects and monsoon dynamics have been recently proposed, however there is a lack of consensus on whether aerosol forcing would be more likely to enhance or reduce the strength of the monsoon circulation. We envision robust approaches which well-collocated ground-based measurements and space-borne observations will greatly advance our understanding of absorbing aerosols (e.g., "Global Dimming" vs. "Elevated Heat-Pump" effects) on aerosol cloud water cycle interactions.

  20. Impacts of East Asian Sulfate Aerosols on Local and Remote Climate

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bartlett, R. E.; Bollasina, M. A.

    2017-12-01

    Anthropogenic aerosols exert significant climate forcing, which increases with emissions following trends of growing population and industry. Globally, aerosols cause a net cooling, counteracting greenhouse gas warming; however, regional impacts vary since emissions are spatially and temporally heterogeneous. While European and North American emissions have decreased in recent decades, Asian, particularly East Asian, emissions continued to rise into the 21st century. In addition to links between Asian anthropogenic aerosols and significant local climate impacts - for example, changes to the Asian monsoon system - studies have also shown influences on remote climate. Sulfate aerosols are particularly important for East Asia, remaining at constant levels higher than column burdens of other aerosol species. If a concerted effort - as laid out by government policies aiming to improve air quality - is made, the effects of anthropogenic aerosols (due to their short atmospheric lifetime) could be quickly reversed. Thus, it is vital to understand the climate impact aerosols have had up to now to aid in determining what will happen in the future. We use transient climate modelling experiments with the Community Earth System Model to investigate the impacts of East Asian sulfate aerosols in the present day compared to 1950 (i.e. before rapid industrialisation in this region), focusing on dynamical mechanisms leading to the occurrence of such impacts, and how their influence can spread to remote regions. We find, in addition to significant monsoon impacts, noticeable shifts in large-scale circulation features such as the ITCZ and the Pacific Walker cell. Through diabatic heating responses, changes to upper-level atmospheric dynamics are evident, leading to downstream effects on surface climate - for example, surface cooling over Europe. Understanding of these impacts is vital when considering how the good intentions of air quality improvement might inadvertently have

  1. Toward Investigating Optically Trapped Organic Aerosols with CARS Microspectroscopy

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Voss, L. F.

    2009-12-01

    The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change notes the huge uncertainty in the effect that atmospheric aerosols play in determining overall global temperature, specifically in their ability to nucleate clouds. To better understand aerosol chemistry, the novel coupling of gradient force optical trapping with broad bandwidth coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (CARS) spectroscopy is being developed to study single particles suspended in air. Building on successful designs employed separately for the techniques, this hybrid technology will be used to explain how the oxidation of organic compounds changes the chemical and physical properties of aerosols. By trapping the particles, an individual aerosol can be studied for up to several days. Using a broad bandwidth pulse for one of the incident beams will result in a Raman vibrational spectrum from every laser pulse. Combined with signal enhancement due to resonance and coherence of nonlinear CARS spectroscopy, this technique will allow for acquisition of data on the millisecond time scale, facilitating the study of dynamic processes. This will provide insights on how aerosols react with and absorb species from the gas phase. These experiments will increase understanding of aerosol oxidation and growth mechanisms and the effects that aerosols have on our atmosphere and climate. Progress in efforts developing this novel technique to study model systems is presented.

  2. Environmental Technology Verification: Supplement to Test/QA Plan for Biological and Aerosol Testing of General Ventilation Air Cleaners; Bioaerosol Inactivation Efficiency by HVAC In-Duct Ultraviolet Light Air Cleaners

    EPA Science Inventory

    The Air Pollution Control Technology Verification Center has selected general ventilation air cleaners as a technology area. The Generic Verification Protocol for Biological and Aerosol Testing of General Ventilation Air Cleaners is on the Environmental Technology Verification we...

  3. Aerosol Complexity and Implications for Predictability and Short-Term Forecasting

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Colarco, Peter

    2016-01-01

    There are clear NWP and climate impacts from including aerosol radiative and cloud interactions. Changes in dynamics and cloud fields affect aerosol lifecycle, plume height, long-range transport, overall forcing of the climate system, etc. Inclusion of aerosols in NWP systems has benefit to surface field biases (e.g., T2m, U10m). Including aerosol affects has impact on analysis increments and can have statistically significant impacts on, e.g., tropical cyclogenesis. Above points are made especially with respect to aerosol radiative interactions, but aerosol-cloud interaction is a bigger signal on the global system. Many of these impacts are realized even in models with relatively simple (bulk) aerosol schemes (approx.10 -20 tracers). Simple schemes though imply simple representation of aerosol absorption and importantly for aerosol-cloud interaction particle-size distribution. Even so, more complex schemes exhibit a lot of diversity between different models, with issues such as size selection both for emitted particles and for modes. Prospects for complex sectional schemes to tune modal (and even bulk) schemes toward better selection of size representation. I think this is a ripe topic for more research -Systematic documentation of benefits of no vs. climatological vs. interactive (direct and then direct+indirect) aerosols. Document aerosol impact on analysis increments, inclusion in NWP data assimilation operator -Further refinement of baseline assumptions in model design (e.g., absorption, particle size distribution). Did not get into model resolution and interplay of other physical processes with aerosols (e.g., moist physics, obviously important), chemistry

  4. Characterization of aerosol composition, concentrations, and sources at Baengnyeong Island, Korea using an aerosol mass spectrometer

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lee, Taehyoung; Choi, Jinsoo; Lee, Gangwoong; Ahn, Junyoung; Park, Jin Soo; Atwood, Samuel A.; Schurman, Misha; Choi, Yongjoo; Chung, Yoomi; Collett, Jeffrey L.

    2015-11-01

    To improve understanding of the sources and chemical properties of particulate pollutants on the western side of the Korean Peninsula, an Aerodyne High Resolution Time of Flight Aerosol Mass Spectrometer (HR-ToF-AMS) measured non-refractory fine (PM1) particles from May to November, 2011 at Baengnyeong Island, South Korea. Organic matter and sulfate were generally the most abundant species and exhibited maximum concentrations of 36 μg/m3 and 39 μg/m3, respectively. Nitrate concentrations peaked at 32 μg/m3 but were typically much lower than sulfate and organic matter concentrations. May, September, October, and November featured the highest monthly average concentrations, with lower concentrations typically observed from June through August. Potential source contribution function (PSCF) analysis and individual case studies revealed that transport from eastern China, an area with high SO2 emissions, was associated with high particulate sulfate concentrations at the measurement site. Observed sulfate aerosol sometimes was fully neutralized by ammonium but often was acidic; the average ammonium to sulfate molar ratio was 1.49. Measured species size distributions revealed a range of sulfate particle size distributions with modes between 100 and 600 nm. Organic aerosol source regions were widespread, including contributions from eastern China and South Korea. Positive matrix factorization (PMF) analysis indicated three "factors," or types of organic aerosol, comprising one primary, hydrocarbon-like organic aerosol (HOA) and two oxidized organic aerosol (OOA) components, including a more oxidized (MO-OOA) and a less oxidized (LO-OOA) oxidized organic aerosol. On average, HOA and OOA contributed 21% and 79% of the organic mass (OM), respectively, with the MO-OOA fraction nearly three times as abundant as the LO-OOA fraction. Biomass burning contributions to observed OM were low during the late spring/early summer agricultural burning season in eastern China, since

  5. MODELING THE FORMATION OF SECONDARY ORGANIC AEROSOL WITHIN A COMPREHENSIVE AIR QUALITY MODEL SYSTEM

    EPA Science Inventory

    The aerosol component of the CMAQ model is designed to be an efficient and economical depiction of aerosol dynamics in the atmosphere. The approach taken represents the particle size distribution as the superposition of three lognormal subdistributions, called modes. The proces...

  6. Assimilation of MODIS and VIIRS AOD to improve aerosols forecasts with FV3-GOCART

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Pagowski, M.

    2017-12-01

    In 2016 NOAA chose the FV3 dynamical core as a basis for its future global modeling system. We present an implementation of aerosol module in the FV3 model and its assimilation framework. The parameterization of aerosols is based on the GOCART scheme. The assimilation methodology relies on hybrid 3D-Var and EnKF methods. Aerosol observations include aerosol optical depth at 550 nm from VIIRS satellite. Results and evaluation of the system against independent observations and NASA's MERRA-2 is shown.

  7. Simulation of the Ozone Monitoring Instrument Aerosol Index Using the NASA Goddard Earth Observing System Aerosol Reanalysis Products

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Colarco, Peter R.; Gasso, Santiago; Ahn, Changwoo; Buchard, Virginie; Da Silva, Arlindo M.; Torres, Omar

    2017-01-01

    We provide an analysis of the commonly used Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) aerosol index (AI) product for qualitative detection of the presence and loading of absorbing aerosols. In our analysis, simulated top-of-atmosphere (TOA) radiances are produced at the OMI footprints from a model atmosphere and aerosol profile provided by the NASA Goddard Earth Observing System (GEOS-5) Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications aerosol reanalysis (MERRAero). Having established the credibility of the MERRAero simulation of the OMI AI in a previous paper we describe updates in the approach and aerosol optical property assumptions. The OMI TOA radiances are computed in cloud-free conditions from the MERRAero atmospheric state, and the AI is calculated. The simulated TOA radiances are fed to the OMI aerosol retrieval algorithms, and its retrieved AI (OMAERUV AI) is compared to the MERRAero calculated AI. Two main sources of discrepancy are discussed: one pertaining the OMI algorithm assumptions of the surface pressure, which are generally different from what the actual surface pressure of an observation is, and the other related to simplifying assumptions in the molecular atmosphere radiative transfer used in the OMI algorithms. Surface pressure assumptions lead to systematic biases in the OMAERUV AI, particularly over the oceans. Simplifications in the molecular radiative transfer lead to biases particularly in regions of topography intermediate to surface pressures of 600hPa and 1013.25hPa. Generally, the errors in the OMI AI due to these considerations are less than 0.2 in magnitude, though larger errors are possible, particularly over land. We recommend that future versions of the OMI algorithms use surface pressures from readily available atmospheric analyses combined with high-spatial resolution topographic maps and include more surface pressure nodal points in their radiative transfer lookup tables.

  8. Simulation of the Ozone Monitoring Instrument aerosol index using the NASA Goddard Earth Observing System aerosol reanalysis products

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Colarco, Peter R.; Gassó, Santiago; Ahn, Changwoo; Buchard, Virginie; da Silva, Arlindo M.; Torres, Omar

    2017-11-01

    We provide an analysis of the commonly used Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) aerosol index (AI) product for qualitative detection of the presence and loading of absorbing aerosols. In our analysis, simulated top-of-atmosphere (TOA) radiances are produced at the OMI footprints from a model atmosphere and aerosol profile provided by the NASA Goddard Earth Observing System (GEOS-5) Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications aerosol reanalysis (MERRAero). Having established the credibility of the MERRAero simulation of the OMI AI in a previous paper we describe updates in the approach and aerosol optical property assumptions. The OMI TOA radiances are computed in cloud-free conditions from the MERRAero atmospheric state, and the AI is calculated. The simulated TOA radiances are fed to the OMI near-UV aerosol retrieval algorithms (known as OMAERUV) is compared to the MERRAero calculated AI. Two main sources of discrepancy are discussed: one pertaining to the OMI algorithm assumptions of the surface pressure, which are generally different from what the actual surface pressure of an observation is, and the other related to simplifying assumptions in the molecular atmosphere radiative transfer used in the OMI algorithms. Surface pressure assumptions lead to systematic biases in the OMAERUV AI, particularly over the oceans. Simplifications in the molecular radiative transfer lead to biases particularly in regions of topography intermediate to surface pressures of 600 and 1013.25 hPa. Generally, the errors in the OMI AI due to these considerations are less than 0.2 in magnitude, though larger errors are possible, particularly over land. We recommend that future versions of the OMI algorithms use surface pressures from readily available atmospheric analyses combined with high-spatial-resolution topographic maps and include more surface pressure nodal points in their radiative transfer lookup tables.

  9. Characterization of aerosols produced by surgical procedures

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Yeh, H.C.; Muggenburg, B.A.; Lundgren, D.L.

    1994-07-01

    In many surgeries, especially orthopedic procedures, power tools such as saws and drills are used. These tools may produce aerosolized blood and other biological material from bone and soft tissues. Surgical lasers and electrocautery tools can also produce aerosols when tissues are vaporized and condensed. Studies have been reported in the literature concerning production of aerosols during surgery, and some of these aerosols may contain infectious material. Garden et al. (1988) reported the presence of papilloma virus DNA in the fumes produced from laser surgery, but the infectivity of the aerosol was not assessed. Moon and Nininger (1989) measured themore » size distribution and production rate of emissions from laser surgery and found that particles were generally less than 0.5 {mu}m diameter. More recently there has been concern expressed over the production of aerosolized blood during surgical procedures that require power tools. In an in vitro study, the production of an aerosol containing the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) was reported when power tools were used to cut tissues with blood infected with HIV. Another study measured the size distribution of blood aerosols produced by surgical power tools and found blood-containing particles in a number of size ranges. Health care workers are anxious and concerned about whether surgically produced aerosols are inspirable and can contain viable pathogens such as HIV. Other pathogens such as hepatitis B virus (HBV) are also of concern. The Occupational Safety and Health funded a project at the National Institute for Inhalation Toxicology Research Institute to assess the extent of aerosolization of blood and other tissues during surgical procedures. This document reports details of the experimental and sampling approach, methods, analyses, and results on potential production of blood-associated aerosols from surgical procedures in the laboratory and in the hospital surgical suite.« less

  10. Thermal relaxation and collective dynamics of interacting aerosol-generated hexagonal NiFe2O4 nanoparticles.

    PubMed

    Ortega, D; Kuznetsov, M V; Morozov, Yu G; Belousova, O V; Parkin, I P

    2013-12-28

    This article reports on the magnetic properties of interacting uncoated nickel ferrite (NiFe2O4) nanoparticles synthesized through an aerosol levitation-jet technique. A comprehensive set of samples with different compositions of background gas and metal precursors, as well as applied electric field intensities, has been studied. Nanoparticles prepared under a field of 210 kV m(-1) show moderately high-field irreversibility and shifted hysteresis loops after field-cooling, also exhibiting a joint temperature decrease of the exchange field and coercivity. The appearance of memory effects has been checked using the genuine ZFC protocol and the observed behavior cannot be fully explained in terms of thermal relaxation. Although dipolar interactions prevail, exchange interactions occur to a certain extent within a narrow range of applied fields. The origin of the slow dynamics in the system is found to be given by the interplay of the distribution of energy barriers due to size dispersion and the cooperative dynamics associated with frustrated interactions.

  11. An Aerosol Physical Chemistry Model for the Upper Troposphere

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Lin, Jin-Sheng

    2001-01-01

    This report is the final report for the Cooperative Agreement NCC2-1000. The tasks outlined in the various proposals are: (1) Development of an aerosol chemistry model; (2) Utilization of satellite measurements of trace gases along with analysis of temperatures and dynamic conditions to understand ice cloud formation, dehydration and sedimentation in the winter polar regions; (3) Comparison of the HALOE and SAGE II time dependencies of the Pinatubo aerosol decay. The publications are attached.

  12. LES of Laminar-to-Turbulent Particle-Fluid Dynamics in Human and Nonhuman Primate Airways: Applications to Aerosolized Drug Delivery Animal Testing

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Geisler, Taylor; Padhy, Sourav; Shaqfeh, Eric; Iaccarino, Gianluca

    2016-11-01

    Both the human health benefit and risk from the inhalation of aerosolized medications is often predicted by extrapolating experimental data taken using nonhuman primates to human inhalation. In this study, we employ Large Eddy Simulation to simulate particle-fluid dynamics in realistic upper airway models of both humans and rhesus monkeys. We report laminar-to-turbulent flow transitions triggered by constrictions in the upper trachea and the persistence of unsteadiness into the low Reynolds number bifurcating lower airway. Micro-particle deposition fraction and locations are shown to depend significantly on particle size. In particular, particle filtration in the nasal airways is shown to approach unity for large aerosols (8 microns) or high-rate breathing. We validate the accuracy of LES mean flow predictions using MRV imaging results. Additionally, particle deposition fractions are validated against experiments in 3 model airways.

  13. Impact of Aerosols on Convective Clouds and Precipitation

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Tao, Wei-Kuo; Chen, Jen-Ping; Li, Zhanqing; Wang, Chien; Zhang, Chidong

    2011-01-01

    Aerosols are a critical factor in the atmospheric hydrological cycle and radiation budget. As a major reason for clouds to form and a significant attenuator of solar radiation, aerosols affect climate in several ways. Current research suggests that aerosol effects on clouds could further extend to precipitation, both through the formation of cloud particles and by exerting persistent radiative forcing on the climate system that disturbs dynamics. However, the various mechanisms behind these effects, in particular the ones connected to precipitation, are not yet well understood. The atmospheric and climate communities have long been working to gain a better grasp of these critical effects and hence to reduce the significant uncertainties in climate prediction resulting from such a lack of adequate knowledge. The central theme of this paper is to review past efforts and summarize our current understanding of the effect of aerosols on precipitation processes from theoretical analysis of microphysics, observational evidence, and a range of numerical model simulations. In addition, the discrepancy between results simulated by models, as well as that between simulations and observations will be presented. Specifically, this paper will address the following topics: (1) fundamental theories of aerosol effects on microphysics and precipitation processes, (2) observational evidence of the effect of aerosols on precipitation processes, (3) signatures of the aerosol impact on precipitation from large-scale analyses, (4) results from cloud-resolving model simulations, and (5) results from large-scale numerical model simulations. Finally, several future research directions on aerosol - precipitation interactions are suggested.

  14. Aerosols and their Impact on Radiation, Clouds, Precipitation & Severe Weather Events

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Li, Zhanqing; Rosenfeld, Daniel; Fan, Jiwen

    Aerosols, the tiny particles suspended in the atmosphere, have been in the forefront of environmental and climate change sciences as the primary atmospheric pollutant and external force affecting Earth’s weather and climate. There are two dominant mechanisms by which aerosols affect weather and climate: aerosol-radiation interactions (ARI) and aerosol-cloud interactions (ACI). ARI arises from aerosol scattering and absorption, which alters the radiation budgets of the atmosphere and surface, while ACI is rooted to the fact that aerosols serve as cloud condensation nuclei and ice nuclei. Both ARI and ACI are coupled with atmospheric dynamics to produce a chain of complexmore » interactions with a large range of meteorological variables that influence both weather and climate. Elaborated here are the impacts of aerosols on the radiation budget, clouds (microphysics, structure, and lifetime), precipitation, and severe weather events (lightning, thunderstorms, hail, and tornados). Depending on environmental variables and aerosol properties, the effects can be both positive and negative, posing the largest uncertainties in the external forcing of the climate system. This has considerably hindered our ability in projecting future climate changes and in doing accurate numerical weather predictions.« less

  15. Assessing fullness of asthma patients' aerosol inhalers.

    PubMed Central

    Rickenbach, M A; Julious, S A

    1994-01-01

    BACKGROUND. The importance of regular medication in order to control asthma symptoms is recognized. However, there is no accurate mechanism for assessing the fullness of aerosol inhalers. The contribution to asthma morbidity of unexpectedly running out of inhaled medication is unknown. AIM. A study was undertaken to determine how patients assess inhaler fullness and the accuracy of their assessments, and to evaluate the floatation method of assessing inhaler fullness. METHOD. An interview survey of 98 patients (51% of those invited to take part), using 289 inhalers, was completed at one general practice in Hampshire. RESULTS. One third of participants said they had difficulty assessing aerosol inhaler fullness and those aged 60 years and over were found to be more inaccurate in assessing fullness than younger participants. Shaking the inhaler to feel the contents move was the commonest method of assessment. When placed in water, an inhaler canister floating on its side with a corner of the canister valve exposed to air indicates that the canister is less than 15% full (sensitivity 90%, specificity 99%). CONCLUSION. Floating a canister in water provides an objective measurement of aerosol inhaler fullness. Providing the method is recommended by the aerosol inhaler manufacturer, general practitioners should demonstrate the floatation method to patients experiencing difficulty in assessing inhaler fullness. PMID:7619099

  16. Assessing fullness of asthma patients' aerosol inhalers.

    PubMed

    Rickenbach, M A; Julious, S A

    1994-07-01

    The importance of regular medication in order to control asthma symptoms is recognized. However, there is no accurate mechanism for assessing the fullness of aerosol inhalers. The contribution to asthma morbidity of unexpectedly running out of inhaled medication is unknown. A study was undertaken to determine how patients assess inhaler fullness and the accuracy of their assessments, and to evaluate the floatation method of assessing inhaler fullness. An interview survey of 98 patients (51% of those invited to take part), using 289 inhalers, was completed at one general practice in Hampshire. One third of participants said they had difficulty assessing aerosol inhaler fullness and those aged 60 years and over were found to be more inaccurate in assessing fullness than younger participants. Shaking the inhaler to feel the contents move was the commonest method of assessment. When placed in water, an inhaler canister floating on its side with a corner of the canister valve exposed to air indicates that the canister is less than 15% full (sensitivity 90%, specificity 99%). Floating a canister in water provides an objective measurement of aerosol inhaler fullness. Providing the method is recommended by the aerosol inhaler manufacturer, general practitioners should demonstrate the floatation method to patients experiencing difficulty in assessing inhaler fullness.

  17. Lidar Investigation of Aerosol Pollution Distribution near a Coal Power Plant

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Mitsev, TS.; Kolarov, G.

    1992-01-01

    Using aerosol lidars with high spatial and temporal resolution with the possibility of real-time data interpretation can solve a large number of ecological problems related to the aerosol-field distribution and variation and the structure of convective flows. Significantly less expensive specialized lidars are used in studying anthropogenic aerosols in the planetary boundary layer. Here, we present results of lidar measurements of the mass-concentration field around a coal-fired power plant with intensive local aerosol sources. We studied the pollution evolution as a function of the emission dynamics and the presence of retaining layers. The technique used incorporates complex analysis of three types of lidar mapping: horizontal map of the aerosol field, vertical cross-section map, and a series of profiles along a selected path. The lidar-sounding cycle was performed for the time of atmosphere's quasi-stationarity.

  18. Type-Dependent Responses of Ice Cloud Properties to Aerosols From Satellite Retrievals

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zhao, Bin; Gu, Yu; Liou, Kuo-Nan; Wang, Yuan; Liu, Xiaohong; Huang, Lei; Jiang, Jonathan H.; Su, Hui

    2018-04-01

    Aerosol-cloud interactions represent one of the largest uncertainties in external forcings on our climate system. Compared with liquid clouds, the observational evidence for the aerosol impact on ice clouds is much more limited and shows conflicting results, partly because the distinct features of different ice cloud and aerosol types were seldom considered. Using 9-year satellite retrievals, we find that, for convection-generated (anvil) ice clouds, cloud optical thickness, cloud thickness, and cloud fraction increase with small-to-moderate aerosol loadings (<0.3 aerosol optical depth) and decrease with further aerosol increase. For in situ formed ice clouds, however, these cloud properties increase monotonically and more sharply with aerosol loadings. An increase in loading of smoke aerosols generally reduces cloud optical thickness of convection-generated ice clouds, while the reverse is true for dust and anthropogenic pollution aerosols. These relationships between different cloud/aerosol types provide valuable constraints on the modeling assessment of aerosol-ice cloud radiative forcing.

  19. Aerosol Retrievals Using Channel 1 and 2 AVHRR Data

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Mishchenko, Michael I.; Geogdzhayev, Igor V.; Cairns, Brian; Rossow, William B.

    1999-01-01

    The effect of tropospheric aerosols on global climate via the direct and indirect radiative forcings is one of the largest remaining uncertainties in climate change studies. Current assessments of the direct aerosol radiative effect mainly focus on sulfate aerosols. It has become clear, however, that other aerosol types like soil dust and smoke from biomass burning are also likely to be important climate forcing factors. The magnitude and even the sign of the climate forcing caused by these aerosol types is still unknown. General circulation models (GCMs) can be used to estimate the climatic effect of the direct radiative forcing by tropospheric and stratospheric aerosols. Aerosol optical properties are already parameterized in the Goddard Institute for Space Studies GCM. Once the global distribution of aerosol properties (optical thickness, size distribution, and chemical composition) is available, the calculation of the direct aerosol forcing is rather straighfforward. However, estimates of the indirect aerosol effect require additional knowledge of the physics and chemistry of aerosol-cloud interactions which are still poorly understood. One of the main objectives of the Global Aerosol Climatology Project, established in 1998 as a joint initiative of NASA's Radiation Science Program and GEWEX, is to infer the global distribution of aerosols, their properties, and their seasonal and interannual variations for the full period of available satellite data. This will be accomplished primarily through a systematic application of multichannel aerosol retrieval algorithms to existing satellite data and advanced 3-dimensional aerosol chemistry/transport models. In this paper we outline the methodology of analyzing channel 1 and 2 AVHRR radiance data over the oceans and describe preliminary retrieval results.

  20. Assessment of Aerosol Distributions from GEOS-5 Using the CALIPSO Feature Mask

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Welton, Ellsworth

    2010-01-01

    A-train sensors such as MODIS, MISR, and CALIPSO are used to determine aerosol properties, and in the process a means of estimating aerosol type (e.g. smoke vs. dust). Correct classification of aerosol type is important for climate assessment, air quality applications, and for comparisons and analysis with aerosol transport models. The Aerosols-Clouds-Ecosystems (ACE) satellite mission proposed in the NRC Decadal Survey describes a next generation aerosol and cloud suite similar to the current A-train, including a lidar. The future ACE lidar must be able to determine aerosol type effectively in conjunction with modeling activities to achieve ACE objectives. Here we examine the current capabilities of CALIPSO and the NASA Goddard Earth Observing System general circulation model and data assimilation system (GEOS-5), to place future ACE needs in context. The CALIPSO level 2 feature mask includes vertical profiles of aerosol layers classified by type. GEOS-5 provides global 3D aerosol mass for sulfate, sea salt, dust, and black and organic carbon. A GEOS aerosol scene classification algorithm has been developed to provide estimates of aerosol mixtures and extinction profiles along the CALIPSO orbit track. In previous work, initial comparisons between GEOS-5 derived aerosol mixtures and CALIPSO derived aerosol types were presented for July 2007. In general, the results showed that model and lidar derived aerosol types did not agree well in the boundary layer. Agreement was poor over Europe, where CALIPSO indicated the presence of dust and pollution mixtures yet GEOS-5 was dominated by pollution with little dust. Over the ocean in the tropics, the model appeared to contain less sea salt than detected by CALIPSO, yet at high latitudes the situation was reserved. Agreement between CALIPSO and GEOS-5, aerosol types improved above the boundary layer, primarily in dust and smoke dominated regions. At higher altitudes (> 5 km), the model contained aerosol layers not detected

  1. Indian aerosols: present status.

    PubMed

    Mitra, A P; Sharma, C

    2002-12-01

    This article presents the status of aerosols in India based on the research activities undertaken during last few decades in this region. Programs, like International Geophysical Year (IGY), Monsoon Experiment (MONEX), Indian Middle Atmospheric Program (IMAP) and recently conducted Indian Ocean Experiment (INDOEX), have thrown new lights on the role of aerosols in global change. INDOEX has proved that the effects of aerosols are no longer confined to the local levels but extend at regional as well as global scales due to occurrence of long range transportation of aerosols from source regions along with wind trajectories. The loading of aerosols in the atmosphere is on rising due to energy intensive activities for developmental processes and other anthropogenic activities. One of the significant observation of INDOEX is the presence of high concentrations of carbonaceous aerosols in the near persistent winter time haze layer over tropical Indian Ocean which have probably been emitted from the burning of fossil-fuels and biofuels in the source region. These have significant bearing on the radiative forcing in the region and, therefore, have potential to alter monsoon and hydrological cycles. In general, the SPM concentrations have been found to be on higher sides in ambient atmosphere in many Indian cities but the NOx concentrations have been found to be on lower side. Even in the haze layer over Indian Ocean and surrounding areas, the NOx concentrations have been reported to be low which is not conducive of O3 formation in the haze/smog layer. The acid rain problem does not seem to exist at the moment in India because of the presence of neutralizing soil dust in the atmosphere. But the high particulate concentrations in most of the cities' atmosphere in India are of concern as it can cause deteriorated health conditions.

  2. Using the OMI Aerosol Index and Absorption Aerosol Optical Depth to evaluate the NASA MERRA Aerosol Reanalysis

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Buchard, V.; da Silva, A. M.; Colarco, P. R.; Darmenov, A.; Randles, C. A.; Govindaraju, R.; Torres, O.; Campbell, J.; Spurr, R.

    2014-12-01

    A radiative transfer interface has been developed to simulate the UV Aerosol Index (AI) from the NASA Goddard Earth Observing System version 5 (GEOS-5) aerosol assimilated fields. The purpose of this work is to use the AI and Aerosol Absorption Optical Depth (AAOD) derived from the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) measurements as independent validation for the Modern Era Retrospective analysis for Research and Applications Aerosol Reanalysis (MERRAero). MERRAero is based on a version of the GEOS-5 model that is radiatively coupled to the Goddard Chemistry, Aerosol, Radiation, and Transport (GOCART) aerosol module and includes assimilation of Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) sensor. Since AI is dependent on aerosol concentration, optical properties and altitude of the aerosol layer, we make use of complementary observations to fully diagnose the model, including AOD from the Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR), aerosol retrievals from the Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) and attenuated backscatter coefficients from the Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation (CALIPSO) mission to ascertain potential misplacement of plume height by the model. By sampling dust, biomass burning and pollution events in 2007 we have compared model produced AI and AAOD with the corresponding OMI products, identifying regions where the model representation of absorbing aerosols was deficient. As a result of this study over the Saharan dust region, we have obtained a new set of dust aerosol optical properties that retains consistency with the MODIS AOD data that were assimilated, while resulting in better agreement with aerosol absorption measurements from OMI. The analysis conducted over the South African and South American biomass burning regions indicates that revising the spectrally-dependent aerosol absorption properties in the near-UV region improves the modeled-observed AI comparisons

  3. Using the OMI aerosol index and absorption aerosol optical depth to evaluate the NASA MERRA Aerosol Reanalysis

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Buchard, V.; da Silva, A. M.; Colarco, P. R.; Darmenov, A.; Randles, C. A.; Govindaraju, R.; Torres, O.; Campbell, J.; Spurr, R.

    2015-05-01

    A radiative transfer interface has been developed to simulate the UV aerosol index (AI) from the NASA Goddard Earth Observing System version 5 (GEOS-5) aerosol assimilated fields. The purpose of this work is to use the AI and aerosol absorption optical depth (AAOD) derived from the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) measurements as independent validation for the Modern Era Retrospective analysis for Research and Applications Aerosol Reanalysis (MERRAero). MERRAero is based on a version of the GEOS-5 model that is radiatively coupled to the Goddard Chemistry, Aerosol, Radiation, and Transport (GOCART) aerosol module and includes assimilation of aerosol optical depth (AOD) from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) sensor. Since AI is dependent on aerosol concentration, optical properties and altitude of the aerosol layer, we make use of complementary observations to fully diagnose the model, including AOD from the Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR), aerosol retrievals from the AErosol RObotic NETwork (AERONET) and attenuated backscatter coefficients from the Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation (CALIPSO) mission to ascertain potential misplacement of plume height by the model. By sampling dust, biomass burning and pollution events in 2007 we have compared model-produced AI and AAOD with the corresponding OMI products, identifying regions where the model representation of absorbing aerosols was deficient. As a result of this study over the Saharan dust region, we have obtained a new set of dust aerosol optical properties that retains consistency with the MODIS AOD data that were assimilated, while resulting in better agreement with aerosol absorption measurements from OMI. The analysis conducted over the southern African and South American biomass burning regions indicates that revising the spectrally dependent aerosol absorption properties in the near-UV region improves the modeled-observed AI comparisons

  4. Assessment of aerosol indirect effects over Indian subcontinent using long term MODIS aerosol and cloud data

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Das, Saurabh; Maitra, Animesh; Saha, Upal; De, Arijit

    Aerosols have direct consequences on climate research and in climate change study due to its role in radiative forcing. The modulation of cloud properties due to the presence of aerosol is another important factor in understanding of the climate change scenario. However, the relationship between these two is mostly indirect as the meteorological conditions have a strong impact on the relationship. Cloud effective radius and decreases in precipitation efficiency are interlinked with the increase of aerosols. The net effect is that the cloud liquid water path and cloud lifetime increase with AOD. Though these facts are included in the global climate models (GCM), the quantitative estimation of aerosol indirect efficiency (AIE) varied widely. Some recent studies indicate an increasing trend of the aerosol optical depth over the Indian landmass. The anthropogenic activities are linked with this increase in aerosols. In general, aerosol increase can affect the cloud radius and leads to formation of non-precipitating cloud. However, the chemical composition of aerosols may also be an important factor. It is therefore necessary to have better understanding of the relationship for predicting the future climate which may be affected by such human activities. In this paper, the relation of aerosol optical depth (AOD) with cloud effective radius (CER) has been investigated over the Indian subcontinent using the long term MODIS observations. MODIS can able to provide reliable AOD information over the land surface. It also able to provide information of the cloud effective radius of the same observation point. A grid-wise correlation analysis can thus be performed to estimate the relation between AOD and CER. Result indicates both positive and negative AIE of AOD on CER. To identify the possible reason for such variability in the AIE, the role of anthropogenic aerosols and water vapor is investigated. The study on the efficiency of aerosol indirect effect indicates that a large

  5. Aerosol microphysical and radiative effects on continental cloud ensembles

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wang, Yuan; Vogel, Jonathan M.; Lin, Yun; Pan, Bowen; Hu, Jiaxi; Liu, Yangang; Dong, Xiquan; Jiang, Jonathan H.; Yung, Yuk L.; Zhang, Renyi

    2018-02-01

    Aerosol-cloud-radiation interactions represent one of the largest uncertainties in the current climate assessment. Much of the complexity arises from the non-monotonic responses of clouds, precipitation and radiative fluxes to aerosol perturbations under various meteorological conditions. In this study, an aerosol-aware WRF model is used to investigate the microphysical and radiative effects of aerosols in three weather systems during the March 2000 Cloud Intensive Observational Period campaign at the US Southern Great Plains. Three simulated cloud ensembles include a low-pressure deep convective cloud system, a collection of less-precipitating stratus and shallow cumulus, and a cold frontal passage. The WRF simulations are evaluated by several ground-based measurements. The microphysical properties of cloud hydrometeors, such as their mass and number concentrations, generally show monotonic trends as a function of cloud condensation nuclei concentrations. Aerosol radiative effects do not influence the trends of cloud microphysics, except for the stratus and shallow cumulus cases where aerosol semi-direct effects are identified. The precipitation changes by aerosols vary with the cloud types and their evolving stages, with a prominent aerosol invigoration effect and associated enhanced precipitation from the convective sources. The simulated aerosol direct effect suppresses precipitation in all three cases but does not overturn the aerosol indirect effect. Cloud fraction exhibits much smaller sensitivity (typically less than 2%) to aerosol perturbations, and the responses vary with aerosol concentrations and cloud regimes. The surface shortwave radiation shows a monotonic decrease by increasing aerosols, while the magnitude of the decrease depends on the cloud type.

  6. Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment (SAGE 3)

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Mccormick, M. P.

    1993-01-01

    The proposed SAGE III instrument would be the principal source of data for global changes of stratospheric aerosols, stratospheric water vapor, and ozone profiles, and a contributing source of data for upper tropospheric water vapor, aerosols, and clouds. The ability to obtain such data has been demonstrated by the predecessor instrument, SAGE II, but SAGE III will be substantially more capable, as discussed below. The capabilities for monitoring the profiles of atmospheric constituents have been verified in detail, including ground-based validations, for aerosol, ozone, and water vapor. Indeed, because of its self-calibrating characteristics, SAGE II was an essential component of the international ozone trend assessments, and SAGE II is now proving to be invaluable in tracking the aerosols from Mt. Pinatubo. Although SAGE profiles generally terminate at the height of the first tropospheric cloud layer, it has been found that the measurements extend down to 3 km altitude more than 40 percent of the time at most latitudes. Thus, useful information can also be obtained on upper tropospheric aerosols, water vapor, and ozone.

  7. Intercomparison between CMIP5 model and MODIS satellite-retrieved data of aerosol optical depth, cloud fraction, and cloud-aerosol interactions

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sockol, Alyssa; Small Griswold, Jennifer D.

    2017-08-01

    Aerosols are a critical component of the Earth's atmosphere and can affect the climate of the Earth through their interactions with solar radiation and clouds. Cloud fraction (CF) and aerosol optical depth (AOD) at 550 nm from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) are used with analogous cloud and aerosol properties from Historical Phase 5 of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5) model runs that explicitly include anthropogenic aerosols and parameterized cloud-aerosol interactions. The models underestimate AOD by approximately 15% and underestimate CF by approximately 10% overall on a global scale. A regional analysis is then used to evaluate model performance in two regions with known biomass burning activity and absorbing aerosol (South America (SAM) and South Africa (SAF)). In SAM, the models overestimate AOD by 4.8% and underestimate CF by 14%. In SAF, the models underestimate AOD by 35% and overestimate CF by 13.4%. Average annual cycles show that the monthly timing of AOD peaks closely match satellite data in both SAM and SAF for all except the Community Atmosphere Model 5 and Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL) models. Monthly timing of CF peaks closely match for all models (except GFDL) for SAM and SAF. Sorting monthly averaged 2° × 2.5° model or MODIS CF as a function of AOD does not result in the previously observed "boomerang"-shaped CF versus AOD relationship characteristic of regions with absorbing aerosols from biomass burning. Cloud-aerosol interactions, as observed using daily (or higher) temporal resolution data, are not reproducible at the spatial or temporal resolution provided by the CMIP5 models.

  8. Biological aerosol background characterization

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Blatny, Janet; Fountain, Augustus W., III

    2011-05-01

    To provide useful information during military operations, or as part of other security situations, a biological aerosol detector has to respond within seconds or minutes to an attack by virulent biological agents, and with low false alarms. Within this time frame, measuring virulence of a known microorganism is extremely difficult, especially if the microorganism is of unknown antigenic or nucleic acid properties. Measuring "live" characteristics of an organism directly is not generally an option, yet only viable organisms are potentially infectious. Fluorescence based instruments have been designed to optically determine if aerosol particles have viability characteristics. Still, such commercially available biological aerosol detection equipment needs to be improved for their use in military and civil applications. Air has an endogenous population of microorganisms that may interfere with alarm software technologies. To design robust algorithms, a comprehensive knowledge of the airborne biological background content is essential. For this reason, there is a need to study ambient live bacterial populations in as many locations as possible. Doing so will permit collection of data to define diverse biological characteristics that in turn can be used to fine tune alarm algorithms. To avoid false alarms, improving software technologies for biological detectors is a crucial feature requiring considerations of various parameters that can be applied to suppress alarm triggers. This NATO Task Group will aim for developing reference methods for monitoring biological aerosol characteristics to improve alarm algorithms for biological detection. Additionally, they will focus on developing reference standard methodology for monitoring biological aerosol characteristics to reduce false alarm rates.

  9. Carbonaceous Aerosol Removal During Precipitation Events: Climate Implications

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Gaffney, J. S.; Marley, N. A.; Bridges, G. L.; Marchany-Rivera, A.; Begum, M.

    2009-12-01

    Atmospheric aerosols and their links to clouds are one of the main focus areas of the Department of Energy’s Atmospheric Systems Research, due to the fact that aerosols and clouds constitute the major uncertainties in radiative forcing that need to be reduced for more accurate modeling of climate, particularly regional climate. The impact of absorbing aerosols on radiative balance of the atmosphere will depend on their atmospheric lifetimes as well as their UV-visible absorption profiles. Aerosol lifetimes depend on the aerosols ability to take up water and grow to sufficient size to be either removed by gravitational settling or to act as cloud condensation nuclei and be removed by precipitation scavenging. The investigation of uv-visible absorbing aerosols is underway using a seven-channel aethalometer to evaluate the change in aerosol optical absorption during precipitation events. Angstrom absorption exponents (AAEs) are determined before, during, and after rain events to examine the impact on the aerosol absorption profiles anticipated by removal of the water soluble short-wave absorbing species (i.e. HULIS) that can be produced by photochemical oxidation of biogenic emissions (isoprene, monoterpenes, sesquiterpenes). Aerosol absorption data are presented from observations made at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and other sites, which clearly show that a significant amount of absorbing carbon is not removed during rain events, and that the organic matter removed is likely secondary organics produced from biogenic precursors. The dissolved organic carbon measured in precipitation samples along with determinations of natural radionuclide tracers are also used to help examine the extent of carbonaceous aerosol removal by precipitation. The data are discussed in terms of the potential impacts of anthropogenic enhancement of aerosol absorption by secondary organic aerosols adding to atmospheric heating and changes in atmospheric dynamics. The potential

  10. Some fundamentals regarding kinematics and generalized forces for multibody dynamics

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Hodges, Dewey H.

    1990-01-01

    In order to illustrate the various forms in which generalized forces can arise from diverse subsystem analyses in multibody dynamics, intrinsic dynamical equations for the rotational dynamics of a rigid body are derived from Hamilton's principle. Two types of generalized forces are derived: (1) those associated with the virtual rotation vector in some orthogonal basis, and (2) those associated with varying generalized coordinates. As one physical or kinematical result (such as a frequency or a specific direction cosine) cannot rely on this selection, a 'blind' coupling of two models in which generalized forces are calculated in different ways would be wrong. Both types should use the same rotational coordinates and should denote the virtual rotation on a similar basis according to method 1, or in terms of common rotational coordinates and their diversifications as in method 2. Alternatively, the generalized forces and coordinates of one model may be transformed to those of the other.

  11. Breaker zone aerosol dynamics in the southern Baltic Sea

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Zielinski, T.; Zielinski, A.

    This paper presents the results of lidar based investigations of aerosol concentrations and their size distributions over the breaker zones. The measurements were carried out under various weather conditions over breaker zones of the Gulf of Gdansk (1992) and from a station on the open Baltic Sea (International Experiment BAEX in 1993).

  12. Organic Aerosols from SÃO Paulo and its Relationship with Aerosol Absorption and Scattering Properties

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Artaxo, P.; Brito, J. F.; Rizzo, L. V.

    2012-12-01

    nm h-1. Interestingly enough there were also events were condensed vapors were evaporating from the condensed phase thus shrinking the size of the particles in all sizes. Aerosol optical thickness was relatively small at 0.1-0.3 at 500 nm, with high daily variability, showing how meteorological conditions are critical for the observed aerosol concentrations. The study allows the characterization of a unique fueled fleet emissions and its impact on atmospheric chemistry, particle formation and other atmospheric dynamic processes.

  13. Aerosol fluxes and dynamics within and above a tropical rainforest in South-East Asia

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Whitehead, J. D.; Gallagher, M. W.; Dorsey, J. R.; Robinson, N.; Gabey, A. M.; Coe, H.; McFiggans, G.; Flynn, M. J.; Ryder, J.; Nemitz, E.; Davies, F.

    2010-10-01

    Atmospheric aerosol measurements were conducted near Danum Valley, in the Malaysian state of Sabah, North-East Borneo, as part of the OP3 and ACES projects, in April and June/July 2008. Here, aerosol fluxes and diurnal variability in and above the rainforest canopy were examined in order to gain an understanding of their behaviour in the surface layer of the South-East Asian rainforest. Aerosol fluxes were calculated by eddy covariance from measurements above the rainforest canopy on the Global Atmosphere Watch (GAW) tower. Upward fluxes were seen on most mornings between 09:00 and 11:00 local time and this could be attributed to venting of the nocturnal boundary layer as it broke up in the morning. Measurements were also conducted within the canopy and trunk space at a nearby site. Profiles in aerosol number concentrations were investigated using GRIMM Optical Particle Counters (OPCs) at various levels within the rainforest canopy and trunk space, as well as a single OPC on a vertically moving platform. These showed an overnight increase in larger particles (1-20 μm) at all levels, but much more prominently near the top of the canopy, which could be attributed to fog formation. At ground level, number concentrations in this size range correlated with enhancements in biological aerosol concentrations, measured using a Wide Issue Bioaerosol Spectrometer (WIBS) located near the forest floor, suggesting that coarse particle number concentrations were dominated by biological aerosols. A comparison of particle number concentrations (in the size range 0.5-1.0 μm) between above canopy and the trunk space showed correlations, despite turbulence data suggesting persistent decoupling between the two measurement sites. These correlations often relied on a shift of the particle time-series against each other, implying a time delay in observations between the sites, which varied according to time of day. This lag time was shortest during the middle of the day by a significant

  14. Direct radiative effect by multicomponent aerosol over China

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Huang, Xin; Song, Yu; Zhao, Chun

    The direct radiative effect (DRE) of multiple aerosol species (sulfate, nitrate, ammonium, black carbon (BC), organic carbon (OC), and mineral aerosol) and their spatiotemporal variations over China were investigated using a fully coupled meteorology–chemistry model (WRF-Chem) for the entire year of 2006. We made modifications to improve model performance, including updating land surface parameters, improving the calculation of transition metal-catalyzed oxidation of SO 2, and adding in heterogeneous reactions between mineral aerosol and acid gases. The modified model well reproduced the magnitude, seasonal pattern, and spatial distribution of the measured meteorological conditions, concentrations of PM 10 and its components, andmore » aerosol optical depth (AOD). A diagnostic iteration method was used to estimate the overall DRE of aerosols and contributions from different components. At the land surface, all kinds of aerosol species reduced the incident net radiation flux with a total DRE of 10.2 W m -2 over China. Aerosols significantly warm the atmosphere with the national mean DRE of +10.8 W m -2. BC was the leading radiative-heating component (+8.7 W m -2), followed by mineral aerosol (+1.1 W m -2). At the top of the atmosphere (TOA), BC introduced the largest radiative perturbation (+4.5 W m -2), followed by sulfate (-1.4 W m -2). The overall perturbation of aerosols on radiation transfer is quite small over China, demonstrating the counterbalancing effect between scattering and adsorbing aerosols. Aerosol DRE at the TOA had distinct seasonality, generally with a summer maximum and winter minimum, mainly determined by mass loadings, hygroscopic growth, and incident radiation flux.« less

  15. Informing Aerosol Transport Models With Satellite Multi-Angle Aerosol Measurements

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Limbacher, J.; Patadia, F.; Petrenko, M.; Martin, M. Val; Chin, M.; Gaitley, B.; Garay, M.; Kalashnikova, O.; Nelson, D.; Scollo, S.

    2011-01-01

    As the aerosol products from the NASA Earth Observing System's Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) mature, we are placing greater focus on ways of using the aerosol amount and type data products, and aerosol plume heights, to constrain aerosol transport models. We have demonstrated the ability to map aerosol air-mass-types regionally, and have identified product upgrades required to apply them globally, including the need for a quality flag indicating the aerosol type information content, that varies depending upon retrieval conditions. We have shown that MISR aerosol type can distinguish smoke from dust, volcanic ash from sulfate and water particles, and can identify qualitative differences in mixtures of smoke, dust, and pollution aerosol components in urban settings. We demonstrated the use of stereo imaging to map smoke, dust, and volcanic effluent plume injection height, and the combination of MISR and MODIS aerosol optical depth maps to constrain wildfire smoke source strength. This talk will briefly highlight where we stand on these application, with emphasis on the steps we are taking toward applying the capabilities toward constraining aerosol transport models, planet-wide.

  16. Impacts of Aerosol-Monsoon Interaction on Rainfall and Circulation over Northern India and the Himalaya Foothills

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Lau, William K. M.; Kim, Kyu-Myong; Shi, Jainn-Jong; Matsui, T.; Chin, M.; Tan, Qian; Peters-Lidard, C.; Tao, W. K.

    2016-01-01

    The boreal summer of 2008 was unusual for the Indian monsoon, featuring exceptional heavy loading of dust aerosols over the Arabian Sea and northern-central India, near normal all- India rainfall, but excessive heavy rain, causing disastrous flooding in the Northern Indian Himalaya Foothills (NIHF) regions, accompanied by persistent drought conditions in central and southern India. Using NASA Unified-physics Weather Research Forecast (NUWRF) model with fully interactive aerosol physics and dynamics, we carried out three sets of 7-day ensemble model forecast experiments: 1) control with no aerosol, 2) aerosol radiative effect only and 3) aerosol radiative and aerosol-cloud-microphysics effects, to study the impacts of aerosol monsoon interactions on monsoon variability over the NIHF during the summer of 2008. Results show that aerosol-radiation interaction (ARI), i.e., dust aerosol transport, and dynamical feedback processes induced by aerosol-radiative heating, plays a key role in altering the large scale monsoon circulation system, reflected by an increased north-south tropospheric temperature gradient, a northward shift of heavy monsoon rainfall, advancing the monsoon onset by 1-5 days over the HF, consistent with the EHP hypothesis (Lau et al. 2006). Additionally, we found that dust aerosols, via the semi-direct effect, increase atmospheric stability, and cause the dissipation of a developing monsoon onset cyclone over northeastern India northern Bay of Bengal. Eventually, in a matter of several days, ARI transforms the developing monsoon cyclone into mesoscale convective cells along the HF slopes. Aerosol-Cloud-microphysics Interaction (ACI) further enhances the ARI effect in invigorating the deep convection cells and speeding up the transformation processes. Results indicate that even in short-term (up to weekly) numerical forecasting of monsoon circulation and rainfall, effects of aerosol-monsoon interaction can be substantial and cannot be ignored.

  17. Impacts of aerosol-monsoon interaction on rainfall and circulation over Northern India and the Himalaya Foothills

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lau, William K. M.; Kim, Kyu-Myong; Shi, Jainn-Jong; Matsui, T.; Chin, M.; Tan, Qian; Peters-Lidard, C.; Tao, W. K.

    2017-09-01

    The boreal summer of 2008 was unusual for the Indian monsoon, featuring exceptional heavy loading of dust aerosols over the Arabian Sea and northern-central India, near normal all-India rainfall, but excessive heavy rain, causing disastrous flooding in the Northern Indian Himalaya Foothills (NIHF) regions, accompanied by persistent drought conditions in central and southern India. Using the NASA Unified-physics Weather Research Forecast (NUWRF) model with fully interactive aerosol physics and dynamics, we carried out three sets of 7-day ensemble model forecast experiments: (1) control with no aerosol, (2) aerosol radiative effect only and (3) aerosol radiative and aerosol-cloud-microphysics effects, to study the impacts of aerosol-monsoon interactions on monsoon variability over the NIHF during the summer of 2008. Results show that aerosol-radiation interaction (ARI), i.e., dust aerosol transport, and dynamical feedback processes induced by aerosol-radiative heating, plays a key role in altering the large-scale monsoon circulation system, reflected by an increased north-south tropospheric temperature gradient, a northward shift of heavy monsoon rainfall, advancing the monsoon onset by 1-5 days over the HF, consistent with the EHP hypothesis (Lau et al. in Clim Dyn 26(7-8):855-864, 2006). Additionally, we found that dust aerosols, via the semi-direct effect, increase atmospheric stability, and cause the dissipation of a developing monsoon onset cyclone over northeastern India/northern Bay of Bengal. Eventually, in a matter of several days, ARI transforms the developing monsoon cyclone into meso-scale convective cells along the HF slopes. Aerosol-Cloud-microphysics Interaction (ACI) further enhances the ARI effect in invigorating the deep convection cells and speeding up the transformation processes. Results indicate that even in short-term (up to weekly) numerical forecasting of monsoon circulation and rainfall, effects of aerosol-monsoon interaction can be

  18. Global View of Aerosol Vertical Distributions from CALIPSO Lidar Measurements and GOCART Simulations: Regional and Seasonal Variations

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Yu, Hongbin; Chin, Mian; Winker, David M.; Omar, Ali H.; Liu, Zhaoyan; Kittaka, Chieko; Diehl, Thomas

    2010-01-01

    This study examines seasonal variations of the vertical distribution of aerosols through a statistical analysis of the Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations (CALIPSO) lidar observations from June 2006 to November 2007. A data-screening scheme is developed to attain good quality data in cloud-free conditions, and the polarization measurement is used to separate dust from non-dust aerosol. The CALIPSO aerosol observations are compared with aerosol simulations from the Goddard Chemistry Aerosol Radiation Transport (GOCART) model and aerosol optical depth (AOD) measurements from the MODerate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS). The CALIPSO observations of geographical patterns and seasonal variations of AOD are generally consistent with GOCART simulations and MODIS retrievals especially near source regions, while the magnitude of AOD shows large discrepancies in most regions. Both the CALIPSO observation and GOCART model show that the aerosol extinction scale heights in major dust and smoke source regions are generally higher than that in industrial pollution source regions. The CALIPSO aerosol lidar ratio also generally agrees with GOCART model within 30% on regional scales. Major differences between satellite observations and GOCART model are identified, including (1) an underestimate of aerosol extinction by GOCART over the Indian sub-continent, (2) much larger aerosol extinction calculated by GOCART than observed by CALIPSO in dust source regions, (3) much weaker in magnitude and more concentrated aerosol in the lower atmosphere in CALIPSO observation than GOCART model over transported areas in midlatitudes, and (4) consistently lower aerosol scale height by CALIPSO observation than GOCART model. Possible factors contributing to these differences are discussed.

  19. Influence of Convection and Aerosol Pollution on Ice Cloud Particle Effective Radius

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Jiang, J. H.; Su, H.; Zhai, C.; Massie, S. T.; Schoeberl, M. R.; Colarco, P. R.; Platnick, S.; Gu, Y.; Liou, K.-N.

    2011-01-01

    Satellite observations show that ice cloud effective radius (r(sub e)) increases with ice water content (IWC) but decreases with aerosol optical thickness (AOT). Using least-squares fitting to the observed data, we obtain an analytical formula to describe the variations of r(sub e) with IWC and AOT for several regions with distinct characteristics of r(sub e) -IWC-AOT relationships. As IWC directly relates to convective strength and AOT represents aerosol loading, our empirical formula provides a means to quantify the relative roles of dynamics and aerosols in controlling r(sub e) in different geographical regions, and to establish a framework for parameterization of aerosol effects on r(sub e) in climate models.

  20. Generalized Dynamic Equations Related to Condensation and Freezing Processes

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wang, Xingrong; Huang, Yong

    2018-01-01

    The generalized thermodynamic equation related to condensation and freezing processes was derived by introducing the condensation and freezing probability function into the dynamic framework based on the statistical thermodynamic fluctuation theory. As a result, the physical mechanism of some weather phenomena covered by using δ(0,1) can in turn be studied and uncovered. From the generalized dynamic equations, the tendency equation of the generalized potential vorticity (GPV) is derived. From the discussion of tendency equation of GPV, in some very thin transitional areas, GPV is found nonconserved because of the introduction of the condensation and freezing probability function, even in frictionless and moist adiabatic air motion.

  1. Aerosol-based detectors for liquid chromatography.

    PubMed

    Magnusson, Lars-Erik; Risley, Donald S; Koropchak, John A

    2015-11-20

    Aerosol-based detectors developed within the last few decades have increasingly addressed the need for sensitive, universal liquid chromatography detection in a wide variety of applications. Herein, we review the operating principles, instrumentation, analytical characteristics, and recent applications of the three general types of such detectors: evaporative light scattering detection (ELSD), condensation nucleation light scattering detection (CNLSD); commercially known as the nano-quantity analyte detector (NQAD), and charged aerosol detection (CAD). Included is a comparative evaluation of the operational and analytical characteristics of these detectors. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  2. The thermal infrared radiance properties of dust aerosol over ocean

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hao, Zengzhou; Pan, Delu; Tu, Qianguang; Gong, Fang; Chen, Jianyu

    2015-10-01

    Asian dust storms, which can long-range transport to ocean, often occur on spring. The present of Asian dust aerosols over ocean makes some difficult for other studies, such as cloud detection, and also take some advantage for ocean, such as take nutrition into the ocean by dry or wet deposition. Therefore, it is important to study the dust aerosol and retrieve the properties of dust from satellite observations that is mainly from the thermal infrared radiance. In this paper, the thermal infrared radiance properties of dust aerosol over ocean are analyzed from MODIS and MTSAT2 observations and Streamer model simulations. By analyzing some line samples and a series of dust aerosol region, it shows that the dust aerosol brightness temperature at 12μm (BT12) is always greater than BT11 and BT8.5, and BT8.5 is general greater than BT11. The brightness temperature different between 11μm and 12μm (BTD11-12) increases with the dust intensity. And the BTD11-12 will become positive when the atmospheric relative humidity is greater than 70%. The BTD11-12 increases gradually with the surface temperature while the effect on BTD11-12 of dust layer temperature is not evident. Those are caused by the transmission of the dust aerosol is different at the two thermal infrared channels. During daytime, dust infrared brightness temperature at mid-infrared bands should reduce the visual radiance, which takes about 25K or less. In general, BT3.7 is greater than BT11 for dust aerosol. Those results are helpful to monitor or retrieve dust aerosol physical properties over ocean from satellite.

  3. Measurements of Semi-volatile Aerosol and Its Effect on Aerosol Optical Properties During Southern Oxidant and Aerosol Study

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Khlystov, A.; Grieshop, A. P.; Saha, P.; Subramanian, R.

    2013-12-01

    Semi-volatile compounds, including particle-bound water, comprise a large part of aerosol mass and have a significant influence on aerosol lifecycle and its optical properties. Understanding the properties of semi-volatile compounds, especially those pertaining to gas/aerosol partitioning, is of critical importance for our ability to predict concentrations and properties of ambient aerosol. A set of state-of-the-art instruments was deployed at the SEARCH site near Centerville, AL during the Southern Oxidant and Aerosol Study (SOAS) campaign in summer 2013 to measure the effect of temperature and relative humidity on aerosol size distribution, composition and optical properties. Light scattering and absorption by temperature- and humidity-conditioned aerosols was measured using three photo-acoustic extinctiometers (PAX) at three wavelengths (405 nm, 532 nm, and 870 nm). In parallel to these measurements, a long residence time temperature-stepping thermodenuder and a variable residence time constant temperature thermodenuder in combination with three SMPS systems and an Aerosol Chemical Speciation Monitor (ACSM) were used to assess aerosol volatility and kinetics of aerosol evaporation. It was found that both temperature and relative humidity have a strong effect on aerosol optical properties. The variable residence time thermodenuder data suggest that aerosol equilibrated fairly quickly, within 2 s, in contrast to other ambient observations. Preliminary analysis show that approximately 50% and 90% of total aerosol mass evaporated at temperatures of 100 C and 180C, respectively. Evaporation varied substantially with ambient aerosol loading and composition and meteorology. During course of this study, T50 (temperatures at which 50% aerosol mass evaporates) varied from 60 C to more than 120 C.

  4. Impact of aerosol vertical distribution on aerosol direct radiative effect and heating rate in the Mediterranean region

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Pappas, Vasileios; Hatzianastassiou, Nikolaos; Matsoukas, Christos; Koras Carracca, Mario; Kinne, Stefan; Vardavas, Ilias

    2015-04-01

    It is now well-established that aerosols cause an overall cooling effect at the surface and a warming effect within the atmosphere. At the top of the atmosphere (TOA), both positive and negative forcing can be found, depending on a number of other factors, such as surface albedo and relative position of clouds and aerosols. Whilst aerosol surface cooling is important due to its relation with surface temperature and other bio-environmental reasons, atmospheric heating is of special interest as well having significant impacts on atmospheric dynamics, such as formation of clouds and subsequent precipitation. The actual position of aerosols and their altitude relative to clouds is of major importance as certain types of aerosol, such as black carbon (BC) above clouds can have a significant impact on planetary albedo. The vertical distribution of aerosols and clouds has recently drawn the attention of the aerosol community, because partially can account for the differences between simulated aerosol radiative forcing with various models, and therefore decrease the level of our uncertainty regarding aerosol forcing, which is one of our priorities set by IPCC. The vertical profiles of aerosol optical and physical properties have been studied by various research groups around the world, following different methodologies and using various indices in order to present the impact of aerosols on radiation on different altitudes above the surface. However, there is still variability between the published results as to the actual effect of aerosols on shortwave radiation and on heating rate within the atmosphere. This study uses vertical information on aerosols from the Max Planck Aerosol Climatology (MAC-v1) global dataset, which is a combination of model output with quality ground-based measurements, in order to provide useful insight into the vertical profile of atmospheric heating for the Mediterranean region. MAC-v1 and the science behind this aerosol dataset have already

  5. Aerosol direct and indirect radiative effect over Eastern Mediterranean

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Georgoulias, Aristeidis; Alexandri, Georgia; Zanis, Prodromos; Ntogras, Christos; Poeschl, Ulrich; Kourtidis, Kostas

    In this work, we present results from the QUADIEEMS project which is focused on the aerosol-cloud relations and the aerosol direct and indirect radiative effect over the region of Eastern Mediterranean. First, a gridded dataset at a resolution of 0.1x0.1 degrees (~10km) with aerosol and cloud related parameters was compiled, using level-2 satellite observations from MODIS TERRA (3/2000-12/2012) and AQUA (7/2002-12/2012). The aerosol gridded dataset has been validated against sunphotometric measurements from 12 AERONET ground stations, showing that generally MODIS overestimates aerosol optical depth (AOD550). Then, the AOD550 and fine mode ratio (FMR550) data from MODIS were combined with aerosol index (AI) data from the Earth Probe TOMS and OMI satellite sensors, wind field data from the ERA-interim reanalysis and AOD550 data for various aerosol types from the GOCART model and the MACC reanalysis to quantify the relative contribution of different aerosol types (marine, dust, anthropogenic, fine-mode natural) to the total AOD550. The aerosol-cloud relations over the region were investigated with the use of the joint high resolution aerosol-cloud gridded dataset. Specifically, we focused on the seasonal relations between the cloud droplet number concentration (CDNC) and AOD550. The aerosol direct and first indirect radiative effect was then calculated for each aerosol type separately making use of the aerosol relative contribution to the total AOD550, the CDND-AOD550 relations and satellite-based parameterizations. The direct radiative effect was also quantified using simulations from a regional climate model (REGCM4), simulations with a radiative transfer model (SBDART) and the three methods were finally intervalidated.

  6. Atmospheric aerosol profiling with a bistatic imaging lidar system.

    PubMed

    Barnes, John E; Sharma, N C Parikh; Kaplan, Trevor B

    2007-05-20

    Atmospheric aerosols have been profiled using a simple, imaging, bistatic lidar system. A vertical laser beam is imaged onto a charge-coupled-device camera from the ground to the zenith with a wide-angle lens (CLidar). The altitudes are derived geometrically from the position of the camera and laser with submeter resolution near the ground. The system requires no overlap correction needed in monostatic lidar systems and needs a much smaller dynamic range. Nighttime measurements of both molecular and aerosol scattering were made at Mauna Loa Observatory. The CLidar aerosol total scatter compares very well with a nephelometer measuring at 10 m above the ground. The results build on earlier work that compared purely molecular scattered light to theory, and detail instrument improvements.

  7. Generalization of Dynamics Learning Across Changes in Movement Amplitude

    PubMed Central

    Mattar, Andrew A. G.

    2010-01-01

    Studies on generalization show the nature of how learning is encoded in the brain. Previous studies have shown rather limited generalization of dynamics learning across changes in movement direction, a finding that is consistent with the idea that learning is primarily local. In contrast, studies show a broader pattern of generalization across changes in movement amplitude, suggesting a more general form of learning. To understand this difference, we performed an experiment in which subjects held a robotic manipulandum and made movements to targets along the body midline. Subjects were trained in a velocity-dependent force field while moving to a 15 cm target. After training, subjects were tested for generalization using movements to a 30 cm target. We used force channels in conjunction with movements to the 30 cm target to assess the extent of generalization. Force channels restricted lateral movements and allowed us to measure force production during generalization. We compared actual lateral forces to the forces expected if dynamics learning generalized fully. We found that, during the test for generalization, subjects produced reliably less force than expected. Force production was appropriate for the portion of the transfer movement in which velocities corresponded to those experienced with the 15 cm target. Subjects failed to produce the expected forces when velocities exceeded those experienced in the training task. This suggests that dynamics learning generalizes little beyond the range of one's experience. Consistent with this result, subjects who trained on the 30 cm target showed full generalization to the 15 cm target. We performed two additional experiments that show that interleaved trials to the 30 cm target during training on the 15 cm target can resolve the difference between the current results and those reported previously. PMID:20463200

  8. Generalized Gaussian wave packet dynamics: Integrable and chaotic systems.

    PubMed

    Pal, Harinder; Vyas, Manan; Tomsovic, Steven

    2016-01-01

    The ultimate semiclassical wave packet propagation technique is a complex, time-dependent Wentzel-Kramers-Brillouin method known as generalized Gaussian wave packet dynamics (GGWPD). It requires overcoming many technical difficulties in order to be carried out fully in practice. In its place roughly twenty years ago, linearized wave packet dynamics was generalized to methods that include sets of off-center, real trajectories for both classically integrable and chaotic dynamical systems that completely capture the dynamical transport. The connections between those methods and GGWPD are developed in a way that enables a far more practical implementation of GGWPD. The generally complex saddle-point trajectories at its foundation are found using a multidimensional Newton-Raphson root search method that begins with the set of off-center, real trajectories. This is possible because there is a one-to-one correspondence. The neighboring trajectories associated with each off-center, real trajectory form a path that crosses a unique saddle; there are exceptions that are straightforward to identify. The method is applied to the kicked rotor to demonstrate the accuracy improvement as a function of ℏ that comes with using the saddle-point trajectories.

  9. Multi-Satellite Synergy for Aerosol Analysis in the Asian Monsoon Region

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Ichoku, Charles; Petrenko, Maksym

    2012-01-01

    Atmospheric aerosols represent one of the greatest uncertainties in environmental and climate research, particularly in tropical monsoon regions such as the Southeast Asian regions, where significant contributions from a variety of aerosol sources and types is complicated by unstable atmospheric dynamics. Although aerosols are now routinely retrieved from multiple satellite Sensors, in trying to answer important science questions about aerosol distribution, properties, and impacts, researchers often rely on retrievals from only one or two sensors, thereby running the risk of incurring biases due to sensor/algorithm peculiarities. We are conducting detailed studies of aerosol retrieval uncertainties from various satellite sensors (including Terra-/ Aqua-MODIS, Terra-MISR, Aura-OMI, Parasol-POLDER, SeaWiFS, and Calipso-CALIOP), based on the collocation of these data products over AERONET and other important ground stations, within the online Multi-sensor Aerosol Products Sampling System (MAPSS) framework that was developed recently. Such analyses are aimed at developing a synthesis of results that can be utilized in building reliable unified aerosol information and climate data records from multiple satellite measurements. In this presentation, we will show preliminary results of. an integrated comparative uncertainly analysis of aerosol products from multiple satellite sensors, particularly focused on the Asian Monsoon region, along with some comparisons from the African Monsoon region.

  10. Significant radiative impact of volcanic aerosol in the lowermost stratosphere

    PubMed Central

    Andersson, Sandra M.; Martinsson, Bengt G.; Vernier, Jean-Paul; Friberg, Johan; Brenninkmeijer, Carl A. M.; Hermann, Markus; van Velthoven, Peter F. J.; Zahn, Andreas

    2015-01-01

    Despite their potential to slow global warming, until recently, the radiative forcing associated with volcanic aerosols in the lowermost stratosphere (LMS) had not been considered. Here we study volcanic aerosol changes in the stratosphere using lidar measurements from the NASA CALIPSO satellite and aircraft measurements from the IAGOS-CARIBIC observatory. Between 2008 and 2012 volcanism frequently affected the Northern Hemisphere stratosphere aerosol loadings, whereas the Southern Hemisphere generally had loadings close to background conditions. We show that half of the global stratospheric aerosol optical depth following the Kasatochi, Sarychev and Nabro eruptions is attributable to LMS aerosol. On average, 30% of the global stratospheric aerosol optical depth originated in the LMS during the period 2008–2011. On the basis of the two independent, high-resolution measurement methods, we show that the LMS makes an important contribution to the overall volcanic forcing. PMID:26158244

  11. Interactions between deep convective clouds and aerosols as observed by satellites

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Yuan, T.; Li, Z. I.; Remer, L.; Martins, V.

    2008-12-01

    Major uncertainties regarding interactions between deep convective clouds (DCC) exist due partly to observational difficulty and partly to the entanglement among remotely sensed properties of aerosols and clouds and entanglement between meteorology and possible aerosol signals. In this study we adopt a novel, physically sound relationship between cloud crystal effective radius(CER) and brightness temperature (BT) and utilize ample sampling opportunity provided by MODIS instrument. We reveal aerosol impacts on DCCs by analyzing an ensemble data. Through a conceptual model we demonstrate how aerosol may affect DCC properties. We outline a few scenarios where aerosol signals are best separated and pronounced. Based on our results, anthropogenic pollutions and smokes are shown to effectively decrease CER and to elevate glaciation level of DCCs. On the other hand, dust particles from local sources have the opposite effects, namely, increasing cloud ice particle size and enhancing glaciation by acting possibly as giant CCN or IN. Implications of these effects for aerosols are discussed along with feedbacks of these effects to dynamics.

  12. Campaign datasets for ARM Cloud Aerosol Precipitation Experiment (ACAPEX)

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Leung, L. Ruby; Mei, Fan; Comstock, Jennifer

    This campaign consisted of the deployment of the DOE ARM Mobile Facility 2 (AMF2) and the ARM Aerial Facility (AAF) G-1 in a field campaign called ARM Cloud Aerosol Precipitation Experiment (ACAPEX), which took place in conjunction with CalWater 2- a NOAA field campaign. The joint CalWater 2/ACAPEX field campaign aimed to improve understanding and modeling of large-scale dynamics and cloud and precipitation processes associated with ARs and aerosol-cloud interactions that influence precipitation variability and extremes in the western U.S. The observational strategy consisted of the use of land and offshore assets to monitor: 1. the evolution and structure ofmore » ARs from near their regions of development 2. the long-range transport of aerosols in the eastern North Pacific and potential interactions with ARs 3. how aerosols from long-range transport and local sources influence cloud and precipitation in the U.S. West Coast where ARs make landfall and post-frontal clouds are frequent.« less

  13. Variability in Nose-to-Lung Aerosol Delivery

    PubMed Central

    Walenga, Ross L; Tian, Geng; Hindle, Michael; Yelverton, Joshua; Dodson, Kelley; Longest, P. Worth

    2014-01-01

    Nasal delivery of lung targeted pharmaceutical aerosols is ideal for drugs that need to be administered during high flow nasal cannula (HFNC) gas delivery, but based on previous studies losses and variability through both the delivery system and nasal cavity are expected to be high. The objective of this study was to assess the variability in aerosol delivery through the nose to the lungs with a nasal cannula interface for conventional and excipient enhanced growth (EEG) delivery techniques. A database of nasal cavity computed tomography (CT) scans was collected and analyzed, from which four models were selected to represent a wide range of adult anatomies, quantified based on the nasal surface area-to-volume ratio (SA/V). Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) methods were validated with existing in vitro data and used to predict aerosol delivery through a streamlined nasal cannula and the four nasal models at a steady state flow rate of 30 L/min. Aerosols considered were solid particles for EEG delivery (initial 0.9 μm and 1.5 μm aerodynamic diameters) and conventional droplets (5 μm) for a control case. Use of the EEG approach was found to reduce depositional losses in the nasal cavity by an order of magnitude and substantially reduce variability. Specifically, for aerosol deposition efficiency in the four geometries, the 95% confidence intervals (CI) for 0.9 and 5 μm aerosols were 2.3-3.1 and 15.5-66.3%, respectively. Simulations showed that the use of EEG as opposed to conventional methods improved delivered dose of aerosols through the nasopharynx, expressed as penetration fraction (PF), by approximately a factor of four. Variability of PF, expressed by the coefficient of variation (CV), was reduced by a factor of four with EEG delivery compared with the control case. Penetration fraction correlated well with SA/V for larger aerosols, but smaller aerosols showed some dependence on nasopharyngeal exit hydraulic diameter. In conclusion, results indicated that

  14. The Effect of Aerosol Hygroscopicity and Volatility on Aerosol Optical Properties During Southern Oxidant and Aerosol Study

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Khlystov, A.; Grieshop, A. P.; Saha, P.; Subramanian, R.

    2014-12-01

    Secondary organic aerosol (SOA) from biogenic sources can influence optical properties of ambient aerosol by altering its hygroscopicity and contributing to light absorption directly via formation of brown carbon and indirectly by enhancing light absorption by black carbon ("lensing effect"). The magnitude of these effects remains highly uncertain. A set of state-of-the-art instruments was deployed at the SEARCH site near Centerville, AL during the Southern Oxidant and Aerosol Study (SOAS) campaign in summer 2013 to measure the effect of relative humidity and temperature on aerosol size distribution, composition and optical properties. Light scattering and absorption by temperature- and humidity-conditioned aerosols was measured using three photo-acoustic extinctiometers (PAX) at three wavelengths (405 nm, 532 nm, and 870 nm). The sample-conditioning system provided measurements at ambient RH, 10%RH ("dry"), 85%RH ("wet"), and 200 C ("TD"). In parallel to these measurements, a long residence time temperature-stepping thermodenuder (TD) and a variable residence time constant temperature TD in combination with three SMPS systems and an Aerosol Chemical Speciation Monitor (ACSM) were used to assess aerosol volatility and kinetics of aerosol evaporation. We will present results of the on-going analysis of the collected data set. We will show that both temperature and relative humidity have a strong effect on aerosol optical properties. SOA appears to increase aerosol light absorption by about 10%. TD measurements suggest that aerosol equilibrated fairly quickly, within 2 s. Evaporation varied substantially with ambient aerosol loading and composition and meteorology.

  15. Quantifying the microphysical impacts of fire aerosols on clouds in Indonesia using remote sensing observations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Tosca, M. G.; Diner, D. J.; Garay, M. J.; Kalashnikova, O. V.

    2012-12-01

    Fire-emitted aerosols modify cloud and precipitation dynamics by acting as cloud condensation nuclei in what is known as the first and second aerosol indirect effect. The cloud response to the indirect effect varies regionally and is not well understood in the highly convective tropics. We analyzed nine years (2003-2011) of aerosol data from the Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR), and fire emissions data from the Global Fire Emissions Database, version 3 (GFED3) over southeastern tropical Asia (Indonesia), and identified scenes that contained both a high atmospheric aerosol burden and large surface fire emissions. We then collected scenes from the Cloud Profiling Radar (CPR) on board the CLOUDSAT satellite that corresponded both spatially and temporally to the high-burning scenes from MISR, and identified differences in convective cloud dynamics over areas with varying aerosol optical depths. Differences in overpass times (MISR in the morning, CLOUDSAT in the afternoon) improved our ability to infer that changes in cloud dynamics were a response to increased or decreased aerosol emissions. Our results extended conclusions from initial studies over the Amazon that used remote sensing techniques to identify cloud fraction reductions in high burning areas (Koren et al., 2004; Rosenfeld, 1999) References Koren, I., Y.J. Kaufman, L.A. Remer and J.V. Martins (2004), Measurement of the effect of Amazon smoke on inhibition of cloud formation, Science, 303, 1342-1345 Rosenfeld, D. (1999), TRMM observed first direct evidence of smoke from forest fires inhibiting rainfall, Gephys. Res. Lett., 26, 3105.

  16. Scanning elastic lidar observations of aerosol transport in New York City

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Diaz, Adrian; Dominguez, Victor; Dobryansky, Selma; Wu, Yonghua; Arend, Mark; Vladutescu, Daniela Viviana; Gross, Barry; Moshary, Fred

    2018-04-01

    In this study, spatial distribution of aerosols in New York City is observed using a scanning eyesafe 532 nm elastic-backscatter micro-pulse lidar system. Observations show dynamics of the boundary layer and inhomogeneous distribution and transport of aerosols. The data acquired are complemented with simultaneous measurements of particulate matter and wind speed and direction. Furthermore, the system observations are validated by comparing them with a colocated multi-wavelength lidar.

  17. Engine dynamic analysis with general nonlinear finite element codes

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Adams, M. L.; Padovan, J.; Fertis, D. G.

    1991-01-01

    A general engine dynamic analysis as a standard design study computational tool is described for the prediction and understanding of complex engine dynamic behavior. Improved definition of engine dynamic response provides valuable information and insights leading to reduced maintenance and overhaul costs on existing engine configurations. Application of advanced engine dynamic simulation methods provides a considerable cost reduction in the development of new engine designs by eliminating some of the trial and error process done with engine hardware development.

  18. Natural Aerosols Explain Seasonal and Spatial Patterns of Southern Ocean Cloud Albedo

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    McCoy, Daniel; Burrows, Susannah M.; Wood, R.

    2015-07-17

    Small particles called aerosols act as nucleation sites for cloud drop formation, affecting clouds and cloud properties – ultimately influencing the cloud dynamics, lifetime, water path and areal extent that determine the reflectivity (albedo) of clouds. The concentration Nd of droplets in clouds that influences planetary albedo is sensitive to the availability of aerosol particles on which the droplets form. Natural aerosol concentrations not only affect cloud properties themselves, but also modulate the sensitivity of clouds to changes in anthropogenic aerosols. Here, it is shown that modeled natural aerosols, principally marine biogenic primary and secondary aerosol sources, explain more thanmore » half of the spatiotemporal variability in satellite-observed Nd. Enhanced Nd over regions of high biological activity is found to be driven primarily by high concentrations of sulfate aerosol at lower Southern Ocean latitudes (35-45°S) and by organic matter in sea spray aerosol at higher latitudes (45-55°S). Biogenic sources are estimated to increase the summertime mean reflected solar radiation in excess of 10 W m-2 over parts of the Southern Ocean, which is comparable to the annual mean increases expected from anthropogenic aerosols over heavily polluted regions of the Northern Hemisphere.« less

  19. Natural aerosols explain seasonal and spatial patterns of Southern Ocean cloud albedo

    PubMed Central

    McCoy, Daniel T.; Burrows, Susannah M.; Wood, Robert; Grosvenor, Daniel P.; Elliott, Scott M.; Ma, Po-Lun; Rasch, Phillip J.; Hartmann, Dennis L.

    2015-01-01

    Atmospheric aerosols, suspended solid and liquid particles, act as nucleation sites for cloud drop formation, affecting clouds and cloud properties—ultimately influencing the cloud dynamics, lifetime, water path, and areal extent that determine the reflectivity (albedo) of clouds. The concentration Nd of droplets in clouds that influences planetary albedo is sensitive to the availability of aerosol particles on which the droplets form. Natural aerosol concentrations affect not only cloud properties themselves but also modulate the sensitivity of clouds to changes in anthropogenic aerosols. It is shown that modeled natural aerosols, principally marine biogenic primary and secondary aerosol sources, explain more than half of the spatiotemporal variability in satellite-observed Nd. Enhanced Nd is spatially correlated with regions of high chlorophyll a, and the spatiotemporal variability in Nd is found to be driven primarily by high concentrations of sulfate aerosol at lower Southern Ocean latitudes (35o to 45oS) and by organic matter in sea spray aerosol at higher latitudes (45o to 55oS). Biogenic sources are estimated to increase the summertime mean reflected solar radiation in excess of 10 W m–2 over parts of the Southern Ocean, which is comparable to the annual mean increases expected from anthropogenic aerosols over heavily polluted regions of the Northern Hemisphere. PMID:26601216

  20. Climate Implications of the Heterogeneity of Anthropogenic Aerosol Forcing

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Persad, Geeta Gayatri

    Short-lived anthropogenic aerosols are concentrated in regions of high human activity, where they interact with radiation and clouds, causing horizontally heterogeneous radiative forcing between polluted and unpolluted regions. Aerosols can absorb shortwave energy in the atmosphere, but deplete it at the surface, producing opposite radiative perturbations between the surface and atmosphere. This thesis investigates climate and policy implications of this horizontal and vertical heterogeneity of anthropogenic aerosol forcing, employing the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory's AM2.1 and AM3 models, both at a global scale and using East Asia as a regional case study. The degree of difference between spatial patterns of climate change due to heterogeneous aerosol forcing versus homogeneous greenhouse gas forcing deeply impacts the detection, attribution, and prediction of regional climate change. This dissertation addresses a gap in current understanding of these two forcings' response pattern development, using AM2.1 historical forcing simulations. The results indicate that fast atmospheric and land-surface processes alone substantially homogenize the global pattern of surface energy flux response to heterogeneous aerosol forcing. Aerosols' vertical redistribution of energy significantly impacts regional climate, but is incompletely understood. It is newly identified here, via observations and historical and idealized forcing simulations, that increased aerosol-driven atmospheric absorption may explain half of East Asia's recent surface insolation decline. Further, aerosols' surface and atmospheric effects counteract each other regionally---atmospheric heating enhances summer monsoon circulation, while surface dimming suppresses it---but absorbing aerosols' combined effects reduce summer monsoon rainfall. This thesis constitutes the first vertical decomposition of aerosols' impacts in this high-emissions region and elucidates the monsoonal response to aerosols

  1. Constructing An Event Based Aerosol Product Under High Aerosol Loading Conditions

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Levy, R. C.; Shi, Y.; Mattoo, S.; Remer, L. A.; Zhang, J.

    2016-12-01

    High aerosol loading events, such as the Indonesia's forest fire in Fall 2015 or the persistent wintertime haze near Beijing, gain tremendous interests due to their large impact on regional visibility and air quality. Understanding the optical properties of these events and further being able to simulate and predict these events are beneficial. However, it is a great challenge to consistently identify and then retrieve aerosol optical depth (AOD) from passive sensors during heavy aerosol events. Some reasons include:1). large differences between optical properties of high-loading aerosols and those under normal conditions, 2) spectral signals of optically thick aerosols can be mistaken with surface depending on aerosol types, and 3) Extremely optically thick aerosol plumes can also be misidentified as clouds due to its high optical thickness. Thus, even under clear-sky conditions, the global distribution of extreme aerosol events is not well captured in datasets such as the MODIS Dark-Target (DT) aerosol product. In this study, with the synthetic use of OMI Aerosol Index, MODIS cloud product, and operational DT product, the heavy smoke events over the seven sea region are identified and retrieved over the dry season. An event based aerosol product that would compensate the standard "global" aerosol retrieval will be created and evaluated. The impact of missing high AOD retrievals on the regional aerosol climatology will be studied using this newly developed research product.

  2. Physico-chemical properties of aerosols in Sao Paulo, Brazil and mechanisms of secondary organic aerosol formation.

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Artaxo, Paulo; Ferreira de Brito, Joel; Varanda Rizzo, Luciana; Luiza Godoy, Maria; Godoy, Jose Marcus

    2013-04-01

    -120 nm. Average mass concentrations were measured at 11.5 ug/m3 and 30.7 ug/m3 for fine and coarse mode, respectively. The elemental analysis shows that Fe, Si and Al dominate the coarse mode indicating strong contribution from soil dust resuspension whereas sulfur dominates the fine mode (0.8 micrograms/m3). Scattering coefficients typically range between 20 and 150 Mm-1 at 637 nm, and absorption varied between 10 to 60 Mm-1 at 637 nm, respectively, both of them peaking at 7:00 local time, the morning rush hour. The corresponding single scattering albedo varies between 0.50 and 0.80, indicating a significant contribution of primary soot particles to the aerosol population. Organic aerosol accounts for 70% of the aerosol mass, with nitrates accounting for 11.7%, ammonia 8.4%, sulfate 8.2% and chlorine 1.6% pf PM1 measured by AMS techniques. Most of the organic aerosol were oxygenated. Several new particle formation events were observed, with a clear increase in organic aerosol and VOCs amounts associated with new particle formation. The study allows the characterization of a unique fueled fleet emissions and its impact on atmospheric chemistry, particle formation and other atmospheric dynamic processes. This work was funded by Petrobras S/A

  3. Retrieval of Aerosol Optical Depth Above Clouds from OMI Observations: Sensitivity Analysis, Case Studies

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Torres, O.; Jethva, H.; Bhartia, P. K.

    2012-01-01

    A large fraction of the atmospheric aerosol load reaching the free troposphere is frequently located above low clouds. Most commonly observed aerosols above clouds are carbonaceous particles generally associated with biomass burning and boreal forest fires, and mineral aerosols originated in arid and semi-arid regions and transported across large distances, often above clouds. Because these aerosols absorb solar radiation, their role in the radiative transfer balance of the earth atmosphere system is especially important. The generally negative (cooling) top of the atmosphere direct effect of absorbing aerosols, may turn into warming when the light-absorbing particles are located above clouds. The actual effect depends on the aerosol load and the single scattering albedo, and on the geometric cloud fraction. In spite of its potential significance, the role of aerosols above clouds is not adequately accounted for in the assessment of aerosol radiative forcing effects due to the lack of measurements. In this paper we discuss the basis of a simple technique that uses near-UV observations to simultaneously derive the optical depth of both the aerosol layer and the underlying cloud for overcast conditions. The two-parameter retrieval method described here makes use of the UV aerosol index and reflectance measurements at 388 nm. A detailed sensitivity analysis indicates that the measured radiances depend mainly on the aerosol absorption exponent and aerosol-cloud separation. The technique was applied to above-cloud aerosol events over the Southern Atlantic Ocean yielding realistic results as indicated by indirect evaluation methods. An error analysis indicates that for typical overcast cloudy conditions and aerosol loads, the aerosol optical depth can be retrieved with an accuracy of approximately 54% whereas the cloud optical depth can be derived within 17% of the true value.

  4. A New Paradigm for Diagnosing Contributions to Model Aerosol Forcing Error

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Jones, A. L.; Feldman, D. R.; Freidenreich, S.; Paynter, D.; Ramaswamy, V.; Collins, W. D.; Pincus, R.

    2017-12-01

    A new paradigm in benchmark absorption-scattering radiative transfer is presented that enables both the globally averaged and spatially resolved testing of climate model radiation parameterizations in order to uncover persistent sources of biases in the aerosol instantaneous radiative effect (IRE). A proof of concept is demonstrated with the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory AM4 and Community Earth System Model 1.2.2 climate models. Instead of prescribing atmospheric conditions and aerosols, as in prior intercomparisons, native snapshots of the atmospheric state and aerosol optical properties from the participating models are used as inputs to an accurate radiation solver to uncover model-relevant biases. These diagnostic results show that the models' aerosol IRE bias is of the same magnitude as the persistent range cited ( 1 W/m2) and also varies spatially and with intrinsic aerosol optical properties. The findings underscore the significance of native model error analysis and its dispositive ability to diagnose global biases, confirming its fundamental value for the Radiative Forcing Model Intercomparison Project.

  5. Climatic Effects of 1950-2050 Changes in US Anthropogenic Aerosols. Part 1; Aerosol Trends and Radiative Forcing

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Leibensperger, E. M.; Mickley, L. J.; Jacob, D. J.; Chen, W.-T.; Seinfeld, J. H.; Nenes, A.; Adams, P. J.; Streets, D. G.; Kumar, N.; Rind, D.

    2012-01-01

    We calculate decadal aerosol direct and indirect (warm cloud) radiative forcings from US anthropogenic sources over the 1950-2050 period. Past and future aerosol distributions are constructed using GEOS-Chem and historical emission inventories and future projections from the IPCC A1B scenario. Aerosol simulations are evaluated with observed spatial distributions and 1980-2010 trends of aerosol concentrations and wet deposition in the contiguous US. Direct and indirect radiative forcing is calculated using the GISS general circulation model and monthly mean aerosol distributions from GEOS-Chem. The radiative forcing from US anthropogenic aerosols is strongly localized over the eastern US. We find that its magnitude peaked in 1970-1990, with values over the eastern US (east of 100 deg W) of -2.0Wm(exp-2 for direct forcing including contributions from sulfate (-2.0Wm-2), nitrate (-0.2Wm(exp-2), organic carbon (-0.2Wm(exp-2), and black carbon (+0.4Wm(exp-2). The uncertainties in radiative forcing due to aerosol radiative properties are estimated to be about 50 %. The aerosol indirect effect is estimated to be of comparable magnitude to the direct forcing. We find that the magnitude of the forcing declined sharply from 1990 to 2010 (by 0.8Wm(exp-2) direct and 1.0Wm(exp-2 indirect), mainly reflecting decreases in SO2 emissions, and project that it will continue declining post-2010 but at a much slower rate since US SO2 emissions have already declined by almost 60% from their peak. This suggests that much of the warming effect of reducing US anthropogenic aerosol sources has already been realized. The small positive radiative forcing from US BC emissions (+0.3Wm(exp-2 over the eastern US in 2010; 5% of the global forcing from anthropogenic BC emissions worldwide) suggests that a US emission control strategy focused on BC would have only limited climate benefit.

  6. DynamO: a free O(N) general event-driven molecular dynamics simulator.

    PubMed

    Bannerman, M N; Sargant, R; Lue, L

    2011-11-30

    Molecular dynamics algorithms for systems of particles interacting through discrete or "hard" potentials are fundamentally different to the methods for continuous or "soft" potential systems. Although many software packages have been developed for continuous potential systems, software for discrete potential systems based on event-driven algorithms are relatively scarce and specialized. We present DynamO, a general event-driven simulation package, which displays the optimal O(N) asymptotic scaling of the computational cost with the number of particles N, rather than the O(N) scaling found in most standard algorithms. DynamO provides reference implementations of the best available event-driven algorithms. These techniques allow the rapid simulation of both complex and large (>10(6) particles) systems for long times. The performance of the program is benchmarked for elastic hard sphere systems, homogeneous cooling and sheared inelastic hard spheres, and equilibrium Lennard-Jones fluids. This software and its documentation are distributed under the GNU General Public license and can be freely downloaded from http://marcusbannerman.co.uk/dynamo. Copyright © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  7. Aerosol Microphysical and Radiative Effects on Continental Cloud Ensembles

    DOE PAGES

    Wang, Yuan; Vogel, Jonathan M.; Lin, Yun; ...

    2018-01-10

    Aerosol-cloud-radiation interactions represent one of the largest uncertainties in the current climate assessment. Much of the complexity arises from the non-monotonic responses of clouds, precipitation and radiative fluxes to aerosol perturbations under various meteorological conditions. Here, an aerosol-aware Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model is used to investigate the microphysical and radiative effects of aerosols in three weather systems during the March 2000 Cloud Intensive Observational Period campaign at the Southern Great Plains site of the US Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Program. Three cloud ensembles with different meteorological conditions are simulated, including a low-pressure deep convective cloud system, a series ofmore » lessprecipitating stratus and shallow cumulus, and a cold frontal passage. The WRF simulations are evaluated by the available observations of cloud fraction, liquid water path, precipitation, and surface temperature. The microphysical properties of cloud hydrometeors, such as their mass and number concentrations, generally show monotonic trends as a function of cloud condensation nuclei concentrations. Aerosol radiative effects do not interfere the trends of cloud microphysics, except for the stratus and shallow cumulus cases where aerosol semi-direct effects are identified. The precipitation changes by aerosols vary with the cloud types and their evolving stages, with more prominent aerosol invigoration effect and associated enhanced precipitation from the convective sources. Furthermore, the simulated aerosol direct effect suppresses precipitation in all three cases but does not overturn the direction of precipitation changes by the aerosol indirect effect. Cloud fraction exhibits much smaller sensitivity (typically less than 2%) to aerosol perturbations than the cloud microphysics, and the responses vary with aerosol concentrations and cloud regimes. The surface shortwave radiation shows a monotonic decrease by

  8. Aerosol Microphysical and Radiative Effects on Continental Cloud Ensembles

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Wang, Yuan; Vogel, Jonathan M.; Lin, Yun

    Aerosol-cloud-radiation interactions represent one of the largest uncertainties in the current climate assessment. Much of the complexity arises from the non-monotonic responses of clouds, precipitation and radiative fluxes to aerosol perturbations under various meteorological conditions. Here, an aerosol-aware Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model is used to investigate the microphysical and radiative effects of aerosols in three weather systems during the March 2000 Cloud Intensive Observational Period campaign at the Southern Great Plains site of the US Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Program. Three cloud ensembles with different meteorological conditions are simulated, including a low-pressure deep convective cloud system, a series ofmore » lessprecipitating stratus and shallow cumulus, and a cold frontal passage. The WRF simulations are evaluated by the available observations of cloud fraction, liquid water path, precipitation, and surface temperature. The microphysical properties of cloud hydrometeors, such as their mass and number concentrations, generally show monotonic trends as a function of cloud condensation nuclei concentrations. Aerosol radiative effects do not interfere the trends of cloud microphysics, except for the stratus and shallow cumulus cases where aerosol semi-direct effects are identified. The precipitation changes by aerosols vary with the cloud types and their evolving stages, with more prominent aerosol invigoration effect and associated enhanced precipitation from the convective sources. Furthermore, the simulated aerosol direct effect suppresses precipitation in all three cases but does not overturn the direction of precipitation changes by the aerosol indirect effect. Cloud fraction exhibits much smaller sensitivity (typically less than 2%) to aerosol perturbations than the cloud microphysics, and the responses vary with aerosol concentrations and cloud regimes. The surface shortwave radiation shows a monotonic decrease by

  9. Simulating the Effects of Semivolatile Compounds on Cloud Processing of Aerosol

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kokkola, H.; Kudzotsa, I.; Tonttila, J.; Raatikainen, T.; Romakkaniemi, S.

    2017-12-01

    Aerosol removal processes largely dictate how well aerosol is transported in the atmosphere and thus the aerosol load over remote regions depends on how effectively aerosol is removed during its transport from the source regions. This means that in order to model the global distribution aerosol, both in vertical and horizontal, wet deposition processes have to be properly modelled. However, in large scale models, the description of wet removal and the vertical redistribution of aerosol by cloud processes is often extremely simplified.Here we present a novel aerosol-cloud model SALSA, where the aerosol properties are tracked through different cloud processes. These processes include: cloud droplet activation, precipitation formation, ice nucleation, melting, and evaporation. It is a sectional model that includes separate size sections for non-activated aerosol, cloud droplets, precipitation droplets, and ice crystals. The aerosol-cloud model was coupled to a large eddy model UCLALES which simulates the boundary-layer dynamics. In this study, the model has been applied in studying the wet removal as well as interactions between aerosol, clouds, and semi-volatile compounds, ammonia and nitric acid. These semi-volative compounds are special in the sense that they co-condense together with water during cloud activation and have been suggested to form droplets that can be considered cloud-droplet-like already in subsaturated conditions. In our model, we calculate the kinetic partitioning of ammonia and sulfate thus explicitly taking into account the effect of ammonia and nitric acid in the cloud formation. Our simulations indicate that especially in polluted conditions, these compounds significantly affect the properties of cloud droplets thus significantly affecting the lifecycle of different aerosol compounds.

  10. 21 CFR 700.16 - Use of aerosol cosmetic products containing zirconium.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-04-01

    ... 21 Food and Drugs 7 2013-04-01 2013-04-01 false Use of aerosol cosmetic products containing... SERVICES (CONTINUED) COSMETICS GENERAL Requirements for Specific Cosmetic Products § 700.16 Use of aerosol cosmetic products containing zirconium. (a) Zirconium-containing complexes have been used as an ingredient...

  11. 21 CFR 700.16 - Use of aerosol cosmetic products containing zirconium.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-04-01

    ... 21 Food and Drugs 7 2012-04-01 2012-04-01 false Use of aerosol cosmetic products containing... SERVICES (CONTINUED) COSMETICS GENERAL Requirements for Specific Cosmetic Products § 700.16 Use of aerosol cosmetic products containing zirconium. (a) Zirconium-containing complexes have been used as an ingredient...

  12. 21 CFR 700.16 - Use of aerosol cosmetic products containing zirconium.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-04-01

    ... 21 Food and Drugs 7 2014-04-01 2014-04-01 false Use of aerosol cosmetic products containing... SERVICES (CONTINUED) COSMETICS GENERAL Requirements for Specific Cosmetic Products § 700.16 Use of aerosol cosmetic products containing zirconium. (a) Zirconium-containing complexes have been used as an ingredient...

  13. The Impact of Desert Dust Aerosol Radiative Forcing on Global and West African Precipitation

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Jordan, A.; Zaitchik, B. F.; Gnanadesikan, A.; Dezfuli, A. K.

    2015-12-01

    Desert dust aerosols exert a radiative forcing on the atmosphere, influencing atmospheric temperature structure and modifying radiative fluxes at the top of the atmosphere (TOA) and surface. As dust aerosols perturb radiative fluxes, the atmosphere responds by altering both energy and moisture dynamics, with potentially significant impacts on regional and global precipitation. Global Climate Model (GCM) experiments designed to characterize these processes have yielded a wide range of results, owing to both the complex nature of the system and diverse differences across models. Most model results show a general decrease in global precipitation, but regional results vary. Here, we compare simulations from GFDL's CM2Mc GCM with multiple other model experiments from the literature in order to investigate mechanisms of radiative impact and reasons for GCM differences on a global and regional scale. We focus on West Africa, a region of high interannual rainfall variability that is a source of dust and that neighbors major Sahara Desert dust sources. As such, changes in West African climate due to radiative forcing of desert dust aerosol have serious implications for desertification feedbacks. Our CM2Mc results show net cooling of the planet at TOA and surface, net warming of the atmosphere, and significant increases in precipitation over West Africa during the summer rainy season. These results differ from some previous GCM studies, prompting comparative analysis of desert dust parameters across models. This presentation will offer quantitative analysis of differences in dust aerosol parameters, aerosol optical properties, and overall particle burden across GCMs, and will characterize the contribution of model differences to the uncertainty of forcing and climate response affecting West Africa.

  14. Fast Adjustments of the Asian Summer Monsoon to Anthropogenic Aerosols

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Li, Xiaoqiong; Ting, Mingfang; Lee, Dong Eun

    2018-01-01

    Anthropogenic aerosols are a major factor contributing to human-induced climate change, particularly over the densely populated Asian monsoon region. Understanding the physical processes controlling the aerosol-induced changes in monsoon rainfall is essential for reducing the uncertainties in the future projections of the hydrological cycle. Here we use multiple coupled and atmospheric general circulation models to explore the physical mechanisms for the aerosol-driven monsoon changes on different time scales. We show that anthropogenic aerosols induce an overall reduction in monsoon rainfall and circulation, which can be largely explained by the fast adjustments over land north of 20∘N. This fast response occurs before changes in sea surface temperature (SST), largely driven by aerosol-cloud interactions. However, aerosol-induced SST feedbacks (slow response) cause substantial changes in the monsoon meridional circulation over the oceanic regions. Both the land-ocean asymmetry and meridional temperature gradient are key factors in determining the overall monsoon circulation response.

  15. The aerosol-monsoon climate system of Asia: A new paradigm

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lau, William K. M.

    2016-02-01

    This commentary is based on a series of recent lectures on aerosol-monsoon interactions I gave at the Beijing Normal University in August 2015. A main theme of the lectures is on a new paradigm of "An Aerosol-Monsoon-Climate-System", which posits that aerosol, like rainfall, cloud, and wind, is an integral component of the monsoon climate system, influencing monsoon weather and climate on all timescales. Here, salient issues discussed in my lectures and my personal perspective regarding interactions between atmospheric dynamics and aerosols from both natural and anthropogenic sources are summarized. My hope is that under this new paradigm, we can break down traditional disciplinary barriers, advance a deeper understanding of weather and climate in monsoon regions, as well as entrain a new generation of geoscientists to strive for a sustainable future for one of the most complex and challenging human-natural climate sub-system of the earth.

  16. Sensitivity of aerosol loading and properties to cloudiness

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Iversen, T.; Seland, O.; Kirkevag, A.; Kristjansson, J. E.

    2005-12-01

    Clouds influence aerosols in various ways. Sulfate is swiftly produced in liquid phase provided there is both sulfur dioxide and oxidants available. Nucleation and Aitken mode aerosol particles efficiently grow in size by collision and coagulation with cloud droplets. When precipitation is formed, aerosol and precursor gases may be quickly removed bay rainout. The dynamics associated with clouds in some cases may swiftly mix aerosols deeply into the troposphere. In some cases Aitken-mode particles may be formed in cloud droplets by splitting agglomerates of particulate matter such as black carbon In this presentation we will discuss how global cloudiness may influence the burden, residence time, and spatial distribution of sulfate, black carbon and particulate organic matter. A similar physico-chemical scheme for there compounds has been implemented in three generations of the NCAR community climate model (CCM3, CAM2 and CAM3). The scheme is documented in the literature and is a part of the Aerocom-intercomparison. There are many differences between these models. With respect to aerosols, a major difference is that CAM3 has a considerably higher global cloud volume and more then twice the amount of cloud water than CAM2 and CCM3. Atmospheric simulations have been made with prescribed ocean temperatures. It is slightly surprising to discover that certain aspects of the aerosols are not particularly sensitive to these differences in cloud availability. This sensitivity will be compared to sensitivities with respect to processing in deep convective clouds.

  17. Modeling Secondary Organic Aerosols over Europe: Impact of Activity Coefficients and Viscosity

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kim, Y.; Sartelet, K.; Couvidat, F.

    2014-12-01

    Semi-volatile organic species (SVOC) can condense on suspended particulate materials (PM) in the atmosphere. The modeling of condensation/evaporation of SVOC often assumes that gas-phase and particle-phase concentrations are at equilibrium. However, recent studies show that secondary organic aerosols (SOA) may not be accurately represented by an equilibrium approach between the gas and particle phases, because organic aerosols in the particle phase may be very viscous. The condensation in the viscous liquid phase is limited by the diffusion from the surface of PM to its core. Using a surrogate approach to represent SVOC, depending on the user's choice, the secondary organic aerosol processor (SOAP) may assume equilibrium or model dynamically the condensation/evaporation between the gas and particle phases to take into account the viscosity of organic aerosols. The model is implemented in the three-dimensional chemistry-transport model of POLYPHEMUS. In SOAP, activity coefficients for organic mixtures can be computed using UNIFAC for short-range interactions between molecules and AIOMFAC to also take into account the effect of inorganic species on activity coefficients. Simulations over Europe are performed and POLYPHEMUS/SOAP is compared to POLYPHEMUS/H2O, which was previously used to model SOA using the equilibrium approach with activity coefficients from UNIFAC. Impacts of the dynamic approach on modeling SOA over Europe are evaluated. The concentrations of SOA using the dynamic approach are compared with those using the equilibrium approach. The increase of computational cost is also evaluated.

  18. Annual cycle of size-resolved organic aerosol characterization in an urbanized desert environment

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Cahill, Thomas M.

    2013-06-01

    Studies of size-resolved organic speciation of aerosols are still relatively rare and are generally only conducted over short durations. However, size-resolved organic data can both suggest possible sources of the aerosols and identify the human exposure to the chemicals since different aerosol sizes have different lung capture efficiencies. The objective of this study was to conduct size-resolved organic aerosol speciation for a calendar year in Phoenix, Arizona to determine the seasonal variations in both chemical concentrations and size profiles. The results showed large seasonal differences in combustion pollutants where the highest concentrations were observed in winter. Summertime aerosols have a greater proportion of biological compounds (e.g. sugars and fatty acids) and the biological compounds represent the largest fraction of the organic compounds detected. These results suggest that standard organic carbon (OC) measurements might be heavily influenced by primary biological compounds particularly if the samples are PM10 and TSP samples. Several large dust storms did not significantly alter the organic aerosol profile since Phoenix resides in a dusty desert environment, so the soil and plant tracer of trehalose was almost always present. The aerosol size profiles showed that PAHs were generally most abundant in the smallest aerosol size fractions, which are most likely to be captured by the lung, while the biological compounds were almost exclusively found in the coarse size fraction.

  19. The Regional Environmental Impacts of Atmospheric Aerosols over Egypt

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zakey, Ashraf; Ibrahim, Alaa

    2015-04-01

    Identifying the origin (natural versus anthropogenic) and the dynamics of aerosols over Egypt at varying temporal and spatial scales provide valuable knowledge on the regional climate impacts of aerosols and their ultimate connections to the Earth's regional climate system at the MENA region. At regional scale, Egypt is exposed to air pollution with levels exceeding typical air-quality standards. This is particularly true for the Nile Delta region, being at the crossroads of different aerosol species originating from local urban-industrial and biomass-burning activities, regional dust sources, and European pollution from the north. The Environmental Climate Model (EnvClimA) is used to investigate both of the biogenic and anthropogenic aerosols over Egypt. The dominant natural aerosols over Egypt are due to the sand and dust storms, which frequently occur during the transitional seasons (spring and autumn). In winter, the maximum frequency reaches 2 to 3 per day in the north, which decreases gradually southward with a frequency of 0.5-1 per day. Monitoring one of the most basic aerosol parameters, the aerosol optical depth (AOD), is a main experimental and modeling task in aerosol studies. We used the aerosol optical depth to quantify the amount and variability of aerosol loading in the atmospheric column over a certain areas. The aerosols optical depth from the model is higher in spring season due to the impacts of dust activity over Egypt as results of the westerly wind, which carries more dust particles from the Libyan Desert. The model result shows that the mass load of fine aerosols has a longer life-time than the coarse aerosols. In autumn season, the modelled aerosol optical depth tends to increase due to the biomass burning in the delta of Egypt. Natural aerosol from the model tends to scatter the solar radiation while most of the anthropogenic aerosols tend to absorb the longwave solar radiation. The overall results indicate that the AOD is lowest in winter

  20. Wave like signatures in aerosol optical depth and associated radiative impacts over the central Himalayan region

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Shukla, K. K.; Phanikumar, D. V.; Kumar, K.  Niranjan

    2015-10-01

    In this study, we present a case study on 16 October 2011 to show the first observational evidence of the influence of short period gravity waves in aerosol transport during daytime over the central Himalayan region. The Doppler lidar data has been utilized to address the daytime boundary layer evolution and related aerosol dynamics over the site. Mixing layer height is estimated by wavelet covariance transform method and found to be ~ 0.7 km, AGL. Aerosol optical depth observations during daytime revealed an asymmetry showing clear enhancement during afternoon hours as compared to forenoon. Interestingly, Fourier and wavelet analysis ofmore » vertical velocity and attenuated backscatter showed similar 50-90 min short period gravity wave signatures during afternoon hours. Moreover, our observations showed that gravity waves are dominant within the boundary layer implying that the daytime boundary layer dynamics is playing a vital role in transporting the aerosols from surface to the top of the boundary layer. Similar modulations are also evident in surface parameters like temperature, relative humidity and wind speed indicating these waves are associated with the dynamical aspects over Himalayan region. Finally, time evolution of range-23 height indicator snapshots during daytime showed strong upward velocities especially during afternoon hours implying that convective processes through short period gravity waves plays a significant role in transporting aerosols from the nearby valley region to boundary layer top over the site. These observations also establish the importance of wave induced daytime convective boundary layer dynamics in the lower Himalayan region.« less

  1. Recent advances in understanding secondary organic aerosol: Implications for global climate forcing: Advances in Secondary Organic Aerosol

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Shrivastava, Manish; Cappa, Christopher D.; Fan, Jiwen

    aerosol mass and number with knowledge of particle properties such as volatility and viscosity are crucial for improving understanding of non-linear SOA-related processes. For example, useful insights can be attained by combining bottom-up information related to the molecular speciation of gas- and particle-phase precursors with top-down insights on size evolution dynamics of SOA. Continuing efforts are also needed to rank the most influential processes affecting SOA lifecycle, so that these processes can be accurately represented in atmospheric chemistry-climate models.« less

  2. Aerosol chemistry during the wet season in central Amazonia - The influence of long-range transport

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Talbot, R. W.; Andreae, M. O.; Berresheim, H.; Artaxo, P.; Garstang, M.

    1990-01-01

    The temporal variation in the concentration and chemistry of the atmospheric aerosol over central Amazonia, Brazil, during the 1987 wet season is discussed based on ground and aircraft collected data obtained during the NASA GTE ABLE 2B expedition conducted in April/May 1987. It is found that wet-season aerosol concentrations and composition are variable in contrast to the more uniform biogenic aerosol observed during the 1985 dry season; four distinct intervals of enhanced aerosol concentration coincided with short periods (3 to 5 d) of extensive rainfall. It is hypothesized that aerosol chemistry in Amazonia during the wet season is strongly influenced by long-range transport of soil dust, marine aerosol, and possibly biomass combustion products advected into the central Basin by large-scale tropospheric circulation, producing periodic pulses of material input to local boundary layer air. The resultant wet-season aerosol regime is dynamic, in contrast to the uniformity of natural biogenic aerosols during the dry season.

  3. Generalized five-dimensional dynamic and spectral factor analysis

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    El Fakhri, Georges; Sitek, Arkadiusz; Zimmerman, Robert E.

    2006-04-15

    We have generalized the spectral factor analysis and the factor analysis of dynamic sequences (FADS) in SPECT imaging to a five-dimensional general factor analysis model (5D-GFA), where the five dimensions are the three spatial dimensions, photon energy, and time. The generalized model yields a significant advantage in terms of the ratio of the number of equations to that of unknowns in the factor analysis problem in dynamic SPECT studies. We solved the 5D model using a least-squares approach. In addition to the traditional non-negativity constraints, we constrained the solution using a priori knowledge of both time and energy, assuming thatmore » primary factors (spectra) are Gaussian-shaped with full-width at half-maximum equal to gamma camera energy resolution. 5D-GFA was validated in a simultaneous pre-/post-synaptic dual isotope dynamic phantom study where {sup 99m}Tc and {sup 123}I activities were used to model early Parkinson disease studies. 5D-GFA was also applied to simultaneous perfusion/dopamine transporter (DAT) dynamic SPECT in rhesus monkeys. In the striatal phantom, 5D-GFA yielded significantly more accurate and precise estimates of both primary {sup 99m}Tc (bias=6.4%{+-}4.3%) and {sup 123}I (-1.7%{+-}6.9%) time activity curves (TAC) compared to conventional FADS (biases=15.5%{+-}10.6% in {sup 99m}Tc and 8.3%{+-}12.7% in {sup 123}I, p<0.05). Our technique was also validated in two primate dynamic dual isotope perfusion/DAT transporter studies. Biases of {sup 99m}Tc-HMPAO and {sup 123}I-DAT activity estimates with respect to estimates obtained in the presence of only one radionuclide (sequential imaging) were significantly lower with 5D-GFA (9.4%{+-}4.3% for {sup 99m}Tc-HMPAO and 8.7%{+-}4.1% for {sup 123}I-DAT) compared to biases greater than 15% for volumes of interest (VOI) over the reconstructed volumes (p<0.05). 5D-GFA is a novel and promising approach in dynamic SPECT imaging that can also be used in other modalities. It allows accurate and

  4. Use of A-Train Aerosol Observations to Constrain Direct Aerosol Radiative Effects (DARE) Comparisons with Aerocom Models and Uncertainty Assessments

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Redemann, J.; Shinozuka, Y.; Kacenelenbogen, M.; Segal-Rozenhaimer, M.; LeBlanc, S.; Vaughan, M.; Stier, P.; Schutgens, N.

    2017-01-01

    We describe a technique for combining multiple A-Train aerosol data sets, namely MODIS spectral AOD (aerosol optical depth), OMI AAOD (absorption aerosol optical depth) and CALIOP aerosol backscatter retrievals (hereafter referred to as MOC retrievals) to estimate full spectral sets of aerosol radiative properties, and ultimately to calculate the 3-D distribution of direct aerosol radiative effects (DARE). We present MOC results using almost two years of data collected in 2007 and 2008, and show comparisons of the aerosol radiative property estimates to collocated AERONET retrievals. Use of the MODIS Collection 6 AOD data derived with the dark target and deep blue algorithms has extended the coverage of the MOC retrievals towards higher latitudes. The MOC aerosol retrievals agree better with AERONET in terms of the single scattering albedo (ssa) at 441 nm than ssa calculated from OMI and MODIS data alone, indicating that CALIOP aerosol backscatter data contains information on aerosol absorption. We compare the spatio-temporal distribution of the MOC retrievals and MOC-based calculations of seasonal clear-sky DARE to values derived from four models that participated in the Phase II AeroCom model intercomparison initiative. Overall, the MOC-based calculations of clear-sky DARE at TOA over land are smaller (less negative) than previous model or observational estimates due to the inclusion of more absorbing aerosol retrievals over brighter surfaces, not previously available for observationally-based estimates of DARE. MOC-based DARE estimates at the surface over land and total (land and ocean) DARE estimates at TOA are in between previous model and observational results. Comparisons of seasonal aerosol property to AeroCom Phase II results show generally good agreement best agreement with forcing results at TOA is found with GMI-MerraV3. We discuss sampling issues that affect the comparisons and the major challenges in extending our clear-sky DARE results to all

  5. Detecting Thin Cirrus in Multiangle Imaging Spectroradiometer Aerosol Retrievals

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Pierce, Jeffrey R.; Kahn, Ralph A.; Davis, Matt R.; Comstock, Jennifer M.

    2010-01-01

    Thin cirrus clouds (optical depth (OD) < 03) are often undetected by standard cloud masking in satellite aerosol retrieval algorithms. However, the Mu]tiangle Imaging Spectroradiometer (MISR) aerosol retrieval has the potential to discriminate between the scattering phase functions of cirrus and aerosols, thus separating these components. Theoretical tests show that MISR is sensitive to cirrus OD within Max{0.05 1 20%l, similar to MISR's sensitivity to aerosol OD, and MISR can distinguish between small and large crystals, even at low latitudes, where the range of scattering angles observed by MISR is smallest. Including just two cirrus components in the aerosol retrieval algorithm would capture typical MISR sensitivity to the natural range of cinus properties; in situations where cirrus is present but the retrieval comparison space lacks these components, the retrieval tends to underestimate OD. Generally, MISR can also distinguish between cirrus and common aerosol types when the proper cirrus and aerosol optical models are included in the retrieval comparison space and total column OD is >-0.2. However, in some cases, especially at low latitudes, cirrus can be mistaken for some combinations of dust and large nonabsorbing spherical aerosols, raising a caution about retrievals in dusty marine regions when cirrus is present. Comparisons of MISR with lidar and Aerosol Robotic Network show good agreement in a majority of the cases, but situations where cirrus clouds have optical depths >0.15 and are horizontally inhomogeneous on spatial scales shorter than 50 km pose difficulties for cirrus retrieval using the MISR standard aerosol algorithm..

  6. Ganges Valley Aerosol Experiment (GVAX) Final Campaign Report

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Kotamarthi, VR

    2013-12-01

    In general, the Indian Summer Monsoon (ISM) as well as the and the tropical monsoon climate is influenced by a wide range of factors. Under various climate change scenarios, temperatures over land and into the mid troposphere are expected to increase, intensifying the summer pressure gradient differential between land and ocean and thus strengthening the ISM. However, increasing aerosol concentration, air pollution, and deforestation result in changes to surface albedo and insolation, potentially leading to low monsoon rainfall. Clear evidence points to increasing aerosol concentrations over the Indian subcontinent with time, and several hypotheses regarding the effect on monsoons havemore » been offered. The Ganges Valley Aerosol Experiment (GVAX) field study aimed to provide critical data to address these hypotheses and contribute to developing better parameterizations for tropical clouds, convection, and aerosol-cloud interactions. The primary science questions for the mission were as follows:« less

  7. A climatology of stratospheric aerosol

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Hitchman, M.H.; Mckay, M.; Trepte, C.R.

    1994-10-01

    A global climatology of stratospheric aerosol is created by combining nearly a decade (1979-1981 and 1984-1990) of contemporaneous observations from the Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment (SAGE I and II) and Stratospheric Aerosol Measurement (SAM II) instruments. One goal of this work is to provide a representative distribution of the aerosol layer for use in radiative and chemical modeling. A table of decadal average 1 micron extinction values is included, extending from the tropopause to 35 km and 80 deg S to 85 deg N, which allows estimation of surface area density. We find that the aerosol layer is distinctlymore » volcanic in nature and suggest that the decadal average is a more useful estimate of future aerosol loading than a `background` loading, which is never clearly achieved during the data record. This climatology lends insight into the general circulation of the stratosphere. Latitude - altitude sections of extinction radio at 1 micron are shown, average by decade, season, and phase of the quasi-biennial oscillation (QBO). A tropical reservoir region is diagnosed, with an `upper` and a `lower` transport regime. In the tropics above 22 km (upper regime), enhanced lofting occurs in the summer, with suppressed lofting or eddy dilution in the winter. In the extratropics within two scale heights of the tropopause (lower regime), poleward and downward transport is most robust during winter, especially in the northern hemisphere. The transport patterns persist into the subsequent equinoctial season. Ascent associated with QBO easterly shear favors detrainment in the upper regime, while relative descent and poleward spreading during QBO westerly shear favors detrainment in the lower regime. Extinction radio differences between the winter-spring and summer-fall hemispheres, and differences between the two phases of the QBO, are typically 20-50%.« less

  8. Overview of the aerosol measurements in the UTLS during the POSIDON campaign

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Gao, R. S.; Liu, S.; Thornberry, T. D.; Rollins, A. W.; Yu, P.; Woods, S.; Bui, T. V.

    2017-12-01

    The tropical tropopause layer (TTL) is the main gateway for transport of aerosols from the troposphere to the stratosphere. Studies of aerosol properties in the TTL, however, are very limited. During the NASA Pacific Oxidants, Sulfur, Ice, Dehydration, and cONvection (POSIDON) Experiment in Guam in October 2016, we measured aerosol size distributions onboard the NASA WB-57F high altitude research aircraft up to 19 km. Multiple aerosol vertical profiles showed a robust enhancement of aerosols as a function of altitude between 15 and 19 km, with the aerosol number and mass concentrations of 10 cm-3 and 0.1 µg m-3, respectively, for particles in the size range of 140-3000 nm at 17 km altitude. Simulation using a global sectional aerosol model coupled with the Community Earth System Model generally agreed with aerosol observations, suggesting that the aerosol enhancement was likely due to in-situ particle formation and growth. Concurrent SO2 measurement showed that conversion of SO2 to sulfuric acid alone cannot explain the enhanced aerosol layer at TTL, indicating that other precursors or formation pathways exist for efficient aerosol formation. Using the measured mass concentration and an average vertical air velocity, the aerosol mass flux at the tropopause has been estimated. In addition, we investigated the potential aerosol removal processes and found no evidence for aerosol scavenging by ice.

  9. The DACCIWA Project: Dynamics-Aerosol-Chemistry-Cloud interactions in West Africa

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Knippertz, Peter

    2014-05-01

    Massive economic and population growth and urbanisation are expected to lead to a tripling of anthropogenic emissions from southern West Africa (SWA) between 2000 and 2030, the impacts of which on human health, ecosystems, food security and the regional climate are largely unknown. An assessment of these impacts is complicated by (a) a superposition with effects of global climate change, (b) the strong dependence of SWA on the sensitive West African monsoon, (c) incomplete scientific understanding of interactions between emissions, clouds, radiation, precipitation and regional circulations and (d) by a lack of observations to advance our understanding and improve predictions. The purpose of this contribution is to introduce the research consortium DACCIWA (Dynamics-Aerosol-Chemistry-Cloud interactions in West Africa), which comprises 16 partners in six European and West African countries. The interdisciplinary DACCIWA team will build on the scientific and logistical foundations established by the African Monsoon Multidisciplinary Analysis (AMMA) project and collaborate closely with operational centres. DACCIWA will receive funding of about M8.75€ from the European Commission as part of Framework Programme 7 from 2015 until 2018. The DACCIWA project will conduct extensive fieldwork in SWA to collect high-quality observations, spanning the entire process chain from surface-based natural and anthropogenic emissions to impacts on health, ecosystems and climate. This will include a major field campaign in summer 2015 with three research aircrafts and two ground-based supersites. Combining the resulting benchmark dataset with a wide range of modelling activities will allow us: (a) to assess all relevant physical and chemical processes, (b) to improve the monitoring of climate and compositional parameters from space, (c) to determine health impacts from air pollution, and (d) to develop the next generation of weather and climate models capable of representing coupled

  10. Evaluating WRF-Chem aerosol indirect effects in Southeast Pacific marine stratocumulus during VOCALS-REx

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Saide, Pablo; Spak, S. N.; Carmichael, Gregory

    2012-03-30

    We evaluate a regional-scale simulation with the WRF-Chem model for the VAMOS (Variability of the American Monsoon Systems) Ocean-Cloud-Atmosphere-Land Study Regional Experiment (VOCALS-REx), which sampled the Southeast Pacific's persistent stratocumulus deck. Evaluation of VOCALS-REx ship-based and aircraft observations focuses on analyzing how aerosol loading affects marine boundary layer (MBL) dynamics and cloud microphysics. We compare local time series and campaign averaged longitudinal gradients, and highlight differences in model simulations with (W) and without wet (NW) deposition processes. The higher aerosol loadings in the NW case produce considerable changes in MBL dynamics and cloud microphysics, in accordance with the established conceptualmore » model of aerosol indirect effects. These include increase in cloud albedo, increase in MBL and cloud heights, drizzle suppression, increase in liquid water content, and increase in cloud lifetime. Moreover, better statistical representation of aerosol mass and number concentration improves model fidelity in reproducing observed spatial and temporal variability in cloud properties, including top and base height, droplet concentration, water content, rain rate, optical depth (COD) and liquid water path (LWP). Together, these help to quantify confidence in WRF-Chem's modeled aerosol-cloud interactions, while identifying structural and parametric uncertainties including: irreversibility in rain wet removal; overestimation of marine DMS and sea salt emissions and accelerated aqueous sulfate conversion. Our findings suggest that WRF-Chem simulates marine cloud-aerosol interactions at a level sufficient for applications in forecasting weather and air quality and studying aerosol climate forcing, including the reliability required for policy analysis and geo-engineering applications.« less

  11. Quantification of uncertainty in aerosol optical thickness retrieval arising from aerosol microphysical model and other sources, applied to Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) measurements

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Määttä, A.; Laine, M.; Tamminen, J.; Veefkind, J. P.

    2014-05-01

    Satellite instruments are nowadays successfully utilised for measuring atmospheric aerosol in many applications as well as in research. Therefore, there is a growing need for rigorous error characterisation of the measurements. Here, we introduce a methodology for quantifying the uncertainty in the retrieval of aerosol optical thickness (AOT). In particular, we concentrate on two aspects: uncertainty due to aerosol microphysical model selection and uncertainty due to imperfect forward modelling. We apply the introduced methodology for aerosol optical thickness retrieval of the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) on board NASA's Earth Observing System (EOS) Aura satellite, launched in 2004. We apply statistical methodologies that improve the uncertainty estimates of the aerosol optical thickness retrieval by propagating aerosol microphysical model selection and forward model error more realistically. For the microphysical model selection problem, we utilise Bayesian model selection and model averaging methods. Gaussian processes are utilised to characterise the smooth systematic discrepancies between the measured and modelled reflectances (i.e. residuals). The spectral correlation is composed empirically by exploring a set of residuals. The operational OMI multi-wavelength aerosol retrieval algorithm OMAERO is used for cloud-free, over-land pixels of the OMI instrument with the additional Bayesian model selection and model discrepancy techniques introduced here. The method and improved uncertainty characterisation is demonstrated by several examples with different aerosol properties: weakly absorbing aerosols, forest fires over Greece and Russia, and Sahara desert dust. The statistical methodology presented is general; it is not restricted to this particular satellite retrieval application.

  12. Natural aerosols explain seasonal and spatial patterns of Southern Ocean cloud albedo.

    PubMed

    McCoy, Daniel T; Burrows, Susannah M; Wood, Robert; Grosvenor, Daniel P; Elliott, Scott M; Ma, Po-Lun; Rasch, Phillip J; Hartmann, Dennis L

    2015-07-01

    Atmospheric aerosols, suspended solid and liquid particles, act as nucleation sites for cloud drop formation, affecting clouds and cloud properties-ultimately influencing the cloud dynamics, lifetime, water path, and areal extent that determine the reflectivity (albedo) of clouds. The concentration N d of droplets in clouds that influences planetary albedo is sensitive to the availability of aerosol particles on which the droplets form. Natural aerosol concentrations affect not only cloud properties themselves but also modulate the sensitivity of clouds to changes in anthropogenic aerosols. It is shown that modeled natural aerosols, principally marine biogenic primary and secondary aerosol sources, explain more than half of the spatiotemporal variability in satellite-observed N d. Enhanced N d is spatially correlated with regions of high chlorophyll a, and the spatiotemporal variability in N d is found to be driven primarily by high concentrations of sulfate aerosol at lower Southern Ocean latitudes (35(o) to 45(o)S) and by organic matter in sea spray aerosol at higher latitudes (45(o) to 55(o)S). Biogenic sources are estimated to increase the summertime mean reflected solar radiation in excess of 10 W m(-2) over parts of the Southern Ocean, which is comparable to the annual mean increases expected from anthropogenic aerosols over heavily polluted regions of the Northern Hemisphere.

  13. Runway Scheduling Using Generalized Dynamic Programming

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Montoya, Justin; Wood, Zachary; Rathinam, Sivakumar

    2011-01-01

    A generalized dynamic programming method for finding a set of pareto optimal solutions for a runway scheduling problem is introduced. The algorithm generates a set of runway fight sequences that are optimal for both runway throughput and delay. Realistic time-based operational constraints are considered, including miles-in-trail separation, runway crossings, and wake vortex separation. The authors also model divergent runway takeoff operations to allow for reduced wake vortex separation. A modeled Dallas/Fort Worth International airport and three baseline heuristics are used to illustrate preliminary benefits of using the generalized dynamic programming method. Simulated traffic levels ranged from 10 aircraft to 30 aircraft with each test case spanning 15 minutes. The optimal solution shows a 40-70 percent decrease in the expected delay per aircraft over the baseline schedulers. Computational results suggest that the algorithm is promising for real-time application with an average computation time of 4.5 seconds. For even faster computation times, two heuristics are developed. As compared to the optimal, the heuristics are within 5% of the expected delay per aircraft and 1% of the expected number of runway operations per hour ad can be 100x faster.

  14. Characterizing and Understanding Aerosol Optical Properties: CARES - Final Report

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Cappa, Christopher D; Atkinson, Dean B

    The scientific focus of this study was to use ambient measurements to develop new insights into the understanding of the direct radiative forcing by atmospheric aerosol particles. The study used data collected by the PI’s and others as part of both the 2010 U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) sponsored Carbonaceous Aerosols and Radiative Effects Study (CARES), which took place in and around Sacramento, CA, and the 2012 Clean Air for London (ClearfLo) study. We focus on measurements that were made of aerosol particle optical properties, namely the wavelength-dependent light absorption, scattering and extinction. Interpretation of these optical property measurements ismore » facilitated through consideration of complementary measurements of the aerosol particle chemical composition and size distributions. With these measurements, we addressed the following general scientific questions: 1. How does light scattering and extinction by atmospheric aerosol particles depend on particle composition, water uptake, and size? 2. To what extent is light absorption by aerosol particles enhanced through the mixing of black carbon with other particulate components? 3. What relationships exist between intensive aerosol particle optical properties, and how do these depend on particle source and photochemical aging? 4. How well do spectral deconvolution methods, which are commonly used in remote sensing, retrieve information about particle size distributions?« less

  15. Fractal morphology, imaging and mass spectrometry of single aerosol particles in flight.

    PubMed

    Loh, N D; Hampton, C Y; Martin, A V; Starodub, D; Sierra, R G; Barty, A; Aquila, A; Schulz, J; Lomb, L; Steinbrener, J; Shoeman, R L; Kassemeyer, S; Bostedt, C; Bozek, J; Epp, S W; Erk, B; Hartmann, R; Rolles, D; Rudenko, A; Rudek, B; Foucar, L; Kimmel, N; Weidenspointner, G; Hauser, G; Holl, P; Pedersoli, E; Liang, M; Hunter, M S; Hunter, M M; Gumprecht, L; Coppola, N; Wunderer, C; Graafsma, H; Maia, F R N C; Ekeberg, T; Hantke, M; Fleckenstein, H; Hirsemann, H; Nass, K; White, T A; Tobias, H J; Farquar, G R; Benner, W H; Hau-Riege, S P; Reich, C; Hartmann, A; Soltau, H; Marchesini, S; Bajt, S; Barthelmess, M; Bucksbaum, P; Hodgson, K O; Strüder, L; Ullrich, J; Frank, M; Schlichting, I; Chapman, H N; Bogan, M J

    2012-06-27

    The morphology of micrometre-size particulate matter is of critical importance in fields ranging from toxicology to climate science, yet these properties are surprisingly difficult to measure in the particles' native environment. Electron microscopy requires collection of particles on a substrate; visible light scattering provides insufficient resolution; and X-ray synchrotron studies have been limited to ensembles of particles. Here we demonstrate an in situ method for imaging individual sub-micrometre particles to nanometre resolution in their native environment, using intense, coherent X-ray pulses from the Linac Coherent Light Source free-electron laser. We introduced individual aerosol particles into the pulsed X-ray beam, which is sufficiently intense that diffraction from individual particles can be measured for morphological analysis. At the same time, ion fragments ejected from the beam were analysed using mass spectrometry, to determine the composition of single aerosol particles. Our results show the extent of internal dilation symmetry of individual soot particles subject to non-equilibrium aggregation, and the surprisingly large variability in their fractal dimensions. More broadly, our methods can be extended to resolve both static and dynamic morphology of general ensembles of disordered particles. Such general morphology has implications in topics such as solvent accessibilities in proteins, vibrational energy transfer by the hydrodynamic interaction of amino acids, and large-scale production of nanoscale structures by flame synthesis.

  16. Improvement of Raman lidar algorithm for quantifying aerosol extinction

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Russo, Felicita; Whiteman, David; Demoz, Belay; Hoff, Raymond

    2005-01-01

    likely functional behavior of the data prior to actually calculating the derivative eliminates the need for making a priori assumptions. We note that the a priori choice of a model itself can lead to larger uncertainties as compared to the method that is validated here. In this manuscript, the chi-square technique that determines the most likely functional behavior is validated through numerical simulation and by application to a large body of Raman lidar measurements. In general, we show that the chi-square approach to evaluate aerosol extinction yields lower extinction uncertainty than the traditional technique. We also use the technique to study the feasibility of developing a general characterization of the extinction uncertainty that could permit the uncertainty in Raman lidar aerosol extinction measurements to be estimated accurately without the use of the chi-square technique.

  17. Black carbon aerosol mixing state, organic aerosols and aerosol optical properties over the UK

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    McMeeking, G. R.; Morgan, W. T.; Flynn, M.; Highwood, E. J.; Turnbull, K.; Haywood, J.; Coe, H.

    2011-05-01

    Black carbon (BC) aerosols absorb sunlight thereby leading to a positive radiative forcing and a warming of climate and can also impact human health through their impact on the respiratory system. The state of mixing of BC with other aerosol species, particularly the degree of internal/external mixing, has been highlighted as a major uncertainty in assessing its radiative forcing and hence its climate impact, but few in situ observations of mixing state exist. We present airborne single particle soot photometer (SP2) measurements of refractory BC (rBC) mass concentrations and mixing state coupled with aerosol composition and optical properties measured in urban plumes and regional pollution over the UK. All data were obtained using instrumentation flown on the UK's BAe-146-301 large Atmospheric Research Aircraft (ARA) operated by the Facility for Airborne Atmospheric Measurements (FAAM). We measured sub-micron aerosol composition using an aerosol mass spectrometer (AMS) and used positive matrix factorization to separate hydrocarbon-like (HOA) and oxygenated organic aerosols (OOA). We found a higher number fraction of thickly coated rBC particles in air masses with large OOA relative to HOA, higher ozone-to-nitrogen oxides (NOx) ratios and large concentrations of total sub-micron aerosol mass relative to rBC mass concentrations. The more ozone- and OOA-rich air masses were associated with transport from continental Europe, while plumes from UK cities had higher HOA and NOx and fewer thickly coated rBC particles. We did not observe any significant change in the rBC mass absorption efficiency calculated from rBC mass and light absorption coefficients measured by a particle soot absorption photometer despite observing significant changes in aerosol composition and rBC mixing state. The contributions of light scattering and absorption to total extinction (quantified by the single scattering albedo; SSA) did change for different air masses, with lower SSA observed in

  18. Aerosol-Monsoon Interaction, maintenance and variability of the Asian Tropopause Aerosol Layer (ATAL)

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Yuan, C.; Lau, W. K. M.; Li, Z.

    2016-12-01

    In recent years, the discovery of the Asian Tropopause Aerosol Layer (ATAL) from NASA satellite observations has sparked much interests in research on its composition, origin and relationships to the transport processes of atmospheric constituents in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere (UTLS) and the variability of the Asian Monsoon Anticyclone (AMA). In this paper, based on analysis of MERRA2 reanalysis data, we present results showing that: 1) water vapor, aerosols and chemical gases (BC, OC, dust and CO) originated for the earth surface contribute significantly to the composition of the ATAL during the Asian summer monsoon, 2) one of the major pathways is via the strong large-scale vertical motion, and convective ascent over the Northern Himalayan Foothills during the peak phase of the Indian monsoon, 3) once transported into the UTLS , atmospheric constituents are capped by the Tropopuase inversion Layer (TIL) and advected around within and in the vicinity of the AMA forming the ATAL, 4) the ATAL is modulated by UTLS transport processes which undergo intrinsic monsoon intraseasonal oscillations with 20-30 day quasi-periodicity, coupled to lower tropospheric monsoon dynamics and diabatic heating processes, 5) the pre-monsoon accumulation of absorbing aerosols (BC, OC and dust) over the Indo-Gangetic Plain is more than likely to play an important role in enhancing the UTLS transport of atmospheric constituents from the earth surface to the ATAL.

  19. ANALYSIS OF FLOW THROUGH A HUMAN ORAL MODEL FOR USE IN INHALATION TOXICOLOGY AND AEROSOL THERAPY PROTOCOLS

    EPA Science Inventory


    RATIONALE
    Understanding the transport and deposition of inhaled aerosols is of fundamental importance to inhalation toxicology and aerosol therapy. Herein, we focus on the development of a computer based oral morphology and related computational fluid dynamics (CFD) studi...

  20. Parametrizing linear generalized Langevin dynamics from explicit molecular dynamics simulations

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Gottwald, Fabian; Karsten, Sven; Ivanov, Sergei D., E-mail: sergei.ivanov@uni-rostock.de

    2015-06-28

    Fundamental understanding of complex dynamics in many-particle systems on the atomistic level is of utmost importance. Often the systems of interest are of macroscopic size but can be partitioned into a few important degrees of freedom which are treated most accurately and others which constitute a thermal bath. Particular attention in this respect attracts the linear generalized Langevin equation, which can be rigorously derived by means of a linear projection technique. Within this framework, a complicated interaction with the bath can be reduced to a single memory kernel. This memory kernel in turn is parametrized for a particular system studied,more » usually by means of time-domain methods based on explicit molecular dynamics data. Here, we discuss that this task is more naturally achieved in frequency domain and develop a Fourier-based parametrization method that outperforms its time-domain analogues. Very surprisingly, the widely used rigid bond method turns out to be inappropriate in general. Importantly, we show that the rigid bond approach leads to a systematic overestimation of relaxation times, unless the system under study consists of a harmonic bath bi-linearly coupled to the relevant degrees of freedom.« less

  1. Atmo-metabolomics: a new measurement approach for investigating aerosol composition and ecosystem functioning.

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Rivas-Ubach, A.; Liu, Y.; Sardans, J.; Tfaily, M. M.; Kim, Y. M.; Bourrianne, E.; Paša-Tolić, L.; Penuelas, J.; Guenther, A. B.

    2016-12-01

    Aerosols play crucial roles in the processes controlling the composition of the atmosphere and the functioning of ecosystems. Gaining a deeper understanding of the chemical composition of aerosols is one of the major challenges for atmospheric and climate scientists and is beginning to be recognized as important for ecological research. Better comprehension of aerosol chemistry can potentially provide valuable information on atmospheric processes such as oxidation of organics and the production of cloud condensation nuclei as well as provide an approximation of the general status of an ecosystem through the measurement of certain stress biomarkers. In this study, we describe an efficient aerosol sampling method, the metabolite extraction and the analytical procedures for the chemical characterization of aerosols, namely, the atmo-metabolome. We used mass spectrometry (MS) coupled to liquid chromatography (LC-MS), gas chromatography (GC-MS) and Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance (FT-ICR-MS) to characterize the atmo-metabolome of two marked seasons; spring and summer. Our sampling and extraction methods demonstrated to be suitable for aerosol chemical characterization with any of the analytical platforms used in this study. The atmo-metabolome between spring and summer showed overall statistically differences. We identified several metabolites that can be attributed to pollen and other plant-related aerosols. Spring aerosols exhibit higher concentrations of metabolites linked to higher plant activity while summer samples had higher concentrations of metabolites that may reflect certain oxidative stresses in primary producers. Moreover, the elemental composition of aerosols showed clear different between seasons. Summer aerosols were generally higher in molecular weight and with higher O/C ratios, indicating higher oxidation levels and condensation of compounds relative to spring. Our method represents an advanced approach for characterizing the composition of

  2. Atmosphere aerosol satellite project Aerosol-UA

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Milinevsky, Gennadi; Yatskiv, Yaroslav; Syniavskyi, Ivan; Bovchaliuk, Andrii; Degtyaryov, Oleksandr; Sosonkin, Mikhail; Mishchenko, Michael; Danylevsky, Vassyl; Ivanov, Yury; Oberemok, Yevgeny; Masley, Volodymyr; Rosenbush, Vera; Moskalev, Sergii

    2017-04-01

    The experiment Aerosol-UA is Ukrainian space mission aimed to the terrestrial atmospheric aerosol spatial distribution and microphysics investigations. The experiment concept is based on idea of Glory/APS mission of precise orbital measurements of polarization and intensity of the sunlight scattered by the atmosphere, aerosol and the surface the multichannel Scanning Polarimeter (ScanPol) with narrow field-of-view. ScanPol measurements will be accompanied by the wide-angle MultiSpectral Imager-Polarimeter (MSIP). The ScanPol is designed to measure Stokes parameters I, Q, U within the spectral range from the UV to the SWIR in a wide range of phase angles along satellite ground path. Expected ScanPol polarimetric accuracy is 0.15%. A high accuracy measurement of the degree of linear polarization is provided by on-board calibration of the ScanPol polarimeter. On-board calibration is performed for each scan of the mirror scanning system. A set of calibrators is viewed during the part of the scan range when the ScanPol polarimeter looks in the direction opposite to the Earth's surface. These reference assemblies provide calibration of the zero of the polarimetric scale (unpolarized reference assembly) and the scale factor for the polarimetric scale (polarized reference assembly). The zero of the radiometric scale is provided by the dark reference assembly.The spectral channels of the ScanPol are used to estimate the tropospheric aerosol absorption, the aerosol over the ocean and the land surface, the signals from cirrus clouds, stratospheric aerosols caused by major volcanic eruptions, and the contribution of the Earth's surface. The imager-polarimeter MSIP will collect 60°x60° field-of-view images on the state of the atmosphere and surface in the area, where the ScanPol polarimeter will measure, to retrieve aerosol optical depth and polarization properties of aerosol by registration of three Stokes parameters simultaneously in three spectral channels. The two more

  3. Analysis of aerosol-cloud-precipitation interactions based on MODIS data

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Cheng, Feng; Zhang, Jiahua; He, Junliang; Zha, Yong; Li, Qiannan; Li, Yunmei

    2017-01-01

    Aerosols exert an indirect impact on climate change via its impact on clouds by altering its radiative and optical properties which, in turn, changes the process of precipitation. Over recent years how to study the indirect climate effect of aerosols has become an important research topic. In this study we attempted to understand the complex mutual interactions among aerosols, clouds and precipitation through analysis of the spatial correlation between aerosol optical depth (AOD), cloud effective radius (CER) and precipitation during 2000-2012 in central-eastern China that has one of the highest concentrations of aerosols globally. With the assistance of moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS)-derived aerosol and cloud product data, this analysis focuses on regional differentiation and seasonal variation of the correlation in which in situ observed precipitation was incorporated. On the basis of the achieved results, we proposed four patterns depicting the mutual interactions between aerosols, clouds and precipitation. They characterize the indirect effects of aerosols on the regional scale. These effects can be summarized as complex seasonal variations and north-south regional differentiation over the study area. The relationship between AOD and CER is predominated mostly by the first indirect effect (the negative correlation between AOD and CER) in the north of the study area in the winter and spring seasons, and over the entire study area in the summer season. The relationship between CER and precipitation is dominated chiefly by the second indirect effect (the positive correlation between CER and precipitation) in the northern area in summer and over the entire study area in autumn. It must be noted that aerosols are not the factor affecting clouds and rainfall singularly. It is the joint effect of aerosols with other factors such as atmospheric dynamics that governs the variation in clouds and rainfall.

  4. Aerosol Lidar and MODIS Satellite Comparisons for Future Aerosol Loading Forecast

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    DeYoung, Russell; Szykman, James; Severance, Kurt; Chu, D. Allen; Rosen, Rebecca; Al-Saadi, Jassim

    2006-01-01

    Knowledge of the concentration and distribution of atmospheric aerosols using both airborne lidar and satellite instruments is a field of active research. An aircraft based aerosol lidar has been used to study the distribution of atmospheric aerosols in the California Central Valley and eastern US coast. Concurrently, satellite aerosol retrievals, from the MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) instrument aboard the Terra and Aqua satellites, were take over the Central Valley. The MODIS Level 2 aerosol data product provides retrieved ambient aerosol optical properties (e.g., optical depth (AOD) and size distribution) globally over ocean and land at a spatial resolution of 10 km. The Central Valley topography was overlaid with MODIS AOD (5x5 sq km resolution) and the aerosol scattering vertical profiles from a lidar flight. Backward air parcel trajectories for the lidar data show that air from the Pacific and northern part of the Central Valley converge confining the aerosols to the lower valley region and below the mixed layer. Below an altitude of 1 km, the lidar aerosol and MODIS AOD exhibit good agreement. Both data sets indicate a high presence of aerosols near Bakersfield and the Tehachapi Mountains. These and other results to be presented indicate that the majority of the aerosols are below the mixed layer such that the MODIS AOD should correspond well with surface measurements. Lidar measurements will help interpret satellite AOD retrievals so that one day they can be used on a routine basis for prediction of boundary layer aerosol pollution events.

  5. Black carbon in aerosol during BIBLE B

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Liley, J. Ben; Baumgardner, D.; Kondo, Y.; Kita, K.; Blake, D. R.; Koike, M.; Machida, T.; Takegawa, N.; Kawakami, S.; Shirai, T.; Ogawa, T.

    2003-02-01

    The Biomass Burning and Lightning Experiment (BIBLE) A and B campaigns over the tropical western Pacific during springtime deployed a Gulfstream-II aircraft with systems to measure ozone and numerous precursor species. Aerosol measuring systems included a MASP optical particle counter, a condensation nucleus (CN) counter, and an absorption spectrometer for black carbon. Aerosol volume was very low in the middle and upper troposphere during both campaigns, and during BIBLE A, there was little aerosol enhancement in the boundary layer away from urban areas. In BIBLE B, there was marked aerosol enhancement in the lowest 3 km of the atmosphere. Mixing ratios of CN in cloud-free conditions in the upper troposphere were in general higher than in the boundary layer, indicating new particle formation from gaseous precursors. High concentrations of black carbon were observed during BIBLE B, with mass loadings up to 40 μg m-3 representing as much as one quarter of total aerosol mass. Strong correlations with hydrocarbon enhancement allow the determination of a black carbon emission ratio for the fires at that time. Expressed as elemental carbon, it is about 0.5% of carbon dioxide and 6% of carbon monoxide emissions from the same fires, comparable to methane production, and greater than that of other hydrocarbons.

  6. Black carbon in aerosol during BIBLE B

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Liley, J. Ben; Baumgardner, D.; Kondo, Y.; Kita, K.; Blake, D. R.; Koike, M.; Machida, T.; Takegawa, N.; Kawakami, S.; Shirai, T.; Ogawa, T.

    2002-02-01

    The Biomass Burning and Lightning Experiment (BIBLE) A and B campaigns over the tropical western Pacific during springtime deployed a Gulfstream-II aircraft with systems to measure ozone and numerous precursor species. Aerosol measuring systems included a MASP optical particle counter, a condensation nucleus (CN) counter, and an absorption spectrometer for black carbon. Aerosol volume was very low in the middle and upper troposphere during both campaigns, and during BIBLE A, there was little aerosol enhancement in the boundary layer away from urban areas. In BIBLE B, there was marked aerosol enhancement in the lowest 3 km of the atmosphere. Mixing ratios of CN in cloud-free conditions in the upper troposphere were in general higher than in the boundary layer, indicating new particle formation from gaseous precursors. High concentrations of black carbon were observed during BIBLE B, with mass loadings up to 40 μg m-3 representing as much as one quarter of total aerosol mass. Strong correlations with hydrocarbon enhancement allow the determination of a black carbon emission ratio for the fires at that time. Expressed as elemental carbon, it is about 0.5% of carbon dioxide and 6% of carbon monoxide emissions from the same fires, comparable to methane production, and greater than that of other hydrocarbons.

  7. Generalizing the extensibility of a dynamic geometry software

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Herceg, Đorđe; Radaković, Davorka; Herceg, Dejana

    2012-09-01

    Plug-and-play visual components in a Dynamic Geometry Software (DGS) enable development of visually attractive, rich and highly interactive dynamic drawings. We are developing SLGeometry, a DGS that contains a custom programming language, a computer algebra system (CAS engine) and a graphics subsystem. The basic extensibility framework on SLGeometry supports dynamic addition of new functions from attribute annotated classes that implement runtime metadata registration in code. We present a general plug-in framework for dynamic importing of arbitrary Silverlight user interface (UI) controls into SLGeometry at runtime. The CAS engine maintains a metadata storage that describes each imported visual component and enables two-way communication between the expressions stored in the engine and the UI controls on the screen.

  8. The MAC aerosol climatology

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kinne, S.

    2015-12-01

    Aerosol is highly diverse in space and time. And many different aerosol optical properties are needed (consistent to each other) for the determination of radiative effects. To sidestep a complex (and uncertain) aerosol treatment (emission to mass to optics) a monthly gridded climatology for aerosol properties has been developed. This MPI Aerosol Climatology (MAC) is strongly tied to observational statistics for aerosol column optical properties by AERONET (over land) and by MAN (over oceans). To fill spatial gaps, to address decadal change and to address vertical variability, these sparsely distributed local data are extended with central data of an ensemble of output from global models with complex aerosol modules. This data merging in performed for aerosol column amount (AOD), for aerosol size (AOD,fine) and for aerosol absorption (AAOD). The resulting MAC aerosol climatology is an example for the combination of high quality local observations with spatial, temporal and vertical context from model simulations.

  9. Remote Sensing of Aerosol and Non-Aerosol Absorption

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Kaufman, Y. J.; Dubovik, O.; Holben, B. N.; Remer, L. A.; Tanre, D.; Lau, William K. M. (Technical Monitor)

    2001-01-01

    Remote sensing of aerosol from the new satellite instruments (e.g. MODIS from Terra) and ground based radiometers (e.g. the AERONET) provides the opportunity to measure the absorption characteristics of the ambient undisturbed aerosol in the entire atmospheric column. For example Landsat and AERONET data are used to measure spectral absorption of sunlight by dust from West Africa. Both Application of the Landsat and AERONET data demonstrate that Saharan dust absorption of solar radiation is several times smaller than the current international standards. This is due to difficulties of measuring dust absorption in situ, and due to the often contamination of dust properties by the presence of air pollution or smoke. We use the remotely sensed aerosol absorption properties described by the spectral sin le scattering albedo, together with statistics of the monthly optical thickness for the fine and coarse aerosol derived from the MODIS data. The result is an estimate of the flux of solar radiation absorbed by the aerosol layer in different regions around the globe where aerosol is prevalent. If this aerosol forcing through absorption is not included in global circulation models, it may be interpreted as anomalous absorption in these regions. In a preliminary exercise we also use the absorption measurements by AERONET, to derive the non-aerosol absorption of the atmosphere in cloud free conditions. The results are obtained for the atmospheric windows: 0.44 microns, 0.66 microns, 0.86 microns and 1.05 microns. In all the locations over the land and ocean that were tested no anomalous absorption in these wavelengths, was found within absorption optical thickness of +/- 0.005.

  10. Retrieving the Vertical Structure of the Effective Aerosol Complex Index of Refraction from a Combination of Aerosol in Situ and Remote Sensing Measurements During TARFOX

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Redemann, J.; Turco, R. P.; Liou, K. N.; Russell, P. B.; Bergstrom, R. W.; Schmid, B.; Livingston, J. M.; Hobbs, P. V.; Hartley, W. S.; Ismail, S.; hide

    2000-01-01

    The largest uncertainty in estimates of the effects of atmospheric aerosols on climate stems from uncertainties in the determination of their microphysical properties, including the aerosol complex index of refraction, which in turn determines their optical properties. A novel technique is used to estimate the aerosol complex index of refraction in distinct vertical layers from a combination of aerosol in situ size distribution and remote sensing measurements during the Tropospheric Aerosol Radiative Forcing Observational Experiment (TARFOX). In particular, aerosol backscatter measurements using the NASA Langley LASE (Lidar Atmospheric Sensing Experiment) instrument and in situ aerosol size distribution data are utilized to derive vertical profiles of the "effective" aerosol complex index of refraction at 815 nm (i.e., the refractive index that would provide the same backscatter signal in a forward calculation on the basis of the measured in situ particle size distributions for homogeneous, spherical aerosols). A sensitivity study shows that this method yields small errors in the retrieved aerosol refractive indices, provided the errors in the lidar-derived aerosol backscatter are less than 30% and random in nature. Absolute errors in the estimated aerosol refractive indices are generally less than 0.04 for the real part and can be as much as 0.042 for the imaginary part in the case of a 30% error in the lidar-derived aerosol backscatter. The measurements of aerosol optical depth from the NASA Ames Airborne Tracking Sunphotometer (AATS-6) are successfully incorporated into the new technique and help constrain the retrieved aerosol refractive indices. An application of the technique to two TARFOX case studies yields the occurrence of vertical layers of distinct aerosol refractive indices. Values of the estimated complex aerosol refractive index range from 1.33 to 1.45 for the real part and 0.001 to 0.008 for the imaginary part. The methodology devised in this study

  11. The hygroscopicity parameter (κ) of ambient organic aerosol at a field site subject to biogenic and anthropogenic influences: relationship to degree of aerosol oxidation

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Chang, R. Y.-W.; Slowik, J. G.; Shantz, N. C.; Vlasenko, A.; Liggio, J.; Sjostedt, S. J.; Leaitch, W. R.; Abbatt, J. P. D.

    2010-06-01

    Cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) concentrations were measured at Egbert, a rural site in Ontario, Canada during the spring of 2007. The CCN concentrations were compared to values predicted from the aerosol chemical composition and size distribution using κ-Köhler theory, with the specific goal of this work being to determine the hygroscopic parameter (κ) of the oxygenated organic component of the aerosol, assuming that oxygenation drives the hygroscopicity for the entire organic fraction of the aerosol. The hygroscopicity of the oxygenated fraction of the organic component, as determined by an Aerodyne aerosol mass spectrometer (AMS), was characterised by two methods. First, positive matrix factorization (PMF) was used to separate oxygenated and unoxygenated organic aerosol factors. By assuming that the unoxygenated factor is completely non-hygroscopic and by varying κ of the oxygenated factor so that the predicted and measured CCN concentrations are internally consistent and in good agreement, κ of the oxygenated organic factor was found to be 0.22±0.04 for the suite of measurements made during this five-week campaign. In a second, equivalent approach, we continue to assume that the unoxygenated component of the aerosol, with a mole ratio of atomic oxygen to atomic carbon (O/C) ≈ 0, is completely non-hygroscopic, and we postulate a simple linear relationship between κorg and O/C. Under these assumptions, the κ of the entire organic component for bulk aerosols measured by the AMS can be parameterised as κorg=(0.29±0.05)·(O/C), for the range of O/C observed in this study (0.3 to 0.6). These results are averaged over our five-week study at one location using only the AMS for composition analysis. Empirically, our measurements are consistent with κorg generally increasing with increasing particle oxygenation, but high uncertainties preclude us from testing this hypothesis. Lastly, we examine select periods of different aerosol composition, corresponding

  12. Aerosol specification in single-column Community Atmosphere Model version 5

    DOE PAGES

    Lebassi-Habtezion, B.; Caldwell, P. M.

    2015-03-27

    Single-column model (SCM) capability is an important tool for general circulation model development. In this study, the SCM mode of version 5 of the Community Atmosphere Model (CAM5) is shown to handle aerosol initialization and advection improperly, resulting in aerosol, cloud-droplet, and ice crystal concentrations which are typically much lower than observed or simulated by CAM5 in global mode. This deficiency has a major impact on stratiform cloud simulations but has little impact on convective case studies because aerosol is currently not used by CAM5 convective schemes and convective cases are typically longer in duration (so initialization is less important).more » By imposing fixed aerosol or cloud-droplet and crystal number concentrations, the aerosol issues described above can be avoided. Sensitivity studies using these idealizations suggest that the Meyers et al. (1992) ice nucleation scheme prevents mixed-phase cloud from existing by producing too many ice crystals. Microphysics is shown to strongly deplete cloud water in stratiform cases, indicating problems with sequential splitting in CAM5 and the need for careful interpretation of output from sequentially split climate models. Droplet concentration in the general circulation model (GCM) version of CAM5 is also shown to be far too low (~ 25 cm −3) at the southern Great Plains (SGP) Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) site.« less

  13. New approaches to quantifying aerosol influence on the cloud radiative effect.

    PubMed

    Feingold, Graham; McComiskey, Allison; Yamaguchi, Takanobu; Johnson, Jill S; Carslaw, Kenneth S; Schmidt, K Sebastian

    2016-05-24

    The topic of cloud radiative forcing associated with the atmospheric aerosol has been the focus of intense scrutiny for decades. The enormity of the problem is reflected in the need to understand aspects such as aerosol composition, optical properties, cloud condensation, and ice nucleation potential, along with the global distribution of these properties, controlled by emissions, transport, transformation, and sinks. Equally daunting is that clouds themselves are complex, turbulent, microphysical entities and, by their very nature, ephemeral and hard to predict. Atmospheric general circulation models represent aerosol-cloud interactions at ever-increasing levels of detail, but these models lack the resolution to represent clouds and aerosol-cloud interactions adequately. There is a dearth of observational constraints on aerosol-cloud interactions. We develop a conceptual approach to systematically constrain the aerosol-cloud radiative effect in shallow clouds through a combination of routine process modeling and satellite and surface-based shortwave radiation measurements. We heed the call to merge Darwinian and Newtonian strategies by balancing microphysical detail with scaling and emergent properties of the aerosol-cloud radiation system.

  14. Answering the Call for Model-Relevant Observations of Aerosols and Clouds

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Redemann, J.; Shinozuka, Y.; Kacenelenbogen, M.; Segal-Rozenhaimer, M.; LeBlanc, S.; Vaughan, M.; Stier, P.; Schutgens, N.

    2017-01-01

    We describe a technique for combining multiple A-Train aerosol data sets, namely MODIS spectral AOD (aerosol optical depth), OMI AAOD (absorption aerosol optical depth) and CALIOP aerosol backscatter retrievals (hereafter referred to as MOC retrievals) to estimate full spectral sets of aerosol radiative properties, and ultimately to calculate the 3-D distribution of direct aerosol radiative effects (DARE). We present MOC results using almost two years of data collected in 2007 and 2008, and show comparisons of the aerosol radiative property estimates to collocated AERONET retrievals. We compare the spatio-temporal distribution of the MOC retrievals and MOC-based calculations of seasonal clear-sky DARE to values derived from four models that participated in the Phase II AeroCom model intercomparison initiative. Comparisons of seasonal aerosol property to AeroCom Phase II results show generally good agreement best agreement with forcing results at TOA is found with GMI-MerraV3.We discuss the challenges in making observations that really address deficiencies in models, with some of the more relevant aspects being representativeness of the observations for climatological states, and whether a given model-measurement difference addresses a sampling or a model error.

  15. Generalized Dicke Nonequilibrium Dynamics in Trapped Ions

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Genway, Sam; Li, Weibin; Ates, Cenap; Lanyon, Benjamin P.; Lesanovsky, Igor

    2014-01-01

    We explore trapped ions as a setting to investigate nonequilibrium phases in a generalized Dicke model of dissipative spins coupled to phonon modes. We find a rich dynamical phase diagram including superradiantlike regimes, dynamical phase coexistence, and phonon-lasing behavior. A particular advantage of trapped ions is that these phases and transitions among them can be probed in situ through fluorescence. We demonstrate that the main physical insights are captured by a minimal model and consider an experimental realization with Ca+ ions trapped in a linear Paul trap with a dressing scheme to create effective two-level systems with a tunable dissipation rate.

  16. A new approach to correct for absorbing aerosols in OMI UV

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Arola, A.; Kazadzis, S.; Lindfors, A.; Krotkov, N.; Kujanpää, J.; Tamminen, J.; Bais, A.; di Sarra, A.; Villaplana, J. M.; Brogniez, C.; Siani, A. M.; Janouch, M.; Weihs, P.; Webb, A.; Koskela, T.; Kouremeti, N.; Meloni, D.; Buchard, V.; Auriol, F.; Ialongo, I.; Staneck, M.; Simic, S.; Smedley, A.; Kinne, S.

    2009-11-01

    Several validation studies of surface UV irradiance based on the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) satellite data have shown a high correlation with ground-based measurements but a positive bias in many locations. The main part of the bias can be attributed to the boundary layer aerosol absorption that is not accounted for in the current satellite UV algorithms. To correct for this shortfall, a post-correction procedure was applied, based on global climatological fields of aerosol absorption optical depth. These fields were obtained by using global aerosol optical depth and aerosol single scattering albedo data assembled by combining global aerosol model data and ground-based aerosol measurements from AERONET. The resulting improvements in the satellite-based surface UV irradiance were evaluated by comparing satellite and ground-based spectral irradiances at various European UV monitoring sites. The results generally showed a significantly reduced bias by 5-20%, a lower variability, and an unchanged, high correlation coefficient.

  17. Aerosol composition and source apportionment in Santiago de Chile

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Artaxo, Paulo; Oyola, Pedro; Martinez, Roberto

    1999-04-01

    Santiago de Chile, São Paulo and Mexico City are Latin American urban areas that suffer from heavy air pollution. In order to study air pollution in Santiago area, an aerosol source apportionment study was designed to measure ambient aerosol composition and size distribution for two downtown sampling sites in Santiago. The aerosol monitoring stations were operated in Gotuzo and Las Condes during July and August 1996. The study employed stacked filter units (SFU) for aerosol sampling, collecting fine mode aerosol (dp<2 μm) and coarse mode aerosol (2Aerosol mass (PM 10 mass of particles smaller than 10 μm) and black carbon concentration were also measured. Particle-Induced X-ray Emission (PIXE) was used to measure the concentration of 22 trace elements at levels below 0.5 ng m -3. Quantitative aerosol source apportionment was performed using Absolute Principal Factor Analysis (APFA). Very high aerosol concentrations were observed (up to 400 μg/m 3 PM 10). The main aerosol particle sources in Santiago are resuspended soil dust and traffic emissions. Coarse particles account for 63% of PM 10 aerosol in Gotuzo and 53% in Las Condes. A major part of this component is resuspended soil dust. In the fine fraction, resuspended soil dust accounts for 15% of fine mass, and the aerosols associated with transportation activities account for a high 64% of the fine particle mass. Sulfate particle is an important component of the aerosol in Santiago, mainly originating from gas-to-particle conversion from SO 2. In the Gotuzo site, sulfates are the highest aerosol component, accounting for 64.5% of fine mass. Direct traffic emissions are generally mixed with resuspended soil dust. It is difficult to separate the two components, because the soil dust in downtown Santiago is contaminated with Pb, Br, Cl, and other heavy metals that are also tracers for traffic emissions. Residual oil combustion is observed, with the presence of V, S and Ni. An

  18. Retrieving the Vertical Structure of the Effective Aerosol Complex Index of Refraction from a Combination of Aerosol in Situ and Remote Sensing Measurements During TARFOX

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Redemann, J.; Turco, R. P.; Liou, K. N.; Russell, P. B.; Bergstrom, R. W.; Schmid, B.; Livingston, J. M.; Hobbs, P. V.; Hartley, W. S.; Ismail, S.

    2000-01-01

    The largest uncertainty in estimates of the effects of atmospheric aerosols on climate stems from uncertainties in the determination of their microphysical properties, including the aerosol complex index of refraction, which in turn determines their optical properties. A novel technique is used to estimate the aerosol complex index of refraction in distinct vertical layers from a combination of aerosol in situ size distribution and remote sensing measurements during the Tropospheric Aerosol Radiative Forcing Observational Experiment (TARFOX). In particular, aerosol backscatter measurements using the NASA Langley LASE (Lidar Atmospheric Sensing Experiment) instrument and in situ aerosol size distribution data are utilized to derive vertical profiles of the 'effective' aerosol complex index of refraction at 815 nm (i.e., the refractive index that would provide the same backscatter signal in a forward calculation on the basis of the measured in situ particle size distributions for homogeneous, spherical aerosols). A sensitivity study shows that this method yields small errors in the retrieved aerosol refractive indices, provided the errors in the lidar derived aerosol backscatter are less than 30% and random in nature. Absolute errors in the estimated aerosol refractive indices are generally less than 0.04 for the real part and can be as much as 0.042 for the imaginary part in the case of a 30% error in the lidar-derived aerosol backscatter. The measurements of aerosol optical depth from the NASA Ames Airborne Tracking Sunphotometer (AATS-6) are successfully incorporated into the new technique and help constrain the retrieved aerosol refractive indices. An application of the technique to two TARFOX case studies yields the occurrence of vertical layers of distinct aerosol refractive indices. Values of the estimated complex aerosol refractive index range from 1.33 to 1.45 for the real part and 0.001 to 0.008 for the imaginary part. The methodology devised in this study

  19. An automated online instrument to quantify aerosol-bound reactive oxygen species (ROS) for ambient measurement and health-relevant aerosol studies

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wragg, Francis P. H.; Fuller, Stephen J.; Freshwater, Ray; Green, David C.; Kelly, Frank J.; Kalberer, Markus

    2016-10-01

    The adverse health effects associated with ambient aerosol particles have been well documented, but it is still unclear which aerosol properties are most important for their negative health impact. Some studies suggest the oxidative effects of particle-bound reactive oxygen species (ROS) are potential major contributors to the toxicity of particles. Traditional ROS measurement techniques are labour-intensive, give poor temporal resolution and generally have significant delays between aerosol sampling and ROS analysis. However, many oxidising particle components are reactive and thus potentially short-lived. Thus, a technique to quantify particle-bound ROS online would be beneficial to quantify also the short-lived ROS components. We introduce a new portable instrument to allow online, continuous measurement of particle-bound ROS using a chemical assay of 2'7'-dichlorofluorescein (DCFH) with horseradish peroxidase (HRP), via fluorescence spectroscopy. All components of the new instrument are attached to a containing shell, resulting in a compact system capable of automated continuous field deployment over many hours or days. From laboratory measurements, the instrument was found to have a detection limit of ˜ 4 nmol [H2O2] equivalents per cubic metre (m3) air, a dynamic range up to at least ˜ 2000 nmol [H2O2] equivalents per m3 air and a time resolution of ≤ 12 min. The instrument allows for ˜ 16 h automated measurement if unattended and shows a fast response to changes in concentrations of laboratory-generated oxidised organic aerosol. The instrument was deployed at an urban site in London, and particulate ROS levels of up to 24 nmol [H2O2] equivalents per m3 air were detected with PM2.5 concentrations up to 28 µg m-3. The new and portable Online Particle-bound ROS Instrument (OPROSI) allows fast-response quantification; this is important due to the potentially short-lived nature of particle-bound ROS as well as fast-changing atmospheric conditions

  20. Insight into Chemistry on Cloud/Aerosol Water Surfaces.

    PubMed

    Zhong, Jie; Kumar, Manoj; Francisco, Joseph S; Zeng, Xiao Cheng

    2018-05-15

    Cloud/aerosol water surfaces exert significant influence over atmospheric chemical processes. Atmospheric processes at the water surface are observed to follow mechanisms that are quite different from those in the gas phase. This Account summarizes our recent findings of new reaction pathways on the water surface. We have studied these surface reactions using Born-Oppenheimer molecular dynamics simulations. These studies provide useful information on the reaction time scale, the underlying mechanism of surface reactions, and the dynamic behavior of the product formed on the aqueous surface. According to these studies, the aerosol water surfaces confine the atmospheric species into a specific orientation depending on the hydrophilicity of atmospheric species or the hydrogen-bonding interactions between atmospheric species and interfacial water. As a result, atmospheric species are activated toward a particular reaction on the aerosol water surface. For example, the simplest Criegee intermediate (CH 2 OO) exhibits high reactivity toward the interfacial water and hydrogen sulfide, with the reaction times being a few picoseconds, 2-3 orders of magnitude faster than that in the gas phase. The presence of interfacial water molecules induces proton-transfer-based stepwise pathways for these reactions, which are not possible in the gas phase. The strong hydrophobicity of methyl substituents in larger Criegee intermediates (>C1), such as CH 3 CHOO and (CH 3 ) 2 COO, blocks the formation of the necessary prereaction complexes for the Criegee-water reaction to occur at the water droplet surface, which lowers their proton-transfer ability and hampers the reaction. The aerosol water surface provides a solvent medium for acids (e.g., HNO 3 and HCOOH) to participate in reactions via mechanisms that are different from those in the gas and bulk aqueous phases. For example, the anti-CH 3 CHOO-HNO 3 reaction in the gas phase follows a direct reaction between anti-CH 3 CHOO and HNO 3

  1. Design of Nanomaterial Synthesis by Aerosol Processes

    PubMed Central

    Buesser, Beat; Pratsinis, Sotiris E.

    2013-01-01

    Aerosol synthesis of materials is a vibrant field of particle technology and chemical reaction engineering. Examples include the manufacture of carbon blacks, fumed SiO2, pigmentary TiO2, ZnO vulcanizing catalysts, filamentary Ni, and optical fibers, materials that impact transportation, construction, pharmaceuticals, energy, and communications. Parallel to this, development of novel, scalable aerosol processes has enabled synthesis of new functional nanomaterials (e.g., catalysts, biomaterials, electroceramics) and devices (e.g., gas sensors). This review provides an access point for engineers to the multiscale design of aerosol reactors for the synthesis of nanomaterials using continuum, mesoscale, molecular dynamics, and quantum mechanics models spanning 10 and 15 orders of magnitude in length and time, respectively. Key design features are the rapid chemistry; the high particle concentrations but low volume fractions; the attainment of a self-preserving particle size distribution by coagulation; the ratio of the characteristic times of coagulation and sintering, which controls the extent of particle aggregation; and the narrowing of the aggregate primary particle size distribution by sintering. PMID:22468598

  2. Design of nanomaterial synthesis by aerosol processes.

    PubMed

    Buesser, Beat; Pratsinis, Sotiris E

    2012-01-01

    Aerosol synthesis of materials is a vibrant field of particle technology and chemical reaction engineering. Examples include the manufacture of carbon blacks, fumed SiO(2), pigmentary TiO(2), ZnO vulcanizing catalysts, filamentary Ni, and optical fibers, materials that impact transportation, construction, pharmaceuticals, energy, and communications. Parallel to this, development of novel, scalable aerosol processes has enabled synthesis of new functional nanomaterials (e.g., catalysts, biomaterials, electroceramics) and devices (e.g., gas sensors). This review provides an access point for engineers to the multiscale design of aerosol reactors for the synthesis of nanomaterials using continuum, mesoscale, molecular dynamics, and quantum mechanics models spanning 10 and 15 orders of magnitude in length and time, respectively. Key design features are the rapid chemistry; the high particle concentrations but low volume fractions; the attainment of a self-preserving particle size distribution by coagulation; the ratio of the characteristic times of coagulation and sintering, which controls the extent of particle aggregation; and the narrowing of the aggregate primary particle size distribution by sintering.

  3. Evaluating WRF-Chem aerosol indirect effects in Southeast Pacific marine stratocumulus during VOCALS-REx

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Saide P. E.; Springston S.; Spak, S. N.

    2012-03-29

    We evaluate a regional-scale simulation with the WRF-Chem model for the VAMOS (Variability of the American Monsoon Systems) Ocean-Cloud-Atmosphere-Land Study Regional Experiment (VOCALS-REx), which sampled the Southeast Pacific's persistent stratocumulus deck. Evaluation of VOCALS-REx ship-based and three aircraft observations focuses on analyzing how aerosol loading affects marine boundary layer (MBL) dynamics and cloud microphysics. We compare local time series and campaign-averaged longitudinal gradients, and highlight differences in model simulations with (W) and without (NW) wet deposition processes. The higher aerosol loadings in the NW case produce considerable changes in MBL dynamics and cloud microphysics, in accordance with the established conceptualmore » model of aerosol indirect effects. These include increase in cloud albedo, increase in MBL and cloud heights, drizzle suppression, increase in liquid water content, and increase in cloud lifetime. Moreover, better statistical representation of aerosol mass and number concentration improves model fidelity in reproducing observed spatial and temporal variability in cloud properties, including top and base height, droplet concentration, water content, rain rate, optical depth (COD) and liquid water path (LWP). Together, these help to quantify confidence in WRF-Chem's modeled aerosol-cloud interactions, especially in the activation parameterization, while identifying structural and parametric uncertainties including: irreversibility in rain wet removal; overestimation of marine DMS and sea salt emissions, and accelerated aqueous sulfate conversion. Our findings suggest that WRF-Chem simulates marine cloud-aerosol interactions at a level sufficient for applications in forecasting weather and air quality and studying aerosol climate forcing, and may do so with the reliability required for policy analysis.« less

  4. Black carbon aerosol mixing state, organic aerosols and aerosol optical properties over the United Kingdom

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    McMeeking, G. R.; Morgan, W. T.; Flynn, M.; Highwood, E. J.; Turnbull, K.; Haywood, J.; Coe, H.

    2011-09-01

    Black carbon (BC) aerosols absorb sunlight thereby leading to a positive radiative forcing and a warming of climate and can also impact human health through their impact on the respiratory system. The state of mixing of BC with other aerosol species, particularly the degree of internal/external mixing, has been highlighted as a major uncertainty in assessing its radiative forcing and hence its climate impact, but few in situ observations of mixing state exist. We present airborne single particle soot photometer (SP2) measurements of refractory BC (rBC) mass concentrations and mixing state coupled with aerosol composition and optical properties measured in urban plumes and regional pollution over the United Kingdom. All data were obtained using instrumentation flown on the UK's BAe-146-301 large Atmospheric Research Aircraft (ARA) operated by the Facility for Airborne Atmospheric Measurements (FAAM). We measured sub-micron aerosol composition using an aerosol mass spectrometer (AMS) and used positive matrix factorization to separate hydrocarbon-like (HOA) and oxygenated organic aerosols (OOA). We found a higher number fraction of thickly coated rBC particles in air masses with large OOA relative to HOA, higher ozone-to-nitrogen oxides (NOx) ratios and large concentrations of total sub-micron aerosol mass relative to rBC mass concentrations. The more ozone- and OOA-rich air masses were associated with transport from continental Europe, while plumes from UK cities had higher HOA and NOx and fewer thickly coated rBC particles. We did not observe any significant change in the rBC mass absorption efficiency calculated from rBC mass and light absorption coefficients measured by a particle soot absorption photometer despite observing significant changes in aerosol composition and rBC mixing state. The contributions of light scattering and absorption to total extinction (quantified by the single scattering albedo; SSA) did change for different air masses, with lower SSA

  5. Optimal Aerosol Parameterization for Remote Sensing Retrievals

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Newchurch, Michael J.

    2004-01-01

    We have developed a new algorithm for the retrieval of aerosol and gases from SAGE It1 solar transmission measurements. This algorithm improves upon the NASA operational algorithm in several key aspects, including solving the problem non-linearly and incorporating a new methodology for separating the contribution of aerosols and gases. In order to extract aerosol information we have built a huge database of aerosol models for both stratospheric and tropospheric aerosols, and polar stratospheric cloud particles. This set of models allows us to calculate a vast range of possible extinction spectra for aerosols. and from these, derive a set of eigenvectors which then provide the basis set used in our inversion algorithm. Our aerosol algorithm and retrievals are described in several articles (listed in References Section) published under this grant. In particular they allow us to analyze the spectral properties of aerosols and PSCs and ultimately derive their microphysical properties. We have found some considerable differences between our spectra and the ones derived from the SAGE III operational algorithm. These are interesting as they provide an independent check on the validity of published aerosol data and, in particular, on their associated uncertainties. In order to understand these differences, we are assembling independent aerosol data from other sources with which to make comparisons. We have carried out extensive comparisons of our ozone retrievals with both SAGE III and independent lidar, ozonesonde, and satellite measurements (Polyakov et al., 2004). These show very good agreement throughout the stratosphere and help to quantify differences which can be attributed to natural variation in ozone versus that produced by algorithmic differences. In the mid - upper stratosphere, agreement with independent data was generally within 5 - 20%. but in the lower stratosphere the differences were considerably larger. We believe that a large proportion of this

  6. Characterization of urban aerosol in Cork city (Ireland) using aerosol mass spectrometry

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Dall'Osto, M.; Ovadnevaite, J.; Ceburnis, D.; Martin, D.; Healy, R. M.; O'Connor, I. P.; Kourtchev, I.; Sodeau, J. R.; Wenger, J. C.; O'Dowd, C.

    2013-05-01

    Ambient wintertime background urban aerosol in Cork city, Ireland, was characterized using aerosol mass spectrometry. During the three-week measurement study in 2009, 93% of the ca. 1 350 000 single particles characterized by an Aerosol Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometer (TSI ATOFMS) were classified into five organic-rich particle types, internally mixed to different proportions with elemental carbon (EC), sulphate and nitrate, while the remaining 7% was predominantly inorganic in nature. Non-refractory PM1 aerosol was characterized using a High Resolution Time-of-Flight Aerosol Mass Spectrometer (Aerodyne HR-ToF-AMS) and was also found to comprise organic aerosol as the most abundant species (62%), followed by nitrate (15%), sulphate (9%) and ammonium (9%), and chloride (5%). Positive matrix factorization (PMF) was applied to the HR-ToF-AMS organic matrix, and a five-factor solution was found to describe the variance in the data well. Specifically, "hydrocarbon-like" organic aerosol (HOA) comprised 20% of the mass, "low-volatility" oxygenated organic aerosol (LV-OOA) comprised 18%, "biomass burning" organic aerosol (BBOA) comprised 23%, non-wood solid-fuel combustion "peat and coal" organic aerosol (PCOA) comprised 21%, and finally a species type characterized by primary {m/z} peaks at 41 and 55, similar to previously reported "cooking" organic aerosol (COA), but possessing different diurnal variations to what would be expected for cooking activities, contributed 18%. Correlations between the different particle types obtained by the two aerosol mass spectrometers are also discussed. Despite wood, coal and peat being minor fuel types used for domestic space heating in urban areas, their relatively low combustion efficiencies result in a significant contribution to PM1 aerosol mass (44% and 28% of the total organic aerosol mass and non-refractory total PM1, respectively).

  7. Estimating Marine Aerosol Particle Volume and Number from Maritime Aerosol Network Data

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Sayer, A. M.; Smirnov, A.; Hsu, N. C.; Munchak, L. A.; Holben, B. N.

    2012-01-01

    As well as spectral aerosol optical depth (AOD), aerosol composition and concentration (number, volume, or mass) are of interest for a variety of applications. However, remote sensing of these quantities is more difficult than for AOD, as it is more sensitive to assumptions relating to aerosol composition. This study uses spectral AOD measured on Maritime Aerosol Network (MAN) cruises, with the additional constraint of a microphysical model for unpolluted maritime aerosol based on analysis of Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) inversions, to estimate these quantities over open ocean. When the MAN data are subset to those likely to be comprised of maritime aerosol, number and volume concentrations obtained are physically reasonable. Attempts to estimate surface concentration from columnar abundance, however, are shown to be limited by uncertainties in vertical distribution. Columnar AOD at 550 nm and aerosol number for unpolluted maritime cases are also compared with Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data, for both the present Collection 5.1 and forthcoming Collection 6. MODIS provides a best-fitting retrieval solution, as well as the average for several different solutions, with different aerosol microphysical models. The average solution MODIS dataset agrees more closely with MAN than the best solution dataset. Terra tends to retrieve lower aerosol number than MAN, and Aqua higher, linked with differences in the aerosol models commonly chosen. Collection 6 AOD is likely to agree more closely with MAN over open ocean than Collection 5.1. In situations where spectral AOD is measured accurately, and aerosol microphysical properties are reasonably well-constrained, estimates of aerosol number and volume using MAN or similar data would provide for a greater variety of potential comparisons with aerosol properties derived from satellite or chemistry transport model data.

  8. Biomass burning aerosol transport and vertical distribution over the South African-Atlantic region: Aerosol Transport Over SE Atlantic

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Das, Sampa; Harshvardhan, H.; Bian, Huisheng

    Aerosols from wild-land fires could significantly perturb the global radiation balance and induce the climate change. In this study, the Community Atmospheric Model version 5 (CAM5) with prescribed daily fire aerosol emissions is used to investigate the spatial and seasonal characteristics of radiative forcings of wildfire aerosols including black carbon (BC) and particulate organic matter (POM). The global annual mean direct radiative forcing (DRF) of all fire aerosols is 0.15 W m-2, mainly due to the absorption of fire BC (0.25 W m-2), while fire POM induces a weak negative forcing (-0.05 W m-2). Strong positive DRF is found inmore » the Arctic and in the oceanic regions west of South Africa and South America as a result of amplified absorption of fire BC above low-level clouds, in general agreement with satellite observations. The global annual mean cloud radiative forcing due to all fire aerosols is -0.70 W m-2, resulting mainly from the fire POM indirect forcing (-0.59 W m-2). The large cloud liquid water path over land areas of the Arctic favors the strong fire aerosol indirect forcing (up to -15 W m-2) during the Arctic summer. Significant surface cooling, precipitation reduction and low-level cloud amount increase are also found in the Arctic summer as a result of the fire aerosol indirect effect. The global annual mean surface albedo forcing over land areas (0.03 W m-2) is mainly due to the fire BC-on-snow forcing (0.02 W m-2) with the maximum albedo forcing occurring in spring (0.12 W m-2) when snow starts to melt.« less

  9. Impact of Aerosols on Convective Clouds and Precipitation

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Tao, Wei-Kuo; Chen, Jen-Ping; Li, Zhanqing; Wang, Chien; Zhang, Chidong; Li, Xiaowen

    2012-01-01

    Aerosols are a critical.factor in the atmospheric hydrological cycle and radiation budget. As a major agent for clouds to form and a significant attenuator of solar radiation, aerosols affect climate in several ways. Current research suggests that aerosols have a major impact on the dynamics, microphysics, and electrification properties of continental mixed-phase convective clouds. In addition, high aerosol concentrations in urban environments could affect precipitation variability by providing a significant source of cloud condensation nuclei (CCN). Such pollution . effects on precipitation potentially have enormous climatic consequences both in terms of feedbacks involving the land surface via rainfall as well as the surface energy budget and changes in latent heat input to the atmosphere. Basically, aerosol concentrations can influence cloud droplet size distributions, the warm-rain process, the cold-rain process, cloud-top heights, the depth of the mixed-phase region, and the occurrence of lightning. Recently, many cloud resolution models (CRMs) have been used to examine the role of aerosols on mixed-phase convective clouds. These modeling studies have many differences in terms of model configuration (two- or three-dimensional), domain size, grid spacing (150-3000 m), microphysics (two-moment bulk, simple or sophisticated spectral-bin), turbulence (1st or 1.5 order turbulent kinetic energy (TKE)), radiation, lateral boundary conditions (i.e., closed, radiative open or cyclic), cases (isolated convection, tropical or midlatitude squall lines) and model integration time (e.g., 2.5 to 48 hours). Among these modeling studies, the most striking difference is that cumulative precipitation can either increase or decrease in response to higher concentrations of CCN. In this presentation, we review past efforts and summarize our current understanding of the effect of aerosols on convective precipitation processes. Specifically, this paper addresses the following topics

  10. The statistical distribution of aerosol properties in sourthern West Africa

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Haslett, Sophie; Taylor, Jonathan; Flynn, Michael; Bower, Keith; Dorsey, James; Crawford, Ian; Brito, Joel; Denjean, Cyrielle; Bourrianne, Thierry; Burnet, Frederic; Batenburg, Anneke; Schulz, Christiane; Schneider, Johannes; Borrmann, Stephan; Sauer, Daniel; Duplissy, Jonathan; Lee, James; Vaughan, Adam; Coe, Hugh

    2017-04-01

    The population and economy in southern West Africa have been growing at an exceptional rate in recent years and this trend is expected to continue, with the population projected to more than double to 800 million by 2050. This will result in a dramatic increase in anthropogenic pollutants, already estimated to have tripled between 1950 and 2000 (Lamarque et al., 2010). It is known that aerosols can modify the radiative properties of clouds. As such, the entrainment of anthropogenic aerosol into the large banks of clouds forming during the onset of the West African Monsoon could have a substantial impact on the region's response to climate change. Such projections, however, are greatly limited by the scarcity of observations in this part of the world. As part of the Dynamics-Aerosol-Chemistry-Cloud Interactions in West Africa (DACCIWA) project, three research aircraft were deployed, each carrying equipment capable of measuring aerosol properties in-situ. Instrumentation included Aerosol Mass Spectrometers (AMS), Single Particle Soot Photometers (SP2), Condensation Particle Counters (CPC) and Scanning Mobility Particle Sizers (SMPS). Throughout the intensive aircraft campaign, 155 hours of scientific flights covered an area including large parts of Benin, Togo, Ghana and parts of Côte D'Ivoire. Approximately 70 hours were dedicated to the measurement of cloud-aerosol interactions, with many other flights producing data contributing towards this objective. Using datasets collected during this campaign period, it is possible to build a robust statistical understanding of aerosol properties in this region for the first time, including size distributions and optical and chemical properties. Here, we describe preliminary results from aerosol measurements on board the three aircraft. These have been used to describe aerosol properties throughout the region and time period encompassed by the DACCIWA aircraft campaign. Such statistics will be invaluable for improving future

  11. Supercritical Fluid Extraction and Analysis of Tropospheric Aerosol Particles

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hansen, Kristen J.

    different source and process components, and to examine concentration changes in groups of variables with respect to time of day and meteorological conditions. Seven orthogonal groups of variables resulted from the statistical analysis; the groups serve as molecular markers for different biologic and anthropogenic emission sources. In addition, the results of the statistical analysis were used to investigate how several emission source contributions vary with respect to local atmospheric dynamics. Field studies were conducted in the urban environment in and around Boulder, CO. to characterize the dynamics, chemistry, and emission sources which affect the composition and concentration of different size-fractions of aerosol particles in the Boulder air mass. Relationships between different size fractions of particles and some gas-phase pollutants were elucidated. These field studies included an investigation of seasonal variations in the organic content and concentration of aerosol particles, and how these characteristics are related to local meteorology and to the concentration of some gas-phase pollutants. The elemental and organic composition of aerosol particles was investigated according to particle size in preliminary studies of size-differentiated samples of aerosol particles. In order to aid in future studies of urban aerosol particles, samples were collected at a forest fire near Boulder. Molecular markers specific to wood burning processes will be useful indicators of residential wood burning activities in future field studies.

  12. Aerosol and CCN over the Southern Ocean: Sources, Sinks and Processes

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Clarke, A. D.; Freitag, S.; Howell, S. G.; Snider, J. R.; Kazil, J.; Feingold, G.; McNaughton, C. S.; Brekhovskikh, V.; Kapustin, V.; Campos, T. L.; Shank, L.

    2013-12-01

    Aerosol able to activate as cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) in marine stratus play an important role in cloud properties and processes. The 2008 VOCALS experiment (http://www.eol.ucar.edu/projects/vocals/) explored the aerosol cloud system over the South East Pacific (SEP). There, marine boundary layer (MBL) air from the Southern Ocean is directed north parallel to the South American coast and exposed to continental emissions. During this transport the initial clean MBL aerosol is modified in response to production, processing, entrainment, mixing, and removal. Here we discuss how the aerosol, the CCN and the clouds over the SEP are coupled by these processes. VOCALS data along 20S indicated cleanest air offshore and west of about 78W. However, some of the cleanest air (lowest CO concentrations) over the SEP were present in pockets of open cells (POC's). This suggests POC's are favored in places where remnants of Southern Ocean MBL air experienced the least mixing with higher CO sources during transport, either coastal or via entrainment of free troposphere air. Entrainment from the free troposphere (FT) was found to be an important source of marine boundary layer (MBL) aerosol in both near-shore and off-shore regions while direct advection of continental aerosol tended to influence aerosol and CCN closer to the coast. Entrainment from the FT included diverse sources from South America as well as long range transport from the western Pacific. Entrainment of FT aerosol can resupply the MBL with CCN and this process appears greatly enhanced when patchy 'rivers' of pollution lie directly above the inversion. This process was evident both offshore and near the coast. Production of CCN from sea spray aerosol (SSA) were found to increase with wind speed but atmospheric concentrations did not generally increase in the higher wind offshore regions because these regions had greater drizzle removal that compensated for increased production. Generally SSA larger than 60 nm

  13. Spatial and Temporal Variations of Aerosols Around Beijing in the Summer 2006: Model Evaluation and Source Apportionment

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Matsui, Hitoshi; Koike, Makoto; Kondo, Yutaka

    Regional aerosol model calculations were made using the WRF-CMAQ and WRF-chem models to study spatial and temporal variations of aerosols around Beijing, China, in August and September 2006 when the CAREBEIJING-2006 campaign was conducted. Model calculations were compared with in-situ observations made at the urban site in Beijing and suburb site in Yufa, which is 50 km to the south of Beijing. In general, the two model calculations reproduced features of temporal variations of meteorological parameters and concentrations of elemental carbon (EC) and inorganic aerosols (sulfate, ammonium, and nitrate). Spatial distributions of aerosol optical depth (AOD) obtained by the MODISmore » satellite sensor are also generally well reproduced. Model calculations show that enhancements in inorganic aerosol concentrations simultaneously observed at the two sites 4 to 5 times during the one-month observation period were resulted by accumulation of pollutants under stagnated air condition. Because Beijing is located at the north border the high anthropogenic emission area (the Great North China Plain), northward motion of air under the influence of anti-cyclone system caused enhancements in fine aerosol concentrations at Beijing. Concentrations of primary aerosols, such as EC, are found to be generally controlled by emissions within 100 km around Beijing within previous 24 hours. On the other hand, emissions as far as 500 km within previous 3 days were found to affect concentrations of secondary aerosols, such as sulfate. Because of significant contributions of secondary aerosols in Beijing, regional emission controls are found to be necessary for improvement of air quality in Beijing.« less

  14. Aerosol characterizaton in El Paso-Juarez airshed using optical methods

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Esparza, Angel Eduardo

    2011-12-01

    The assessment and characterization of atmospheric aerosols and their optical properties are of great significance for several applications such as air pollution studies, atmospheric visibility, remote sensing of the atmosphere, and impacts on climate change. Decades ago, the interest in atmospheric aerosols was primarily for visibility impairment problems; however, recently interest has intensified with efforts to quantify the optical properties of aerosols, especially because of the uncertainties surrounding the role of aerosols in climate change. The main objective of the optical characterization of aerosols is to understand their properties. These properties are determined by the aerosols' chemical composition, size, shape and concentration. The general purpose of this research was to contribute to a better characterization of the aerosols present in the Paso del Norte Basin. This study permits an alternative approach in the understanding of air pollution for this zone by analyzing the predominant components and their contributions to the local environment. This dissertation work had three primary objectives, in which all three are intertwined by the general purpose of the aerosol characterization in the Paso del Norte region. The first objective was to retrieve the columnar aerosol size distribution for two different cases (clean and polluted scenarios) at each season (spring, summer, fall and winter) of the year 2009. In this project, instruments placed in buildings within the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) as well as a monitoring site (CAMS 12) from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) provided the measurements that delimited the aerosol size distribution calculated by our model, the Environmental Physics Inverse Reconstruction (EPIRM) model. The purpose of this objective was to provide an alternate method of quantifying and size-allocating aerosols in situ, by using the optical properties of the aerosols and inversely reconstruct and

  15. Sensitivity of Aerosol Mass and Microphysics to Treatments of Condensational Growth of Secondary Organic Compounds in a Regional Model

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Topping, D. O.; Lowe, D.; McFiggans, G.; Zaveri, R. A.

    2016-12-01

    Gas to particle partitioning of atmospheric compounds occurs through disequilibrium mass transfer rather than through instantaneous equilibrium. However, it is common to treat only the inorganic compounds as partitioning dynamically whilst organic compounds, represented by the Volatility Basis Set (VBS), are partitioned instantaneously. In this study we implement a more realistic dynamic partitioning of organic compounds in a regional framework and assess impact on aerosol mass and microphysics. It is also common to assume condensed phase water is only associated with inorganic components. We thus also assess sensitivity to assuming all organics are hygroscopic according to their prescribed molecular weight.For this study we use WRF-Chem v3.4.1, focusing on anthropogenic dominated North-Western Europe. Gas-phase chemistry is represented using CBM-Z whilst aerosol dynamics are simulated using the 8-section MOSAIC scheme, including a 9-bin volatility basis set (VBS) treatment of organic aerosol. Results indicate that predicted mass loadings can vary significantly. Without gas phase ageing of higher volatility compounds, dynamic partitioning always results in lower mass loadings downwind of emission sources. The inclusion of condensed phase water in both partitioning models increases the predicted PM mass, resulting from a larger contribution from higher volatility organics, if present. If gas phase ageing of VBS compounds is allowed to occur in a dynamic model, this can often lead to higher predicted mass loadings, contrary to expected behaviour from a simple non-reactive gas phase box model. As descriptions of aerosol phase processes improve within regional models, the baseline descriptions of partitioning should retain the ability to treat dynamic partitioning of organic compounds. Using our simulations, we discuss whether derived sensitivities to aerosol processes in existing models may be inherently biased.This work was supported by the Nature Environment

  16. Estimating trace gas and aerosol emissions over South America: Relationship between fire radiative energy released and aerosol optical depth observations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Pereira, Gabriel; Freitas, Saulo R.; Moraes, Elisabete Caria; Ferreira, Nelson Jesus; Shimabukuro, Yosio Edemir; Rao, Vadlamudi Brahmananda; Longo, Karla M.

    2009-12-01

    Contemporary human activities such as tropical deforestation, land clearing for agriculture, pest control and grassland management lead to biomass burning, which in turn leads to land-cover changes. However, biomass burning emissions are not correctly measured and the methods to assess these emissions form a part of current research area. The traditional methods for estimating aerosols and trace gases released into the atmosphere generally use emission factors associated with fuel loading and moisture characteristics and other parameters that are hard to estimate in near real-time applications. In this paper, fire radiative power (FRP) products were extracted from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and from the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES) fire products and new South America generic biomes FRE-based smoke aerosol emission coefficients were derived and applied in 2002 South America fire season. The inventory estimated by MODIS and GOES FRP measurements were included in Coupled Aerosol-Tracer Transport model coupled to the Brazilian developments on the Regional Atmospheric Modeling System (CATT-BRAMS) and evaluated with ground truth collected in Large Scale Biosphere-Atmosphere Smoke, Aerosols, Clouds, rainfall, and Climate (SMOCC) and Radiation, Cloud, and Climate Interactions (RaCCI). Although the linear regression showed that GOES FRP overestimates MODIS FRP observations, the use of a common external parameter such as MODIS aerosol optical depth product could minimize the difference between sensors. The relationship between the PM 2.5μm (Particulate Matter with diameter less than 2.5 μm) and CO (Carbon Monoxide) model shows a good agreement with SMOCC/RaCCI data in the general pattern of temporal evolution. The results showed high correlations, with values between 0.80 and 0.95 (significant at 0.5 level by student t test), for the CATT-BRAMS simulations with PM 2.5μm and CO.

  17. Aerosols

    Atmospheric Science Data Center

    2013-04-17

    ... depth. A color scale is used to represent this quantity, and high aerosol amount is indicated by yellow or green pixels, and clearer skies ... out most clearly, whereas MISR's oblique cameras enhance sensitivity to even thin layers of aerosols. In the March image, the only ...

  18. Interactive coupling of regional climate and sulfate aerosol models over eastern Asia

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Qian, Yun; Giorgi, Filippo

    1999-03-01

    The NCAR regional climate model (RegCM) is interactively coupled to a simple radiatively active sulfate aerosol model over eastern Asia. Both direct and indirect aerosol effects are represented. The coupled model system is tested for two simulation periods, November 1994 and July 1995, with aerosol sources representative of present-day anthropogenic sulfur emissions. The model sensitivity to the intensity of the aerosol source is also studied. The main conclusions from our work are as follows: (1) The aerosol distribution and cycling processes show substantial regional spatial variability, and temporal variability varying on a range of scales, from the diurnal scale of boundary layer and cumulus cloud evolution to the 3-10 day scale of synoptic scale events and the interseasonal scale of general circulation features; (2) both direct and indirect aerosol forcings have regional effects on surface climate; (3) the regional climate response to the aerosol forcing is highly nonlinear, especially during the summer, due to the interactions with cloud and precipitation processes; (4) in our simulations the role of the aerosol indirect effects is dominant over that of direct effects; (5) aerosol-induced feedback processes can affect the aerosol burdens at the subregional scale. This work constitutes the first step in a long term research project aimed at coupling a hierarchy of chemistry/aerosol models to the RegCM over the eastern Asia region.

  19. A large source of low-volatility secondary organic aerosol.

    PubMed

    Ehn, Mikael; Thornton, Joel A; Kleist, Einhard; Sipilä, Mikko; Junninen, Heikki; Pullinen, Iida; Springer, Monika; Rubach, Florian; Tillmann, Ralf; Lee, Ben; Lopez-Hilfiker, Felipe; Andres, Stefanie; Acir, Ismail-Hakki; Rissanen, Matti; Jokinen, Tuija; Schobesberger, Siegfried; Kangasluoma, Juha; Kontkanen, Jenni; Nieminen, Tuomo; Kurtén, Theo; Nielsen, Lasse B; Jørgensen, Solvejg; Kjaergaard, Henrik G; Canagaratna, Manjula; Maso, Miikka Dal; Berndt, Torsten; Petäjä, Tuukka; Wahner, Andreas; Kerminen, Veli-Matti; Kulmala, Markku; Worsnop, Douglas R; Wildt, Jürgen; Mentel, Thomas F

    2014-02-27

    Forests emit large quantities of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) to the atmosphere. Their condensable oxidation products can form secondary organic aerosol, a significant and ubiquitous component of atmospheric aerosol, which is known to affect the Earth's radiation balance by scattering solar radiation and by acting as cloud condensation nuclei. The quantitative assessment of such climate effects remains hampered by a number of factors, including an incomplete understanding of how biogenic VOCs contribute to the formation of atmospheric secondary organic aerosol. The growth of newly formed particles from sizes of less than three nanometres up to the sizes of cloud condensation nuclei (about one hundred nanometres) in many continental ecosystems requires abundant, essentially non-volatile organic vapours, but the sources and compositions of such vapours remain unknown. Here we investigate the oxidation of VOCs, in particular the terpene α-pinene, under atmospherically relevant conditions in chamber experiments. We find that a direct pathway leads from several biogenic VOCs, such as monoterpenes, to the formation of large amounts of extremely low-volatility vapours. These vapours form at significant mass yield in the gas phase and condense irreversibly onto aerosol surfaces to produce secondary organic aerosol, helping to explain the discrepancy between the observed atmospheric burden of secondary organic aerosol and that reported by many model studies. We further demonstrate how these low-volatility vapours can enhance, or even dominate, the formation and growth of aerosol particles over forested regions, providing a missing link between biogenic VOCs and their conversion to aerosol particles. Our findings could help to improve assessments of biosphere-aerosol-climate feedback mechanisms, and the air quality and climate effects of biogenic emissions generally.

  20. A large source of low-volatility secondary organic aerosol

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ehn, Mikael; Thornton, Joel A.; Kleist, Einhard; Sipilä, Mikko; Junninen, Heikki; Pullinen, Iida; Springer, Monika; Rubach, Florian; Tillmann, Ralf; Lee, Ben; Lopez-Hilfiker, Felipe; Andres, Stefanie; Acir, Ismail-Hakki; Rissanen, Matti; Jokinen, Tuija; Schobesberger, Siegfried; Kangasluoma, Juha; Kontkanen, Jenni; Nieminen, Tuomo; Kurtén, Theo; Nielsen, Lasse B.; Jørgensen, Solvejg; Kjaergaard, Henrik G.; Canagaratna, Manjula; Maso, Miikka Dal; Berndt, Torsten; Petäjä, Tuukka; Wahner, Andreas; Kerminen, Veli-Matti; Kulmala, Markku; Worsnop, Douglas R.; Wildt, Jürgen; Mentel, Thomas F.

    2014-02-01

    Forests emit large quantities of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) to the atmosphere. Their condensable oxidation products can form secondary organic aerosol, a significant and ubiquitous component of atmospheric aerosol, which is known to affect the Earth's radiation balance by scattering solar radiation and by acting as cloud condensation nuclei. The quantitative assessment of such climate effects remains hampered by a number of factors, including an incomplete understanding of how biogenic VOCs contribute to the formation of atmospheric secondary organic aerosol. The growth of newly formed particles from sizes of less than three nanometres up to the sizes of cloud condensation nuclei (about one hundred nanometres) in many continental ecosystems requires abundant, essentially non-volatile organic vapours, but the sources and compositions of such vapours remain unknown. Here we investigate the oxidation of VOCs, in particular the terpene α-pinene, under atmospherically relevant conditions in chamber experiments. We find that a direct pathway leads from several biogenic VOCs, such as monoterpenes, to the formation of large amounts of extremely low-volatility vapours. These vapours form at significant mass yield in the gas phase and condense irreversibly onto aerosol surfaces to produce secondary organic aerosol, helping to explain the discrepancy between the observed atmospheric burden of secondary organic aerosol and that reported by many model studies. We further demonstrate how these low-volatility vapours can enhance, or even dominate, the formation and growth of aerosol particles over forested regions, providing a missing link between biogenic VOCs and their conversion to aerosol particles. Our findings could help to improve assessments of biosphere-aerosol-climate feedback mechanisms, and the air quality and climate effects of biogenic emissions generally.

  1. Aerosol Properties of the Atmospheres of Extrasolar Giant Planets

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Lavvas, P.; Koskinen, T., E-mail: panayotis.lavvas@univ-reims.fr

    2017-09-20

    We use a model of aerosol microphysics to investigate the impact of high-altitude photochemical aerosols on the transmission spectra and atmospheric properties of close-in exoplanets, such as HD 209458 b and HD 189733 b. The results depend strongly on the temperature profiles in the middle and upper atmospheres, which are poorly understood. Nevertheless, our model of HD 189733 b, based on the most recently inferred temperature profiles, produces an aerosol distribution that matches the observed transmission spectrum. We argue that the hotter temperature of HD 209458 b inhibits the production of high-altitude aerosols and leads to the appearance of amore » clearer atmosphere than on HD 189733 b. The aerosol distribution also depends on the particle composition, photochemical production, and atmospheric mixing. Due to degeneracies among these inputs, current data cannot constrain the aerosol properties in detail. Instead, our work highlights the role of different factors in controlling the aerosol distribution that will prove useful in understanding different observations, including those from future missions. For the atmospheric mixing efficiency suggested by general circulation models, we find that the aerosol particles are small (∼nm) and probably spherical. We further conclude that a composition based on complex hydrocarbons (soots) is the most likely candidate to survive the high temperatures in hot-Jupiter atmospheres. Such particles would have a significant impact on the energy balance of HD 189733 b’s atmosphere and should be incorporated in future studies of atmospheric structure. We also evaluate the contribution of external sources to photochemical aerosol formation and find that their spectral signature is not consistent with observations.« less

  2. Representation of Nucleation Mode Microphysics in a Global Aerosol Model with Sectional Microphysics

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Lee, Y. H.; Pierce, J. R.; Adams, P. J.

    2013-01-01

    In models, nucleation mode (1 nmaerosol microphysical processes or can be parameterized to obtain the growth and survival of nuclei to the model's lower size boundary. This study investigates how the representation of nucleation mode microphysics impacts aerosol number predictions in the TwO-Moment Aerosol Sectional (TOMAS) aerosol microphysics model running with the GISS GCM II-prime by varying its lowest diameter boundary: 1 nm, 3 nm, and 10 nm. The model with the 1 nm boundary simulates the nucleation mode particles with fully resolved microphysical processes, while the model with the 10 nm and 3 nm boundaries uses a nucleation mode dynamics parameterization to account for the growth of nucleated particles to 10 nm and 3 nm, respectively.We also investigate the impact of the time step for aerosol microphysical processes (a 10 min versus a 1 h time step) to aerosol number predictions in the TOMAS models with explicit dynamics for the nucleation mode particles (i.e., 3 nm and 1 nm boundary). The model with the explicit microphysics (i.e., 1 nm boundary) with the 10 min time step is used as a numerical benchmark simulation to estimate biases caused by varying the lower size cutoff and the time step. Different representations of the nucleation mode have a significant effect on the formation rate of particles larger than 10 nm from nucleated particles (J10) and the burdens and lifetimes of ultrafinemode (10 nm=Dp =70 nm) particles but have less impact on the burdens and lifetimes of CCN-sized particles. The models using parameterized microphysics (i.e., 10 nm and 3 nm boundaries) result in higher J10 and shorter coagulation lifetimes of ultrafine-mode particles than the model with explicit dynamics (i.e., 1 nm boundary). The spatial distributions of CN10 (Dp =10 nm) and CCN(0.2 %) (i.e., CCN concentrations at 0.2%supersaturation) are moderately affected, especially CN10 predictions above 700 h

  3. Functional thermo-dynamics: a generalization of dynamic density functional theory to non-isothermal situations.

    PubMed

    Anero, Jesús G; Español, Pep; Tarazona, Pedro

    2013-07-21

    We present a generalization of Density Functional Theory (DFT) to non-equilibrium non-isothermal situations. By using the original approach set forth by Gibbs in his consideration of Macroscopic Thermodynamics (MT), we consider a Functional Thermo-Dynamics (FTD) description based on the density field and the energy density field. A crucial ingredient of the theory is an entropy functional, which is a concave functional. Therefore, there is a one to one connection between the density and energy fields with the conjugate thermodynamic fields. The connection between the three levels of description (MT, DFT, FTD) is clarified through a bridge theorem that relates the entropy of different levels of description and that constitutes a generalization of Mermin's theorem to arbitrary levels of description whose relevant variables are connected linearly. Although the FTD level of description does not provide any new information about averages and correlations at equilibrium, it is a crucial ingredient for the dynamics in non-equilibrium states. We obtain with the technique of projection operators the set of dynamic equations that describe the evolution of the density and energy density fields from an initial non-equilibrium state towards equilibrium. These equations generalize time dependent density functional theory to non-isothermal situations. We also present an explicit model for the entropy functional for hard spheres.

  4. A re-assessment of aerosol size distributions from Masaya volcano (Nicaragua)

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Martin, R. S.; Ilyinskaya, E.; Sawyer, G. M.; Tsanev, V. I.; Oppenheimer, C.

    2011-01-01

    Cascade impactors were used to sample volcanic aerosol from Masaya (Nicaragua) in 2007, 2009 and 2010. Differences were found in the size distributions of volcanic aerosol between these recent campaigns and with a campaign in 2001: (1) SO 42- showed modes in both the fine (<1 μm; with low Na +/K +) and coarse (>1 μm; with high Na +/K +) fractions in all of the recent campaigns despite being unimodal in 2001 (<1 μm); (2) The modal diameters for SO 42- roughly doubled in 2009, compared to 2007 or 2010; (3) total Cl - was depleted in volcanic aerosol compared to background aerosol in all the more recent campaigns but was enriched in 2001. Other aspects of the volcanic aerosol appear to be persistent, such as a fine SO 42--H +-Na +-K + mode, which was the most abundant mode in all campaigns, and a coarse Cl --F --Mg 2+-Ca 2+ mode of lower abundance. Water uptake and speciation in the aerosol were investigated using the equilibrium model, ISORROPIA II. Results show that the coarse SO 42--rich mode deliquesces at lower relative humidity (40% RH) than the fine SO 42--rich mode (50% RH) due to increased Na +/K + in the former. The aerosol was predicted to be dry at ambient relative humidity in 2009 and dominated by NaHSO 4, KHSO 4, CaSO 4 and MgSO 4. In contrast, model results predict a liquid aerosol at ambient relative humidity in 2010. These results indicate that aerosol emissions from a volcano can vary in ionic composition and even more so in physical speciation (i.e., salts or solutions). These observations are set against a near-constant magmatic gas composition at Masaya, which highlights the significance of atmospheric and dynamic factors in the formation of volcanic aerosols.

  5. Amplification of ENSO Effects on Indian Summer Monsoon by Absorbing Aerosols

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Kim, Maeng-Ki; Lau, William K. M.; Kim, Kyu-Myong; Sang, Jeong; Kim, Yeon-Hee; Lee, Woo-Seop

    2015-01-01

    In this study, we present observational evidence, based on satellite aerosol measurements and MERRA reanalysis data for the period 1979-2011, indicating that absorbing aerosols can have strong influence on seasonal-to-interannual variability of the Indian summer monsoon rainfall, including amplification of ENSO effects. We find a significant correlation between ENSO (El Nino Southern Oscillation) and aerosol loading in April-May, with La Nina (El Nino) conditions favoring increased (decreased) aerosol accumulation over northern India, with maximum aerosol optical depth (AOD) over the Arabian Sea and Northwestern India, indicative of strong concentration of dust aerosols transported from West Asia and Middle East deserts. Composite analyses based on a normalized aerosol index (NAI) show that high concentration of aerosol over northern India in April-May is associated with increased moisture transport, enhanced dynamically induced warming of the upper troposphere over the Tibetan Plateau, and enhanced rainfall over northern India and the Himalayan foothills during May-June, followed by a subsequent suppressed monsoon rainfall over all India,consistent with the Elevated Heat Pump (EHP) hypothesis (Lau et al. 2006). Further analyses from sub-sampling of ENSO years, with normal (less than 1 sigma), and abnormal (greater than 1 sigma)) NAI over northern India respectively show that the EHP may lead to an amplification of the Indian summer monsoon response to ENSO forcing, particularly with respect to the increased rainfall over the Himalayan foothills, and the warming of the upper troposphere over the Tibetan Plateau. Our results suggest that absorbing aerosol, particular desert dusts can strongly modulate ENSO influence, and possibly play important roles as a feedback agent in climate change in Asian monsoon regions.

  6. Potential for wind extraction from 4D-Var assimilation of aerosols and moisture

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zaplotnik, Žiga; Žagar, Nedjeljka

    2017-04-01

    We discuss the potential of the four-dimensional variational data assimilation (4D-Var) to retrieve the unobserved wind field from observations of atmospheric tracers and the mass field through internal model dynamics and the multivariate relationships in the background-error term for 4D-Var. The presence of non-linear moist dynamics makes the wind retrieval from tracers very difficult. On the other hand, it has been shown that moisture observations strongly influence both tropical and mid-latitude wind field in 4D-Var. We present an intermediate complexity model that describes nonlinear interactions between the wind, temperature, aerosols and moisture including their sinks and sources in the framework of the so-called first baroclinic mode atmosphere envisaged by A. Gill. Aerosol physical processes, which are included in the model, are the non-linear advection, diffusion and sources and sinks that exist as dry and wet deposition and diffusion. Precipitation is parametrized according to the Betts-Miller scheme. The control vector for 4D-Var includes aerosols, moisture and the three dynamical variables. The former is analysed univariately whereas wind field and mass field are analysed in a multivariate fashion taking into account quasi-geostrophic and unbalanced dynamics. The OSSE type of studies are performed for the tropical region to assess the ability of 4D-Var to extract wind-field information from the time series of observations of tracers as a function of the flow nonlinearity, the observations density and the length of the assimilation window (12 hours and 24 hours), in dry and moist environment. Results show that the 4D-Var assimilation of aerosols and temperature data is beneficial for the wind analysis with analysis errors strongly dependent on the moist processes and reliable background-error covariances.

  7. Sources and Variability of Aerosols and Aerosol-Cloud Interactions in the Arctic

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Liu, H.; Zhang, B.; Taylor, P. C.; Moore, R.; Barahona, D.; Fairlie, T. D.; Chen, G.; Ham, S. H.; Kato, S.

    2017-12-01

    Arctic sea ice in recent decades has significantly declined. This requires understanding of the Arctic surface energy balance, of which clouds are a major driver. However, the mechanisms for the formation and evolution of clouds in the Arctic and the roles of aerosols therein are highly uncertain. Here we conduct data analysis and global model simulations to examine the sources and variability of aerosols and aerosol-cloud interactions in the Arctic. We use the MERRA-2 reanalysis data (2006-present) from the NASA Global Modeling and Assimilation Office (GMAO) to (1) quantify contributions of different aerosol types to the aerosol budget and aerosol optical depths in the Arctic, (2) ­examine aerosol distributions and variability and diagnose the major pathways for mid-latitude pollution transport to the Arctic, including their seasonal and interannual variability, and (3) characterize the distribution and variability of clouds (cloud optical depth, cloud fraction, cloud liquid and ice water path, cloud top height) in the Arctic. We compare MERRA-2 aerosol and cloud properties with those from C3M, a 3-D aerosol and cloud data product developed at NASA Langley Research Center and merged from multiple A-Train satellite (CERES, CloudSat, CALIPSO, and MODIS) observations. We also conduct perturbation experiments using the NASA GEOS-5 chemistry-climate model (with GOCART aerosol module coupled with two-moment cloud microphysics), and discuss the roles of various types of aerosols in the formation and evolution of clouds in the Arctic.

  8. Aerosol effect on climate extremes in Europe under different future scenarios

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sillmann, J.; Pozzoli, L.; Vignati, E.; Kloster, S.; Feichter, J.

    2013-05-01

    This study investigates changes in extreme temperature and precipitation events under different future scenarios of anthropogenic aerosol emissions (i.e., SO2 and black and organic carbon) simulated with an aerosol-climate model (ECHAM5-HAM) with focus on Europe. The simulations include a maximum feasible aerosol reduction (MFR) scenario and a current legislation emission (CLEmod) scenario where Europe implements the MFR scenario, but the rest of the world follows the current legislation scenario and a greenhouse gas scenario. The strongest changes relative to the year 2000 are projected for the MFR scenario, in which the global aerosol reduction greatly enforces the general warming effect due to greenhouse gases and results in significant increases of temperature and precipitation extremes in Europe. Regional warming effects can also be identified from aerosol reductions under the CLEmodscenario. This becomes most obvious in the increase of the hottest summer daytime temperatures in Northern Europe.

  9. Generalized extended Lagrangian Born-Oppenheimer molecular dynamics

    DOE PAGES

    Niklasson, Anders M. N.; Cawkwell, Marc J.

    2014-10-29

    Extended Lagrangian Born-Oppenheimer molecular dynamics based on Kohn-Sham density functional theory is generalized in the limit of vanishing self-consistent field optimization prior to the force evaluations. The equations of motion are derived directly from the extended Lagrangian under the condition of an adiabatic separation between the nuclear and the electronic degrees of freedom. We show how this separation is automatically fulfilled and system independent. The generalized equations of motion require only one diagonalization per time step and are applicable to a broader range of materials with improved accuracy and stability compared to previous formulations.

  10. Aerosol Indirect Effects on Cirrus Clouds in Global Aerosol-Climate Models

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Liu, X.; Zhang, K.; Wang, Y.; Neubauer, D.; Lohmann, U.; Ferrachat, S.; Zhou, C.; Penner, J.; Barahona, D.; Shi, X.

    2015-12-01

    Cirrus clouds play an important role in regulating the Earth's radiative budget and water vapor distribution in the upper troposphere. Aerosols can act as solution droplets or ice nuclei that promote ice nucleation in cirrus clouds. Anthropogenic emissions from fossil fuel and biomass burning activities have substantially perturbed and enhanced concentrations of aerosol particles in the atmosphere. Global aerosol-climate models (GCMs) have now been used to quantify the radiative forcing and effects of aerosols on cirrus clouds (IPCC AR5). However, the estimate uncertainty is very large due to the different representation of ice cloud formation and evolution processes in GCMs. In addition, large discrepancies have been found between model simulations in terms of the spatial distribution of ice-nucleating aerosols, relative humidity, and temperature fluctuations, which contribute to different estimates of the aerosol indirect effect through cirrus clouds. In this presentation, four GCMs with the start-of-the art representations of cloud microphysics and aerosol-cloud interactions are used to estimate the aerosol indirect effects on cirrus clouds and to identify the causes of the discrepancies. The estimated global and annual mean anthropogenic aerosol indirect effect through cirrus clouds ranges from 0.1 W m-2 to 0.3 W m-2 in terms of the top-of-the-atmosphere (TOA) net radiation flux, and 0.5-0.6 W m-2 for the TOA longwave flux. Despite the good agreement on global mean, large discrepancies are found at the regional scale. The physics behind the aerosol indirect effect is dramatically different. Our analysis suggests that burden of ice-nucleating aerosols in the upper troposphere, ice nucleation frequency, and relative role of ice formation processes (i.e., homogeneous versus heterogeneous nucleation) play key roles in determining the characteristics of the simulated aerosol indirect effects. In addition to the indirect effect estimate, we also use field campaign

  11. Extending "Deep Blue" Aerosol Retrieval Coverage to Cases of Absorbing Aerosols Above Clouds: Sensitivity Analysis and First Case Studies

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Sayer, A. M.; Hsu, N. C.; Bettenhausen, C.; Lee, J.; Redemann, J.; Schmid, B.; Shinozuka, Y.

    2016-01-01

    Cases of absorbing aerosols above clouds (AACs), such as smoke or mineral dust, are omitted from most routinely processed space-based aerosol optical depth (AOD) data products, including those from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS). This study presents a sensitivity analysis and preliminary algorithm to retrieve above-cloud AOD and liquid cloud optical depth (COD) for AAC cases from MODIS or similar sensors, for incorporation into a future version of the "Deep Blue" AOD data product. Detailed retrieval simulations suggest that these sensors should be able to determine AAC AOD with a typical level of uncertainty approximately 25-50 percent (with lower uncertainties for more strongly absorbing aerosol types) and COD with an uncertainty approximately10-20 percent, if an appropriate aerosol optical model is known beforehand. Errors are larger, particularly if the aerosols are only weakly absorbing, if the aerosol optical properties are not known, and the appropriate model to use must also be retrieved. Actual retrieval errors are also compared to uncertainty envelopes obtained through the optimal estimation (OE) technique; OE-based uncertainties are found to be generally reasonable for COD but larger than actual retrieval errors for AOD, due in part to difficulties in quantifying the degree of spectral correlation of forward model error. The algorithm is also applied to two MODIS scenes (one smoke and one dust) for which near-coincident NASA Ames Airborne Tracking Sun photometer (AATS) data were available to use as a ground truth AOD data source, and found to be in good agreement, demonstrating the validity of the technique with real observations.

  12. Extending "Deep Blue" aerosol retrieval coverage to cases of absorbing aerosols above clouds: Sensitivity analysis and first case studies

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sayer, A. M.; Hsu, N. C.; Bettenhausen, C.; Lee, J.; Redemann, J.; Schmid, B.; Shinozuka, Y.

    2016-05-01

    Cases of absorbing aerosols above clouds (AACs), such as smoke or mineral dust, are omitted from most routinely processed space-based aerosol optical depth (AOD) data products, including those from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS). This study presents a sensitivity analysis and preliminary algorithm to retrieve above-cloud AOD and liquid cloud optical depth (COD) for AAC cases from MODIS or similar sensors, for incorporation into a future version of the "Deep Blue" AOD data product. Detailed retrieval simulations suggest that these sensors should be able to determine AAC AOD with a typical level of uncertainty ˜25-50% (with lower uncertainties for more strongly absorbing aerosol types) and COD with an uncertainty ˜10-20%, if an appropriate aerosol optical model is known beforehand. Errors are larger, particularly if the aerosols are only weakly absorbing, if the aerosol optical properties are not known, and the appropriate model to use must also be retrieved. Actual retrieval errors are also compared to uncertainty envelopes obtained through the optimal estimation (OE) technique; OE-based uncertainties are found to be generally reasonable for COD but larger than actual retrieval errors for AOD, due in part to difficulties in quantifying the degree of spectral correlation of forward model error. The algorithm is also applied to two MODIS scenes (one smoke and one dust) for which near-coincident NASA Ames Airborne Tracking Sun photometer (AATS) data were available to use as a ground truth AOD data source, and found to be in good agreement, demonstrating the validity of the technique with real observations.

  13. Chemical Characterization and Source Apportionment of Size Fractionated Atmospheric Aerosols, and, Evaluating Student Attitudes and Learning in Large Lecture General Chemistry Classes

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Allen, Gregory Harold

    between the OOA2 and WBOA factors and smoke levels indicates that these factors can be used to identify the influence of biomass burning on ambient aerosols. The effectiveness of using the ChemWiki instead of a traditional textbook was investigated during the spring quarter of 2014. Student performance was measured using common midterms, a final, and a pre/post content exams. We also employed surveys, the Colorado Learning Attitudes about Science Survey (CLASS) for Chemistry, and a weekly time-on-task survey to quantify students' attitudes and study habits. The effectiveness of the ChemWiki compared to a traditional textbook was examined using multiple linear regression analysis with a standard non-inferiority testing framework. Results show that the performance of students in the section who were assigned readings from the ChemWiki was non-inferior to the performance of students in the section who were assigned readings from the traditional textbook, indicating that the ChemWiki does not substantially differ from the standard textbook in terms of student learning outcomes. The results from the surveys also suggest that the two classes were similar in their beliefs about chemistry and overall average time spent studying. These results indicate that the ChemWiki is a viable cost-saving alternative to traditional textbooks. The impact of using active learning techniques in a large lecture general chemistry class was investigated by assessing student performance and attitudes during the fall 2014 and winter 2015 quarters. One instructor applied active learning strategies while the remaining instructors employed more traditional lecture styles. Student performance, learning, learning environments, and attitudes were measured using a standardized pre/post exams, common final exams, classroom observations, and the CLASS chemistry instrument in large lecture general chemistry courses. Classroom observation data showed that the active learning class was the most student centered

  14. Sampling and physical characterization of diesel exhaust aerosols. SAE Paper 770720

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Verrant, J.A.; Kittelson, D.A.

    Diesel exhaust aerosols are highly dynamic and therefore, difficult to sample without introducing falsification. This paper describes a study of these aerosols using a rapid dilution sampling system and an electrical aerosol analyzer. An Onan single cylinder indirect injection engine was used as an exhaust source. The sampler diluted the exhaust with clean air in ratios of 400:1 to 600:1 in order to prevent sample falsification by condensation and coagulation. The electrical aerosol analyzer was used to determine particle size and concentration. Volume concentration in the exhaust ranged from 2000 to 50,000 ..mu.. m/sup 3/ cm/sup -3/ which correspond tomore » mass loadings of 2.0 to 50 mg m/sup -3/ (assuming a density of 1 gm cm/sup -3/). Volume geometric mean diameters ranged from 0.12 to 0.19 ..mu..m. Evaporation and coagulation effects on diesel aerosols were observed by aging in a Teflon holding bag. A simple evaporation model was fit to the decrease of aerosol volume concentration with time. The fit revealed that the aerosols evaporated as if they were composed of normal paraffins in the 350 to 500 molecular weight range. Although the sample dilution system used in this study may alter the sample somewhat, it is probably analogous to what happens at the tailpipe of a vehicle. Measurements taken on a test track in the exhaust plume of a Peugeot 504 diesel showed aerosol size distributions very similar to those measured in our laboratory studies.« less

  15. Characterization of urban aerosol in Cork City (Ireland) using aerosol mass spectrometry

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Dall'Osto, M.; Ovadnevaite, J.; Ceburnis, D.; Martin, D.; Healy, R. M.; O'Connor, I. P.; Sodeau, J. R.; Wenger, J. C.; O'Dowd, C.

    2012-11-01

    Ambient wintertime background urban aerosol in Cork City, Ireland, was characterized using aerosol mass spectrometry. During the three-week measurement study in 2009, 93% of the 1 200 000 single particles characterized by an Aerosol Time-Of-Flight Mass Spectrometer (TSI ATOFMS) were classified into five organic-rich particle types, internally-mixed to different proportions with Elemental Carbon (EC), sulphate and nitrate while the remaining 7% was predominantly inorganic in nature. Non-refractory PM1 aerosol was also characterized using a High Resolution Time-Of-Flight Aerodyne Aerosol Mass Spectrometer (HR-ToF-AMS) and was also found to comprise organic matter as the most abundant species (62%), followed by nitrate (15%), sulphate (9%) and ammonium (9%), and then chloride (5%). Positive matrix factorization (PMF) was applied to the HR-ToF-AMS organic matrix and a five-factor solution was found to describe the variance in the data well. Specifically, "Hydrocarbon-like" Organic Aerosol (HOA) comprised 19% of the mass, "Oxygenated low volatility" Organic Aerosols (LV-OOA) comprised 19%, "Biomass wood Burning" Organic Aerosol (BBOA) comprised 23%, non-wood solid-fuel combustion "Peat and Coal" Organic Aerosol (PCOA) comprised 21%, and finally, a species type characterized by primary m/z peaks at 41 and 55, similar to previously-reported "Cooking" Organic Aerosol (COA) but possessing different diurnal variations to what would be expected for cooking activities, contributed 18%. Despite wood, cool and peat being minor fuel types used for domestic space heating in urban areas, their relatively low combustion efficiencies result in a significant contribution to PM1 aerosol mass (44% and 28% of the total organic aerosols mass and non refractory PM1, respectively).

  16. Photochemical Cycling of Humic-Like Substances in Atmospheric Aerosols

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Rincon, A. G.; Guzman, M. I.; Hoffmann, M. R.; Colussi, A. J.

    2007-12-01

    Colored, humic-like substances (HULIS) arising from the biodegradation of organic detritus are widespread in natural surface waters, where they ultimately undergo solar photolysis into small alpha-dicarbonylic species, such as glyoxal, glyoxylic and pyruvic acids. Diversely generated and chemically dissimilar HULIS are also found in the atmospheric aerosol. How are significant levels of colored HULIS produced and sustained in the concentrated aerosol phase under intense solar irradiation? Here, this issue is tackled by investigating the solar photolysis of aqueous pyruvic acid (PA) solutions at concentrations representative of the atmospheric aerosol using UV-absorption, high resolution electrospray mass, and nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometries. Under such conditions, PA is not photodegraded but yields polyfunctional polymers, whose mass and UV-absorption spectra remain unaffected after 3, 8 and 22 h photolysis. Unless diluted, these polymers undergo condensation/polymerization in the post-photolysis period into mass < 700 Da species that absorb in the visible, and are bleached upon resuming irradiation. The re- photolyzed solutions recover the mass and UV-absorption spectra of first photolyzed solutions. Whereas initial pH has no effect on the mechanism of reaction, ammonium bisulfate, a major component of the aerosol, markedly influences these processes. These findings suggest that the chemical identity and concentration levels of complex organic substances in the aerosol are the result of dynamic photochemical processing in the condensed phase.

  17. Aerosol loading in the Southeastern United States: reconciling surface and satellite observations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ford, B.; Heald, C. L.

    2013-04-01

    We investigate the seasonality in aerosols over the Southeastern United States using observations from several satellite instruments (MODIS, MISR, CALIOP) and surface network sites (IMPROVE, SEARCH, AERONET). We find that the strong summertime enhancement in satellite-observed aerosol optical depth (factor 2-3 enhancement over wintertime AOD) is not present in surface mass concentrations (25-55% summertime enhancement). Goldstein et al. (2009) previously attributed this seasonality in AOD to biogenic organic aerosol; however, surface observations show that organic aerosol only accounts for ~35% of PM2.5 mass and exhibits similar seasonality to total PM2.5. The GEOS-Chem model generally reproduces these surface aerosol measurements, but under represents the AOD seasonality observed by satellites. We show that seasonal differences in water uptake cannot sufficiently explain the magnitude of AOD increase. As CALIOP profiles indicate the presence of additional aerosol in the lower troposphere (below 700 hPa), which cannot be explained by vertical mixing; we conclude that the discrepancy is due to a missing source of aerosols above the surface in summer.

  18. Host Model Uncertainty in Aerosol Radiative Effects: the AeroCom Prescribed Experiment and Beyond

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Stier, Philip; Schutgens, Nick; Bian, Huisheng; Boucher, Olivier; Chin, Mian; Ghan, Steven; Huneeus, Nicolas; Kinne, Stefan; Lin, Guangxing; Myhre, Gunnar; Penner, Joyce; Randles, Cynthia; Samset, Bjorn; Schulz, Michael; Yu, Hongbin; Zhou, Cheng; Bellouin, Nicolas; Ma, Xiaoyan; Yu, Fangqun; Takemura, Toshihiko

    2013-04-01

    Anthropogenic and natural aerosol radiative effects are recognized to affect global and regional climate. Multi-model "diversity" in estimates of the aerosol radiative effect is often perceived as a measure of the uncertainty in modelling aerosol itself. However, current aerosol models vary considerably in model components relevant for the calculation of aerosol radiative forcings and feedbacks and the associated "host-model uncertainties" are generally convoluted with the actual uncertainty in aerosol modelling. In the AeroCom Prescribed intercomparison study we systematically isolate and quantify host model uncertainties on aerosol forcing experiments through prescription of identical aerosol radiative properties in eleven participating models. Host model errors in aerosol radiative forcing are largest in regions of uncertain host model components, such as stratocumulus cloud decks or areas with poorly constrained surface albedos, such as sea ice. Our results demonstrate that host model uncertainties are an important component of aerosol forcing uncertainty that require further attention. However, uncertainties in aerosol radiative effects also include short-term and long-term feedback processes that will be systematically explored in future intercomparison studies. Here we will present an overview of the proposals for discussion and results from early scoping studies.

  19. Aerosols, light, and water: Measurements of aerosol optical properties at different relative humidities

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Orozco, Daniel

    sampled in Baltimore, MD with the PI-Neph. This study was centered on specific case studies where different aerosol conditions were experienced such as clean, haze episode, and transported smoke event. The approach employed consisted of dry and humid observations of ambient aerosols to compare them with total column products by AERONET. A relatively low difference between the phase function and the degree of linear polarization was measured at high and low RH. The small difference found in the scattering elements and their retrievals is attributed to the general aerosol composition in the region. It was observed that a RH increase causes the particles to scatter more light uniformly over all the scattering angles, and also, that the water uptake did not change markedly the particle's polarization properties. The comparison between in-situ and total column derived observations were highly correlated for most of the cases. The size distribution retrievals from the in-situ measurements were very comparable to the size distributions reported by AERONET, but only for the fine modes.

  20. Aerosol Climate Time Series in ESA Aerosol_cci

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Popp, Thomas; de Leeuw, Gerrit; Pinnock, Simon

    2016-04-01

    Within the ESA Climate Change Initiative (CCI) Aerosol_cci (2010 - 2017) conducts intensive work to improve algorithms for the retrieval of aerosol information from European sensors. Meanwhile, full mission time series of 2 GCOS-required aerosol parameters are completely validated and released: Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) from dual view ATSR-2 / AATSR radiometers (3 algorithms, 1995 - 2012), and stratospheric extinction profiles from star occultation GOMOS spectrometer (2002 - 2012). Additionally, a 35-year multi-sensor time series of the qualitative Absorbing Aerosol Index (AAI) together with sensitivity information and an AAI model simulator is available. Complementary aerosol properties requested by GCOS are in a "round robin" phase, where various algorithms are inter-compared: fine mode AOD, mineral dust AOD (from the thermal IASI spectrometer, but also from ATSR instruments and the POLDER sensor), absorption information and aerosol layer height. As a quasi-reference for validation in few selected regions with sparse ground-based observations the multi-pixel GRASP algorithm for the POLDER instrument is used. Validation of first dataset versions (vs. AERONET, MAN) and inter-comparison to other satellite datasets (MODIS, MISR, SeaWIFS) proved the high quality of the available datasets comparable to other satellite retrievals and revealed needs for algorithm improvement (for example for higher AOD values) which were taken into account for a reprocessing. The datasets contain pixel level uncertainty estimates which were also validated and improved in the reprocessing. For the three ATSR algorithms the use of an ensemble method was tested. The paper will summarize and discuss the status of dataset reprocessing and validation. The focus will be on the ATSR, GOMOS and IASI datasets. Pixel level uncertainties validation will be summarized and discussed including unknown components and their potential usefulness and limitations. Opportunities for time series extension

  1. Characteristics of aerosol acidity in Hong Kong

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Pathak, Ravi Kant; Louie, Peter K. K.; Chan, Chak K.

    The ammonium-to-sulfate ratio ([NH 4+]/[SO 42-]) and the strong acidity have been generally used as parameters to describe the acidic nature of atmospheric aerosols. However, both parameters do not provide the in situ acidic characteristics of atmospheric aerosols, which are more relevant to the reactivity and the environmental impacts of the aerosols. In this study, the in situ free acid concentrations and the in situ pH of aerosols are investigated to understand the acidic characteristics of atmospheric aerosols in Hong Kong (HK). Over 182 datasets on 24 h Respirable Suspended Particles (RSP) samples collected in 2001 from seven air-quality-monitoring sites run by the Hong Kong Environmental Protection Department are analyzed. Simulations using the Aerosol Inorganic Model (AIM2) reveal that the in situ acidity, i.e., the free acid concentration ([H +] free), is only a minor fraction (˜23%) of the estimated strong acidity in the fine particles because of the presence of bisulfate ions. The acidity characteristics of fine particles are a function of mainly RH and ammonium to sulfate ratio. The in situ free acid concentration, the normalized water content ([H 2O] AIM2/[SO 42-]), and the dissociation of bisulfate to free acid in the aerosols decrease as the [NH 4+]/[SO 42-] ratio increases and the Relative Humidity (RH) decreases. The acidic fine mode particles have average molar [NH 4+]/[SO 42-] ratio of 1.42, strong acidity of 51 nmol m -3, in situ acidity of 11 nmol m -3, and in situ pH of 0.25 on average. Our findings suggest that even the more neutralized ([NH 4+]/[SO 42-] >1.5) particles, such as those found when HK is under the influence of continental air masses from the Chinese mainland, can have high in situ acidity and low pH when the RH is low. This study calls for more investigation of the acidity of aerosols in HK, incorporating the concepts of in situ acidity and pH.

  2. Global environmental effects of impact-generated aerosols: Results from a general circulation model

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Covey, Curt; Ghan, Steven J.; Walton, John J.; Weissman, Paul R.

    1989-01-01

    Interception of sunlight by the high altitude worldwide dust cloud generated by impact of a large asteroid or comet would lead to substantial land surface cooling, according to the three-dimensional atmospheric general circulation model (GCM). This result is qualitatively similar to conclusions drawn from an earlier study that employed a one-dimensional atmospheric model, but in the GCM simulation the heat capacity of the oceans, not included in the one-dimensional model, substantially mitigates land surface cooling. On the other hand, the low heat capacity of the GCM's land surface allows temperatures to drop more rapidly in the initial stages of cooling than in the one-dimensional model study. GCM-simulated climatic changes in the scenario of asteroid/comet winter are more severe than in nuclear winter because the assumed aerosol amount is large enough to intercept all sunlight falling on earth. Impacts of smaller objects could also lead to dramatic, though of course less severe, climatic changes, according to the GCM. An asteroid or comet impact would not lead to anything approaching complete global freezing, but quite reasonable to assume that impacts would dramatically alter the climate in at least a patchy sense.

  3. Intercomparison of an Aerosol Chemical Speciation Monitor (ACSM) with ambient fine aerosol measurements in downtown Atlanta, Georgia

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Budisulistiorini, S. H.; Canagaratna, M. R.; Croteau, P. L.; Baumann, K.; Edgerton, E. S.; Kollman, M. S.; Ng, N. L.; Verma, V.; Shaw, S. L.; Knipping, E. M.; Worsnop, D. R.; Jayne, J. T.; Weber, R. J.; Surratt, J. D.

    2014-07-01

    Currently, there are a limited number of field studies that evaluate the long-term performance of the Aerodyne Aerosol Chemical Speciation Monitor (ACSM) against established monitoring networks. In this study, we present seasonal intercomparisons of the ACSM with collocated fine aerosol (PM2.5) measurements at the Southeastern Aerosol Research and Characterization (SEARCH) Jefferson Street (JST) site near downtown Atlanta, GA, during 2011-2012. Intercomparison of two collocated ACSMs resulted in strong correlations (r2 > 0.8) for all chemical species, except chloride (r2 = 0.21) indicating that ACSM instruments are capable of stable and reproducible operation. In general, speciated ACSM mass concentrations correlate well (r2 > 0.7) with the filter-adjusted continuous measurements from JST, although the correlation for nitrate is weaker (r2 = 0.55) in summer. Correlations of the ACSM NR-PM1 (non-refractory particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter less than or equal to 1 μm) plus elemental carbon (EC) with tapered element oscillating microbalance (TEOM) PM2.5 and Federal Reference Method (FRM) PM1 mass are strong with r2 > 0.7 and r2 > 0.8, respectively. Discrepancies might be attributed to evaporative losses of semi-volatile species from the filter measurements used to adjust the collocated continuous measurements. This suggests that adjusting the ambient aerosol continuous measurements with results from filter analysis introduced additional bias to the measurements. We also recommend to calibrate the ambient aerosol monitoring instruments using aerosol standards rather than gas-phase standards. The fitting approach for ACSM relative ionization for sulfate was shown to improve the comparisons between ACSM and collocated measurements in the absence of calibrated values, suggesting the importance of adding sulfate calibration into the ACSM calibration routine.

  4. Aerosols in Northern Morocco: Input pathways and their chemical fingerprint

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Benchrif, A.; Guinot, B.; Bounakhla, M.; Cachier, H.; Damnati, B.; Baghdad, B.

    2018-02-01

    The Mediterranean basin is one of the most sensitive regions in the world regarding climate change and air quality. Deserts and marine aerosols combine with combustion aerosols from maritime traffic, large urban centers, and at a larger scale from populated industrialized regions in Europe. From Tetouan city located in the North of Morocco, we attempted to better figure out the main aerosol transport pathways and their respective aerosol load and chemical profile by examining air mass back trajectory patterns and aerosol chemical compositions from May 2011 to April 2012. The back trajectory analysis throughout the sampling period led to four clusters, for which meteorological conditions and aerosol chemical characteristics have been investigated. The most frequent cluster (CL3: 39%) corresponds to polluted air masses coming from the Mediterranean Basin, characterized by urban and marine vessels emissions out of Spain and of Northern Africa. Two other polluted clusters were characterized. One is of local origin (CL1: 22%), with a marked contribution from urban aerosols (Rabat, Casablanca) and from biomass burning aerosols. The second (CL2: 32%) defines air masses from the near Atlantic Ocean, affected by pollutants emitted from the Iberian coast. A fourth cluster (CL4: 7%) is characterized by rather clean, fast and rainy oceanic air masses, influenced during their last 24 h before reaching Tetouan by similar sources with those affecting CL2, but to a lesser extent. The chemical data show that carbonaceous species are found in the fine aerosols fraction and are generally from local primary sources (low OC/EC) rather than long-range transported. In addition to fresh traffic and maritime vessel aerosols, our results suggest the contribution of local biomass burning.

  5. Dynamical Correspondence in a Generalized Quantum Theory

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Niestegge, Gerd

    2015-05-01

    In order to figure out why quantum physics needs the complex Hilbert space, many attempts have been made to distinguish the C*-algebras and von Neumann algebras in more general classes of abstractly defined Jordan algebras (JB- and JBW-algebras). One particularly important distinguishing property was identified by Alfsen and Shultz and is the existence of a dynamical correspondence. It reproduces the dual role of the selfadjoint operators as observables and generators of dynamical groups in quantum mechanics. In the paper, this concept is extended to another class of nonassociative algebras, arising from recent studies of the quantum logics with a conditional probability calculus and particularly of those that rule out third-order interference. The conditional probability calculus is a mathematical model of the Lüders-von Neumann quantum measurement process, and third-order interference is a property of the conditional probabilities which was discovered by Sorkin (Mod Phys Lett A 9:3119-3127, 1994) and which is ruled out by quantum mechanics. It is shown then that the postulates that a dynamical correspondence exists and that the square of any algebra element is positive still characterize, in the class considered, those algebras that emerge from the selfadjoint parts of C*-algebras equipped with the Jordan product. Within this class, the two postulates thus result in ordinary quantum mechanics using the complex Hilbert space or, vice versa, a genuine generalization of quantum theory must omit at least one of them.

  6. A Study of Aerosol Direct Radiative Effect and Its Impacts on Global Terrestrial Ecosystem Cycles

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zhang, J.; Shao, S.; Zhou, L.

    2017-12-01

    Aerosols can absorb and scatter solar radiation, thus cause the total solar radiation reaching the surface to drop and the fraction of diffuse radiation to increase, which influence the surface radiation budget. The global surface radiation with and without consideration of aerosols are calculated by the Fu-Liou atmospheric radiative transfer model based on the MODIS aerosol products, CERES cloud products and other remote sensing data. The aerosol direct radiative effect is calculated based on the two scenarios of aerosols. Our calculation showed that in 2007, aerosols decreased the global total radiation by 9.16 W m-2 on average. Large decrease generally occurred in places with high AOD. As for the diffuse radiation, aerosol-induced changes were either positive or negative. Large increase generally occurred in places with high surface albedo, while large decrease generally occurred in places with high cloud fraction. The global aerosol-induced diffuse radiation change averaged 8.17 W m-2 in 2007. The aerosol direct radiative effect causes the photosynthetic active radiation to increase, and its influences on the global carbon cycle of terrestrial ecosystem are studied by using the Community Land Model (CLM). Calculations show that the aerosol direct radiative effects caused the global averages of terrestrial gross primary productivity (GPP), net primary productivity (NPP), heterotrophic respiration (RH), autotrophic respiration (RA), and net ecosystem productivity (Reco) to increase in 2007, with significant spatial variations however. The global average changes of GPP, NPP, NEP, RA, RH and Reco in 2007 were +6.47 gC m-2, +2.23 gC m-2, +0.34 gC m-2, +4.24 gC m-2, +1.89 gC m-2, +6.13 gC m-2, respectively. Examinations of the carbon fluxes show that the aerosol direct radiative effects influence the terrestrial ecosystem carbon cycles via the following two approaches: First, the diffuse fertilization effect, i.e. more diffuse radiation absorbed by vegetation shade

  7. X-ray Vision for Aerosol Scientists: LCLS Snapshots of Soot (Narrated)

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    None

    2012-10-22

    This short conceptual animation depicts how scientists can now simultaneously capture fractal morphology (structure), chemical composition and nanoscale imagery of individual aerosol particles in flight. These particles, known as "PM2.5" because they are smaller than 2.5 microns in diameter, affect climate by interacting with sunlight and impact human health by entering the lungs. The single LCLS laser pulses travel to the Atomic, Molecular and Optical Sciences (AMO) laboratory in the Near Experimental Hall. As we zoom in, we see deep inside a simplified aerosol inlet, where the complex fractal structure of the soot particles, each one completely unique, is shown.more » Individual soot particles are then delivered into the pulses of the LCLS beam, which destroys them. X-rays are scattered to the detector before the particle is destroyed, giving information about the morphology of the particle. Ion fragments released in the explosion are sent into a mass spectrometer, which measures their mass-to-charge ratio -- giving scientists information about the chemical composition of the particle. Many different particles are analyzed in this manner, allowing scientists to probe variations in the particles due to changes in their environment before being sent through the aerosol inlet. The final visual of aerosols emitted from a factory is representative of the goal that such LCLS aerosol dynamics experiments can provide critical feedback into modeling and understanding combustion, aerosol processes in manufacturing or aerosol effects on climate change.« less

  8. X-ray Vision for Aerosol Scientists: LCLS Snapshots of Soot (Narrated)

    ScienceCinema

    None

    2018-01-26

    This short conceptual animation depicts how scientists can now simultaneously capture fractal morphology (structure), chemical composition and nanoscale imagery of individual aerosol particles in flight. These particles, known as "PM2.5" because they are smaller than 2.5 microns in diameter, affect climate by interacting with sunlight and impact human health by entering the lungs. The single LCLS laser pulses travel to the Atomic, Molecular and Optical Sciences (AMO) laboratory in the Near Experimental Hall. As we zoom in, we see deep inside a simplified aerosol inlet, where the complex fractal structure of the soot particles, each one completely unique, is shown. Individual soot particles are then delivered into the pulses of the LCLS beam, which destroys them. X-rays are scattered to the detector before the particle is destroyed, giving information about the morphology of the particle. Ion fragments released in the explosion are sent into a mass spectrometer, which measures their mass-to-charge ratio -- giving scientists information about the chemical composition of the particle. Many different particles are analyzed in this manner, allowing scientists to probe variations in the particles due to changes in their environment before being sent through the aerosol inlet. The final visual of aerosols emitted from a factory is representative of the goal that such LCLS aerosol dynamics experiments can provide critical feedback into modeling and understanding combustion, aerosol processes in manufacturing or aerosol effects on climate change.

  9. Analysis of aerosol effects on warm clouds over the Yangtze River Delta from multi-sensor satellite observations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Liu, Yuqin; de Leeuw, Gerrit; Kerminen, Veli-Matti; Zhang, Jiahua; Zhou, Putian; Nie, Wei; Qi, Ximeng; Hong, Juan; Wang, Yonghong; Ding, Aijun; Guo, Huadong; Krüger, Olaf; Kulmala, Markku; Petäjä, Tuukka

    2017-05-01

    Aerosol effects on low warm clouds over the Yangtze River Delta (YRD, eastern China) are examined using co-located MODIS, CALIOP and CloudSat observations. By taking the vertical locations of aerosol and cloud layers into account, we use simultaneously observed aerosol and cloud data to investigate relationships between cloud properties and the amount of aerosol particles (using aerosol optical depth, AOD, as a proxy). Also, we investigate the impact of aerosol types on the variation of cloud properties with AOD. Finally, we explore how meteorological conditions affect these relationships using ERA-Interim reanalysis data. This study shows that the relation between cloud properties and AOD depends on the aerosol abundance, with a different behaviour for low and high AOD (i.e. AOD < 0.35 and AOD > 0.35). This applies to cloud droplet effective radius (CDR) and cloud fraction (CF), but not to cloud optical thickness (COT) and cloud top pressure (CTP). COT is found to decrease when AOD increases, which may be due to radiative effects and retrieval artefacts caused by absorbing aerosol. Conversely, CTP tends to increase with elevated AOD, indicating that the aerosol is not always prone to expand the vertical extension. It also shows that the COT-CDR and CWP (cloud liquid water path)-CDR relationships are not unique, but affected by atmospheric aerosol loading. Furthermore, separation of cases with either polluted dust or smoke aerosol shows that aerosol-cloud interaction (ACI) is stronger for clouds mixed with smoke aerosol than for clouds mixed with dust, which is ascribed to the higher absorption efficiency of smoke than dust. The variation of cloud properties with AOD is analysed for various relative humidity and boundary layer thermodynamic and dynamic conditions, showing that high relative humidity favours larger cloud droplet particles and increases cloud formation, irrespective of vertical or horizontal level. Stable atmospheric conditions enhance cloud cover

  10. Sensitivity of Aerosol Mass and Microphysics to varying treatments of Condensational Growth of Secondary Organic Compounds in a regional model

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lowe, Douglas; Topping, David; McFiggans, Gordon

    2017-04-01

    Gas to particle partitioning of atmospheric compounds occurs through disequilibrium mass transfer rather than through instantaneous equilibrium. However, it is common to treat only the inorganic compounds as partitioning dynamically whilst organic compounds, represented by the Volatility Basis Set (VBS), are partitioned instantaneously. In this study we implement a more realistic dynamic partitioning of organic compounds in a regional framework and assess impact on aerosol mass and microphysics. It is also common to assume condensed phase water is only associated with inorganic components. We thus also assess sensitivity to assuming all organics are hygroscopic according to their prescribed molecular weight. For this study we use WRF-Chem v3.4.1, focusing on anthropogenic dominated North-Western Europe. Gas-phase chemistry is represented using CBM-Z whilst aerosol dynamics are simulated using the 8-section MOSAIC scheme, including a 9-bin VBS treatment of organic aerosol. Results indicate that predicted mass loadings can vary significantly. Without gas phase ageing of higher volatility compounds, dynamic partitioning always results in lower mass loadings downwind of emission sources. The inclusion of condensed phase water in both partitioning models increases the predicted PM mass, resulting from a larger contribution from higher volatility organics, if present. If gas phase ageing of VBS compounds is allowed to occur in a dynamic model, this can often lead to higher predicted mass loadings, contrary to expected behaviour from a simple non-reactive gas phase box model. As descriptions of aerosol phase processes improve within regional models, the baseline descriptions of partitioning should retain the ability to treat dynamic partitioning of organics compounds. Using our simulations, we discuss whether derived sensitivities to aerosol processes in existing models may be inherently biased. This work was supported by the Natural Environment Research Council within

  11. Strong Constraints on Aerosol-Cloud Interactions from Volcanic Eruptions

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Malavelle, Florent F.; Haywood, Jim M.; Jones, Andy; Gettelman, Andrew; Clarisse, Lieven; Bauduin, Sophie; Allan, Richard P.; Karset, Inger Helene H.; Kristjansson, Jon Egill; Oreopoulos, Lazaros; hide

    2017-01-01

    Aerosols have a potentially large effect on climate, particularly through their interactions with clouds, but the magnitude of this effect is highly uncertain. Large volcanic eruptions produce sulfur dioxide, which in turn produces aerosols; these eruptions thus represent a natural experiment through which to quantify aerosol-cloud interactions. Here we show that the massive 2014-2015 fissure eruption in Holuhraun, Iceland, reduced the size of liquid cloud droplets - consistent with expectations - but had no discernible effect on other cloud properties. The reduction in droplet size led to cloud brightening and global-mean radiative forcing of around minus 0.2 watts per square metre for September to October 2014. Changes in cloud amount or cloud liquid water path, however, were undetectable, indicating that these indirect effects, and cloud systems in general, are well buffered against aerosol changes. This result will reduce uncertainties in future climate projections, because we are now able to reject results from climate models with an excessive liquid-water-path response.

  12. Strong constraints on aerosol-cloud interactions from volcanic eruptions.

    PubMed

    Malavelle, Florent F; Haywood, Jim M; Jones, Andy; Gettelman, Andrew; Clarisse, Lieven; Bauduin, Sophie; Allan, Richard P; Karset, Inger Helene H; Kristjánsson, Jón Egill; Oreopoulos, Lazaros; Cho, Nayeong; Lee, Dongmin; Bellouin, Nicolas; Boucher, Olivier; Grosvenor, Daniel P; Carslaw, Ken S; Dhomse, Sandip; Mann, Graham W; Schmidt, Anja; Coe, Hugh; Hartley, Margaret E; Dalvi, Mohit; Hill, Adrian A; Johnson, Ben T; Johnson, Colin E; Knight, Jeff R; O'Connor, Fiona M; Partridge, Daniel G; Stier, Philip; Myhre, Gunnar; Platnick, Steven; Stephens, Graeme L; Takahashi, Hanii; Thordarson, Thorvaldur

    2017-06-22

    Aerosols have a potentially large effect on climate, particularly through their interactions with clouds, but the magnitude of this effect is highly uncertain. Large volcanic eruptions produce sulfur dioxide, which in turn produces aerosols; these eruptions thus represent a natural experiment through which to quantify aerosol-cloud interactions. Here we show that the massive 2014-2015 fissure eruption in Holuhraun, Iceland, reduced the size of liquid cloud droplets-consistent with expectations-but had no discernible effect on other cloud properties. The reduction in droplet size led to cloud brightening and global-mean radiative forcing of around -0.2 watts per square metre for September to October 2014. Changes in cloud amount or cloud liquid water path, however, were undetectable, indicating that these indirect effects, and cloud systems in general, are well buffered against aerosol changes. This result will reduce uncertainties in future climate projections, because we are now able to reject results from climate models with an excessive liquid-water-path response.

  13. The optical properties of absorbing aerosols with fractal soot aggregates: Implications for aerosol remote sensing

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Cheng, Tianhai; Gu, Xingfa; Wu, Yu; Chen, Hao; Yu, Tao

    2013-08-01

    Applying sphere aerosol models to replace the absorbing fine-sized dominated aerosols can potentially result in significant errors in the climate models and aerosol remote sensing retrieval. In this paper, the optical properties of absorbing fine-sized dominated aerosol were modeled, which are taking into account the fresh emitted soot particles (agglomerates of primary spherules), aged soot particles (semi-externally mixed with other weakly absorbing aerosols), and coarse aerosol particles (dust particles). The optical properties of the individual fresh and aged soot aggregates are calculated using the superposition T-matrix method. In order to quantify the morphology effect of absorbing aerosol models on the aerosol remote sensing retrieval, the ensemble averaged optical properties of absorbing fine-sized dominated aerosols are calculated based on the size distribution of fine aerosols (fresh and aged soot) and coarse aerosols. The corresponding optical properties of sphere absorbing aerosol models using Lorenz-Mie solutions were presented for comparison. The comparison study demonstrates that the sphere absorbing aerosol models underestimate the absorption ability of the fine-sized dominated aerosol particles. The morphology effect of absorbing fine-sized dominated aerosols on the TOA radiances and polarized radiances is also investigated. It is found that the sphere aerosol models overestimate the TOA reflectance and polarized reflectance by approximately a factor of 3 at wavelength of 0.865 μm. In other words, the fine-sized dominated aerosol models can cause large errors in the retrieved aerosol properties if satellite reflectance measurements are analyzed using the conventional Mie theory for spherical particles.

  14. Aerosol pollution potential from major population centers

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kunkel, D.; Tost, H.; Lawrence, M. G.

    2012-09-01

    Major population centers (MPCs) or mega-cities represent the largest of growing urban agglomerations with major societal and environmental implications. In terms of air quality they are seen as localized but strong emission sources of aerosols and trace gases which in turn affect air pollution levels in the city or in downwind regions. In the state-of-the-art atmospheric chemistry general circulation model EMAC, generic aerosol and gas phase tracers with equal emission source strengths at 46 MPC locations are used to study the balance between local pollution build up and pollution export, either vertically into the upper troposphere or horizontally, but remaining in the lower atmosphere. The insoluble gas phase tracers with fixed lifetimes are transported with the atmospheric circulation, while the aerosol tracers also undergo gravitational sedimentation as well as dry and wet deposition processes. The strength of low-level tracer export depends on the location of the emission source and prevailing meteorology, in particular on atmospheric stability and the height of the boundary layer and the mixing out of this layer. In contrast, vertical transport of tracer mass depends on the tracer's solubility: the more soluble a tracer is the less mass reaches altitudes above five kilometers. Hence, the mass of insoluble gas phase tracer above five kilometers can be up to ten times higher than the hydrophilic aerosol mass from the same source. In the case of aerosol tracers, pollution build up around the source is determined by meteorological factors which have only indirect effects on tracer lifetime, like surface wind, boundary layer height, and turbulent mixing as well as those which affect the lifetime of the tracers such as precipitation. The longer a tracer stays in the atmosphere, the lower is the relative importance of the location of the source to the atmospheric mass and thus the lower is the relative local pollution build up. We further use aerosol deposition

  15. Aerosol pollution potential from major population centers

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kunkel, D.; Tost, H.; Lawrence, M. G.

    2013-04-01

    Major population centers (MPCs), or megacities, represent the largest of growing urban agglomerations with major societal and environmental implications. In terms of air quality, they are seen as localized but strong emission sources of aerosols and trace gases which in turn affect air pollution levels in the city or in downwind regions. In the state-of-the-art atmospheric chemistry general circulation model EMAC, generic aerosol and gas-phase tracers with equal emission source strengths at 46 MPC locations are used to study the balance between local pollution build-up and pollution export, either vertically into the upper troposphere or horizontally in the lower troposphere. The insoluble gas-phase tracers with fixed lifetimes are transported with the atmospheric circulation, while the aerosol tracers also undergo gravitational sedimentation as well as dry and wet deposition processes. The strength of low-level tracer export depends on the location of the emission source and prevailing meteorology, in particular on atmospheric stability and the height of the boundary layer and the mixing out of this layer. In contrast, vertical transport of tracer mass depends on the tracer's solubility: the more soluble a tracer is, the less mass reaches altitudes above five kilometers. Hence, the mass of insoluble gas-phase tracer above five kilometers can be up to ten times higher than the hydrophilic aerosol mass from the same source. In the case of aerosol tracers, pollution build-up around the source is determined by meteorological factors which have only indirect effects on tracer lifetime, like surface wind, boundary layer height, and turbulent mixing, as well as those which affect the lifetime of the tracers such as precipitation. The longer a tracer stays in the atmosphere, the lower is the relative importance of the location of the source to the atmospheric mass, and thus the lower is the relative local pollution build-up. We further use aerosol deposition fields to

  16. Initial Verification of GEOS-4 Aerosols Using CALIPSO and MODIS: Scene Classification

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Welton, Ellsworth J.; Colarco, Peter R.; Hlavka, Dennis; Levy, Robert C.; Vaughan, Mark A.; daSilva, Arlindo

    2007-01-01

    A-train sensors such as MODIS and MISR provide column aerosol properties, and in the process a means of estimating aerosol type (e.g. smoke vs. dust). Correct classification of aerosol type is important because retrievals are often dependent upon selection of the right aerosol model. In addition, aerosol scene classification helps place the retrieved products in context for comparisons and analysis with aerosol transport models. The recent addition of CALIPSO to the A-train now provides a means of classifying aerosol distribution with altitude. CALIPSO level 1 products include profiles of attenuated backscatter at 532 and 1064 nm, and depolarization at 532 nm. Backscatter intensity, wavelength ratio, and depolarization provide information on the vertical profile of aerosol concentration, size, and shape. Thus similar estimates of aerosol type using MODIS or MISR are possible with CALIPSO, and the combination of data from all sensors provides a means of 3D aerosol scene classification. The NASA Goddard Earth Observing System general circulation model and data assimilation system (GEOS-4) provides global 3D aerosol mass for sulfate, sea salt, dust, and black and organic carbon. A GEOS-4 aerosol scene classification algorithm has been developed to provide estimates of aerosol mixtures along the flight track for NASA's Geoscience Laser Altimeter System (GLAS) satellite lidar. GLAS launched in 2003 and did not have the benefit of depolarization measurements or other sensors from the A-train. Aerosol typing from GLAS data alone was not possible, and the GEOS-4 aerosol classifier has been used to identify aerosol type and improve the retrieval of GLAS products. Here we compare 3D aerosol scene classification using CALIPSO and MODIS with the GEOS-4 aerosol classifier. Dust, smoke, and pollution examples will be discussed in the context of providing an initial verification of the 3D GEOS-4 aerosol products. Prior model verification has only been attempted with surface mass

  17. MATRIX-VBS Condensing Organic Aerosols in an Aerosol Microphysics Model

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Gao, Chloe Y.; Tsigaridis, Konstas; Bauer, Susanne E.

    2015-01-01

    The condensation of organic aerosols is represented in a newly developed box-model scheme, where its effect on the growth and composition of particles are examined. We implemented the volatility-basis set (VBS) framework into the aerosol mixing state resolving microphysical scheme Multiconfiguration Aerosol TRacker of mIXing state (MATRIX). This new scheme is unique and advances the representation of organic aerosols in models in that, contrary to the traditional treatment of organic aerosols as non-volatile in most climate models and in the original version of MATRIX, this new scheme treats them as semi-volatile. Such treatment is important because low-volatility organics contribute significantly to the growth of particles. The new scheme includes several classes of semi-volatile organic compounds from the VBS framework that can partition among aerosol populations in MATRIX, thus representing the growth of particles via condensation of low volatility organic vapors. Results from test cases representing Mexico City and a Finish forrest condistions show good representation of the time evolutions of concentration for VBS species in the gas phase and in the condensed particulate phase. Emitted semi-volatile primary organic aerosols evaporate almost completely in the high volatile range, and they condense more efficiently in the low volatility range.

  18. Retrievals of aerosol microphysics from simulations of spaceborne multiwavelength lidar measurements

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Whiteman, David N.; Pérez-Ramírez, Daniel; Veselovskii, Igor; Colarco, Peter; Buchard, Virginie

    2018-01-01

    In support of the Aerosol, Clouds, Ecosystems mission, simulations of a spaceborne multiwavelength lidar are performed based on global model simulations of the atmosphere along a satellite orbit track. The yield for aerosol microphysical inversions is quantified and comparisons are made between the aerosol microphysics inherent in the global model and those inverted from both the model's optical data and the simulated three backscatter and two extinction lidar measurements, which are based on the model's optical data. We find that yield can be significantly increased if inversions based on a reduced optical dataset of three backscatter and one extinction are acceptable. In general, retrieval performance is better for cases where the aerosol fine mode dominates although a lack of sensitivity to particles with sizes less than 0.1 μm is found. Lack of sensitivity to coarse mode cases is also found, in agreement with earlier studies. Surface area is generally the most robustly retrieved quantity. The work here points toward the need for ancillary data to aid in the constraints of the lidar inversions and also for joint inversions involving lidar and polarimeter measurements.

  19. Retrievals of Aerosol Microphysics from Simulations of Spaceborne Multiwavelength Lidar Measurements

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Whiteman, David N.; Perez-Ramírez, Daniel; Veselovskii, Igor; Colarco, Peter; Buchard, Virginie

    2017-01-01

    In support of the Aerosol, Clouds, Ecosystems mission, simulations of a spaceborne multiwavelength lidar are performed based on global model simulations of the atmosphere along a satellite orbit track. The yield for aerosol microphysical inversions is quantified and comparisons are made between the aerosol microphysics inherent in the global model and those inverted from both the model's optical data and the simulated three backscatter and two extinction lidar measurements, which are based on the model's optical data. We find that yield can be significantly increased if inversions based on a reduced optical dataset of three backscatter and one extinction are acceptable. In general, retrieval performance is better for cases where the aerosol fine mode dominates although a lack of sensitivity to particles with sizes less than 0.1 microns is found. Lack of sensitivity to coarse mode cases is also found, in agreement with earlier studies. Surface area is generally the most robustly retrieved quantity. The work here points toward the need for ancillary data to aid in the constraints of the lidar inversions and also for joint inversions involving lidar and polarimeter measurements.

  20. Retrieval of aerosol properties and water leaving radiance from multi-angle spectro-polarimetric measurement over coastal waters

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Gao, M.; Zhai, P.; Franz, B. A.; Hu, Y.; Knobelspiesse, K. D.; Xu, F.; Ibrahim, A.

    2017-12-01

    Ocean color remote sensing in coastal waters remains a challenging task due to the complex optical properties of aerosols and ocean water properties. It is highly desirable to develop an advanced ocean color and aerosol retrieval algorithm for coastal waters, to advance our capabilities in monitoring water quality, improve our understanding of coastal carbon cycle dynamics, and allow for the development of more accurate circulation models. However, distinguishing the dissolved and suspended material from absorbing aerosols over coastal waters is challenging as they share similar absorption spectrum within the deep blue to UV range. In this paper we report a research algorithm on aerosol and ocean color retrieval with emphasis on coastal waters. The main features of our algorithm include: 1) combining co-located measurements from a hyperspectral ocean color instrument (OCI) and a multi-angle polarimeter (MAP); 2) using the radiative transfer model for coupled atmosphere and ocean system (CAOS), which is based on the highly accurate and efficient successive order of scattering method; and 3) incorporating a generalized bio-optical model with direct accounting of the total absorption of phytoplankton, CDOM and non-algal particles(NAP), and the total scattering of phytoplankton and NAP for improved description of ocean light scattering. The non-linear least square fitting algorithm is used to optimize the bio-optical model parameters and the aerosol optical and microphysical properties including refractive indices and size distributions for both fine and coarse modes. The retrieved aerosol information is used to calculate the atmospheric path radiance, which is then subtracted from the OCI observations to obtain the water leaving radiance contribution. Our work aims to maximize the use of available information from the co-located dataset and conduct the atmospheric correction with minimal assumptions. The algorithm will contribute to the success of current MAP

  1. The Messy Aerosol Submodel MADE3 (v2.0b): Description and a Box Model Test

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Kaiser, J. C.; Hendricks, J.; Righi, M.; Riemer, N.; Zaveri, R. A.; Metzger, S.; Aquila, Valentina

    2014-01-01

    We introduce MADE3 (Modal Aerosol Dynamics model for Europe, adapted for global applications, 3rd generation), an aerosol dynamics submodel for application within the MESSy framework (Modular Earth Submodel System). MADE3 builds on the predecessor aerosol submodels MADE and MADE-in. Its main new features are the explicit representation of coarse particle interactions both with other particles and with condensable gases, and the inclusion of hydrochloric acid (HCl)chloride (Cl) partitioning between the gas and condensed phases. The aerosol size distribution is represented in the new submodel as a superposition of nine lognormal modes: one for fully soluble particles, one for insoluble particles, and one for mixed particles in each of three size ranges (Aitken, accumulation, and coarse mode size ranges). In order to assess the performance of MADE3 we compare it to its predecessor MADE and to the much more detailed particle-resolved aerosol model PartMC-MOSAIC in a box model simulation of an idealized marine boundary layer test case. MADE3 and MADE results are very similar, except in the coarse mode, where the aerosol is dominated by sea spray particles. Cl is reduced in MADE3 with respect to MADE due to the HClCl partitioning that leads to Cl removal from the sea spray aerosol in our test case. Additionally, aerosol nitrate concentration is higher in MADE3 due to the condensation of nitric acid on coarse particles. MADE3 and PartMC- MOSAIC show substantial differences in the fine particle size distributions (sizes about 2 micrometers) that could be relevant when simulating climate effects on a global scale. Nevertheless, the agreement between MADE3 and PartMC-MOSAIC is very good when it comes to coarse particle size distribution, and also in terms of aerosol composition. Considering these results and the well-established ability of MADE in reproducing observed aerosol loadings and composition, MADE3 seems suitable for application within a global model.

  2. Relationship between fluid bed aerosol generator operation and the aerosol produced

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Carpenter, R.L.; Yerkes, K.

    1980-12-01

    The relationships between bed operation in a fluid bed aerosol generator and aerosol output were studied. A two-inch diameter fluid bed aerosol generator (FBG) was constructed using stainless steel powder as a fluidizing medium. Fly ash from coal combustion was aerosolized and the influence of FBG operating parameters on aerosol mass median aerodynamic diameter (MMAD), geometric standard deviation (sigma/sub g/) and concentration was examined. In an effort to extend observations on large fluid beds to small beds using fine bed particles, minimum fluidizing velocities and elutriation constant were computed. Although FBG minimum fluidizing velocity agreed well with calculations, FBG elutriationmore » constant did not. The results of this study show that the properties of aerosols produced by a FBG depend on fluid bed height and air flow through the bed after the minimum fluidizing velocity is exceeded.« less

  3. Increased aerosol content in the atmosphere over Ukraine during summer 2010

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Galytska, Evgenia; Danylevsky, Vassyl; Hommel, René; Burrows, John P.

    2018-04-01

    In this paper we assessed the influence of biomass burning during forest fires throughout summer (1 June-31 August) 2010 on aerosol abundance, dynamics, and its properties over Ukraine. We also considered influences and effects over neighboring countries: European Russia, Estonia, Belarus, Poland, Moldova, and Romania. We used MODIS satellite instrument data to study fire distribution. We also used ground-based remote measurements from the international sun photometer network AERONET plus MODIS and CALIOP satellite instrument data to determine the aerosol content and optical properties in the atmosphere over Eastern Europe. We applied the HYSPLIT model to investigate atmospheric dynamics and model pathways of particle transport. As with previous studies, we found that the highest aerosol content was observed over Moscow in the first half of August 2010 due to the proximity of the most active fires. Large temporal variability of the aerosol content with pronounced pollution peaks during 7-17 August was observed at the Ukrainian (Kyiv and Sevastopol), Belarusian (Minsk), Estonian (Toravere), and Romanian (Bucharest) AERONET sites. We analyzed aerosol spatiotemporal distribution over Ukraine using MODIS AOD 550 nm and further compared with the Kyiv AERONET site sun photometer measurements; we also compared CALIOP AOD 532 nm with MODIS AOD data. We analyzed vertical distribution of aerosol extinction at 532 nm, retrieved from CALIOP measurements, for the territory of Ukraine at locations where high AOD values were observed during intense fires. We estimated the influence of fires on the spectral single scattering albedo, size distribution, and complex refractive indices using Kyiv AERONET measurements performed during summer 2010. In this study we showed that the maximum AOD in the atmosphere over Ukraine recorded in summer 2010 was caused by particle transport from the forest fires in Russia. Those fires caused the highest AOD 500 nm over the Kyiv site, which in

  4. Modeling Gas-Aerosol Processes during MILAGRO 2006

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zaveri, R. A.; Chapman, E. G.; Easter, R. C.; Fast, J. D.; Flocke, F.; Kleinman, L. I.; Madronich, S.; Springston, S. R.; Voss, P. B.; Weinheimer, A.

    2007-12-01

    Significant gas-aerosol interactions are expected in the Mexico City outflow due to formation of various semi- volatile secondary inorganic and organic gases that can partition into the particulate phase and due to various heterogeneous chemical processes. A number of T0-T1-T2 Lagrangian transport episodes during the MILAGRO campaign provide focused modeling opportunities to elucidate the roles of various chemical and physical processes in the evolution of the primary trace gases and aerosol particles emitted in Mexico City over a period of 4-8 hours. Additionally, one long-range Lagrangian transport episode on March 18-19, 2006, as characterized by the Controlled Meteorological (CMET) balloon trajectories, presents an excellent opportunity to model evolution of Mexico City pollutants over 26 hours. The key tools in our analysis of these Lagrangian episodes include a comprehensive Lagrangian box-model and the WRF-chem model based on the new Model for Simulating Aerosol Interactions and Chemistry (MOSAIC), which simulates gas-phase photochemistry, heterogeneous reactions, equilibrium particulate phase-state and water content, and dynamic gas-particle partitioning for size- resolved aerosols. Extensive gas, aerosol, and meteorological measurements onboard the G1 and C130 aircraft and T0, T1, and T2 ground sites will be used to initialize, constrain, and evaluate the models. For the long-range transport event, in-situ vertical profiles of wind vectors from repeated CMET balloon soundings in the Mexico City outflow will be used to nudge the winds in the WRF-chem simulation. Preliminary model results will be presented with the intention to explore further collaborative opportunities to use additional gas and particulate measurements to better constrain and evaluate the models.

  5. Analytical methods for describing charged particle dynamics in general focusing lattices using generalized Courant-Snyder theory

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Qin, Hong; Davidson, Ronald C.; Burby, Joshua W.

    2014-04-08

    The dynamics of charged particles in general linear focusing lattices with quadrupole, skew-quadrupole, dipole, and solenoidal components, as well as torsion of the fiducial orbit and variation of beam energy is parametrized using a generalized Courant-Snyder (CS) theory, which extends the original CS theory for one degree of freedom to higher dimensions. The envelope function is generalized into an envelope matrix, and the phase advance is generalized into a 4D symplectic rotation, or a Uð2Þ element. The 1D envelope equation, also known as the Ermakov-Milne-Pinney equation in quantum mechanics, is generalized to an envelope matrix equation in higher dimensions. Othermore » components of the original CS theory, such as the transfer matrix, Twiss functions, and CS invariant (also known as the Lewis invariant) all have their counterparts, with remarkably similar expressions, in the generalized theory. The gauge group structure of the generalized theory is analyzed. By fixing the gauge freedom with a desired symmetry, the generalized CS parametrization assumes the form of the modified Iwasawa decomposition, whose importance in phase space optics and phase space quantum mechanics has been recently realized. This gauge fixing also symmetrizes the generalized envelope equation and expresses the theory using only the generalized Twiss function β. The generalized phase advance completely determines the spectral and structural stability properties of a general focusing lattice. For structural stability, the generalized CS theory enables application of the Krein-Moser theory to greatly simplify the stability analysis. The generalized CS theory provides an effective tool to study coupled dynamics and to discover more optimized lattice designs in the larger parameter space of general focusing lattices.« less

  6. Condensed nitrate, sulfate, and chloride in Antarctic stratospheric aerosols

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Pueschel, R. F.; Snetsinger, K. G.; Toon, O. B.; Ferry, G. V.; Oberbeck, V. R.; Starr, W. L.; Chan, K. R.; Goodman, J. K.

    1989-01-01

    The 1987 Airborne Antarctic Ozone Experiment, in which the NO3, Cl, and SO4 contents of stratospheric aerosols were estimated, is discussed. The aerosol size and chemical composition measurements were carried out on samples collected during August 17 to September 4, 1987. The data indicate that condensed nitrate is found below a threshold temperature of 193.6 + or - 3.0 K, which is generally found at latitudes exceeding 64 deg S. A negative correlation exists between condensed nitrate and ozone correlation.

  7. Sources and atmospheric processing of winter aerosols in Seoul, Korea: insights from real-time measurements using a high-resolution aerosol mass spectrometer

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kim, Hwajin; Zhang, Qi; Bae, Gwi-Nam; Kim, Jin Young; Bok Lee, Seung

    2017-02-01

    Highly time-resolved chemical characterization of nonrefractory submicrometer particulate matter (NR-PM1) was conducted in Seoul, the capital and largest metropolis of Korea, using an Aerodyne high-resolution time-of-flight aerosol mass spectrometer (HR-ToF-AMS). The measurements were performed during winter, when elevated particulate matter (PM) pollution events are often observed. This is the first time that detailed real-time aerosol measurement results have been reported from Seoul, Korea, and they reveal valuable insights into the sources and atmospheric processes that contribute to PM pollution in this region. The average concentration of submicron aerosol (PM1 = NR-PM1+ black carbon (BC)) was 27.5 µg m-3, and the total mass was dominated by organics (44 %), followed by nitrate (24 %) and sulfate (10 %). The average atomic ratios of oxygen to carbon (O / C), hydrogen to carbon (H / C), and nitrogen to carbon (N / C) of organic aerosols (OA) were 0.37, 1.79, and 0.018, respectively, which result in an average organic mass-to-carbon (OM / OC) ratio of 1.67. The concentrations (2.6-90.7 µg m-3) and composition of PM1 varied dynamically during the measurement period due to the influences of different meteorological conditions, emission sources, and air mass origins. Five distinct sources of OA were identified via positive matrix factorization (PMF) analysis of the HR-ToF-AMS data: vehicle emissions represented by a hydrocarbon-like OA factor (HOA, O / C = 0.06), cooking activities represented by a cooking OA factor (COA, O / C = 0.14), wood combustion represented by a biomass burning OA factor (BBOA, O / C = 0.34), and secondary organic aerosol (SOA) represented by a semivolatile oxygenated OA factor (SV-OOA, O / C = 0.56) and a low-volatility oxygenated OA factor (LV-OOA, O / C = 0.68). On average, primary OA (POA = HOA + COA + BBOA) accounted for 59 % the OA mass, whereas SV-OOA and LV-OOA contributed 15 and 26 %, respectively. Our results indicate that air

  8. Development of a generalized multi-pixel and multi-parameter satellite remote sensing algorithm for aerosol properties

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hashimoto, M.; Nakajima, T.; Takenaka, H.; Higurashi, A.

    2013-12-01

    We develop a new satellite remote sensing algorithm to retrieve the properties of aerosol particles in the atmosphere. In late years, high resolution and multi-wavelength, and multiple-angle observation data have been obtained by grand-based spectral radiometers and imaging sensors on board the satellite. With this development, optimized multi-parameter remote sensing methods based on the Bayesian theory have become popularly used (Turchin and Nozik, 1969; Rodgers, 2000; Dubovik et al., 2000). Additionally, a direct use of radiation transfer calculation has been employed for non-linear remote sensing problems taking place of look up table methods supported by the progress of computing technology (Dubovik et al., 2011; Yoshida et al., 2011). We are developing a flexible multi-pixel and multi-parameter remote sensing algorithm for aerosol optical properties. In this algorithm, the inversion method is a combination of the MAP method (Maximum a posteriori method, Rodgers, 2000) and the Phillips-Twomey method (Phillips, 1962; Twomey, 1963) as a smoothing constraint for the state vector. Furthermore, we include a radiation transfer calculation code, Rstar (Nakajima and Tanaka, 1986, 1988), numerically solved each time in iteration for solution search. The Rstar-code has been directly used in the AERONET operational processing system (Dubovik and King, 2000). Retrieved parameters in our algorithm are aerosol optical properties, such as aerosol optical thickness (AOT) of fine mode, sea salt, and dust particles, a volume soot fraction in fine mode particles, and ground surface albedo of each observed wavelength. We simultaneously retrieve all the parameters that characterize pixels in each of horizontal sub-domains consisting the target area. Then we successively apply the retrieval method to all the sub-domains in the target area. We conducted numerical tests for the retrieval of aerosol properties and ground surface albedo for GOSAT/CAI imager data to test the algorithm

  9. Global Atmospheric Aerosol Modeling

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Hendricks, Johannes; Aquila, Valentina; Righi, Mattia

    2012-01-01

    Global aerosol models are used to study the distribution and properties of atmospheric aerosol particles as well as their effects on clouds, atmospheric chemistry, radiation, and climate. The present article provides an overview of the basic concepts of global atmospheric aerosol modeling and shows some examples from a global aerosol simulation. Particular emphasis is placed on the simulation of aerosol particles and their effects within global climate models.

  10. Observed correlations between aerosol and cloud properties in an Indian Ocean trade cumulus regime

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Pistone, Kristina; Praveen, Puppala S.; Thomas, Rick M.; Ramanathan, Veerabhadran; Wilcox, Eric M.; Bender, Frida A.-M.

    2017-04-01

    There are multiple factors which affect the micro- and macrophysical properties of clouds, including the atmospheric vertical structure and dominant meteorological conditions in addition to aerosol concentration, all of which may be coupled to one another. In the quest to determine aerosol effects on clouds, these potential relationships must be understood. As bio- and fossil fuel combustion has increased in southeast Asia, corresponding increases in atmospheric aerosol pollution have been seen over the surrounding regions. These emissions notably include black carbon (BC) aerosols, which absorb rather than reflect solar radiation, affecting the atmosphere over the Indian Ocean through direct warming in addition to modifying cloud microphysical properties. The CARDEX (Cloud, Aerosol, Radiative forcing, Dynamics EXperiment) field campaign was conducted during the winter monsoon season (February and March) of 2012 in the northern Indian Ocean, a region dominated by trade cumulus clouds. During CARDEX, small unmanned aircraft were deployed, measuring aerosol, radiation, cloud, water vapor fluxes, and meteorological properties while a surface observatory collected continuous measurements of atmospheric precipitable water vapor (PWV), water vapor fluxes, surface and total-column aerosol, and cloud liquid water path (LWP). We present observations which indicate a positive correlation between aerosol and cloud LWP only when considering cases with low atmospheric water vapor (PWV)

  11. Phase Partitioning of Soluble Trace Gases with Size-Resolved Aerosols during the Nitrogen, Aerosol Composition, and Halogens on a Tall Tower (NACHTT) Campaign

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Young, A.; Keene, W. C.; Pszenny, A.; Sander, R.; Maben, J. R.; Warrick-Wriston, C.; Bearekman, R.

    2011-12-01

    During February and March 2011, size-resolved and bulk aerosol were sampled at 22 m above the surface over nominal 12-hour (daytime and nighttime) intervals from the Boulder Atmospheric Observatory tower (40.05 N, 105.01 W, 1584-m elevation). Samples were analyzed for major organic and inorganic ionic constituents by high performance ion chromatography (IC). Soluble trace gases (HCl, HNO3, NH3, HCOOH, and CH3COOH) were sampled in parallel over 2-hour intervals with tandem mist chambers and analyzed on site by IC. NH4+, NO3-, and SO42- were the major ionic components of aerosols (median values of 57.7, 34.5, and 7.3 nmol m-3 at STP, respectively, N = 45) with 86%, 82%, and 82%, respectively, associated with sub-μm size fractions. Cl- and Na+ were present at significant concentrations (median values of 6.8 and 6.6 nmol m-3, respectively) but were associated primarily with super-μm size fractions (75% and 78%, respectively). Median values (and ranges) for HCl, HNO3, and NH3 were 21 (<20-1257), 120 (<45-1638), and 5259 (<1432-48,583) pptv, respectively. Liquid water contents of size-resolved aerosols and activity coefficients for major ionic constituents were calculated with the Extended Aerosol Inorganic Model II and IV (E-AIM) based on the measured aerosol composition, RH, temperature, and pressure. Size-resolved aerosol pHs were inferred from the measured phase partitioning of HCl, HNO3, and NH3. Major controls of phase partitioning and associated chemical dynamics will be presented.

  12. Use of the NASA GEOS-5 SEAC4RS Meteorological and Aerosol Reanalysis for assessing simulated aerosol optical properties as a function of smoke age

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Randles, C. A.; da Silva, A. M., Jr.; Colarco, P. R.; Darmenov, A.; Buchard, V.; Govindaraju, R.; Chen, G.; Hair, J. W.; Russell, P. B.; Shinozuka, Y.; Wagner, N.; Lack, D.

    2014-12-01

    The NASA Goddard Earth Observing System version 5 (GEOS-5) Earth system model, which includes an online aerosol module, provided chemical and weather forecasts during the SEAC4RS field campaign. For post-mission analysis, we have produced a high resolution (25 km) meteorological and aerosol reanalysis for the entire campaign period. In addition to the full meteorological observing system used for routine NWP, we assimilate 550 nm aerosol optical depth (AOD) derived from MODIS (both Aqua and Terra satellites), ground-based AERONET sun photometers, and the MISR instrument (over bright surfaces only). Daily biomass burning emissions of CO, CO2, SO2, and aerosols are derived from MODIS fire radiative power retrievals. We have also introduced novel smoke "age" tracers, which provide, for a given time, a snapshot histogram of the age of simulated smoke aerosol. Because GEOS-5 assimilates remotely sensed AOD data, it generally reproduces observed (column) AOD compared to, for example, the airborne 4-STAR instrument. Constraining AOD, however, does not imply a good representation of either the vertical profile or the aerosol microphysical properties (e.g., composition, absorption). We do find a reasonable vertical structure for aerosols is attained in the model, provided actual smoke injection heights are not much above the planetary boundary layer, as verified with observations from DIAL/HRSL aboard the DC8. The translation of the simulated aerosol microphysical properties to total column AOD, needed in the aerosol assimilation step, is based on prescribed mass extinction efficiencies that depend on wavelength, composition, and relative humidity. Here we also evaluate the performance of the simulated aerosol speciation by examining in situ retrievals of aerosol absorption/single scattering albedo and scattering growth factor (f(RH)) from the LARGE and AOP suite of instruments. Putting these comparisons in the context of smoke age as diagnosed by the model helps us to

  13. Aerosol Climate Time Series Evaluation In ESA Aerosol_cci

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Popp, T.; de Leeuw, G.; Pinnock, S.

    2015-12-01

    Within the ESA Climate Change Initiative (CCI) Aerosol_cci (2010 - 2017) conducts intensive work to improve algorithms for the retrieval of aerosol information from European sensors. By the end of 2015 full mission time series of 2 GCOS-required aerosol parameters are completely validated and released: Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) from dual view ATSR-2 / AATSR radiometers (3 algorithms, 1995 - 2012), and stratospheric extinction profiles from star occultation GOMOS spectrometer (2002 - 2012). Additionally, a 35-year multi-sensor time series of the qualitative Absorbing Aerosol Index (AAI) together with sensitivity information and an AAI model simulator is available. Complementary aerosol properties requested by GCOS are in a "round robin" phase, where various algorithms are inter-compared: fine mode AOD, mineral dust AOD (from the thermal IASI spectrometer), absorption information and aerosol layer height. As a quasi-reference for validation in few selected regions with sparse ground-based observations the multi-pixel GRASP algorithm for the POLDER instrument is used. Validation of first dataset versions (vs. AERONET, MAN) and inter-comparison to other satellite datasets (MODIS, MISR, SeaWIFS) proved the high quality of the available datasets comparable to other satellite retrievals and revealed needs for algorithm improvement (for example for higher AOD values) which were taken into account for a reprocessing. The datasets contain pixel level uncertainty estimates which are also validated. The paper will summarize and discuss the results of major reprocessing and validation conducted in 2015. The focus will be on the ATSR, GOMOS and IASI datasets. Pixel level uncertainties validation will be summarized and discussed including unknown components and their potential usefulness and limitations. Opportunities for time series extension with successor instruments of the Sentinel family will be described and the complementarity of the different satellite aerosol products

  14. An increase in aerosol burden due to the land-sea warming contrast

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hassan, T.; Allen, R.; Randles, C. A.

    2017-12-01

    Climate models simulate an increase in most aerosol species in response to warming, particularly over the tropics and Northern Hemisphere midlatitudes. This increase in aerosol burden is related to a decrease in wet removal, primarily due to reduced large-scale precipitation. Here, we show that the increase in aerosol burden, and the decrease in large-scale precipitation, is related to a robust climate change phenomenon—the land/sea warming contrast. Idealized simulations with two state of the art climate models, the National Center for Atmospheric Research Community Atmosphere Model version 5 (NCAR CAM5) and the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory Atmospheric Model 3 (GFDL AM3), show that muting the land-sea warming contrast negates the increase in aerosol burden under warming. This is related to smaller decreases in near-surface relative humidity over land, and in turn, smaller decreases in large-scale precipitation over land—especially in the NH midlatitudes. Furthermore, additional idealized simulations with an enhanced land/sea warming contrast lead to the opposite result—larger decreases in relative humidity over land, larger decreases in large-scale precipitation, and larger increases in aerosol burden. Our results, which relate the increase in aerosol burden to the robust climate projection of enhanced land warming, adds confidence that a warmer world will be associated with a larger aerosol burden.

  15. Generalization in Adaptation to Stable and Unstable Dynamics

    PubMed Central

    Kadiallah, Abdelhamid; Franklin, David W.; Burdet, Etienne

    2012-01-01

    Humans skillfully manipulate objects and tools despite the inherent instability. In order to succeed at these tasks, the sensorimotor control system must build an internal representation of both the force and mechanical impedance. As it is not practical to either learn or store motor commands for every possible future action, the sensorimotor control system generalizes a control strategy for a range of movements based on learning performed over a set of movements. Here, we introduce a computational model for this learning and generalization, which specifies how to learn feedforward muscle activity in a function of the state space. Specifically, by incorporating co-activation as a function of error into the feedback command, we are able to derive an algorithm from a gradient descent minimization of motion error and effort, subject to maintaining a stability margin. This algorithm can be used to learn to coordinate any of a variety of motor primitives such as force fields, muscle synergies, physical models or artificial neural networks. This model for human learning and generalization is able to adapt to both stable and unstable dynamics, and provides a controller for generating efficient adaptive motor behavior in robots. Simulation results exhibit predictions consistent with all experiments on learning of novel dynamics requiring adaptation of force and impedance, and enable us to re-examine some of the previous interpretations of experiments on generalization. PMID:23056191

  16. An Investigation of the Radiative Effects and Climate Feedbacks of Sea Ice Sources of Sea Salt Aerosol

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Horowitz, H. M.; Alexander, B.; Bitz, C. M.; Jaegle, L.; Burrows, S. M.

    2017-12-01

    In polar regions, sea ice is a major source of sea salt aerosol through lofting of saline frost flowers or blowing saline snow from the sea ice surface. Under continued climate warming, an ice-free Arctic in summer with only first-year, more saline sea ice in winter is likely. Previous work has focused on climate impacts in summer from increasing open ocean sea salt aerosol emissions following complete sea ice loss in the Arctic, with conflicting results suggesting no net radiative effect or a negative climate feedback resulting from a strong first aerosol indirect effect. However, the radiative forcing from changes to the sea ice sources of sea salt aerosol in a future, warmer climate has not previously been explored. Understanding how sea ice loss affects the Arctic climate system requires investigating both open-ocean and sea ice sources of sea-salt aerosol and their potential interactions. Here, we implement a blowing snow source of sea salt aerosol into the Community Earth System Model (CESM) dynamically coupled to the latest version of the Los Alamos sea ice model (CICE5). Snow salinity is a key parameter affecting blowing snow sea salt emissions and previous work has assumed constant regional snow salinity over sea ice. We develop a parameterization for dynamic snow salinity in the sea ice model and examine how its spatial and temporal variability impacts the production of sea salt from blowing snow. We evaluate and constrain the snow salinity parameterization using available observations. Present-day coupled CESM-CICE5 simulations of sea salt aerosol concentrations including sea ice sources are evaluated against in situ and satellite (CALIOP) observations in polar regions. We then quantify the present-day radiative forcing from the addition of blowing snow sea salt aerosol with respect to aerosol-radiation and aerosol-cloud interactions. The relative contributions of sea ice vs. open ocean sources of sea salt aerosol to radiative forcing in polar regions is

  17. Two-Column Aerosol Project (TCAP) Field Campaign Report

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Berg, Larry K

    aerosol and cloud properties that were deployed for the first time during the TCAP. Key lessons learned during TCAP include the need for closer coordination between the AMF, MAOS, and the AAF so that all AMF instruments can be online and functioning during the AAF IOPs. Based on experiences from TCAP, it is also important for instrument mentors, or other relevant individuals, to review data on a regular basis to ensure that data quality remains high during the entire deployment. TCAP was marked by two important meteorological events including the passage of Hurricane Sandy at the end of October 2012 and the occurrence of one of the largest New England blizzards in recorded history. During Sandy the AMF received some, generally minor, damage and was largely functional a short time after the storm. The blizzard led to extensive power outages on Cape Cod and a multi-day interruption of measurements by the AMF, MAOS, and AAF. In each case, however, the ARM Facilities were returned to service and functioning as soon as was reasonably possible.« less

  18. Evaluating Aerosol Process Modules within the Framework of the Aerosol Modeling Testbed

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Fast, J. D.; Velu, V.; Gustafson, W. I.; Chapman, E.; Easter, R. C.; Shrivastava, M.; Singh, B.

    2012-12-01

    Factors that influence predictions of aerosol direct and indirect forcing, such as aerosol mass, composition, size distribution, hygroscopicity, and optical properties, still contain large uncertainties in both regional and global models. New aerosol treatments are usually implemented into a 3-D atmospheric model and evaluated using a limited number of measurements from a specific case study. Under this modeling paradigm, the performance and computational efficiency of several treatments for a specific aerosol process cannot be adequately quantified because many other processes among various modeling studies (e.g. grid configuration, meteorology, emission rates) are different as well. The scientific community needs to know the advantages and disadvantages of specific aerosol treatments when the meteorology, chemistry, and other aerosol processes are identical in order to reduce the uncertainties associated with aerosols predictions. To address these issues, an Aerosol Modeling Testbed (AMT) has been developed that systematically and objectively evaluates new aerosol treatments for use in regional and global models. The AMT consists of the modular Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model, a series testbed cases for which extensive in situ and remote sensing measurements of meteorological, trace gas, and aerosol properties are available, and a suite of tools to evaluate the performance of meteorological, chemical, aerosol process modules. WRF contains various parameterizations of meteorological, chemical, and aerosol processes and includes interactive aerosol-cloud-radiation treatments similar to those employed by climate models. In addition, the physics suite from the Community Atmosphere Model version 5 (CAM5) have also been ported to WRF so that they can be tested at various spatial scales and compared directly with field campaign data and other parameterizations commonly used by the mesoscale modeling community. Data from several campaigns, including the 2006

  19. Global Impacts of Gas-Phase Chemistry-Aerosol Interactions on Direct Radiative Forcing by Anthropogenic Aerosols and Ozone

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Liao, Hong; Seinfeld, John H.

    2005-01-01

    We present here a first global modeling study on the influence of gas-phase chemistry/aerosol interactions on estimates of anthropogenic forcing by tropospheric O3 and aerosols. Concentrations of gas-phase species and sulfate, nitrate, ammonium, black carbon, primary organic carbon, secondary organic carbon, sea salt, and mineral dust aerosols in the preindustrial, present-day, and year 2100 (IPCC SRES A2) atmospheres are simulated online in the Goddard Institute for Space Studies general circulation model II' (GISS GCM II'). With fully coupled chemistry and aerosols, the preindustrial, presentday, and year 2100 global burdens of tropospheric ozone are predicted to be 190, 319, and 519 Tg, respectively. The burdens of sulfate, nitrate, black carbon, and organic carbon are predicted respectively to be 0.32. 0.18, 0.01, 0.33 Tg in preindustrial time, 1.40, 0.48, 0.23, 1.60 Tg in presentday, and 1.37, 1.97, 0.54, 3.31 Tg in year 2100. Anthropogenic O3 is predicted to have a globally and annually averaged present-day forcing of +0.22 W m(sup -2) and year 2100 forcing of +0.57 W m(sup -2) at the top of the atmosphere (TOA). Net anthropogenic TOA forcing by internally mixed sulfate, nitrate, organic carbon, and black carbon aerosols is estimated to be virtually zero in the present-day and +0.34 W m(sup -2) in year 2100, whereas it is predicted to be -0.39 W m(sup -2) in present-day and -0.61 W m(sup -2) in year 2100 if the aerosols are externally mixed. Heterogeneous reactions are shown to be important in affecting anthropogenic forcing. When reactions of N2O5, NO3, NO2, and HO2 on aerosols are accounted for, TOA anthropogenic O3 forcing is less by 20-45% in present-day and by 20-32% in year 2100 at mid to high latitudes in the Northern Hemisphere, as compared with values predicted in the absence of heterogeneous gas aerosol reactions. Mineral dust uptake of HNO3 and O3 is shown to have practically no influence on anthropogenic O3 forcing. Heterogeneous reactions of N2Os

  20. Seasonal cycles on Titan from a Coupled Aerosol Microphysical and Global Circulation Model

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Larson, Erik J.; Toon, Owen B.

    2010-04-01

    Understanding the aerosols on Titan is imperative for understanding the atmosphere as a whole. The aerosols affect the albedo, optical depth, and heating and cooling rates which in turn affects the winds on Titan. Correctly representing them in atmospheric models is crucial to understanding this atmosphere. Several groups have used GCMs to model Titan's atmosphere. Hourdin et al. (1995) were able to reproduce the super-rotating prograde winds. Rannou et al. (2004) found the aerosols accumulated at the poles, which increased the temperature gradient. The increased temperature gradient intensified the zonal winds. Friedson et al. (2009) produced a three- dimensional model for Titan using the NCAR CAM3 model, to which we coupled the aerosol microphysics model CARMA. Until now, there has not been a three- dimensional model that couples radiation, dynamics and aerosol microphysics to study the atmospheric properties of Titan. We have also made the aerosols produced by CARMA interactive with the radiation code in CAM. Preliminary results show that this model is capable of reproducing the seasonal changes in aerosols on Titan and many of the associated phenomena. For instance, the radiatively interactive aerosols are lifted more in the summer hemisphere than the non-interactive aerosols, which is necessary to reproduce the observed seasonal cycle of the albedo (Hutzell et al 1996). However, treating aerosols as spheres with Mie theory is inconsistent with laboratory and observational data that suggest the aerosols are fractal aggregates. We are currently incorporating fractal particle physics into the model. Changing the particles to fractals will affect the radiative properties of the particles, their distribution in the atmosphere, and should improve our fits to the data.

  1. Radiative and Chemical Response to Interactive Stratospheric Sulfate Aerosols in Fully Coupled CESM1(WACCM)

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Mills, Mike; Richter, Jadwiga; Tilmes, S.

    2017-11-06

    We present a new version of the Community Earth System Model, version 1 (CESM1) with the Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model (WACCM) featuring numerous improvements that are unique among earth system models. Improved horizontal resolution, dynamics, and chemistry now provide the development of an internally generated quasi-biennial oscillation, and significant improvements to temperatures and ozone throughout the stratosphere. The prognostic treatment of stratospheric sulfate aerosols is shown to represent well the evolution of stratospheric aerosol optical depth and perturbations to solar and longwave radiation following volcanic eruptions. We identify the inclusion of interactive OH chemistry as crucial to the studymore » of aerosol formation following large inputs of SO2 to the stratosphere. We show that depletion of OH levels within the dense SO2 cloud in the first weeks following the June 1991 eruption of Mt. Pinatubo significantly prolonged the e-folding decay time for SO2 oxidation to 47 days. Previous observational and model studies showing a 30-day decay time have not accounted for the large initial losses of SO2 on ash and ice in the first 7-9 days following the eruption, and have not correctly accounted for OH depletion. The completeness of the chemistry, dynamics, and aerosol microphysics in WACCM uniquely qualify it for studies of stratospheric sulfate aerosol geoengineering.« less

  2. Aerosol Sample Inhomogeneity with Debris from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Accident

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Gomez, Reynaido; Biegalski, Steven R.; Woods, Vincent T.

    2014-09-01

    Radionuclide aerosol sampling is a vital component in the detection of nuclear explosions, nuclear accidents, and other radiation releases. This was proven by the detection and tracking of emissions from the Fukushima Daiichi incident across the globe by IMS stations. Two separate aerosol samplers were operated in Richland, WA following the event and debris from the accident were measured at levels well above detection limits. While the atmospheric activity concentration of radionuclides generally compared well between the two stations, they did not agree within uncertainties. This paper includes a detailed study of the aerosol sample homogeneity of 134Cs and 137Cs,more » then relates it to the overall uncertainty of the original measurement. Our results show that sample inhomogeneity adds an additional 5–10% uncertainty to each aerosol measurement and that this uncertainty is in the same range as the discrepancies between the two aerosol sample measurements from Richland, WA.« less

  3. Aerosol simulation including chemical and nuclear reactions

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Marwil, E.S.; Lemmon, E.C.

    1985-01-01

    The numerical simulation of aerosol transport, including the effects of chemical and nuclear reactions presents a challenging dynamic accounting problem. Particles of different sizes agglomerate and settle out due to various mechanisms, such as diffusion, diffusiophoresis, thermophoresis, gravitational settling, turbulent acceleration, and centrifugal acceleration. Particles also change size, due to the condensation and evaporation of materials on the particle. Heterogeneous chemical reactions occur at the interface between a particle and the suspending medium, or a surface and the gas in the aerosol. Homogeneous chemical reactions occur within the aersol suspending medium, within a particle, and on a surface. These reactionsmore » may include a phase change. Nuclear reactions occur in all locations. These spontaneous transmutations from one element form to another occur at greatly varying rates and may result in phase or chemical changes which complicate the accounting process. This paper presents an approach for inclusion of these effects on the transport of aerosols. The accounting system is very complex and results in a large set of stiff ordinary differential equations (ODEs). The techniques for numerical solution of these ODEs require special attention to achieve their solution in an efficient and affordable manner. 4 refs.« less

  4. Role of Climate Change in Global Predictions of Future Tropospheric Ozone and Aerosols

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Liao, Hong; Chen, Wei-Ting; Seinfeld, John H.

    2006-01-01

    A unified tropospheric chemistry-aerosol model within the Goddard Institute for Space Studies general circulation model II is applied to simulate an equilibrium CO2-forced climate in the year 2100 to examine the effects of climate change on global distributions of tropospheric ozone and sulfate, nitrate, ammonium, black carbon, primary organic carbon, secondary organic carbon, sea salt, and mineral dust aerosols. The year 2100 CO2 concentration as well as the anthropogenic emissions of ozone precursors and aerosols/aerosol precursors are based on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Special Report on Emissions Scenarios (SRES) A2. Year 2100 global O3 and aerosol burdens predicted with changes in both climate and emissions are generally 5-20% lower than those simulated with changes in emissions alone; as exceptions, the nitrate burden is 38% lower, and the secondary organic aerosol burden is 17% higher. Although the CO2-driven climate change alone is predicted to reduce the global O3 concentrations over or near populated and biomass burning areas because of slower transport, enhanced biogenic hydrocarbon emissions, decomposition of peroxyacetyl nitrate at higher temperatures, and the increase of O3 production by increased water vapor at high NOx levels. The warmer climate influences aerosol burdens by increasing aerosol wet deposition, altering climate-sensitive emissions, and shifting aerosol thermodynamic equilibrium. Climate change affects the estimates of the year 2100 direct radiative forcing as a result of the climate-induced changes in burdens and different climatological conditions; with full gas-aerosol coupling and accounting for ozone and direct radiative forcings by the O2, sulfate, nitrate, black carbon, and organic carbon are predicted to be +0.93, -0.72, -1.0, +1.26, and -0.56 W m(exp -2), respectively, using present-day climate and year 2100 emissions, while they are predicted to be +0.76, -0.72, 0.74, +0.97, and -0.58 W m(exp -2

  5. Explicit Cloud Nucleation from Arbitrary Mixtures of Aerosol Types and Sizes Using an Ultra-Efficient In-Line Aerosol Bin Model in High-Resolution Simulations of Hurricanes

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Walko, R. L.; Ashby, T.; Cotton, W. R.

    2017-12-01

    The fundamental role of atmospheric aerosols in the process of cloud droplet nucleation is well known, and there is ample evidence that the concentration, size, and chemistry of aerosols can strongly influence microphysical, thermodynamic, and ultimately dynamic properties and evolution of clouds and convective systems. With the increasing availability of observation- and model-based environmental representations of different types of anthropogenic and natural aerosols, there is increasing need for models to be able to represent which aerosols nucleate and which do not in supersaturated conditions. However, this is a very complex process that involves competition for water vapor between multiple aerosol species (chemistries) and different aerosol sizes within each species. Attempts have been made to parameterize the nucleation properties of mixtures of different aerosol species, but it is very difficult or impossible to represent all possible mixtures that may occur in practice. As part of a modeling study of the impact of anthropogenic and natural aerosols on hurricanes, we developed an ultra-efficient aerosol bin model to represent nucleation in a high-resolution atmospheric model that explicitly represents cloud- and subcloud-scale vertical motion. The bin model is activated at any time and location in a simulation where supersaturation occurs and is potentially capable of activating new cloud droplets. The bins are populated from the aerosol species that are present at the given time and location and by multiple sizes from each aerosol species according to a characteristic size distribution, and the chemistry of each species is represented by its absorption or adsorption characteristics. The bin model is integrated in time increments that are smaller than that of the atmospheric model in order to temporally resolve the peak supersaturation, which determines the total nucleated number. Even though on the order of 100 bins are typically utilized, this leads only

  6. Rapid measurement of sub-micrometer aerosol size distribution using a fast integrated mobility spectrometer

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Wang, Yang; Pinterich, Tamara; Wang, Jian

    We present rapid measurement of submicron particle size distributions enables the characterization of aerosols with fast changing properties, and is often necessary for measurements onboard mobile platforms (e.g., research aircraft). Aerosol mobility size distribution is commonly measured by a scanning mobility particle sizer (SMPS), which relies on voltage scanning or stepping to classify particles of different sizes, and may take up to several minutes to obtain a complete size spectrum of aerosol particles. The recently developed fast integrated mobility spectrometer (FIMS) with enhanced dynamic size range classifies and detects particles from 10 to ~600 nm simultaneously, allowing submicron aerosol mobilitymore » size distributions to be captured at a time resolution of 1 second. In this study, we present a detailed data inversion routine for deriving aerosol size distribution from FIMS measurements. The inversion routine takes into consideration the FIMS transfer function, particle penetration efficiency in the FIMS, and multiple charging of aerosols. The accuracy of the FIMS measurement is demonstrated by comparing parallel FIMS and SMPS measurements of stable aerosols with a wide range of size spectrum shapes, including ambient aerosols and aerosols classified by a differential mobility analyzer (DMA). The FIMS and SMPS-derived size distributions show excellent agreements for all aerosols tested. In addition, total number concentrations of ambient aerosols were integrated from 1 Hz FIMS size distributions, and compared with those directly measured by a condensation particle counter (CPC) operated in parallel. Finally, the integrated and measured total particle concentrations agree well within 5%.« less

  7. Rapid measurement of sub-micrometer aerosol size distribution using a fast integrated mobility spectrometer

    DOE PAGES

    Wang, Yang; Pinterich, Tamara; Wang, Jian

    2018-03-30

    We present rapid measurement of submicron particle size distributions enables the characterization of aerosols with fast changing properties, and is often necessary for measurements onboard mobile platforms (e.g., research aircraft). Aerosol mobility size distribution is commonly measured by a scanning mobility particle sizer (SMPS), which relies on voltage scanning or stepping to classify particles of different sizes, and may take up to several minutes to obtain a complete size spectrum of aerosol particles. The recently developed fast integrated mobility spectrometer (FIMS) with enhanced dynamic size range classifies and detects particles from 10 to ~600 nm simultaneously, allowing submicron aerosol mobilitymore » size distributions to be captured at a time resolution of 1 second. In this study, we present a detailed data inversion routine for deriving aerosol size distribution from FIMS measurements. The inversion routine takes into consideration the FIMS transfer function, particle penetration efficiency in the FIMS, and multiple charging of aerosols. The accuracy of the FIMS measurement is demonstrated by comparing parallel FIMS and SMPS measurements of stable aerosols with a wide range of size spectrum shapes, including ambient aerosols and aerosols classified by a differential mobility analyzer (DMA). The FIMS and SMPS-derived size distributions show excellent agreements for all aerosols tested. In addition, total number concentrations of ambient aerosols were integrated from 1 Hz FIMS size distributions, and compared with those directly measured by a condensation particle counter (CPC) operated in parallel. Finally, the integrated and measured total particle concentrations agree well within 5%.« less

  8. Lidar measurements of ozone and aerosol distributions during the 1992 airborne Arctic stratospheric expedition

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Browell, Edward V.; Butler, Carolyn F.; Fenn, Marta A.; Grant, William B.; Ismail, Syed; Carter, Arlen F.

    1994-01-01

    The NASA Langley airborne differential absorption lidar system was operated from the NASA Ames DC-8 aircraft during the 1992 Airborne Arctic Stratospheric Expedition to investigate the distribution of stratospheric aerosols and ozone (O3) across the Arctic vortex from January to March 1992. Aerosols from the Mt. Pinatubo eruption were found outside and inside the Arctic vortex with distinctly different scattering characteristics and spatial distributions in the two regions. The aerosol and O3 distributions clearly identified the edge of the vortex and provided additional information on vortex dynamics and transport processes. Few polar stratospheric clouds were observed during the AASE-2; however, those that were found had enhanced scattering and depolarization over the background Pinatubo aerosols. The distribution of aerosols inside the vortex exhibited relatively minor changes during the AASE-2. Ozone depletion inside the vortex as limited to less than or equal to 20 percent in the altitude region from 15-20 km.

  9. Correlation between aerosol therapy in early childhood and Molar Incisor Hypomineralisation.

    PubMed

    Loli, D; Costacurta, M; Maturo, P; Docimo, R

    2015-03-01

    To evaluate the correlation between the use of aerosol therapy in early childhood and the presence of Molar Incisor Hypomineralisation (MIH). a retrospective case-control study in which a group (cases) consisted of children from 6 to 13 years with MIH visited at the unit of Pediatric Dentistry of the Policlinico Tor Vergata (Rome, Italy), and a group (controls) consisted of an equal number of children of the same age without MIH. Data about the aerosol therapy and the presence of MIH were obtained respectively by medical history and intraoral clinical examination. Collected data underwent statistical analysis using mainly non-parametric tests (p < 0.05). In the study were included 182 patients, of which 91 (46 males, 51%) were children with MIH (cases), and 91 (46 males, 51%) were children without MIH (controls). In the group of patients with MIH, in the early childhood, 12 (13.1%) never had aerosol therapy, 6 (6.6%) underwent aerosol therapy less than 7 days per year, 22 (24.2%) from 8 to 15 days per year, 22 (24.2%) from 16 to 45 days a year, and 29 (31.9%) more than 45 days per year. In the control group, in the early childhood, 9 (9.9%) never had aerosol therapy, 29 (31.9%) underwent aerosol therapy less than 7 days per year, 26 (28.6%) from 8 to 15 days per year, 20 (22.0%) from 16 to 45 days a year and 7 (7.6%) more than 45 days per year. the risk of developing MIH in children undergoing intensive use of aerosol therapy with respect to those receiving a less intensive use resulted in an odds ratio of 3.19 (p <0.001) in the general population, 4.83 (p < 0.001) in males and was not statistically significant in females (p = 0.132). The Spearman correlation between aerosol therapy and MIH was 0.278 (p < 0.001) in the general population, 0.372 (p < 0.001) in male, and it was not statistically significant (p = 0.08) in female subjects. Aerosol therapy carried out in early childhood appears to be a risk factor for the development of MIH, particularly in male

  10. An aerosol climatology for a rapidly growing arid region (southern Arizona): Major aerosol species and remotely sensed aerosol properties

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sorooshian, Armin; Wonaschütz, Anna; Jarjour, Elias G.; Hashimoto, Bryce I.; Schichtel, Bret A.; Betterton, Eric A.

    2011-10-01

    This study reports a comprehensive characterization of atmospheric aerosol particle properties in relation to meteorological and back trajectory data in the southern Arizona region, which includes two of the fastest growing metropolitan areas in the United States (Phoenix and Tucson). Multiple data sets (MODIS, AERONET, OMI/TOMS, MISR, GOCART, ground-based aerosol measurements) are used to examine monthly trends in aerosol composition, aerosol optical depth (AOD), and aerosol size. Fine soil, sulfate, and organics dominate PM2.5 mass in the region. Dust strongly influences the region between March and July owing to the dry and hot meteorological conditions and back trajectory patterns. Because monsoon precipitation begins typically in July, dust levels decrease, while AOD, sulfate, and organic aerosol reach their maximum levels because of summertime photochemistry and monsoon moisture. Evidence points to biogenic volatile organic compounds being a significant source of secondary organic aerosol in this region. Biomass burning also is shown to be a major contributor to the carbonaceous aerosol budget in the region, leading to enhanced organic and elemental carbon levels aloft at a sky-island site north of Tucson (Mt. Lemmon). Phoenix exhibits different monthly trends for aerosol components in comparison with the other sites owing to the strong influence of fossil carbon and anthropogenic dust. Trend analyses between 1988 and 2009 indicate that the strongest statistically significant trends are reductions in sulfate, elemental carbon, and organic carbon, and increases in fine soil during the spring (March-May) at select sites. These results can be explained by population growth, land-use changes, and improved source controls.

  11. Optimal Delivery of Aerosols to Infants During Mechanical Ventilation

    PubMed Central

    Azimi, Mandana; Hindle, Michael

    2014-01-01

    Abstract Purpose: The objective of this study was to determine optimal aerosol delivery conditions for a full-term (3.6 kg) infant receiving invasive mechanical ventilation by evaluating the effects of aerosol particle size, a new wye connector, and timing of aerosol delivery. Methods: In vitro experiments used a vibrating mesh nebulizer and evaluated drug deposition fraction and emitted dose through ventilation circuits containing either a commercial (CM) or new streamlined (SL) wye connector and 3-mm endotracheal tube (ETT) for aerosols with mass median aerodynamic diameters of 880 nm, 1.78 μm, and 4.9 μm. The aerosol was released into the circuit either over the full inhalation cycle (T1 delivery) or over the first half of inhalation (T2 delivery). Validated computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations and whole-lung model predictions were used to assess lung deposition and exhaled dose during cyclic ventilation. Results: In vitro experiments at a steady-state tracheal flow rate of 5 L/min resulted in 80–90% transmission of the 880-nm and 1.78-μm aerosols from the ETT. Based on CFD simulations with cyclic ventilation, the SL wye design reduced depositional losses in the wye by a factor of approximately 2–4 and improved lung delivery efficiencies by a factor of approximately 2 compared with the CM device. Delivery of the aerosol over the first half of the inspiratory cycle (T2) reduced exhaled dose from the ventilation circuit by a factor of 4 compared with T1 delivery. Optimal lung deposition was achieved with the SL wye connector and T2 delivery, resulting in 45% and 60% lung deposition for optimal polydisperse (∼1.78 μm) and monodisperse (∼2.5 μm) particle sizes, respectively. Conclusions: Optimization of selected factors and use of a new SL wye connector can substantially increase the lung delivery efficiency of medical aerosols to infants from current values of <1–10% to a range of 45–60%. PMID:24299500

  12. Recent increase in aerosol loading over the Australian arid zone

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mitchell, R. M.; Campbell, S. K.; Qin, Y.

    2009-10-01

    Collocated sun photometer and nephelometer measurements at Tinga Tingana in the Australian Outback over the decade 1997-2007 show a significant increase in aerosol loading following the onset of severe drought conditions in 2002. The mean mid-visible scattering coefficient obtained from nephelometer measurements over the period 2003-2007 is approximately double that recorded over the preceding 5 yr, with consistent trends in the column aerosol optical depth derived from the sun photometer. This increase is confined to the season of dust activity, particularly September to March. In contrast, background aerosol levels during May, June and July remained stable. The enhanced aerosol loadings during the latter 5 yr of the study period can be understood as a combination of dune destabilisation through loss of ephemeral vegetation and surface crust, and the changing supply of fluvial sediments to ephemeral lakes and floodplains within the Lake Eyre Basin. Major dust outbreaks are generally highly localised, although significant dust activity was observed at Tinga Tingana on 50% of days when a major event occurred elsewhere in the Lake Eyre Basin, suggesting frequent basin-wide dust mobilisation. Combined analysis of aerosol optical depth and scattering coefficient shows weak correlation between the surface and column aerosol (R2=0.24). The aerosol scale height is broadly distributed with a mode typically between 2-3 km, with clearly defined seasonal variation. Climatological analysis reveals bimodal structure in the annual cycle of aerosol optical depth, with a summer peak related to maximal dust activity, and a spring peak related to lofted fine-mode aerosol. There is evidence for an increase in near-surface aerosol during the period 2003-2007 relative to 1997-2002, consistent with an increase in dust activity. This accords with an independent finding of increasing aerosol loading over the Australian region as a whole, suggesting that rising dust activity over the Lake

  13. Retrieval method of aerosol extinction coefficient profile by an integral lidar system and case study

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Shan, Huihui; Zhang, Hui; Liu, Junjian; Wang, Shenhao; Ma, Xiaomin; Zhang, Lianqing; Liu, Dong; Xie, Chenbo; Tao, Zongming

    2018-02-01

    Aerosol extinction coefficient profile is an essential parameter for atmospheric radiation model. But it is difficult to get the full aerosol extinction profile from the ground to the tropopause especially in near ground precisely using backscattering lidar. A combined measurement of side-scattering, backscattering and Raman-scattering lidar is proposed to retrieve the aerosol extinction coefficient profile from the surface to the tropopause which covered a dynamic range of 5 orders. The side-scattering technique solves the dead zone and the overlap problem caused by the traditional lidar in the near range. Using the Raman-scattering the aerosol lidar ratio (extinction to backscatter ratio) can be obtained. The cases studies in this paper show the proposed method is reasonable and feasible.

  14. Dynamical inference: where phase synchronization and generalized synchronization meet.

    PubMed

    Stankovski, Tomislav; McClintock, Peter V E; Stefanovska, Aneta

    2014-06-01

    Synchronization is a widespread phenomenon that occurs among interacting oscillatory systems. It facilitates their temporal coordination and can lead to the emergence of spontaneous order. The detection of synchronization from the time series of such systems is of great importance for the understanding and prediction of their dynamics, and several methods for doing so have been introduced. However, the common case where the interacting systems have time-variable characteristic frequencies and coupling parameters, and may also be subject to continuous external perturbation and noise, still presents a major challenge. Here we apply recent developments in dynamical Bayesian inference to tackle these problems. In particular, we discuss how to detect phase slips and the existence of deterministic coupling from measured data, and we unify the concepts of phase synchronization and general synchronization. Starting from phase or state observables, we present methods for the detection of both phase and generalized synchronization. The consistency and equivalence of phase and generalized synchronization are further demonstrated, by the analysis of time series from analog electronic simulations of coupled nonautonomous van der Pol oscillators. We demonstrate that the detection methods work equally well on numerically simulated chaotic systems. In all the cases considered, we show that dynamical Bayesian inference can clearly identify noise-induced phase slips and distinguish coherence from intrinsic coupling-induced synchronization.

  15. Smoke aerosol chemistry and aging of Siberian biomass burning emissions in a large aerosol chamber

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kalogridis, A.-C.; Popovicheva, O. B.; Engling, G.; Diapouli, E.; Kawamura, K.; Tachibana, E.; Ono, K.; Kozlov, V. S.; Eleftheriadis, K.

    2018-07-01

    Vegetation open fires constitute a significant source of particulate pollutants on a global scale and play an important role in both atmospheric chemistry and climate change. To better understand the emission and aging characteristics of smoke aerosols, we performed small-scale fire experiments using the Large Aerosol Chamber (LAC, 1800 m3) with a focus on biomass burning from Siberian boreal coniferous forests. A series of burn experiments were conducted with typical Siberian biomass (pine and debris), simulating separately different combustion conditions, namely, flaming, smoldering and mixed phase. Following smoke emission and dispersion in the combustion chamber, we investigated aging of aerosols under dark conditions. Here, we present experimental data on emission factors of total, elemental and organic carbon, as well as individual organic compounds, such as anhydrosugars, phenolic and dicarboxylic acids. We found that total carbon accounts for up to 80% of the fine mode (PM2.5) smoke aerosol. Higher PM2.5 emission factors were observed in the smoldering compared to flaming phase and in pine compared to debris smoldering phase. For low-temperature combustion, organic carbon (OC) contributed to more than 90% of total carbon, whereas elemental carbon (EC) dominated the aerosol composition in flaming burns with a 60-70% contribution to the total carbon mass. For all smoldering burns, levoglucosan (LG), a cellulose decomposition product, was the most abundant organic species (average LG/OC = 0.26 for pine smoldering), followed by its isomer mannosan or dehydroabietic acid (DA), an important constituent of conifer resin (DA/OC = 0.033). A levoglucosan-to-mannosan ratio of about 3 was observed, which is consistent with ratios reported for coniferous biomass and more generally softwood. The rates of aerosol removal for OC and individual organic compounds were investigated during aging in the chamber in terms of mass concentration loss rates over time under dark

  16. Intercomparison and closure calculations using measurements of aerosol species and optical properties during the Yosemite Aerosol Characterization Study

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Malm, William C.; Day, Derek E.; Carrico, Christian; Kreidenweis, Sonia M.; Collett, Jeffrey L.; McMeeking, Gavin; Lee, Taehyoung; Carrillo, Jacqueline; Schichtel, Bret

    2005-07-01

    Physical and optical properties of inorganic aerosols have been extensively studied, but less is known about carbonaceous aerosols, especially as they relate to the non-urban settings such as our nation's national parks and wilderness areas. Therefore an aerosol characterization study was conceived and implemented at one national park that is highly impacted by carbonaceous aerosols, Yosemite. The primary objective of the study was to characterize the physical, chemical, and optical properties of a carbon-dominated aerosol, including the ratio of total organic matter weight to organic carbon, organic mass scattering efficiencies, and the hygroscopic characteristics of a carbon-laden ambient aerosol, while a secondary objective was to evaluate a variety of semi-continuous monitoring systems. Inorganic ions were characterized using 24-hour samples that were collected using the URG and Interagency Monitoring of Protected Visual Environments (IMPROVE) monitoring systems, the micro-orifice uniform deposit impactor (MOUDI) cascade impactor, as well as the semi-continuous particle-into-liquid sampler (PILS) technology. Likewise, carbonaceous material was collected over 24-hour periods using IMPROVE technology along with the thermal optical reflectance (TOR) analysis, while semi-continuous total carbon concentrations were measured using the Rupprecht and Patashnick (R&P) instrument. Dry aerosol number size distributions were measured using a differential mobility analyzer (DMA) and optical particle counter, scattering coefficients at near-ambient conditions were measured with nephelometers fitted with PM10 and PM2.5 inlets, and "dry" PM2.5 scattering was measured after passing ambient air through Perma Pure Nafion® dryers. In general, the 24-hour "bulk" measurements of various aerosol species compared more favorably with each other than with the semi-continuous data. Semi-continuous sulfate measurements correlated well with the 24-hour measurements, but were biased low by

  17. Seasonal Variations in Titan's Stratosphere Observed with Cassini/CIRS: Temperature, Trace Molecular Gas and Aerosol Mixing Ratio Profiles

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Vinatier, S.; Bezard, B.; Anderson, C. M.; Coustenis, A.; Teanby, N.

    2012-01-01

    Titan's northern spring equinox occurred in August 2009. General Circulation Models (e.g. Lebonnois et al., 2012) predict strong modifications of the global circulation in this period, with formation of two circulation cells instead of the pole-to-pole cell that occurred during northern winter. This winter single cell, which had its descending branch at the north pole, was at the origin of the enrichment of molecular abundances and high stratopause temperatures observed by Cassini/CIRS at high northern latitudes (e.g. Achterberg et al., 2011, Coustenis et al., 2010, Teanby et al., 2008, Vinatier et al., 2010). The predicted dynamical seasonal variations after the equinox have strong impact on the spatial distributions of trace gas, temperature and aerosol abundances. We will present here an analysis of CIRS limb-geometry datasets acquired in 2010 and 2011 that we used to monitor the seasonal evolution of the vertical profiles of temperature, molecular (C2H2, C2H6, HCN, ..) and aerosol abundances.

  18. Intercomparison of shortwave radiative transfer schemes in global aerosol modeling: results from the AeroCom Radiative Transfer Experiment

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Randles, C. A.; Kinne, S.; Myhre, G.; Schulz, M.; Stier, P.; Fischer, J.; Doppler, L.; Highwood, E.; Ryder, C.; Harris, B.; Huttunen, J.; Ma, Y.; Pinker, R. T.; Mayer, B.; Neubauer, D.; Hitzenberger, R.; Oreopoulos, L.; Lee, D.; Pitari, G.; Di Genova, G.; Quaas, J.; Rose, Fred G.; Kato, S.; Rumbold, S. T.; Vardavas, I.; Hatzianastassiou, N.; Matsoukas, C.; Yu, H.; Zhang, F.; Zhang, H.; Lu, P.

    2012-12-01

    In this study we examine the performance of 31 global model radiative transfer schemes in cloud-free conditions with prescribed gaseous absorbers and no aerosols (Rayleigh atmosphere), with prescribed scattering-only aerosols, and with more absorbing aerosols. Results are compared to benchmark results from high-resolution, multi-angular line-by-line radiation models. For purely scattering aerosols, model bias relative to the line-by-line models in the top-of-the atmosphere aerosol radiative forcing ranges from roughly -10 to 20%, with over- and underestimates of radiative cooling at higher and lower sun elevation, respectively. Inter-model diversity (relative standard deviation) increases from ~10 to 15% as sun elevation increases. Inter-model diversity in atmospheric and surface forcing decreases with increased aerosol absorption, indicating that the treatment of multiple-scattering is more variable than aerosol absorption in the models considered. Aerosol radiative forcing results from multi-stream models are generally in better agreement with the line-by-line results than the simpler two-stream schemes. Considering radiative fluxes, model performance is generally the same or slightly better than results from previous radiation scheme intercomparisons. However, the inter-model diversity in aerosol radiative forcing remains large, primarily as a result of the treatment of multiple-scattering. Results indicate that global models that estimate aerosol radiative forcing with two-stream radiation schemes may be subject to persistent biases introduced by these schemes, particularly for regional aerosol forcing.

  19. Intercomparison of shortwave radiative transfer schemes in global aerosol modeling: results from the AeroCom Radiative Transfer Experiment

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Randles, C. A.; Kinne, S.; Myhre, G.; Schulz, M.; Stier, P.; Fischer, J.; Doppler, L.; Highwood, E.; Ryder, C.; Harris, B.; Huttunen, J.; Ma, Y.; Pinker, R. T.; Mayer, B.; Neubauer, D.; Hitzenberger, R.; Oreopoulos, L.; Lee, D.; Pitari, G.; Di Genova, G.; Quaas, J.; Rose, F. G.; Kato, S.; Rumbold, S. T.; Vardavas, I.; Hatzianastassiou, N.; Matsoukas, C.; Yu, H.; Zhang, F.; Zhang, H.; Lu, P.

    2013-03-01

    In this study we examine the performance of 31 global model radiative transfer schemes in cloud-free conditions with prescribed gaseous absorbers and no aerosols (Rayleigh atmosphere), with prescribed scattering-only aerosols, and with more absorbing aerosols. Results are compared to benchmark results from high-resolution, multi-angular line-by-line radiation models. For purely scattering aerosols, model bias relative to the line-by-line models in the top-of-the atmosphere aerosol radiative forcing ranges from roughly -10 to 20%, with over- and underestimates of radiative cooling at lower and higher solar zenith angle, respectively. Inter-model diversity (relative standard deviation) increases from ~10 to 15% as solar zenith angle decreases. Inter-model diversity in atmospheric and surface forcing decreases with increased aerosol absorption, indicating that the treatment of multiple-scattering is more variable than aerosol absorption in the models considered. Aerosol radiative forcing results from multi-stream models are generally in better agreement with the line-by-line results than the simpler two-stream schemes. Considering radiative fluxes, model performance is generally the same or slightly better than results from previous radiation scheme intercomparisons. However, the inter-model diversity in aerosol radiative forcing remains large, primarily as a result of the treatment of multiple-scattering. Results indicate that global models that estimate aerosol radiative forcing with two-stream radiation schemes may be subject to persistent biases introduced by these schemes, particularly for regional aerosol forcing.

  20. United role of radon decay products and nano-aerosols in radon dosimetry

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Smerajec, M.; Vaupotič, J.

    2012-04-01

    The major part of human exposure to natural radiation originates from inhalation of radon (Rn) and radon short-lived decay products (RnDP: 218Po, 214Pb, 214Bi and 214Po). RnDP are formed as a result of α-transformation of radon. In the beginning they are positive ions which neutralize and form clusters with air molecules, and later partly attach to background aerosol particles in indoor air. Eventually, they appear as radioactive nano-aerosols with a bimodal size distribution in ranges of 1-10 nm (unattached RnDP) and of 200-800 nm (attached RnDP). When inhaled, they are deposited in the respiratory tract. Deposition is more efficient for smaller particles. Therefore, the fraction (fun) of the unattached RnDP, which appears to be influenced by the number concentration and size distribution of general (background) aerosols in the ambient air, has a crucial role in radon dosimetry. Radon, radon decay products and general aerosols have been monitored simultaneously in the kitchen of a typical rural house under real living conditions, also comprising four human activities generating particular matter: cooking and baking, as two typical activities in kitchen, and cigarette smoking and candle burning. In periods without any human activity, the total number concentration of general aerosol ranged from 1000 to 3000 cm-3,with the geometric mean of particle diameter in the range of 60-68 nm and with 0.1-1 % of particles smaller than 10 nm. Preparation of coffee changed the concentration to 193,000 cm-3, the geometric mean of diameter to 20 nm and fraction of particles smaller than 10 nm to 11 %. The respective changes were for baking cake: 503,000 cm-3, 17 nm and 19 %, for smoking:423,000 cm-3, 83 nm and 0.4 %, and forcandle burning: 945,000 cm-3, 8 nm and 85 %. While, as expected, a reduction of fun was observed during cooking, baking and smoking, when larger particles were emitted, fun did not increase during candle burning with mostly particles smaller than 10 nm

  1. Organic condensation: A vital link connecting aerosol formation to climate forcing (Invited)

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Riipinen, I.; Pierce, J. R.; Yli-Juuti, T.; Nieminen, T.; Häkkinen, S.; Ehn, M.; Junninen, H.; Lehtipalo, K.; Petdjd, T. T.; Slowik, J. G.; Chang, R. Y.; Shantz, N. C.; Abbatt, J.; Leaitch, W. R.; Kerminen, V.; Worsnop, D. R.; Pandis, S. N.; Donahue, N. M.; Kulmala, M. T.

    2010-12-01

    Aerosol-cloud interactions represent the largest uncertainty in calculations of Earth’s radiative forcing. Number concentrations of atmospheric aerosol particles are in the core of this uncertainty, as they govern the numbers of cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) and influence the albedo and lifetime of clouds. Aerosols also impair air quality through their adverse effects on atmospheric visibility and human health. The ultrafine fraction (<100 nm) of atmospheric aerosol particles often dominates the total aerosol numbers, and nucleation of atmospheric vapours is one of the most important sources of these particles. To have climatic relevance, however, the freshly-nucleated particles need to grow in size, and consequently their climatic importance remains to be quantified (see Fig. 1). We combine observations from two continental sites (Egbert, Canada and Hyytiälä, Finland) to show that condensation of organic vapours is a crucial factor governing the lifetimes and climatic importance of the smallest atmospheric particles. We demonstrate that state-of-the-science organic gas-particle partitioning models fail to reproduce the observations; we propose a new modelling approach that is consistent with the measurements. Finally, we demonstrate the large sensitivity of climatic forcing of atmospheric aerosols to these interactions between organic vapours and the smallest atmospheric nanoparticles - highlighting the need for representing this process in global climate models. Figure 1. Organic emissions and the dynamic processes governing the climatic importance of ultrafine aerosol. Condensable vapours are produced upon oxidation of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and can 1) nucleate to form new small particles; 2) grow freshly formed particles to larger sizes and increase their probability to serve as CCN; 3) condense on the background aerosol (> 100 nm) and enhance the loss of ultrafine particles. Primary organic aerosol (POA) contributes to the large end of the

  2. Aerosols and lightning activity: The effect of vertical profile and aerosol type

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Proestakis, E.; Kazadzis, S.; Lagouvardos, K.; Kotroni, V.; Amiridis, V.; Marinou, E.; Price, C.; Kazantzidis, A.

    2016-12-01

    The Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP) instrument on board the Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations (CALIPSO) satellite has been utilized for the first time in a study regarding lightning activity modulation due to aerosols. Lightning activity observations, obtained by the ZEUS long range Lightning Detection Network, European Centre for Medium range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) Convective Available Potential Energy (CAPE) data and Cloud Fraction (CF) retrieved by MODIS on board Aqua satellite have been combined with CALIPSO CALIOP data over the Mediterranean basin and for the period March to November, from 2007 to 2014. The results indicate that lightning activity is enhanced during days characterized by higher Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) values, compared to days with no lightning. This study contributes to existing studies on the link between lightning activity and aerosols, which have been based just on columnar AOD satellite retrievals, by performing a deeper analysis into the effect of aerosol profiles and aerosol types. Correlation coefficients of R = 0.73 between the CALIPSO AOD and the number of lightning strikes detected by ZEUS and of R = 0.93 between ECMWF CAPE and lightning activity are obtained. The analysis of extinction coefficient values at 532 nm indicates that at an altitudinal range exists, between 1.1 km and 2.9 km, where the values for extinction coefficient of lightning-active and non-lightning-active cases are statistically significantly different. Finally, based on the CALIPSO aerosol subtype classification, we have investigated the aerosol conditions of lightning-active and non-lightning-active cases. According to the results polluted dust aerosols are more frequently observed during non-lightning-active days, while dust and smoke aerosols are more abundant in the atmosphere during the lightning-active days.

  3. Aerosol climatology: on the discrimination of aerosol types over four AERONET sites

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kaskaoutis, D. G.; Kambezidis, H. D.; Hatzianastassiou, N.; Kosmopoulos, P. G.; Badarinath, K. V. S.

    2007-05-01

    Aerosols have a significant regional and global effect on climate, which is about equal in magnitude but opposite in sign to that of greenhouse gases. Nevertheless, the aerosol climatic effect changes strongly with space and time because of the large variability of aerosol physical and optical properties, which is due to the variety of their sources, which are natural, and anthropogenic, and their dependence on the prevailing meteorological and atmospheric conditions. Characterization of aerosol properties is of major importance for the assessment of their role for climate. In the present study, 3-year AErosol RObotic NETwork (AERONET) data from ground-based sunphotometer measurements are used to establish climatologies of aerosol optical depth (AOD) and Ångström exponent α in several key locations of the world, characteristic of different atmospheric environments. Using daily mean values of AOD at 500 nm (AOD500) and Ångström exponent at the pair of wavelengths 440 and 870 nm (α 440-870), a discrimination of the different aerosol types occurring in each location is achieved. For this discrimination, appropriate thresholds for AOD500 and α 440-870 are applied. The discrimination of aerosol types in each location is made on an annual and seasonal basis. It is shown that a single aerosol type in a given location can exist only under specific conditions (e.g. intense forest fires or dust outbreaks), while the presence of well-mixed aerosols is the accustomed situation. Background clean aerosol conditions (AOD500<0.06) are mostly found over remote oceanic surfaces occurring on average in ~56.7% of total cases, while this situation is quite rare over land (occurrence of 3.8-13.7%). Our analysis indicates that these percentages change significantly from season to season. The spectral dependence of AOD exhibits large differences between the examined locations, while it exhibits a strong annual cycle.

  4. Deep Blue Retrievals of Asian Aerosol Properties During ACE-Asia

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Hsu, N. Christina; Tsay, Si-Cee; King, Michael D.; Herman, Jay R.

    2006-01-01

    During the ACE-Asia field campaign, unprecedented amounts of aerosol property data in East Asia during springtime were collected from an array of aircraft, shipboard, and surface instruments. However, most of the observations were obtained in areas downwind of the source regions. In this paper, the newly developed satellite aerosol algorithm called "Deep Blue" was employed to characterize the properties of aerosols over source regions using radiance measurements from the Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor (SeaWiFS) and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS). Based upon the ngstr m exponent derived from the Deep Blue algorithm, it was demonstrated that this new algorithm is able to distinguish dust plumes from fine-mode pollution particles even in complex aerosol environments such as the one over Beijing. Furthermore, these results were validated by comparing them with observations from AERONET sites in China and Mongolia during spring 2001. These comparisons show that the values of satellite-retrieved aerosol optical thickness from Deep Blue are generally within 20%-30% of those measured by sunphotometers. The analyses also indicate that the roles of mineral dust and anthropogenic particles are comparable in contributing to the overall aerosol distributions during spring in northern China, while fine-mode particles are dominant over southern China. The spring season in East Asia consists of one of the most complex environments in terms of frequent cloudiness and wide ranges of aerosol loadings and types. This paper will discuss how the factors contributing to this complexity influence the resulting aerosol monthly averages from various satellite sensors and, thus, the synergy among satellite aerosol products.

  5. SEOM's Sentinel-3/OLCI' project CAWA: advanced GRASP aerosol retrieval

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Dubovik, Oleg; litvinov, Pavel; Huang, Xin; Aspetsberger, Michael; Fuertes, David; Brockmann, Carsten; Fischer, Jürgen; Bojkov, Bojan

    2016-04-01

    The CAWA "Advanced Clouds, Aerosols and WAter vapour products for Sentinel-3/OLCI" ESA-SEOM project aims on the development of advanced atmospheric retrieval algorithms for the Sentinel-3/OLCI mission, and is prepared using Envisat/MERIS and Aqua/MODIS datasets. This presentation discusses mainly CAWA aerosol product developments and results. CAWA aerosol retrieval uses recently developed GRASP algorithm (Generalized Retrieval of Aerosol and Surface Properties) algorithm described by Dubovik et al. (2014). GRASP derives extended set of atmospheric parameters using multi-pixel concept - a simultaneous fitting of a large group of pixels under additional a priori constraints limiting the time variability of surface properties and spatial variability of aerosol properties. Over land GRASP simultaneously retrieves properties of both aerosol and underlying surface even over bright surfaces. GRAPS doesn't use traditional look-up-tables and performs retrieval as search in continuous space of solution. All radiative transfer calculations are performed as part of the retrieval. The results of comprehensive sensitivity tests, as well as results obtained from real Envisat/MERIS data will be presented. The tests analyze various aspects of aerosol and surface reflectance retrieval accuracy. In addition, the possibilities of retrieval improvement by means of implementing synergetic inversion of a combination of OLCI data with observations by SLSTR are explored. Both the results of numerical tests, as well as the results of processing several years of Envisat/MERIS data illustrate demonstrate reliable retrieval of AOD (Aerosol Optical Depth) and surface BRDF. Observed retrieval issues and advancements will be discussed. For example, for some situations we illustrate possibilities of retrieving aerosol absorption - property that hardly accessible from satellite observations with no multi-angular and polarimetric capabilities.

  6. Aerosol retrieval experiments in the ESA Aerosol_cci project

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Holzer-Popp, T.; de Leeuw, G.; Griesfeller, J.; Martynenko, D.; Klüser, L.; Bevan, S.; Davies, W.; Ducos, F.; Deuzé, J. L.; Graigner, R. G.; Heckel, A.; von Hoyningen-Hüne, W.; Kolmonen, P.; Litvinov, P.; North, P.; Poulsen, C. A.; Ramon, D.; Siddans, R.; Sogacheva, L.; Tanre, D.; Thomas, G. E.; Vountas, M.; Descloitres, J.; Griesfeller, J.; Kinne, S.; Schulz, M.; Pinnock, S.

    2013-08-01

    Within the ESA Climate Change Initiative (CCI) project Aerosol_cci (2010-2013), algorithms for the production of long-term total column aerosol optical depth (AOD) datasets from European Earth Observation sensors are developed. Starting with eight existing pre-cursor algorithms three analysis steps are conducted to improve and qualify the algorithms: (1) a series of experiments applied to one month of global data to understand several major sensitivities to assumptions needed due to the ill-posed nature of the underlying inversion problem, (2) a round robin exercise of "best" versions of each of these algorithms (defined using the step 1 outcome) applied to four months of global data to identify mature algorithms, and (3) a comprehensive validation exercise applied to one complete year of global data produced by the algorithms selected as mature based on the round robin exercise. The algorithms tested included four using AATSR, three using MERIS and one using PARASOL. This paper summarizes the first step. Three experiments were conducted to assess the potential impact of major assumptions in the various aerosol retrieval algorithms. In the first experiment a common set of four aerosol components was used to provide all algorithms with the same assumptions. The second experiment introduced an aerosol property climatology, derived from a combination of model and sun photometer observations, as a priori information in the retrievals on the occurrence of the common aerosol components. The third experiment assessed the impact of using a common nadir cloud mask for AATSR and MERIS algorithms in order to characterize the sensitivity to remaining cloud contamination in the retrievals against the baseline dataset versions. The impact of the algorithm changes was assessed for one month (September 2008) of data: qualitatively by inspection of monthly mean AOD maps and quantitatively by comparing daily gridded satellite data against daily averaged AERONET sun photometer

  7. Aerosol processing in stratiform clouds in ECHAM6-HAM

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Neubauer, David; Lohmann, Ulrike; Hoose, Corinna

    2013-04-01

    Aerosol processing in stratiform clouds by uptake into cloud particles, collision-coalescence, chemical processing inside the cloud particles and release back into the atmosphere has important effects on aerosol concentration, size distribution, chemical composition and mixing state. Aerosol particles can act as cloud condensation nuclei. Cloud droplets can take up further aerosol particles by collisions. Atmospheric gases may also be transferred into the cloud droplets and undergo chemical reactions, e.g. the production of atmospheric sulphate. Aerosol particles are also processed in ice crystals. They may be taken up by homogeneous freezing of cloud droplets below -38° C or by heterogeneous freezing above -38° C. This includes immersion freezing of already immersed aerosol particles in the droplets and contact freezing of particles colliding with a droplet. Many clouds do not form precipitation and also much of the precipitation evaporates before it reaches the ground. The water soluble part of the aerosol particles concentrates in the hydrometeors and together with the insoluble part forms a single, mixed, larger particle, which is released. We have implemented aerosol processing into the current version of the general circulation model ECHAM6 (Stevens et al., 2013) coupled to the aerosol module HAM (Stier et al., 2005). ECHAM6-HAM solves prognostic equations for the cloud droplet number and ice crystal number concentrations. In the standard version of HAM, seven modes are used to describe the total aerosol. The modes are divided into soluble/mixed and insoluble modes and the number concentrations and masses of different chemical components (sulphate, black carbon, organic carbon, sea salt and mineral dust) are prognostic variables. We extended this by an explicit representation of aerosol particles in cloud droplets and ice crystals in stratiform clouds similar to Hoose et al. (2008a,b). Aerosol particles in cloud droplets are represented by 5 tracers for the

  8. Comparison of Aerosol Optical Properties and Water Vapor Among Ground and Airborne Lidars and Sun Photometers During TARFOX

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Ferrare, R.; Ismail, S.; Browell, E.; Brackett, V.; Clayton, M.; Kooi, S.; Melfi, S. H.; Whiteman, D.; Schwemmer, G.; Evans, K.

    2000-01-01

    We compare aerosol optical thickness (AOT) and precipitable water vapor (PWV) measurements derived from ground and airborne lidars and sun photometers during the Tropospheric Aerosol Radiative Forcing Observational Experiment. Such comparisons are important to verify the consistency between various remote sensing measurements before employing them in any assessment of the impact of aerosols on the global radiation balance. Total scattering ratio and extinction profiles measured by the ground-based NASA Goddard Space Flight Center scanning Raman lidar system, which operated from Wallops Island, Virginia (37.86 deg N, 75.51 deg W); are compared with those measured by the Lidar Atmospheric Sensing Experiment (LASE) airborne lidar system aboard the NASA ER-2 aircraft. Bias and root-mean-square differences indicate that these measurements generally agreed within about 10%. Aerosol extinction profiles and estimates of AOT are derived from both lidar measurements using a value for the aerosol extinction/backscattering ratio S(sub a) = 60 sr for the aerosol extinction/backscattering ratio, which was determined from the Raman lidar measurements. The lidar measurements of AOT are found to be generally within 25% of the AOT measured by the NASA Ames Airborne Tracking Sun Photometer (AATS-6). However, during certain periods the lidar and Sun photometer measurements of AOT differed significantly, possibly because of variations in the aerosol physical characteristics (e.g., size, composition) which affect S(sub a). Estimates of PWV, derived from water vapor mixing ratio profiles measured by LASE, are within 5-10% of PWV derived from the airborne Sun photometer. Aerosol extinction profiles measured by both lidars show that aerosols were generally concentrated in the lowest 2-3 km.

  9. Study of the efficacy of aerosol versus nonaerosol laundry products. Final report

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Boggs, R.R.; Belmont, B.

    1987-10-01

    The California Air Resources Board estimates that 6.6 tons of photochemically reactive organic compounds (PROC) are released into the environment in California every day because of the use of aerosol laundry products. The project studied the efficacy, ease of product use, and PROC content for three major brands of pre-wash stain removers in available product forms and for five starch products in their available product forms. Efficacy of pre-wash products was generally found to be limited. They were particularly useful for oil and ball point ink removal. Aerosols were found to be slightly superior. PROC content varied from 16-76% onmore » aerosols; none was found in nonaerosols. Aerosols were found to be slightly easier to use by the laboratory investigator. For starches, on synthetic fabrics Faultless aerosol was found to be superior. For natural fabrics, results were mixed. Efficacy per unit cost was found to be high for bulk starches. PROC content for the two aerosols was 5.8% for Faultless and 8.5% for Niagra. Aerosols were easiest to use and bulk products rather difficult to use.« less

  10. Aerosol loading in the Southeastern United States: reconciling surface and satellite observations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ford, B.; Heald, C. L.

    2013-09-01

    We investigate the seasonality in aerosols over the Southeastern United States using observations from several satellite instruments (MODIS, MISR, CALIOP) and surface network sites (IMPROVE, SEARCH, AERONET). We find that the strong summertime enhancement in satellite-observed aerosol optical depth (AOD) (factor 2-3 enhancement over wintertime AOD) is not present in surface mass concentrations (25-55% summertime enhancement). Goldstein et al. (2009) previously attributed this seasonality in AOD to biogenic organic aerosol; however, surface observations show that organic aerosol only accounts for ∼35% of fine particulate matter (smaller than 2.5 μm in aerodynamic diameter, PM2.5) and exhibits similar seasonality to total surface PM2.5. The GEOS-Chem model generally reproduces these surface aerosol measurements, but underrepresents the AOD seasonality observed by satellites. We show that seasonal differences in water uptake cannot sufficiently explain the magnitude of AOD increase. As CALIOP profiles indicate the presence of additional aerosol in the lower troposphere (below 700 hPa), which cannot be explained by vertical mixing, we conclude that the discrepancy is due to a missing source of aerosols above the surface layer in summer.

  11. The Two-Column Aerosol Project: Phase I - Overview and Impact of Elevated Aerosol Layers on Aerosol Optical Depth

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Berg, Larry K.; Fast, Jerome D.; Barnard, James C.

    2016-01-08

    The Two-Column Aerosol Project (TCAP), which was conducted from June 2012 through June 2013, was a unique field study that was designed to provide a comprehensive data set that can be used to investigate a number of important climate science questions, including those related to aerosol mixing state and aerosol radiative forcing. The study was designed to sample the atmosphere at a number of altitudes, from near the surface to as high as 8 km, within two atmospheric columns; one located near the coast of North America (over Cape Cod, MA) and a second over the Atlantic Ocean several hundredmore » kilometers from the coast. TCAP included the yearlong deployment of the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Mobile Facility (AMF) that was located at the base of the Cape Cod column, as well as summer and winter aircraft intensive observation periods of the ARM Aerial Facility. One important finding from TCAP is the relatively common occurrence (on four of six nearly cloud-free flights) of elevated aerosol layers in both the Cape Cod and maritime columns that were detected using the nadir pointing second-generation NASA high-spectral resolution lidar (HSRL-2). These layers contributed up to 60% of the total aerosol optical depth (AOD) observed in the column. Many of these layers were also intercepted by the aircraft configured for in situ sampling, and the aerosol in the layers was found to have increased amounts of biomass burning aerosol and nitrate compared to the aerosol found near the surface.« less

  12. The Two-Column Aerosol Project: Phase I-Overview and impact of elevated aerosol layers on aerosol optical depth

    DOE PAGES

    Berg, Larry K.; Fast, Jerome D.; Barnard, James C.; ...

    2016-01-08

    The Two-Column Aerosol Project (TCAP), conducted from June 2012 through June 2013, was a unique study designed to provide a comprehensive data set that can be used to investigate a number of important climate science questions, including those related to aerosol mixing state and aerosol radiative forcing. The study was designed to sample the atmosphere between and within two atmospheric columns; one fixed near the coast of North America (over Cape Cod, MA) and a second moveable column over the Atlantic Ocean several hundred kilometers from the coast. The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Mobile Facilitymore » (AMF) was deployed at the base of the Cape Cod column, and the ARM Aerial Facility was utilized for the summer and winter intensive observation periods. One important finding from TCAP is that four of six nearly cloud-free flight days had aerosol layers aloft in both the Cape Cod and maritime columns that were detected using the nadir pointing second-generation NASA high-spectral resolution lidar (HSRL-2). In addition, these layers contributed up to 60% of the total observed aerosol optical depth (AOD). Many of these layers were also intercepted by the aircraft configured for in situ sampling, and the aerosol in the layers was found to have increased amounts of biomass burning material and nitrate compared to aerosol found near the surface. Lastly, while there was a great deal of spatial and day-to-day variability in the aerosol chemical composition and optical properties, no systematic differences between the two columns were observed.« less

  13. The Two-Column Aerosol Project: Phase I - Overview and Impact of Elevated Aerosol Layers on Aerosol Optical Depth

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Berg, Larry K.; Fast, Jerome D.; Barnard, James C.; Burton, Sharon P.; Cairns, Brian; Chand, Duli; Comstock, Jennifer M.; Dunagan, Stephen; Ferrare, Richard A.; Flynn, Connor J.; hide

    2015-01-01

    The Two-Column Aerosol Project (TCAP), conducted from June 2012 through June 2013, was a unique study designed to provide a comprehensive data set that can be used to investigate a number of important climate science questions, including those related to aerosol mixing state and aerosol radiative forcing. The study was designed to sample the atmosphere be tween and within two atmospheric columns; one fixed near the coast of North America (over Cape Cod, MA) and a second moveable column over the Atlantic Ocean several hundred kilometers from the coast. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Mobile Facility (AMF) was deployed at the base of the Cape Cod column, and the ARM Aerial Facility was utilized for the summer and winter intensive observation periods. One important finding from TCAP is that four of six nearly cloud-free flight days had aerosol layers aloft in both the Cape Cod and maritime columns that were detected using the nadir pointing second-generation NASA high-spectral resolution lidar (HSRL-2).These layer s contributed up to 60 of the total observed aerosol optical depth (AOD). Many of these layers were also intercepted by the aircraft configured for in situ sampling, and the aerosol in the layers was found to have increased amounts of biomass burning material and nitrate compared to aerosol found near the surface. In addition, while there was a great deal of spatial and day-to-day variability in the aerosol chemical composition and optical properties, no systematic differences between the two columns were observed.

  14. The Two-Column Aerosol Project: Phase I—Overview and impact of elevated aerosol layers on aerosol optical depth

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Berg, Larry K.; Fast, Jerome D.; Barnard, James C.; Burton, Sharon P.; Cairns, Brian; Chand, Duli; Comstock, Jennifer M.; Dunagan, Stephen; Ferrare, Richard A.; Flynn, Connor J.; Hair, Johnathan W.; Hostetler, Chris A.; Hubbe, John; Jefferson, Anne; Johnson, Roy; Kassianov, Evgueni I.; Kluzek, Celine D.; Kollias, Pavlos; Lamer, Katia; Lantz, Kathleen; Mei, Fan; Miller, Mark A.; Michalsky, Joseph; Ortega, Ivan; Pekour, Mikhail; Rogers, Ray R.; Russell, Philip B.; Redemann, Jens; Sedlacek, Arthur J.; Segal-Rosenheimer, Michal; Schmid, Beat; Shilling, John E.; Shinozuka, Yohei; Springston, Stephen R.; Tomlinson, Jason M.; Tyrrell, Megan; Wilson, Jacqueline M.; Volkamer, Rainer; Zelenyuk, Alla; Berkowitz, Carl M.

    2016-01-01

    The Two-Column Aerosol Project (TCAP), conducted from June 2012 through June 2013, was a unique study designed to provide a comprehensive data set that can be used to investigate a number of important climate science questions, including those related to aerosol mixing state and aerosol radiative forcing. The study was designed to sample the atmosphere between and within two atmospheric columns; one fixed near the coast of North America (over Cape Cod, MA) and a second moveable column over the Atlantic Ocean several hundred kilometers from the coast. The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Mobile Facility (AMF) was deployed at the base of the Cape Cod column, and the ARM Aerial Facility was utilized for the summer and winter intensive observation periods. One important finding from TCAP is that four of six nearly cloud-free flight days had aerosol layers aloft in both the Cape Cod and maritime columns that were detected using the nadir pointing second-generation NASA high-spectral resolution lidar (HSRL-2). These layers contributed up to 60% of the total observed aerosol optical depth (AOD). Many of these layers were also intercepted by the aircraft configured for in situ sampling, and the aerosol in the layers was found to have increased amounts of biomass burning material and nitrate compared to aerosol found near the surface. In addition, while there was a great deal of spatial and day-to-day variability in the aerosol chemical composition and optical properties, no systematic differences between the two columns were observed.

  15. Aerosol polarization effects on atmospheric correction and aerosol retrievals in ocean color remote sensing.

    PubMed

    Wang, Menghua

    2006-12-10

    The current ocean color data processing system for the Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-View Sensor (SeaWiFS) and the moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS) uses the Rayleigh lookup tables that were generated using the vector radiative transfer theory with inclusion of the polarization effects. The polarization effects, however, are not accounted for in the aerosol lookup tables for the ocean color data processing. I describe a study of the aerosol polarization effects on the atmospheric correction and aerosol retrieval algorithms in the ocean color remote sensing. Using an efficient method for the multiple vector radiative transfer computations, aerosol lookup tables that include polarization effects are generated. Simulations have been carried out to evaluate the aerosol polarization effects on the derived ocean color and aerosol products for all possible solar-sensor geometries and the various aerosol optical properties. Furthermore, the new aerosol lookup tables have been implemented in the SeaWiFS data processing system and extensively tested and evaluated with SeaWiFS regional and global measurements. Results show that in open oceans (maritime environment), the aerosol polarization effects on the ocean color and aerosol products are usually negligible, while there are some noticeable effects on the derived products in the coastal regions with nonmaritime aerosols.

  16. Fast and Slow Responses of the South Asian Monsoon System to Anthropogenic Aerosols

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Ganguly, Dilip; Rasch, Philip J.; Wang, Hailong

    2012-09-25

    Using a global climate model with fully predictive aerosol life cycle, we investigate the fast and slow responses of the South Asian monsoon system to anthropogenic aerosol forcing. Our results show that the feedbacks associated with sea surface temperature (SST) change caused by aerosols play a more important role than the aerosol's direct impact on radiation, clouds and land surface (rapid adjustments) in shaping the total equilibrium climate response of the monsoon system to aerosol forcing. Inhomogeneous SST cooling caused by anthropogenic aerosols eventually reduces the meridional tropospheric temperature gradient and the easterly shear of zonal winds over the region,more » slowing down the local Hadley cell circulation, decreasing the northward moisture transport, and causing a reduction in precipitation over South Asia. Although total responses in precipitation are closer to the slow responses in general, the fast component dominates over land areas north of 25°N. Our results also show an east-west asymmetry in the fast responses to anthropogenic aerosols causing increases in precipitation west of 80°E but decreases east of it.« less

  17. Climatological Aspects of the Optical Properties of Fine/Coarse Mode Aerosol Mixtures

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Eck, T. F.; Holben, B. N.; Sinyuk, A.; Pinker, R. T.; Goloub, P.; Chen, H.; Chatenet, B.; Li, Z.; Singh, R. P.; Tripathi, S.N.; hide

    2010-01-01

    Aerosol mixtures composed of coarse mode desert dust combined with fine mode combustion generated aerosols (from fossil fuel and biomass burning sources) were investigated at three locations that are in and/or downwind of major global aerosol emission source regions. Multiyear monitoring data at Aerosol Robotic Network sites in Beijing (central eastern China), Kanpur (Indo-Gangetic Plain, northern India), and Ilorin (Nigeria, Sudanian zone of West Africa) were utilized to study the climatological characteristics of aerosol optical properties. Multiyear climatological averages of spectral single scattering albedo (SSA) versus fine mode fraction (FMF) of aerosol optical depth at 675 nm at all three sites exhibited relatively linear trends up to 50% FMF. This suggests the possibility that external linear mixing of both fine and coarse mode components (weighted by FMF) dominates the SSA variation, where the SSA of each component remains relatively constant for this range of FMF only. However, it is likely that a combination of other factors is also involved in determining the dynamics of SSA as a function of FMF, such as fine mode particles adhering to coarse mode dust. The spectral variation of the climatological averaged aerosol absorption optical depth (AAOD) was nearly linear in logarithmic coordinates over the wavelength range of 440-870 nm for both the Kanpur and Ilorin sites. However, at two sites in China (Beijing and Xianghe), a distinct nonlinearity in spectral AAOD in logarithmic space was observed, suggesting the possibility of anomalously strong absorption in coarse mode aerosols increasing the 870 nm AAOD.

  18. Aerosol Optical Depth Over India

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    David, Liji Mary; Ravishankara, A. R.; Kodros, John K.; Venkataraman, Chandra; Sadavarte, Pankaj; Pierce, Jeffrey R.; Chaliyakunnel, Sreelekha; Millet, Dylan B.

    2018-04-01

    Tropospheric aerosol optical depth (AOD) over India was simulated by Goddard Earth Observing System (GEOS)-Chem, a global 3-D chemical-transport model, using SMOG (Speciated Multi-pOllutant Generator from Indian Institute of Technology Bombay) and GEOS-Chem (GC) (current inventories used in the GEOS-Chem model) inventories for 2012. The simulated AODs were 80% (SMOG) and 60% (GC) of those measured by the satellites (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer and Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer). There is no strong seasonal variation in AOD over India. The peak AOD values are observed/simulated during summer. The simulated AOD using SMOG inventory has particulate black and organic carbon AOD higher by a factor 5 and 3, respectively, compared to GC inventory. The model underpredicted coarse-mode AOD but agreed for fine-mode AOD with Aerosol Robotic Network data. It captured dust only over Western India, which is a desert, and not elsewhere, probably due to inaccurate dust transport and/or noninclusion of other dust sources. The calculated AOD, after dust correction, showed the general features in its observed spatial variation. Highest AOD values were observed over the Indo-Gangetic Plain followed by Central and Southern India with lowest values in Northern India. Transport of aerosols from Indo-Gangetic Plain and Central India into Eastern India, where emissions are low, is significant. The major contributors to total AOD over India are inorganic aerosol (41-64%), organic carbon (14-26%), and dust (7-32%). AOD over most regions of India is a factor of 5 or higher than over the United States.

  19. Prediction of health effects of cross-border atmospheric pollutants using an aerosol forecast model.

    PubMed

    Onishi, Kazunari; Sekiyama, Tsuyoshi Thomas; Nojima, Masanori; Kurosaki, Yasunori; Fujitani, Yusuke; Otani, Shinji; Maki, Takashi; Shinoda, Masato; Kurozawa, Youichi; Yamagata, Zentaro

    2018-08-01

    Health effects of cross-border air pollutants and Asian dust are of significant concern in Japan. Currently, models predicting the arrival of aerosols have not investigated the association between arrival predictions and health effects. We investigated the association between subjective health symptoms and unreleased aerosol data from the Model of Aerosol Species in the Global Atmosphere (MASINGAR) acquired from the Japan Meteorological Agency, with the objective of ascertaining if these data could be applied to predicting health effects. Subjective symptom scores were collected via self-administered questionnaires and, along with modeled surface aerosol concentration data, were used to conduct a risk evaluation using generalized estimating equations between October and November 2011. Altogether, 29 individuals provided 1670 responses. Spearman's correlation coefficients were determined for the relationship between the proportion of the participants reporting the maximum score of two or more for each symptom and the surface concentrations for each considered aerosol species calculated using MASINGAR; the coefficients showed significant intermediate correlations between surface sulfate aerosol concentration and respiratory, throat, and fever symptoms (R = 0.557, 0.454, and 0.470, respectively; p < 0.01). In the general estimation equation (logit link) analyses, a significant linear association of surface sulfate aerosol concentration, with an endpoint determined by reported respiratory symptom scores of two or more, was observed (P trend = 0.001, odds ratio [OR] of the highest quartile [Q4] vs. the lowest [Q1] = 5.31, 95% CI = 2.18 to 12.96), with adjustment for potential confounding. The surface sulfate aerosol concentration was also associated with throat and fever symptoms. In conclusion, our findings suggest that modeled data are potentially useful for predicting health risks of cross-border aerosol arrivals. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd

  20. Assessment of the impact of forest fires on aerosols distribution in the atmosphere over Kyiv based on AERONET and satellites measurement techniques

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Galytska, Evgenia; Danylevsky, Vassyl; Snizhko, Sergiy

    2015-04-01

    The study of the dynamics of aerosol particles, revealing their sources in the atmosphere is one of the urgent problems of modern meteorology, climatology, atmospheric physics, and ecology. Monitoring of the air pollution caused by aerosols contributes to the determination of its effects on the climate and to the reduction of its negative impacts on the health of the population. The research work comprises latest technologies and approaches: remote ground-based together with satellite measurements of the optical properties of aerosol particles, atmospheric dynamics research and modeling of transport of particles. The dynamics of aerosol layer properties over Ukrainian cities as Kyiv, Sevastopol, and over the rural site Martova is the subject of the remote sensing investigation made by the sun photometers network AERONET/PHOTONS, dealing with the columnar aerosol optical properties particularly aerosol optical depth (AOD). As well the CALIOP lidar data on board of CALIPSO satellite were used for AOD analysis for appropriate territory and further comparison with AERONET measurements. It was stated that during warm periods a large concentration of impurities was observed due to natural sources, such as forest fires in Ukraine and the European Russia. Especially in summer 2010 the high-altitude anticyclone and a ridge above the European Russia and Ural caused the hottest weather in the East Europe region for the period that promoted origin of vast and intensive forest fires in Central and Western Russia that caused reach pollution of the atmosphere over Ukraine by aerosols. Thus, in August 15, 2010 an aerosol optical depth over Kyiv at a wavelength of 440 nm reached a value of 1.5, which was associated with the aerosols arrival from these fires. Thus, the values of aerosol optical depth that date was triple more in comparison to usual distribution. The ways of aerosols arrival to the atmosphere over Kyiv from the fires centers during some days of August 2010 and effect

  1. Evaluation of a new microphysical aerosol module in the ECMWF Integrated Forecasting System

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Woodhouse, Matthew; Mann, Graham; Carslaw, Ken; Morcrette, Jean-Jacques; Schulz, Michael; Kinne, Stefan; Boucher, Olivier

    2013-04-01

    The Monitoring Atmospheric Composition and Climate II (MACC-II) project will provide a system for monitoring and predicting atmospheric composition. As part of the first phase of MACC, the GLOMAP-mode microphysical aerosol scheme (Mann et al., 2010, GMD) was incorporated within the ECMWF Integrated Forecasting System (IFS). The two-moment modal GLOMAP-mode scheme includes new particle formation, condensation, coagulation, cloud-processing, and wet and dry deposition. GLOMAP-mode is already incorporated as a module within the TOMCAT chemistry transport model and within the UK Met Office HadGEM3 general circulation model. The microphysical, process-based GLOMAP-mode scheme allows an improved representation of aerosol size and composition and can simulate aerosol evolution in the troposphere and stratosphere. The new aerosol forecasting and re-analysis system (known as IFS-GLOMAP) will also provide improved boundary conditions for regional air quality forecasts, and will benefit from assimilation of observed aerosol optical depths in near real time. Presented here is an evaluation of the performance of the IFS-GLOMAP system in comparison to in situ aerosol mass and number measurements, and remotely-sensed aerosol optical depth measurements. Future development will provide a fully-coupled chemistry-aerosol scheme, and the capability to resolve nitrate aerosol.

  2. Effects of increasing aerosol on regional climate change in China: Observation and modeling

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Qian, Y.; Leung, L.; Ghan, S. J.

    2002-12-01

    We present regional simulations of climate, aerosol properties, and direct radiative forcing and climatic effects of aerosol and analyze the pollutant emissions and observed climatic data during the latter decades of last century in China. The regional model generally captures the spatial distributions and seasonal pattern of temperature and precipitation. Aerosol extinction coefficient and aerosol optical depth are generally well simulated in both magnitude and spatial distribution, which provides a reliable foundation for estimating the radiative forcing and climatic effects of aerosol. The radiative forcing of aerosol is in the range of -1 to -14 W m-2 in autumn and summer and -1 to -9 W m-2 in spring and winter, with substantial spatial variability at the sub-regional scale. A strong maximum in negative radiative forcing corresponding to the maximum optical depth is found over the Sichuan Basin, where emission as well as relative humidity are high, and stagnant atmospheric conditions inhibit pollutants dispersion. Negative radiative forcing of aerosol induces a surface cooling, which is stronger in the range of -0.6 to -1.2oC in autumn and winter than in spring (-0.3 to -0.6oC) and summer (0.0 to -0.9oC) over the Sichuan Basin and East China due to more significant effects of cloud and precipitation in the summer and spring. Aerosol-induced cooling is mainly contributed by cooling in the daytime temperature. The cooling reaches a maximum and is statistically significant in the Sichuan Basin. The effect of aerosol on precipitation is not evident in our simulations. The temporal and spatial patterns of temperature trends observed in the second half of the twentieth century, including the asymmetric daily maximum and minimum temperature trends, are at least qualitatively consistent with the simulated aerosol-induced cooling over the Sichuan Basin and East China. It supports the hypothesis that the observed temperature trends during the latter decades of the

  3. The effect of organic aerosol material on aerosol reactivity towards ozone

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Batenburg, Anneke; Gaston, Cassandra; Thornton, Joel; Virtanen, Annele

    2015-04-01

    After aerosol particles are formed or emitted into the atmosphere, heterogeneous reactions with gaseous oxidants cause them to 'age'. Aging can change aerosol properties, such as the hygroscopicity, which is an important parameter in how the particles scatter radiation and form clouds. Conversely, heterogeneous reactions on aerosol particles play a significant role in the cycles of various atmospheric trace gases. Organic compounds, a large part of the total global aerosol matter, can exist in liquid or amorphous (semi)solid physical phases. Different groups have shown that reactions with ozone (O3) can be limited by bulk diffusion in organic aerosol, particularly in viscous, (semi)solid materials, and that organic coatings alter the surface interactions between gas and aerosol particles. We aim to better understand and quantify how the viscosity and phase of organic aerosol matter affect gas-particle interactions. We have chosen the reaction of O3 with particles composed of a potassium iodide (KI) core and a variable organic coating as a model system. The reaction is studied in an aerosol flow reactor that consists of a laminar flow tube and a movable, axial injector for the injection of O3. The aerosol-containing air is inserted at the tube's top. The interaction length (and therefore time), between the particles and the O3 can be varied by moving the injector. Alternatively, the production of aerosol particles can be modulated. The remaining O3 concentration is monitored from the bottom of the tube and particle concentrations are measured simultaneously, which allows us to calculate the reactive uptake coefficient γ. We performed exploratory experiments with internally mixed KI and polyethylene glycol (PEG) particles at the University of Washington (UW) in a setup with a residence time around 50 s. Aerosol particles were generated in an atomizer from solutions with varying concentrations of KI and PEG and inserted into the flow tube after they were diluted and

  4. A View of Earth's Aerosol System from Space to Your Office Chair

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Colarco, Peter

    2008-01-01

    Aerosols are tiny particles and droplets suspended in the air. Each day you breathe in about 10 billion of them, about a half a million per breath. They are formed in nature by volcanoes, dust storms, sea spray, and emissions from vegetation. Humans create aerosols and alter their natural sources by burning fossil fuels and modifying land cover. Fires are another important source of aerosols; some are natural, such as wildfires started by lightning strikes, while others are from human-caused burning of vegetation for cooking, heating, and land clearing. Aerosols have complex effects on Earth's climate. In general, they cool the surface by reflecting (scattering) radiation from the sun back into space. Dust and smoke absorb solar radiation and heat the atmosphere where they are concentrated. Aerosols change the properties of clouds. Indeed, it would be very difficult to form clouds in the atmosphere without aerosols to act as 'seeds' for water to condense on. In aerosol polluted environments clouds tend to have smaller droplets than clouds formed in cleaner environments; these polluted clouds appear brighter from space because they reflect more sunlight, and they may persist longer and not rain as intensely. Aerosols also affect local air quality and visibility. Data collected by NASA satellites over the past decade have provided an unprecedented view of Earth's aerosol distribution and dramatically increased our understanding of where aerosols come from and just how far they travel in the atmosphere. In this talk I will discuss observations of aerosols from space and how they inform numerical transport models attempting to simulate the global aerosol system.

  5. Design of Aerosol Coating Reactors: Precursor Injection

    PubMed Central

    Buesser, Beat; Pratsinis, Sotiris E.

    2013-01-01

    Particles are coated with thin shells to facilitate their processing and incorporation into liquid or solid matrixes without altering core particle properties (coloristic, magnetic, etc.). Here, computational fluid and particle dynamics are combined to investigate the geometry of an aerosol reactor for continuous coating of freshly-made titanium dioxide core nanoparticles with nanothin silica shells by injection of hexamethyldisiloxane (HMDSO) vapor downstream of TiO2 particle formation. The focus is on the influence of HMDSO vapor jet number and direction in terms of azimuth and inclination jet angles on process temperature and coated particle characteristics (shell thickness and fraction of uncoated particles). Rapid and homogeneous mixing of core particle aerosol and coating precursor vapor facilitates synthesis of core-shell nanoparticles with uniform shell thickness and high coating efficiency (minimal uncoated core and free coating particles). PMID:23658471

  6. Dynamical predictive power of the generalized Gibbs ensemble revealed in a second quench.

    PubMed

    Zhang, J M; Cui, F C; Hu, Jiangping

    2012-04-01

    We show that a quenched and relaxed completely integrable system is hardly distinguishable from the corresponding generalized Gibbs ensemble in a dynamical sense. To be specific, the response of the quenched and relaxed system to a second quench can be accurately reproduced by using the generalized Gibbs ensemble as a substitute. Remarkably, as demonstrated with the transverse Ising model and the hard-core bosons in one dimension, not only the steady values but even the transient, relaxation dynamics of the physical variables can be accurately reproduced by using the generalized Gibbs ensemble as a pseudoinitial state. This result is an important complement to the previously established result that a quenched and relaxed system is hardly distinguishable from the generalized Gibbs ensemble in a static sense. The relevance of the generalized Gibbs ensemble in the nonequilibrium dynamics of completely integrable systems is then greatly strengthened.

  7. Ozone and Aerosol Retrieval from Backscattered Ultraviolet Radiation

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Bhartia, Pawan K.

    2012-01-01

    In this presentation we will discuss the techniques to estimate total column ozone and aerosol absorption optical depth from the measurements of back scattered ultraviolet (buv) radiation. The total ozone algorithm has been used to create a unique record of the ozone layer, spanning more than 3 decades, from a series of instruments (BUV, SBUV, TOMS, SBUV/2) flown on NASA, NOAA, Japanese and Russian satellites. We will discuss how this algorithm can be considered a generalization of the well-known Dobson/Brewer technique that has been used to process data from ground-based instruments for many decades, and how it differs from the DOAS techniques that have been used to estimate vertical column densities of a host of trace gases from data collected by GOME and SCIAMACHY instruments. The buv aerosol algorithm is most suitable for the detection of UV absorbing aerosols (smoke, desert dust, volcanic ash) and is the only technique that can detect aerosols embedded in clouds. This algorithm has been used to create a quarter century record of aerosol absorption optical depth using the buv data collected by a series of TOMS instruments. We will also discuss how the data from the OMI instrument launched on July 15, 2004 will be combined with data from MODIS and CALIPSO lidar data to enhance the accuracy and information content of satellite-derived aerosol measurements. The OMI and MODIS instruments are currently flying on EOS Aura and EOS Aqua satellites respectively, part of a constellation of satellites called the "A-train".

  8. Effects of Aerosols on Autumn Precipitation over Mid-Eastern China

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Chen, Siyu; Huang, J.; Qian, Yun

    2014-09-20

    Long-term observational data indicated a decreasing trend for the amount of autumn precipitation (i.e. 54.3 mm per decade) over Mid-Eastern China, especially after 1980s (~ 5.6% per decade). To examine the cause of the decreasing trend, the mechanisms associated with the change of autumn precipitation were investigated from the perspective of water vapor transportation, atmospheric stability and cloud microphysics. Results show that the decrease of convective available potential energy (i.e. 12.81 J kg-1/ decade) and change of cloud microphysics, which were closely related to the increase of aerosol loading during the past twenty years, were the two primary factors responsiblemore » for the decrease of autumn precipitation. Ours results showed that increased aerosol could enhance the atmospheric stability thus weaken the convection. Meanwhile, more aerosols also led to a significant decline of raindrop concentration and to a delay of raindrop formation because of smaller size of cloud droplets. Thus, increased aerosols produced by air pollution could be one of the major reasons for the decrease of autumn precipitation. Furthermore, we found that the aerosol effects on precipitation in autumn was more significant than in other seasons, partly due to the relatively more stable synoptic system in autumn. The impact of large-scale circulation dominated in autumn and the dynamic influence on precipitation was more important than the thermodynamic activity.« less

  9. Arctic climate response to geoengineering with stratospheric sulfate aerosols

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    McCusker, K. E.; Battisti, D. S.; Bitz, C. M.

    2010-12-01

    Recent warming and record summer sea-ice area minimums have spurred expressions of concern for arctic ecosystems, permafrost, and polar bear populations, among other things. Geoengineering by stratospheric sulfate aerosol injections to deliberately cancel the anthropogenic temperature rise has been put forth as a possible solution to restoring Arctic (and global) climate to modern conditions. However, climate is particularly sensitive in the northern high latitudes, responding easily to radiative forcing changes. To that end, we explore the extent to which tropical injections of stratospheric sulfate aerosol can accomplish regional cancellation in the Arctic. We use the Community Climate System Model version 3 global climate model to execute simulations with combinations of doubled CO2 and imposed stratospheric sulfate burdens to investigate the effects on high latitude climate. We further explore the sensitivity of the polar climate to ocean dynamics by running a suite of simulations with and without ocean dynamics, transiently and to equilibrium respectively. We find that, although annual, global mean temperature cancellation is accomplished, there is over-cooling on land in Arctic summer, but residual warming in Arctic winter, which is largely due to atmospheric circulation changes. Furthermore, the spatial extent of these features and their concurrent impacts on sea-ice properties are modified by the inclusion of ocean dynamical feedbacks.

  10. Global Climate Models Intercomparison of Anthropogenic Aerosols Effects on Regional Climate over North Pacific

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hu, J.; Zhang, R.; Wang, Y.; Ming, Y.; Lin, Y.; Pan, B.

    2015-12-01

    Aerosols can alter atmospheric radiation and cloud physics, which further exert impacts on weather and global climate. With the development and industrialization of the developing Asian countries, anthropogenic aerosols have received considerable attentions and remain to be the largest uncertainty in the climate projection. Here we assess the performance of two stat-of-art global climate models (National Center for Atmospheric Research-Community Atmosphere Model 5 (CAM5) and Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory Atmosphere Model 3 (AM3)) in simulating the impacts of anthropogenic aerosols on North Pacific storm track region. By contrasting two aerosol scenarios, i.e. present day (PD) and pre-industrial (PI), both models show aerosol optical depth (AOD) enhanced by about 22%, with CAM5 AOD 40% lower in magnitude due to the long range transport of anthropogenic aerosols. Aerosol effects on the ice water path (IWP), stratiform precipitation, convergence and convection strengths in the two models are distinctive in patterns and magnitudes. AM3 shows qualitatively good agreement with long-term satellite observations, while CAM5 overestimates convection and liquid water path resulting in an underestimation of large-scale precipitation and IWP. Due to coarse resolution and parameterization in convection schemes, both models' performance on convection needs to be improved. Aerosols performance on large-scale circulation and radiative budget are also examined in this study.

  11. MODIS Microphysical Regimes for Examining Apparent Aerosol Effects on Clouds and Precipitation

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Oreopoulos, L.; Cho, N.; Lee, D.; Kato, S.; Lebsock, M. D.; Yuan, T.; Huffman, G. J.

    2014-12-01

    We use a 10-year record of MODIS Terra and Aqua Level-3 joint histograms of cloud optical thickness (COT) and cloud effective radius (CER) to derive so-called cloud microphysical regimes by means of clustering analysis. The regimes reveal the dominant modes of COT and CER co-variations around the globe for both liquid and ice phases. The clustering analysis is capable of separating regimes so that each is dominated by one of the two water phases and can be associated with previously derived "dynamical" regimes. The microphysical regimes serve as an appropriate basis to study possible effects of aerosols on cloud microphysical changes and precipitation. To this end, we employ MODIS aerosol loading measurements either in terms of aerosol index or aerosol optical depth and spatiotemporally matched precipitation (from either GPCP, TRMM or CloudSat) to examine intra-regime variability, regime transitions from morning (Terra) to afternoon (Aqua), and regime precipitation characteristics for locally low, average, and high aerosol loadings. Breakdowns by ocean/land and geographical zone (e.g., tropics vs. midlatitudes) are essential for physical interpretation of the results. The analysis conducted so far reveals notable differences in apparent characteristics of low- and high-cloud dominated microphysical regimes when in different aerosol environments. The presentation will attempt to examine whether the picture painted by our work is consistent with prevailing expectations, rooted to either modeling or prior observational studies, on how clouds and precipitation respond to distinct aerosol environments.

  12. Aerosol detection efficiency in inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hubbard, Joshua A.; Zigmond, Joseph A.

    2016-05-01

    An electrostatic size classification technique was used to segregate particles of known composition prior to being injected into an inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer (ICP-MS). Size-segregated particles were counted with a condensation nuclei counter as well as sampled with an ICP-MS. By injecting particles of known size, composition, and aerosol concentration into the ICP-MS, efficiencies of the order of magnitude aerosol detection were calculated, and the particle size dependencies for volatile and refractory species were quantified. Similar to laser ablation ICP-MS, aerosol detection efficiency was defined as the rate at which atoms were detected in the ICP-MS normalized by the rate at which atoms were injected in the form of particles. This method adds valuable insight into the development of technologies like laser ablation ICP-MS where aerosol particles (of relatively unknown size and gas concentration) are generated during ablation and then transported into the plasma of an ICP-MS. In this study, we characterized aerosol detection efficiencies of volatile species gold and silver along with refractory species aluminum oxide, cerium oxide, and yttrium oxide. Aerosols were generated with electrical mobility diameters ranging from 100 to 1000 nm. In general, it was observed that refractory species had lower aerosol detection efficiencies than volatile species, and there were strong dependencies on particle size and plasma torch residence time. Volatile species showed a distinct transition point at which aerosol detection efficiency began decreasing with increasing particle size. This critical diameter indicated the largest particle size for which complete particle detection should be expected and agreed with theories published in other works. Aerosol detection efficiencies also displayed power law dependencies on particle size. Aerosol detection efficiencies ranged from 10- 5 to 10- 11. Free molecular heat and mass transfer theory was applied, but

  13. Aerosol detection efficiency in inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry

    DOE PAGES

    Hubbard, Joshua A.; Zigmond, Joseph A.

    2016-03-02

    We used an electrostatic size classification technique to segregate particles of known composition prior to being injected into an inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer (ICP-MS). Moreover, we counted size-segregated particles with a condensation nuclei counter as well as sampled with an ICP-MS. By injecting particles of known size, composition, and aerosol concentration into the ICP-MS, efficiencies of the order of magnitude aerosol detection were calculated, and the particle size dependencies for volatile and refractory species were quantified. Similar to laser ablation ICP-MS, aerosol detection efficiency was defined as the rate at which atoms were detected in the ICP-MS normalized bymore » the rate at which atoms were injected in the form of particles. This method adds valuable insight into the development of technologies like laser ablation ICP-MS where aerosol particles (of relatively unknown size and gas concentration) are generated during ablation and then transported into the plasma of an ICP-MS. In this study, we characterized aerosol detection efficiencies of volatile species gold and silver along with refractory species aluminum oxide, cerium oxide, and yttrium oxide. Aerosols were generated with electrical mobility diameters ranging from 100 to 1000 nm. In general, it was observed that refractory species had lower aerosol detection efficiencies than volatile species, and there were strong dependencies on particle size and plasma torch residence time. Volatile species showed a distinct transition point at which aerosol detection efficiency began decreasing with increasing particle size. This critical diameter indicated the largest particle size for which complete particle detection should be expected and agreed with theories published in other works. Aerosol detection efficiencies also displayed power law dependencies on particle size. Aerosol detection efficiencies ranged from 10 -5 to 10 -11. Free molecular heat and mass transfer theory was

  14. Direct and semidirect aerosol effects of southern African biomass burning aerosol

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sakaeda, Naoko; Wood, Robert; Rasch, Philip J.

    2011-06-01

    Direct and semidirect radiative effects of biomass burning aerosols from southern African fires during July-October are investigated using 20 year runs of the Community Atmospheric Model (CAM) coupled to a slab ocean model. Aerosol optical depth is constrained using observations in clear skies from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and for aerosol layers above clouds from Cloud Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation (CALIPSO). Over the ocean, where the aerosol layers are primarily located above cloud, negative top of atmosphere (TOA) semidirect radiative effects associated with increased low cloud cover dominate over a weaker positive all-sky direct radiative effect (DRE). In contrast, over the land where the aerosols are often below or within cloud layers, reductions in cloud liquid water path (LWP) lead to a positive semidirect radiative effect that dominates over a near-zero DRE. Over the ocean, the cloud response can be understood as a response to increased lower tropospheric stability (LTS) which is caused both by radiative heating in overlying layers and surface cooling in response to direct aerosol forcing. The marine cloud changes are robust to changes in the cloud parameterization (removal of the hard-wired dependence of clouds on LTS), suggesting that they are physically realistic. Over land, decreased LWP is consistent with weaker convection driven by increased static stability. Over the entire region the overall TOA radiative effect from the biomass burning aerosols is almost zero due to opposing effects over the land and ocean. However, the surface forcing is strongly negative, which leads to a reduction in precipitation and also a reduction in sensible heat flux. The former is primarily realized through reductions in convective precipitation on both the southern and northern flanks of the convective precipitation region spanning the equatorial rain forest and the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) in the

  15. Climate response of the South Asian monsoon system to anthropogenic aerosols

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Ganguly, Dilip; Rasch, Philip J.; Wang, Hailong

    2012-07-13

    The equilibrium climate response to the total effects (direct, indirect and semi-direct effects) of aerosols arising from anthropogenic and biomass burning emissions on the South Asian summer monsoon system is studied using a coupled atmosphere-slab ocean model. Our results suggest that anthropogenic and biomass burning aerosols generally induce a reduction in mean summer monsoon precipitation over most parts of the Indian subcontinent, strongest along the western coastline of the Indian peninsula and eastern Nepal region, but modest increases also occur over the north western part of the subcontinent. While most of the noted reduction in precipitation is triggered by increasedmore » emissions of aerosols from anthropogenic activities, modest increases in the north west are mostly associated with decreases in local emissions of aerosols from forest fire and grass fire sources. Anthropogenic aerosols from outside Asia also contribute to the overall reduction in precipitation but the dominant contribution comes from aerosol sources within Asia. Local emissions play a more important role in the total rainfall response to anthropogenic aerosol sources during the early monsoon period, whereas both local as well as remote emissions of aerosols play almost equally important roles during the later part of the monsoon period. While precipitation responses are primarily driven by local aerosol forcing, regional surface temperature changes over the region are strongly influenced by anthropogenic aerosols from sources further away (non-local changes). Changes in local anthropogenic organic and black carbon emissions by as much as a factor of two (preserving their ratio) produce the same basic signatures in the model's summer monsoon temperature and precipitation responses.« less

  16. Solid aerosol generator

    DOEpatents

    Prescott, Donald S.; Schober, Robert K.; Beller, John

    1992-01-01

    An improved solid aerosol generator used to produce a gas borne stream of dry, solid particles of predetermined size and concentration. The improved solid aerosol generator nebulizes a feed solution of known concentration with a flow of preheated gas and dries the resultant wet heated aerosol in a grounded, conical heating chamber, achieving high recovery and flow rates.

  17. Aerosol distribution apparatus

    DOEpatents

    Hanson, W.D.

    An apparatus for uniformly distributing an aerosol to a plurality of filters mounted in a plenum, wherein the aerosol and air are forced through a manifold system by means of a jet pump and released into the plenum through orifices in the manifold. The apparatus allows for the simultaneous aerosol-testing of all the filters in the plenum.

  18. simplified aerosol representations in global modeling

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kinne, Stefan; Peters, Karsten; Stevens, Bjorn; Rast, Sebastian; Schutgens, Nick; Stier, Philip

    2015-04-01

    The detailed treatment of aerosol in global modeling is complex and time-consuming. Thus simplified approaches are investigated, which prescribe 4D (space and time) distributions of aerosol optical properties and of aerosol microphysical properties. Aerosol optical properties are required to assess aerosol direct radiative effects and aerosol microphysical properties (in terms of their ability as aerosol nuclei to modify cloud droplet concentrations) are needed to address the indirect aerosol impact on cloud properties. Following the simplifying concept of the monthly gridded (1x1 lat/lon) aerosol climatology (MAC), new approaches are presented and evaluated against more detailed methods, including comparisons to detailed simulations with complex aerosol component modules.

  19. Impacts of aerosol direct effects on tropospheric ozone through changes in atmospheric dynamics and photolysis rates

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Xing, Jia; Wang, Jiandong; Mathur, Rohit; Wang, Shuxiao; Sarwar, Golam; Pleim, Jonathan; Hogrefe, Christian; Zhang, Yuqiang; Jiang, Jingkun; Wong, David C.; Hao, Jiming

    2017-08-01

    Aerosol direct effects (ADEs), i.e., scattering and absorption of incoming solar radiation, reduce radiation reaching the ground and the resultant photolysis attenuation can decrease ozone (O3) formation in polluted areas. One the other hand, evidence also suggests that ADE-associated cooling suppresses atmospheric ventilation, thereby enhancing surface-level O3. Assessment of ADE impacts is thus important for understanding emission reduction strategies that seek co-benefits associated with reductions in both particulate matter and O3 levels. This study quantifies the impacts of ADEs on tropospheric ozone by using a two-way online coupled meteorology and atmospheric chemistry model, WRF-CMAQ, using a process analysis methodology. Two manifestations of ADE impacts on O3 including changes in atmospheric dynamicsDynamics) and changes in photolysis rates (ΔPhotolysis) were assessed separately through multiple scenario simulations for January and July of 2013 over China. Results suggest that ADEs reduced surface daily maxima 1 h O3 (DM1O3) in China by up to 39 µg m-3 through the combination of ΔDynamics and ΔPhotolysis in January but enhanced surface DM1O3 by up to 4 µg m-3 in July. Increased O3 in July is largely attributed to ΔDynamics, which causes a weaker O3 sink of dry deposition and a stronger O3 source of photochemistry due to the stabilization of the atmosphere. Meanwhile, surface OH is also enhanced at noon in July, though its daytime average values are reduced in January. An increased OH chain length and a shift towards more volatile organic compound (VOC)-limited conditions are found due to ADEs in both January and July. This study suggests that reducing ADEs may have the potential risk of increasing O3 in winter, but it will benefit the reduction in maxima O3 in summer.

  20. Immersion Freezing of Total Ambient Aerosols and Ice Residuals

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Kulkarni, Gourihar

    This laboratory study reports pre-activation measurements of the size-selected un-activated ambient or total aerosols at the temperature range from -26 to -34°C using two continuous-flow diffusion chamber style ice nucleation chambers. Two different experiments (A and B) were performed in immersion freezing mode. In experiment A, frozen fraction of total aerosol was measured, whereas in experiment B frozen fraction of ice residuals (IR) obtained through sublimation of nucleated ice crystals was measured. Frozen fractions at respective temperatures from experiment B were observed to be higher than A, and therefore it was concluded that ambient particles show pre-activation phenomenon. Furthermore, single-particlemore » elemental composition analyses of the total aerosols showed that majority of the particles are dust particles coated by organic matter. In general, this study suggests that such internally mixed complex total aerosols are efficient ice nucleating particles (INPs) and motivates further research to examine the physio-chemical properties of IR particles to explain the phenomenon of pre-activation.« less

  1. CFD modeling and image analysis of exhaled aerosols due to a growing bronchial tumor: Towards non-invasive diagnosis and treatment of respiratory obstructive diseases

    DOE PAGES

    Xi, Jinxiang; Kim, JongWon; Si, Xiuhua A.; ...

    2015-01-01

    Diagnosis and prognosis of tumorigenesis are generally performed with CT, PET, or biopsy. Such methods are accurate, but have the limitations of high cost and posing additional health risks to patients. In this study, we introduce an alternative computer aided diagnostic tool that can locate malignant sites caused by tumorigenesis in a non-invasive and low-cost way. Our hypothesis is that exhaled aerosol distribution is unique to lung structure and is sensitive to airway structure variations. With appropriate approaches, it is possible to locate the disease site, determine the disease severity, and subsequently formulate a targeted drug delivery plan to treatmore » the disease. This study numerically evaluated the feasibility of the proposed breath test in an image-based lung model with varying pathological stages of a bronchial squamous tumor. Large eddy simulations and a Lagrangian tracking approach were used to model respiratory airflows and aerosol dynamics. Respirations of tracer aerosols of 1 μm at a flow rate of 20 L/min were simulated, with the distributions of exhaled aerosols recorded on a filter at the mouth exit. Aerosol patterns were quantified with multiple analytical techniques such as concentration disparity, spatial scanning and fractal analysis. We demonstrated that a growing bronchial tumor induced notable variations in both the airflow and exhaled aerosol distribution. These variations became more apparent with increasing tumor severity. The exhaled aerosols exhibited distinctive pattern parameters such as spatial probability, fractal dimension, and multifractal spectrum. Results of this study show that morphometric measures of the exhaled aerosol pattern can be used to detect and monitor the pathological states of respiratory diseases in the upper airway. The proposed breath test also has the potential to locate the site of the disease, which is critical in developing a personalized, site-specific drug delivery protocol.« less

  2. CFD modeling and image analysis of exhaled aerosols due to a growing bronchial tumor: Towards non-invasive diagnosis and treatment of respiratory obstructive diseases

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Xi, Jinxiang; Kim, JongWon; Si, Xiuhua A.

    Diagnosis and prognosis of tumorigenesis are generally performed with CT, PET, or biopsy. Such methods are accurate, but have the limitations of high cost and posing additional health risks to patients. In this study, we introduce an alternative computer aided diagnostic tool that can locate malignant sites caused by tumorigenesis in a non-invasive and low-cost way. Our hypothesis is that exhaled aerosol distribution is unique to lung structure and is sensitive to airway structure variations. With appropriate approaches, it is possible to locate the disease site, determine the disease severity, and subsequently formulate a targeted drug delivery plan to treatmore » the disease. This study numerically evaluated the feasibility of the proposed breath test in an image-based lung model with varying pathological stages of a bronchial squamous tumor. Large eddy simulations and a Lagrangian tracking approach were used to model respiratory airflows and aerosol dynamics. Respirations of tracer aerosols of 1 μm at a flow rate of 20 L/min were simulated, with the distributions of exhaled aerosols recorded on a filter at the mouth exit. Aerosol patterns were quantified with multiple analytical techniques such as concentration disparity, spatial scanning and fractal analysis. We demonstrated that a growing bronchial tumor induced notable variations in both the airflow and exhaled aerosol distribution. These variations became more apparent with increasing tumor severity. The exhaled aerosols exhibited distinctive pattern parameters such as spatial probability, fractal dimension, and multifractal spectrum. Results of this study show that morphometric measures of the exhaled aerosol pattern can be used to detect and monitor the pathological states of respiratory diseases in the upper airway. The proposed breath test also has the potential to locate the site of the disease, which is critical in developing a personalized, site-specific drug delivery protocol.« less

  3. CFD Modeling and Image Analysis of Exhaled Aerosols due to a Growing Bronchial Tumor: towards Non-Invasive Diagnosis and Treatment of Respiratory Obstructive Diseases

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Xi, Jinxiang; Kim, JongWon; Si, Xiuhua A.

    Diagnosis and prognosis of tumorigenesis are generally performed with CT, PET, or biopsy. Such methods are accurate, but have the limitations of high cost and posing additional health risks to patients. In this study, we introduce an alternative computer aided diagnostic tool that can locate malignant sites caused by tumorigenesis in a non-invasive and low-cost way. Our hypothesis is that exhaled aerosol distribution is unique to lung structure and is sensitive to airway structure vari-ations. With appropriate approaches, it is possible to locate the disease site, determine the disease severity, and subsequently formulate a targeted drug delivery plan to treatmore » the disease. This study numerically evaluated the feasibility of the proposed breath test in an image-based lung model with varying pathological stages of a bronchial squamous tumor. Large eddy simulations and a Lagran-gian tracking approach were used to model respiratory airflows and aerosol dynamics. Respira-tions of tracer aerosols of 1 µm at a flow rate of 20 L/min were simulated, with the distributions of exhaled aerosols recorded on a filter at the mouth exit. Aerosol patterns were quantified with multiple analytical techniques such as concentration disparity, spatial scanning and fractal analysis. We demonstrated that a growing bronchial tumor induced notable variations in both the airflow and exhaled aerosol distribution. These variations became more apparent with increasing tumor severity. The exhaled aerosols exhibited distinctive pattern parameters such as spatial probability, fractal dimension, and multifractal spectrum. Results of this study show that morphometric measures of the exhaled aerosol pattern can be used to detect and monitor the pathological states of respiratory diseases in the upper airway. The proposed breath test also has the potential to locate the site of the disease, which is critical in developing a personalized, site-specific drug de-livery protocol.« less

  4. CFD Modeling and Image Analysis of Exhaled Aerosols due to a Growing Bronchial Tumor: towards Non-Invasive Diagnosis and Treatment of Respiratory Obstructive Diseases

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Xi, Jinxiang; Kim, JongWon; Si, Xiuhua A.

    Diagnosis and prognosis of tumorigenesis are generally performed with CT, PET, or biopsy. Such methods are accurate, but have the limitations of high cost and posing additional health risks to patients. In this study, we introduce an alternative computer aided diagnostic tool that can locate malignant sites caused by tumorigenesis in a non-invasive and low-cost way. Our hypothesis is that exhaled aerosol distribution is unique to lung structure and is sensitive to airway structure variations. With appropriate approaches, it is possible to locate the disease site, determine the disease severity, and subsequently formulate a targeted drug delivery plan to treatmore » the disease. This study numerically evaluated the feasibility of the proposed breath test in an image-based lung model with varying pathological stages of a bronchial squamous tumor. Large eddy simulations and a Lagrangian tracking approach were used to model respiratory airflows and aerosol dynamics. Respirations of tracer aerosols of 1 µm at a flow rate of 20 L/min were simulated, with the distributions of exhaled aerosols recorded on a filter at the mouth exit. Aerosol patterns were quantified with multiple analytical techniques such as concentration disparity, spatial scanning and fractal analysis. We demonstrated that a growing bronchial tumor induced notable variations in both the airflow and exhaled aerosol distribution. These variations became more apparent with increasing tumor severity. The exhaled aerosols exhibited distinctive pattern parameters such as spatial probability, fractal dimension, and multifractal spectrum. Results of this study show that morphometric measures of the exhaled aerosol pattern can be used to detect and monitor the pathological states of respiratory diseases in the upper airway. The proposed breath test also has the potential to locate the site of the disease, which is critical in developing a personalized, site-specific drug de- livery protocol.« less

  5. Generating monodisperse pharmacological aerosols using the spinning-top aerosol generator.

    PubMed

    Biddiscombe, Martyn F; Barnes, Peter J; Usmani, Omar S

    2006-01-01

    Pharmacological aerosols of precisely controlled particle size and narrow dispersity can be generated using the spinning-top aerosol generator (STAG). The ability of the STAG to generate monodisperse aerosols from solutions of raw drug compounds makes it a valuable research instrument. In this paper, the versatility of this instrument has been further demonstrated by aerosolizing a range of commercially available nebulized pulmonary therapy preparations. Nebules of Flixotide (fluticasone propionate), Pulmicort (budesonide), Combivent (salbutamol sulphate and ipratropium bromide), Bricanyl (terbutaline sulphate), Atrovent(ipratropium bromide), and Salamol (salbutamol sulphate) were each mixed with ethanol and delivered to the STAG. Monodisperse drug aerosol distributions were generated with MMADs of 0.95-6.7 microm. To achieve larger particle sizes from the nebulizer drug suspensions, the STAG formed compound particle agglomerates derived from the smaller insoluble drug particles. These compound agglomerates behaved aerodynamically as a single particle, and this was verified using an aerodynamic particle sizer and an Andersen Cascade Impactor. Scanning electron microscope images demonstrated their physical structure. On the other hand using the nebulizer drug solutions, spherical particles proportional to the original droplet diameter were generated. The aerosols generated by the STAG can allow investigators to study the scientific principles of inhaled drug deposition and lung physiology for a range of therapeutic agents.

  6. Aerosol Index Dynamics over Athens and Beijing

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Christodoulakis, J.; Varotsos, C.; Tzanis, C.; Xue, Y.

    2014-11-01

    We present the analysis of monthly mean Aerosol Index (AI) values, over Athens, Greece, and Beijing, China, for the period 1979-2012. The aim of the analysis is the identification of time scaling in the AI time series, by using a data analysis technique that would not be affected by the non-stationarity of the data. The appropriate technique satisfying this criterion is the Detrended Fluctuation Analysis (DF A). For the deseasonalization of time series classic Wiener method was applied filtering out the seasonal - 3 months, semiannual - 6 months and annual - 12 months periods. The data analysis for both Athens and Beijing revealed that the exponents α for both time periods are greater than 0.5 indicating that persistence of the correlations in the fluctuations of the deseasonalized AI values exists for time scales between about 4 months and 3.5 years (for the period 1979-1993) or 4 years (for the period 1996-2012).

  7. Aerosol Index Dynamics over Athens and Beijing

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Christodoulakis, J.; Varotsos, C.; Tzanis, C.; Xue, Y.

    2014-11-01

    We present the analysis of monthly mean Aerosol Index (AI) values, over Athens, Greece, and Beijing, China, for the period 1979- 2012. The aim of the analysis is the identification of time scaling in the AI time series, by using a data analysis technique that would not be affected by the non-stationarity of the data. The appropriate technique satisfying this criterion is the Detrended Fluctuation Analysis (DFA). For the deseasonalization of time series classic Wiener method was applied filtering out the seasonal - 3 months, semiannual - 6 months and annual - 12 months periods. The data analysis for both Athens and Beijing revealed that the exponents α for both time periods are greater than 0.5 indicating that persistence of the correlations in the fluctuations of the deseasonalized AI values exists for time scales between about 4 months and 3.5 years (for the period 1979-1993) or 4 years (for the period 1996-2012).

  8. A Monte-Carlo Analysis of Organic Aerosol Volatility with Aerosol Microphysics

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Gao, C. Y.; Tsigaridis, K.; Bauer, S. E.

    2016-12-01

    A newly developed box model scheme, MATRIX-VBS, includes the volatility-basis set (VBS) framework in an aerosol microphysical scheme MATRIX (Multiconfiguration Aerosol TRacker of mIXing state), which resolves aerosol mass and number concentrations and aerosol mixing state. The new scheme advanced the representation of organic aerosols in Earth system models by improving the traditional and simplistic treatment of organic aerosols as non-volatile and with a fixed size distribution. Further development includes adding the condensation of organics on coarse mode aerosols - dust and sea salt, thus making all organics in the system semi-volatile. To test and simplify the model, a Monte-Carlo analysis is performed to pin point which processes affect organics the most under which chemical and meteorological conditions. Since the model's parameterizations have the ability to capture a very wide range of conditions, from very clean to very polluted and for a wide range of meteorological conditions, all possible scenarios on Earth across the whole parameter space, including temperature, location, emissions and oxidant levels, are examined. The Monte-Carlo simulations provide quantitative information on the sensitivity of the newly developed model and help us understand how organics are affecting the size distribution, mixing state and volatility distribution at varying levels of meteorological conditions and pollution levels. In addition, these simulations give information on which parameters play a critical role in the aerosol distribution and evolution in the atmosphere and which do not, that will facilitate the simplification of the box model, an important step in its implementation in the global model.

  9. Solid aerosol generator

    DOEpatents

    Prescott, D.S.; Schober, R.K.; Beller, J.

    1992-03-17

    An improved solid aerosol generator used to produce a gas borne stream of dry, solid particles of predetermined size and concentration is disclosed. The improved solid aerosol generator nebulizes a feed solution of known concentration with a flow of preheated gas and dries the resultant wet heated aerosol in a grounded, conical heating chamber, achieving high recovery and flow rates. 2 figs.

  10. The DACCIWA project: Dynamics-aerosol-chemistry-cloud interactions in West Africa

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Knippertz, Peter

    2017-04-01

    This contribution provides an overview of the EU-funded DACCIWA (Dynamics-Aerosol-Chemistry-Cloud Interactions in West Africa) project. DACCIWA consists of 16 European and African research organisations and has strong links to universities, weather services and government organisations across West Africa. The project runs from 2010 to 2018 and is built around a major international field campaign in 2016. A key motivation for DACCIWA is the expected tripling of anthropogenic emissions in southern West Africa (SWA) between 2000 and 2030, whose impacts on human health, ecosystems, food security and the regional climate are largely unknown. An integrated assessment of this problem, which is mostly due to massive economic and population growth and urbanization, is challenging due to (a) a superposition of regional effects with global climate change, (b) a strong dependence on the variable West African monsoon, (c) incomplete scientific understanding of interactions between emissions, clouds, radiation, precipitation and regional circulations, and (d) a lack of observations. DACCIWA combines measurements in the field in SWA with extensive modelling activities and work on satellite data. In particular during the main DACCIWA field campaign in June-July 2016 high-quality observations of emissions, atmospheric composition and meteorological parameters were sampled. The campaign involved three research aircraft, three ground-based supersites, enhanced radiosonde launches, and intensive measurements at urban sites in Abidjan and Cotonou. These data have already been quality-controlled and will be freely available to the research community through a database at http://baobab.sedoo.fr/DACCIWA/ after the end of the project. The resulting benchmark dataset is currently combined with a wide range of modelling and satellite-based research activities that will ultimately allow (a) an assessment of the roles of relevant physical, chemical and biological processes, (b) an improvement

  11. Antarctic aerosols - A review

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Shaw, Glenn E.

    1988-02-01

    Tropospheric aerosols with the diameter range of half a micron reside in the atmosphere for tens of days and teleconnect Antarctica with other regions by transport that reaches planetary scales of distances; thus, the aerosol on the Antarctic ice represents 'memory modules' of events that took place at regions separated from Antarctica by tens of thousands of kilometers. In terms of aerosol mass, the aerosol species include insoluble crustal products (less than 5 percent), transported sea-salt residues (highly variable but averaging about 10 percent), Ni-rich meteoric material, and anomalously enriched material with an unknown origin. Most (70-90 percent by mass) of the aerosol over the Antarctic ice shield, however, is the 'natural acid sulfate aerosol', apparently deriving from biological processes taking place in the surrounding oceans.

  12. Geo-Engineering Climate Change with Sulfate Aerosol

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Rasch, P. J.; Crutzen, P. J.

    2006-12-01

    We explore the impact of injecting a precursor of sulfate aerosols into the middle atmosphere where they would act to increase the planetary albedo and thus counter some of the effects of greenhouse gase forcing. We use an atmospheric general circulation model (CAM, the Community Atmosphere Model) coupled to a slab ocean model for this study. Only physical effects are examined, that is we ignore the biogeochemical and chemical implications of changes to greenhouse gases and aerosols, and do not explore the important ethical, legal, and moral issues that are associated with deliberate geo-engineering efforts. The simulations suggest that the sulfate aerosol produced from the SO2 source in the stratosphere is sufficient to counterbalance most of the warming associated with the greenhouse gas forcing. Surface temperatures return to within a few tenths of a degree(K) of present day levels. Sea ice and precipitation distributions are also much closer to their present day values. The polar region surface temperatures remain 1-3 degrees warm in the winter hemisphere than present day values. This study is very preliminary. Only a subset of the relevant effects have been explored. The effect of such an injection of aerosols on middle atmospheric chemistry, and the effect on cirrus clouds are obvious missing components that merit scrutiny. There are probably others that should be considered. The injection of such aerosols cannot help in ameliorating the effects of CO2 changes on ocean PH, or other effects on the biogeochemistry of the earth system.

  13. Characterization of urban aerosol using aerosol mass spectrometry and proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Cleveland, M. J.; Ziemba, L. D.; Griffin, R. J.; Dibb, J. E.; Anderson, C. H.; Lefer, B.; Rappenglück, B.

    2012-07-01

    Particulate matter was measured during August and September of 2006 in Houston as part of the Texas Air Quality Study II Radical and Aerosol Measurement Project. Aerosol size and composition were determined using an Aerodyne quadrupole aerosol mass spectrometer. Aerosol was dominated by sulfate (4.1 ± 2.6 μg m-3) and organic material (5.5 ± 4.0 μg m-3), with contributions of organic material from both primary (˜32%) and secondary (˜68%) sources. Secondary organic aerosol appears to be formed locally. In addition, 29 aerosol filter samples were analyzed using proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1H NMR) spectroscopy to determine relative concentrations of organic functional groups. Houston aerosols are less oxidized than those observed elsewhere, with smaller relative contributions of carbon-oxygen double bonds. These particles do not fit 1H NMR source apportionment fingerprints for identification of secondary, marine, and biomass burning organic aerosol, suggesting that a new fingerprint for highly urbanized and industrially influenced locations be established.

  14. A Global Modeling Study on Carbonaceous Aerosol Microphysical Characteristics and Radiative Effects

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Bauer, S. E.; Menon, S.; Koch, D.; Bond, T. C.; Tsigaridis, K.

    2010-01-01

    Recently, attention has been drawn towards black carbon aerosols as a short-term climate warming mitigation candidate. However the global and regional impacts of the direct, indirect and semi-direct aerosol effects are highly uncertain, due to the complex nature of aerosol evolution and the way that mixed, aged aerosols interact with clouds and radiation. A detailed aerosol microphysical scheme, MATRIX, embedded within the GISS climate model is used in this study to present a quantitative assessment of the impact of microphysical processes involving black carbon, such as emission size distributions and optical properties on aerosol cloud activation and radiative effects. Our best estimate for net direct and indirect aerosol radiative flux change between 1750 and 2000 is -0.56 W/m2. However, the direct and indirect aerosol effects are quite sensitive to the black and organic carbon size distribution and consequential mixing state. The net radiative flux change can vary between -0.32 to -0.75 W/m2 depending on these carbonaceous particle properties at emission. Taking into account internally mixed black carbon particles let us simulate correct aerosol absorption. Absorption of black carbon aerosols is amplified by sulfate and nitrate coatings and, even more strongly, by organic coatings. Black carbon mitigation scenarios generally showed reduced radiative fluxeswhen sources with a large proportion of black carbon, such as diesel, are reduced; however reducing sources with a larger organic carbon component as well, such as bio-fuels, does not necessarily lead to a reduction in positive radiative flux.

  15. A global modeling study on carbonaceous aerosol microphysical characteristics and radiative effects

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bauer, S. E.; Menon, S.; Koch, D.; Bond, T. C.; Tsigaridis, K.

    2010-08-01

    Recently, attention has been drawn towards black carbon aerosols as a short-term climate warming mitigation candidate. However the global and regional impacts of the direct, indirect and semi-direct aerosol effects are highly uncertain, due to the complex nature of aerosol evolution and the way that mixed, aged aerosols interact with clouds and radiation. A detailed aerosol microphysical scheme, MATRIX, embedded within the GISS climate model is used in this study to present a quantitative assessment of the impact of microphysical processes involving black carbon, such as emission size distributions and optical properties on aerosol cloud activation and radiative effects. Our best estimate for net direct and indirect aerosol radiative flux change between 1750 and 2000 is -0.56 W/m2. However, the direct and indirect aerosol effects are quite sensitive to the black and organic carbon size distribution and consequential mixing state. The net radiative flux change can vary between -0.32 to -0.75 W/m2 depending on these carbonaceous particle properties at emission. Taking into account internally mixed black carbon particles let us simulate correct aerosol absorption. Absorption of black carbon aerosols is amplified by sulfate and nitrate coatings and, even more strongly, by organic coatings. Black carbon mitigation scenarios generally showed reduced radiative fluxeswhen sources with a large proportion of black carbon, such as diesel, are reduced; however reducing sources with a larger organic carbon component as well, such as bio-fuels, does not necessarily lead to a reduction in positive radiative flux.

  16. XBAER-derived aerosol optical thickness from OLCI/Sentinel-3 observation

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mei, Linlu; Rozanov, Vladimir; Vountas, Marco; Burrows, John P.; Richter, Andreas

    2018-02-01

    A cloud identification algorithm used for cloud masking, which is based on the spatial variability of reflectances at the top of the atmosphere in visible wavelengths, has been developed for the retrieval of aerosol properties by MODIS. It is shown that the spatial pattern of cloud reflectance, as observed from space, is very different from that of aerosols. Clouds show a high spatial variability in the scale of a hundred metres to a few kilometres, whereas aerosols in general are homogeneous. The concept of spatial variability of reflectances at the top of the atmosphere is mainly applicable over the ocean, where the surface background is sufficiently homogeneous for the separation between aerosols and clouds. Aerosol retrievals require a sufficiently accurate cloud identification to be able to mask these ground scenes. However, a conservative mask will exclude strong aerosol episodes and a less conservative mask could introduce cloud contamination that biases the retrieved aerosol optical properties (e.g. aerosol optical depth and effective radii). A detailed study on the effect of cloud contamination on aerosol retrievals has been performed and parameters are established determining the threshold value for the MODIS aerosol cloud mask (3×3-STD) over the ocean. The 3×3-STD algorithm discussed in this paper is the operational cloud mask used for MODIS aerosol retrievals over the ocean.A prolonged pollution haze event occurred in the northeast part of China during the period 16-21 December 2016. To assess the impact of such events, the amounts and distribution of aerosol particles, formed in such events, need to be quantified. The newly launched Ocean Land Colour Instrument (OLCI) onboard Sentinel-3 is the successor of the MEdium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS). It provides measurements of the radiance and reflectance at the top of the atmosphere, which can be used to retrieve the aerosol optical thickness (AOT) from synoptic to global scales. In this

  17. Generalized Green's function molecular dynamics for canonical ensemble simulations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Coluci, V. R.; Dantas, S. O.; Tewary, V. K.

    2018-05-01

    The need of small integration time steps (˜1 fs) in conventional molecular dynamics simulations is an important issue that inhibits the study of physical, chemical, and biological systems in real timescales. Additionally, to simulate those systems in contact with a thermal bath, thermostating techniques are usually applied. In this work, we generalize the Green's function molecular dynamics technique to allow simulations within the canonical ensemble. By applying this technique to one-dimensional systems, we were able to correctly describe important thermodynamic properties such as the temperature fluctuations, the temperature distribution, and the velocity autocorrelation function. We show that the proposed technique also allows the use of time steps one order of magnitude larger than those typically used in conventional molecular dynamics simulations. We expect that this technique can be used in long-timescale molecular dynamics simulations.

  18. Atmospheric Teleconnection over Eurasia Induced by Aerosol Radiative Forcing During Boreal Spring

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Kim, Maeng-Ki; Lau, K. M.; Chin, Mian; Kim, Kyu-Myong; Sud, Y. C.; Walker, Greg K.

    2005-01-01

    The direct effects of aerosols on global and regional climate during boreal spring are investigated based on simulations using the NASA Global Modeling and Assimilation Office (GMAO) finite-volume general circulation model (fvGCM) with Microphyics of clouds in Relaxed Arakawa Schubert Scheme (McRAS). The aerosol loading are prescribed from three-dimensional monthly distribution of tropospheric aerosols viz., sulfate, black carbon, organic carbon, soil dust, and sea salt from output of the Goddard Ozone Chemistry Aerosol Radiation and Transport model (GOCART). The aerosol extinction coefficient, single scattering albedo, and asymmetric factor are computed as wavelength-dependent radiative forcing in the radiative transfer scheme of the fvGCM, and as a function of the aerosol loading and ambient relative humidity. We find that anomalous atmospheric heat sources induced by absorbing aerosols (dust and black carbon) excites a planetary scale teleconnection pattern in sea level pressure, temperature and geopotential height spanning North Africa through Eurasia to the North Pacific. Surface cooling due to direct effects of aerosols is found in the vicinity and downstream of the aerosol source regions, i.e., South Asia, East Asia, and northern and western Africa. Additionally, atmospheric heating is found in regions with large loading of dust (over Northern Africa, and Middle East), and black carbon (over South-East Asia). Paradoxically, the most pronounced feature in aerosol-induced surface temperature is an east-west dipole anomaly with strong cooling over the Caspian Sea, and warming over central and northeastern Asia, where aerosol concentration are low. Analyses of circulation anomalies show that the dipole anomaly is a part of an atmospheric teleconnection driven by atmospheric heating anomalies induced by absorbing aerosols in the source regions, but the influence was conveyed globally through barotropic energy dispersion and sustained by feedback processes

  19. Understanding hygroscopic growth and phase transformation of aerosols using single particle Raman spectroscopy in an electrodynamic balance.

    PubMed

    Lee, Alex K Y; Ling, T Y; Chan, Chak K

    2008-01-01

    Hygroscopic growth is one of the most fundamental properties of atmospheric aerosols. By absorbing or evaporating water, an aerosol particle changes its size, morphology, phase, chemical composition and reactivity and other parameters such as its refractive index. These changes affect the fate and the environmental impacts of atmospheric aerosols, including global climate change. The ElectroDynamic Balance (EDB) has been widely accepted as a unique tool for measuring hygroscopic properties and for investigating phase transformation of aerosols via single particle levitation. Coupled with Raman spectroscopy, an EDB/Raman system is a powerful tool that can be used to investigate both physical and chemical changes associated with the hygroscopic properties of individually levitated particles under controlled environments. In this paper, we report the use of an EDB/Raman system to investigate (1) contact ion pairs formation in supersaturated magnesium sulfate solutions; (2) phase transformation in ammonium nitrate/ammonium sulfate mixed particles; (3) hygroscopicity of organically coated inorganic aerosols; and (4) heterogeneous reactions altering the hygroscopicity of organic aerosols.

  20. Aerosol Radiative Forcing Derived From SeaWIFS - Retrieved Aerosol Optical Properties

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Chou, Mong-Dah; Chan, Pui-King; Wang, Menghua; Einaudi, Franco (Technical Monitor)

    2000-01-01

    To understand climatic implications of aerosols over global oceans, the aerosol optical properties retrieved from the Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor (SeaWiFS) are analyzed, and the effects of the aerosols on the Earth's radiation budgets (aerosol radiative forcing, ARF) are computed using a radiative transfer model. It is found that the distribution of the SeaWiFS-retrieved aerosol optical thickness is distinctively zonal. The maximum in the equatorial region coincides with the Intertropical Convergence Zone, and the maximum in the Southern Hemispheric high latitudes coincides with the region of prevailing westerlies. The minimum aerosol optical thickness is found in the subtropical high pressure regions, especially in the Southern Hemisphere. These zonal patterns clearly demonstrate the influence of atmospheric circulation on the oceanic aerosol distribution. Over global oceans, aerosols reduce the annual mean net downward solar flux by 5.4 W m-2 at the top of the atmosphere and by 6.1 W m-2 at the surface. The largest ARF is found in the tropical Atlantic, Arabian Sea, Bay of Bengal, the coastal regions of Southeast and East Asia, and the Southern Hemispheric high latitudes. During the period of the Indonesian big fires (September-December 1997), the cooling due to aerosols is greater than 15 W m-2 at the top of the atmosphere and greater than 30 W m(exp -1) at the surface in the vicinity of the maritime continents. The atmosphere receives extra solar radiation by greater than 15 W m(exp -1) over a large area. These large changes in radiative fluxes are expected to have enhanced the atmospheric stability, weakened the atmospheric circulation, and augmented the drought condition during that period. It would be very instructive to simulate the regional climatic. The model-calculated clear sky solar flux at the top of the atmosphere is compared with that derived from the Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES). The net downward solar flux of

  1. Connecting Water Quality With Air Quality Through Microbial Aerosols

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Dueker, M. Elias

    Aerosol production from surface waters results in the transfer of aquatic materials (including nutrients and bacteria) to air. These materials can then be transported by onshore winds to land, representing a biogeochemical connection between aquatic and terrestrial systems not normally considered. In urban waterfront environments, this transfer could result in emissions of pathogenic bacteria from contaminated waters. Despite the potential importance of this link, sources, near-shore deposition, identity and viability of microbial aerosols are largely uncharacterized. This dissertation focuses on the environmental and biological mechanisms that define this water-air connection, as a means to build our understanding of the biogeochemical, biogeographical, and public health implications of the transfer of surface water materials to the near-shore environment in both urban and non-urban environments. The effects of tidal height, wind speed and fog on coastal aerosols and microbial content were first quantified on a non-urban coast of Maine, USA. Culture-based, culture-independent, and molecular methods were used to simultaneously sample microbial aerosols while monitoring meteorological parameters. Aerosols at this site displayed clear marine influence and high concentrations of ecologically-relevant nutrients. Coarse aerosol concentrations significantly increased with tidal height, onshore wind speed, and fog presence. Tidal height and fog presence did not significantly influence total microbial aerosol concentrations, but did have a significant effect on culturable microbial aerosol fallout. Molecular analyses of the microbes settling out of near-shore aerosols provided further evidence of local ocean to terrestrial transport of microbes. Aerosol and surface ocean bacterial communities shared species and in general were dominated by organisms previously sampled in marine environments. Fog presence strengthened the microbial connection between water and land through

  2. Analyses of turbulent flow fields and aerosol dynamics of diesel engine exhaust inside two dilution sampling tunnels using the CTAG model.

    PubMed

    Wang, Yan Jason; Yang, Bo; Lipsky, Eric M; Robinson, Allen L; Zhang, K Max

    2013-01-15

    Experimental results from laboratory emission testing have indicated that particulate emission measurements are sensitive to the dilution process of exhaust using fabricated dilution systems. In this paper, we first categorize the dilution parameters into two groups: (1) aerodynamics (e.g., mixing types, mixing enhancers, dilution ratios, residence time); and (2) mixture properties (e.g., temperature, relative humidity, particle size distributions of both raw exhaust and dilution gas). Then we employ the Comprehensive Turbulent Aerosol Dynamics and Gas Chemistry (CTAG) model to investigate the effects of those parameters on a set of particulate emission measurements comparing two dilution tunnels, i.e., a T-mixing lab dilution tunnel and a portable field dilution tunnel with a type of coaxial mixing. The turbulent flow fields and aerosol dynamics of particles are simulated inside two dilution tunnels. Particle size distributions under various dilution conditions predicted by CTAG are evaluated against the experimental data. It is found that in the area adjacent to the injection of exhaust, turbulence plays a crucial role in mixing the exhaust with the dilution air, and the strength of nucleation dominates the level of particle number concentrations. Further downstream, nucleation terminates and the growth of particles by condensation and coagulation continues. Sensitivity studies reveal that a potential unifying parameter for aerodynamics, i.e., the dilution rate of exhaust, plays an important role in new particle formation. The T-mixing lab tunnel tends to favor the nucleation due to a larger dilution rate of the exhaust than the coaxial mixing field tunnel. Our study indicates that numerical simulation tools can be potentially utilized to develop strategies to reduce the uncertainties associated with dilution samplings of emission sources.

  3. Impacts of increasing the aerosol complexity in the Met Office global NWP model

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mulcahy, J. P.; Walters, D. N.; Bellouin, N.; Milton, S. F.

    2013-11-01

    Inclusion of the direct and indirect radiative effects of aerosols in high resolution global numerical weather prediction (NWP) models is being increasingly recognised as important for the improved accuracy of short-range weather forecasts. In this study the impacts of increasing the aerosol complexity in the global NWP configuration of the Met Office Unified Model (MetUM) are investigated. A hierarchy of aerosol representations are evaluated including three dimensional monthly mean speciated aerosol climatologies, fully prognostic aerosols modelled using the CLASSIC aerosol scheme and finally, initialised aerosols using assimilated aerosol fields from the GEMS project. The prognostic aerosol schemes are better able to predict the temporal and spatial variation of atmospheric aerosol optical depth, which is particularly important in cases of large sporadic aerosol events such as large dust storms or forest fires. Including the direct effect of aerosols improves model biases in outgoing longwave radiation over West Africa due to a better representation of dust. However, uncertainties in dust optical properties propogate to its direct effect and the subsequent model response. Inclusion of the indirect aerosol effects improves surface radiation biases at the North Slope of Alaska ARM site due to lower cloud amounts in high latitude clean air regions. This leads to improved temperature and height forecasts in this region. Impacts on the global mean model precipitation and large-scale circulation fields were found to be generally small in the short range forecasts. However, the indirect aerosol effect leads to a strengthening of the low level monsoon flow over the Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal and an increase in precipitation over Southeast Asia. Regional impacts on the African Easterly Jet (AEJ) are also presented with the large dust loading in the aerosol climatology enhancing of the heat low over West Africa and weakening the AEJ. This study highlights the importance

  4. Aerosol Meteorology of Maritime Continent for the 2012 7SEAS Southwest Monsoon Intensive Study - Part 2: Philippine Receptor Observations of Fine-Scale Aerosol Behavior

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Reid, Jeffrey S.; Lagrosas, Nofel D.; Jonsson, Haflidi H.; Reid, Elizabeth A.; Atwood, Samuel A.; Boyd, Thomas J.; Ghate, Virendra P.; Xian, Peng; Posselt, Derek J.; Simpas, James B.; hide

    2016-01-01

    The largest 7 Southeast Asian Studies (7SEAS) operations period within the Maritime Continent (MC) occurred in the August-September 2012 biomass burning season. Data included were observations aboard the MY Vasco, dispatched to the Palawan Archipelago and Sulu Sea of the Philippines for September 2012. At these locations, the Vasco observed MC smoke and pollution entering the southwest monsoon (SWM) monsoonal trough. Here we describe the research cruise findings and the finer-scale aerosol meteorology of this convectively active region. This 2012 cruise complemented a 2-week cruise in 2011 and was generally consistent with previous findings in terms of how smoke emission and transport related to monsoonal flows, tropical cyclones (TC), and the covariance between smoke transport events and the atmosphere's thermodynamic structure. Biomass burning plumes were usually mixed with significant amounts of anthropogenic pollution. Also key to aerosol behavior were squall lines and cold pools propagating across the South China Sea (SCS) and scavenging aerosol particles in their path. However, the 2012 cruise showed much higher modulation in aerosol frequency than its 2011 counterpart. Whereas in 2011 large synoptic-scale aerosol events transported high concentrations of smoke into the Philippines over days, in 2012 measured aerosol events exhibited a much shorter-term variation, sometimes only 312h. Strong monsoonal flow reversals were also experienced in 2012. Nucleation events in cleaner and polluted conditions, as well as in urban plumes, were observed. Perhaps most interestingly, several cases of squall lines preceding major aerosol events were observed, as opposed to 2011 observations where these lines largely scavenged aerosol particles from the marine boundary layer. Combined, these observations indicate pockets of high and low particle counts that are not uncommon in the region. These perturbations are difficult to observe by satellite and very difficult to model

  5. Probing functional groups at the gas-aerosol interface using heterogeneous titration reactions: a tool for predicting aerosol health effects?

    PubMed

    Setyan, Ari; Sauvain, Jean-Jacques; Guillemin, Michel; Riediker, Michael; Demirdjian, Benjamin; Rossi, Michel J

    2010-12-17

    The complex chemical and physical nature of combustion and secondary organic aerosols (SOAs) in general precludes the complete characterization of both bulk and interfacial components. The bulk composition reveals the history of the growth process and therefore the source region, whereas the interface controls--to a large extent--the interaction with gases, biological membranes, and solid supports. We summarize the development of a soft interrogation technique, using heterogeneous chemistry, for the interfacial functional groups of selected probe gases [N(CH(3))(3), NH(2)OH, CF(3)COOH, HCl, O(3), NO(2)] of different reactivity. The technique reveals the identity and density of surface functional groups. Examples include acidic and basic sites, olefinic and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) sites, and partially and completely oxidized surface sites. We report on the surface composition and oxidation states of laboratory-generated aerosols and of aerosols sampled in several bus depots. In the latter case, the biomarker 8-hydroxy-2'-deoxyguanosine, signaling oxidative stress caused by aerosol exposure, was isolated. The increase in biomarker levels over a working day is correlated with the surface density N(i)(O3) of olefinic and/or PAH sites obtained from O(3) uptakes as well as with the initial uptake coefficient, γ(0), of five probe gases used in the field. This correlation with γ(0) suggests the idea of competing pathways occurring at the interface of the aerosol particles between the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) responsible for oxidative stress and cellular antioxidants.

  6. Aerosol meteorology of Maritime Continent for the 2012 7SEAS southwest monsoon intensive study - Part 2: Philippine receptor observations of fine-scale aerosol behavior

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Reid, Jeffrey S.; Lagrosas, Nofel D.; Jonsson, Haflidi H.; Reid, Elizabeth A.; Atwood, Samuel A.; Boyd, Thomas J.; Ghate, Virendra P.; Xian, Peng; Posselt, Derek J.; Simpas, James B.; Uy, Sherdon N.; Zaiger, Kimo; Blake, Donald R.; Bucholtz, Anthony; Campbell, James R.; Chew, Boon Ning; Cliff, Steven S.; Holben, Brent N.; Holz, Robert E.; Hyer, Edward J.; Kreidenweis, Sonia M.; Kuciauskas, Arunas P.; Lolli, Simone; Oo, Min; Perry, Kevin D.; Salinas, Santo V.; Sessions, Walter R.; Smirnov, Alexander; Walker, Annette L.; Wang, Qing; Yu, Liya; Zhang, Jianglong; Zhao, Yongjing

    2016-11-01

    The largest 7 Southeast Asian Studies (7SEAS) operations period within the Maritime Continent (MC) occurred in the August-September 2012 biomass burning season. Data included were observations aboard the M/Y Vasco, dispatched to the Palawan Archipelago and Sulu Sea of the Philippines for September 2012. At these locations, the Vasco observed MC smoke and pollution entering the southwest monsoon (SWM) monsoonal trough. Here we describe the research cruise findings and the finer-scale aerosol meteorology of this convectively active region. This 2012 cruise complemented a 2-week cruise in 2011 and was generally consistent with previous findings in terms of how smoke emission and transport related to monsoonal flows, tropical cyclones (TC), and the covariance between smoke transport events and the atmosphere's thermodynamic structure. Biomass burning plumes were usually mixed with significant amounts of anthropogenic pollution. Also key to aerosol behavior were squall lines and cold pools propagating across the South China Sea (SCS) and scavenging aerosol particles in their path. However, the 2012 cruise showed much higher modulation in aerosol frequency than its 2011 counterpart. Whereas in 2011 large synoptic-scale aerosol events transported high concentrations of smoke into the Philippines over days, in 2012 measured aerosol events exhibited a much shorter-term variation, sometimes only 3-12 h. Strong monsoonal flow reversals were also experienced in 2012. Nucleation events in cleaner and polluted conditions, as well as in urban plumes, were observed. Perhaps most interestingly, several cases of squall lines preceding major aerosol events were observed, as opposed to 2011 observations where these lines largely scavenged aerosol particles from the marine boundary layer. Combined, these observations indicate pockets of high and low particle counts that are not uncommon in the region. These perturbations are difficult to observe by satellite and very difficult to model

  7. Complementary online aerosol mass spectrometry and offline FT-IR spectroscopy measurements: Prospects and challenges for the analysis of anthropogenic aerosol particle emissions

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Faber, Peter; Drewnick, Frank; Bierl, Reinhard; Borrmann, Stephan

    2017-10-01

    The aerosol mass spectrometer (AMS) is well established in investigating highly time-resolved dynamics of submicron aerosol chemical composition including organic aerosol (OA). However, interpretation of mass spectra on molecular level is limited due to strong fragmentation of organic substances and potential reactions inside the AMS ion chamber. Results from complementary filter-based FT-IR absorption measurements were used to explain features in high-resolution AMS mass spectra of different types of OA (e.g. cooking OA, cigarette smoking OA, wood burning OA). Using this approach some AMS fragment ions were validated in this study as appropriate and rather specific markers for a certain class of organic compounds for all particle types under investigation. These markers can therefore be used to get deeper insights in the chemical composition of OA based on AMS mass spectra in upcoming studies. However, the specificity of other fragment ions such as C2H4O2+ (m/z 60.02114) remains ambiguous. In such cases, complementary FT-IR measurements allow the interpretation of highly time-resolved AMS mass spectra at the level of molecular functional groups. Furthermore, this study discusses the challenges in reducing inorganic interferences (e.g. from water and ammonium salts) in FT-IR spectra of atmospheric aerosols to decrease spectral uncertainties for better comparisons and, thus, to get more robust results.

  8. Ice nucleation by soil dust compared to desert dust aerosols

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Moehler, O.; Steinke, I.; Ullrich, R.; Höhler, K.; Schiebel, T.; Hoose, C.; Funk, R.

    2015-12-01

    A minor fraction of atmospheric aerosol particles, so-called ice-nucleating particles (INPs), initiates the formation of the ice phase in tropospheric clouds and thereby markedly influences the Earth's weather and climate systems. Whether an aerosol particle acts as an INP depends on its size, morphology and chemical compositions. The INP fraction of certain aerosol types also strongly depends on the temperature and the relative humidity. Because both desert dust and soil dust aerosols typically comprise a variety of different particles, it is difficult to assess and predict their contribution to the atmospheric INP abundance. This requires both accurate modelling of the sources and atmospheric distribution of atmospheric dust components and detailed investigations of their ice nucleation activities. The latter can be achieved in laboratory experiments and parameterized for use in weather and climate models as a function of temperature and particle surface area, a parameter called ice-nucleation active site (INAS) density. Concerning ice nucleation activity studies, the soil dust is of particular interest because it contains a significant fraction of organics and biological components, both with the potential for contributing to the atmospheric INP abundance at relatively high temperatures compared to mineral components. First laboratory ice nucleation experiments with a few soil dust samples indicated their INP fraction to be comparable or slightly enhanced to that of desert dust. We have used the AIDA (Aerosol Interaction and Dynamics in the Atmosphere) cloud simulation chamber to study the immersion freezing ability of four different arable soil dusts, sampled in Germany, China and Argentina. For temperatures higher than about -20°C, we found the INP fraction of aerosols generated from these samples by a dry dispersion technique to be significantly higher compared to various desert dust aerosols also investigated in AIDA experiments. In this contribution, we

  9. Assessing the aerosol direct and first indirect effects using ACM/GCM simulation results

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Huang, H.; Gu, Y.; Xue, Y.; Lu, C. H.

    2016-12-01

    Atmospheric aerosols have been found to play an important role in global climate change but there are still large uncertainty in evaluating its role in the climate system. The aerosols generally affect global and regional climate through the scattering and the absorption of solar radiation (direct effect) and through their influences on cloud particle, number and sizes (first indirect effect). The indirect effect will further affects cloud water content, cloud top albedo and surface precipitations. In this study, we investigate the global climatic effect of aerosols using a coupled NCEP Global Forecast System (GFS) and a land surface model (SSiB2) The OPAC (Optical Properties of Aerosols and Clouds) database is used for aerosol effect. The OPAC data provides the optical properties (i.e., the extinction, scattering and absorption coefficient, single-scattering albedo, asymmetry factor and phase function) of ten types of aerosols under various relative humidity conditions for investigating the global direct and first indirect effects of dust aerosols. For indirect forcings due to liquid water, we follow the approach presented by Jiang et al (2011), in which a parameterization of cloud effective radius was calculated to describe its variance with convective strength and aerosol concentration. Since the oceans also play an important role on aerosol climatic effect, we also design a set of simulations using a coupled atmosphere/ocean model (CFS) to evaluate the sensitivity of aerosol effect with two-way atmosphere-ocean interactions.

  10. A microphysical pathway analysis to investigate aerosol effects on convective clouds

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Heikenfeld, Max; White, Bethan; Labbouz, Laurent; Stier, Philip

    2017-04-01

    The impact of aerosols on ice- and mixed-phase processes in convective clouds remains highly uncertain, which has strong implications for estimates of the role of aerosol-cloud interactions in the climate system. The wide range of interacting microphysical processes are still poorly understood and generally not resolved in global climate models. To understand and visualise these processes and to conduct a detailed pathway analysis, we have added diagnostic output of all individual process rates for number and mass mixing ratios to two commonly-used cloud microphysics schemes (Thompson and Morrison) in WRF. This allows us to investigate the response of individual processes to changes in aerosol conditions and the propagation of perturbations throughout the development of convective clouds. Aerosol effects on cloud microphysics could strongly depend on the representation of these interactions in the model. We use different model complexities with regard to aerosol-cloud interactions ranging from simulations with different levels of fixed cloud droplet number concentration (CDNC) as a proxy for aerosol, to prognostic CDNC with fixed modal aerosol distributions. Furthermore, we have implemented the HAM aerosol model in WRF-chem to also perform simulations with a fully interactive aerosol scheme. We employ a hierarchy of simulation types to understand the evolution of cloud microphysical perturbations in atmospheric convection. Idealised supercell simulations are chosen to present and test the analysis methods for a strongly confined and well-studied case. We then extend the analysis to large case study simulations of tropical convection over the Amazon rainforest. For both cases we apply our analyses to individually tracked convective cells. Our results show the impact of model uncertainties on the understanding of aerosol-convection interactions and have implications for improving process representation in models.

  11. Growth rates of fine aerosol particles at a site near Beijing in June 2013

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zhao, Chuanfeng; Li, Yanan; Zhang, Fang; Sun, Yele; Wang, Pucai

    2018-02-01

    Growth of fine aerosol particles is investigated during the Aerosol-CCN-Cloud Closure Experiment campaign in June 2013 at an urban site near Beijing. Analyses show a high frequency (˜ 50%) of fine aerosol particle growth events, and show that the growth rates range from 2.1 to 6.5 nm h-1 with a mean value of ˜ 5.1 nm h-1. A review of previous studies indicates that at least four mechanisms can affect the growth of fine aerosol particles: vapor condensation, intramodal coagulation, extramodal coagulation, and multi-phase chemical reaction. At the initial stage of fine aerosol particle growth, condensational growth usually plays a major role and coagulation efficiency generally increases with particle sizes. An overview of previous studies shows higher growth rates over megacity, urban and boreal forest regions than over rural and oceanic regions. This is most likely due to the higher condensational vapor, which can cause strong condensational growth of fine aerosol particles. Associated with these multiple factors of influence, there are large uncertainties for the aerosol particle growth rates, even at the same location.

  12. Dispersion of aerosol particles undergoing Brownian motion

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Alonso, Manuel; Endo, Yoshiyuki

    2001-12-01

    The variance of the position distribution for a Brownian particle is derived in the general case where the particle is suspended in a flowing medium and, at the same time, is acted upon by an external field of force. It is shown that, for uniform force and flow fields, the variance is equal to that for a free particle. When the force field is not uniform but depends on spatial location, the variance can be larger or smaller than that for a free particle depending on whether the average motion of the particles takes place toward, respectively, increasing or decreasing absolute values of the field strength. A few examples concerning aerosol particles are discussed, with especial attention paid to the mobility classification of charged aerosols by a non-uniform electric field. As a practical application of these ideas, a new design of particle-size electrostatic classifier differential mobility analyser (DMA) is proposed in which the aerosol particles migrate between the electrodes in a direction opposite to that for a conventional DMA, thereby improving the resolution power of the instrument.

  13. Three Dimensional Aerosol Climatology over India and the North Indian Ocean

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Adams, A.; Zhang, C.

    2013-12-01

    Numerical models are indispensable tools to study aerosol effects on climate, including both aerosol direct and indirect radiative effects and their role in precipitation. But, agreement among the models has not been achieved, and thus it is not possible to accurately and confidently attain estimates of aerosol effects on climate. The lack of reliable knowledge on global three-dimensional (3D) aerosol climatology has prevented us from assessing the degree to which the disagreement in their aerosol climatic effects may come from differences of aerosol vertical structures in their simulations. To that end, we created a six year, global 3D extinction coefficient dataset for each aerosol species identifiable by the Level 2, Version 3, 5 km Aerosol Profile product from Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP) onboard Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation (CALIPSO) as a tool to improve 3D model representations. Here we describe the 3D structure of aerosol in the Middle East, India, and the Northern Indian Ocean and some of the interesting dynamical features responsible for the vertical structure and external mixing of aerosol species. One interesting feature in the 3D structure during boreal summer is a well-defined EC core located 0 - 10°N, 40°E - 90°E (Somalia across the Indian subcontinent), centered at 3 km. This is controlled by a shallow meridional circulation about the core. Additionally, the Somali Low-Level Jet exists at this location, but is usually located below the core (~850 mb). Another interesting feature is a strong EC core located 0 - 15°N, 60°E - 90°E below 0.5 km. Polluted dust (external mixture of dust and smoke) and marine aerosol are collocated in this area with maximum AODs of ~0.5 and ~0.2 respectively. Due to the wind stress over ocean, collocation of aerosol species, altitude, and lack of transport pathway for polluted dust, it is possible that this is an example of aerosol misclassification by

  14. Properties of Arctic Aerosol Particles and Residuals of Warm Clouds: Cloud Activation Efficiency and the Aerosol Indirect Effect

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zelenyuk, A.; Imre, D. G.; Leaitch, R.; Ovchinnikov, M.; Liu, P.; Macdonald, A.; Strapp, W.; Ghan, S. J.; Earle, M. E.

    2012-12-01

    activation, limiting maximum droplet concentrations Nd = 525 ± 50 cm-3, which is lower than the 750 cm-3 limit found by Leaitch et al. (1986) for mid-latitude continental cloud that had generally larger updraft speeds than the clouds interrogated in Arctic. These findings are important for the aerosol indirect effect, in which increase in aerosol particle number concentrations is expected to result in increase in Nd and decrease in droplet size, leading to increased cloud albedo and potentially lifetimes. Our conclusions point to limited susceptibility to changes in ambient aerosol concentrations, providing simple explanation for the finding of weaker than expected indirect effect. In summary, the data presented here show that Nd increases as the cloud base particle number concentration increases; however, they also show a limit on Nd that is in the range of 500-600 cm-3.

  15. War Induced Aerosol Optical, Microphysical and Radiative Effects

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Munshi, Pavel; Tiwari, Shubhansh

    2017-01-01

    The effect of war on air pollution and climate is assessed in this communication. War today in respect of civil wars and armed conflict in the Middle East area is taken into consideration. Impacts of war are not only in loss of human life and property, but also in the environment. It is well known that war effects air pollution and in the long run contribute to anthropogenic climate change, but general studies on this subject are few because of the difficulties of observations involved. In the current scenario of the ongoing conflict in the Middle East regions, deductions in parameters of atmosphere are discussed. Aerosol Optical Depth, Aerosol loads, Black Carbon, Ozone,Dust, regional haze and many more are analyzed using various satellite data. Multi-model analysis is also studied to verify the analysis. Type segregation of aerosols, in-depth constraints to atmospheric chemistry, biological effects and particularly atmospheric physics in terms of radiative forcing, etc. are discussed. Undergraduate in Earth Sciences.

  16. Aerosol Sampling with Low Wind Sensitivity.

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kalatoor, Suresh

    Occupational exposure to airborne particles is generally evaluated by wearing a personal sampler that collects aerosol particles from the worker's breathing zone during the work cycle. The overall sampling efficiency of most currently available samplers is sensitive to wind velocity and direction. In addition, most samplers have internal losses due to gravitational settling, electrostatic interactions, and internal turbulence. A new sampling technique has been developed, theoretically and experimentally evaluated, and compared to existing techniques. The overall sampling efficiency of the protoype sampler was compared to that of a commonly used sampler, 25 mm closed-face cassette. Uranine was used as the challange aerosol with particle physical diameters 13.5, 20 and 30 mum. The wind velocity ranged from 100 to 300 cm s^ {-1}. It was found to have less internal losses and less dependence on wind velocity and direction. It also yielded better uniformity in the distribution of large particles on the filter surface, an advantage for several types of analysis. A new general equation for sharp-edged inlets was developed that predicts the sampling efficiency of sharp-edged (or thin-walled) inlets in most occupational environments that are weakly disturbed with air motions that cannot be strictly classified as calm-air or fast -moving air. Computational analysis was carried out using the new general equation and was applied to situations when the wind velocity vector is not steady, but fluctuates around predominant average values of its magnitude and orientation. Two sampling environments, horizontal aerosol flow (ambient atmosphere) and vertical aerosol flow (industrial stacks) have been considered. It was found, that even for small fluctuations in wind direction the sampling efficiency may be significantly less than that obtained for the mean wind direction. Time variations in wind magnitude at a fixed wind direction were found to affect the sampling efficiency to a

  17. Ozone and Aerosol Retrieval from Backscattered Ultraviolet Radiation

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Bhartia, Pawan K.

    2004-01-01

    In this presentation we will discuss the techniques to estimate total column ozone and aerosol absorption optical depth from the measurements of backscattered ultraviolet (buv) radiation. The total ozone algorithm has been used to create a unique record of the ozone layer, spanning more than 3 decades, from a series of instruments (BUV, SBUV, TOMS, SBUV/2) flown on NASA, NOAA, Japanese and Russian satellites. We will discuss how this algorithm can be considered a generalization of the well-known Dobson/Brewer technique that has been used to process data from ground-based instruments for many decades, and how it differs from the DOAS techniques that have been used to estimate vertical column densities of a host of trace gases from data collected by GOME and SCIAMACHY instruments. The BUV aerosol algorithm is most suitable for the detection of UV absorbing aerosols (smoke, desert dust, volcanic ash) and is the only technique that can detect aerosols embedded in clouds. This algorithm has been used to create a quarter century record of aerosol absorption optical depth using the BUV data collected by a series of TOMS instruments. We will also discuss how the data from the OM1 instrument launched on July 15,2004 will be combined with data from MODIS and CALIPSO lidar data to enhance the accuracy and information content of satellite-derived aerosol measurements. The OM1 and MODIS instruments are currently flying on EOS Aura and EOS Aqua satellites respectively, part of a constellation of satellites called the "A-train". The CALIPSO satellite is expected to join this constellation in mid 2005.

  18. Stratospheric aerosols and climatic change

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Toon, O. B.; Pollack, J. B.

    1978-01-01

    Stratospht1ic sulfuric acid particles scatter and absorb sunlight and they scatter, absorb and emit terrestrial thermal radiation. These interactions play a role in the earth's radiation balance and therefore affect climate. The stratospheric aerosols are perturbed by volcanic injection of SO2 and ash, by aircraft injection of SO2, by rocket exhaust of Al2O3 and by tropospheric mixing of particles and pollutant SO2 and COS. In order to assess the effects of these perturbations on climate, the effects of the aerosols on the radiation balance must be understood and in order to understand the radiation effects the properties of the aerosols must be known. The discussion covers the aerosols' effect on the radiation balance. It is shown that the aerosol size distribution controls whether the aerosols will tend to warm or cool the earth's surface. Calculations of aerosol properties, including size distribution, for various perturbation sources are carried out on the basis of an aerosol model. Calculations are also presented of the climatic impact of perturbed aerosols due to volcanic eruptions and Space Shuttle flights.

  19. Aerosols and their influence on radiation partitioning and savanna productivity in northern Australia

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Kanniah, K. D.; Beringer, J.; Tapper, N. J.

    2010-05-01

    We investigated the effect of aerosols and clouds on the Net Ecosystem Productivity (NEP) of savannas in northern Australia using aerosol optical depth, clouds and radiation data from the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) site in Darwin and carbon flux data measured from eddy covariance techniques from a site at Howard Springs, 35km southeast of Darwin. Generally we found that the concentration of aerosols in this region was relatively low than observed at other sites, therefore the proportion of diffuse radiation reaching the earths surface was only ~ 30%. As a result, we observed only a modest change in carbon uptakemore » under aerosol laden skies and there was no significant difference for dry season Radiation Use Efficiency (RUE) between clear sky, aerosols or thin clouds. On the other hand thick clouds in the wet season produce much more diffuse radiation than aerosols or thin clouds and therefore the initial canopy quantum efficiency was seen to increase 45 and 2.5 times more than under thin clouds and aerosols respectively. The normalized carbon uptake under thick clouds is 57% and 50% higher than under aerosols and thin clouds respectively even though the total irradiance received under thick clouds was reduced 59% and 50% than under aerosols and thin clouds respectively. However, reduction in total irradiance decreases the mean absolute carbon uptake as much as 22% under heavy cloud cover compared to thin clouds or aerosols. Thus, any increase in aerosol concentration or cloud cover that can enhance the diffuse component may have large impacts on productivity in this region.« less

  20. OH-initiated Aging of Biomass Burning Aerosol during FIREX

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lim, C. Y.; Hagan, D. H.; Cappa, C. D.; Kroll, J. H.; Coggon, M.; Koss, A.; Sekimoto, K.; De Gouw, J. A.; Warneke, C.

    2017-12-01

    Biomass burning emissions represent a major source of fine particulate matter to the atmosphere, and this source will likely become increasingly important in the future due to changes in the Earth's climate. Understanding the effects that increased fire emissions have on both air quality and climate requires understanding the composition of the particles emitted, since chemical and physical composition directly impact important particle properties such as absorptivity, toxicity, and cloud condensation nuclei activity. However, the composition of biomass burning particles in the atmosphere is dynamic, as the particles are subject to the condensation of low-volatility vapors and reaction with oxidants such as the hydroxyl radical (OH) during transport. Here we present a series of laboratory chamber experiments on the OH-initiated aging of biomass burning aerosol performed at the Fire Sciences Laboratory in Missoula, MT as part of the Fire Influences on Regional and Global Environments Experiment (FIREX) campaign. We describe the evolution of biomass burning aerosol produced from a variety of fuels operating the chamber in both particle-only and gas + particle mode, focusing on changes to the organic composition. In particle-only mode, gas-phase biomass burning emissions are removed before oxidation to focus on heterogeneous oxidation, while gas + particle mode includes both heterogeneous oxidation and condensation of oxidized volatile organic compounds onto the particles (secondary organic aerosol formation). Variability in fuels and burning conditions lead to differences in aerosol loading and secondary aerosol production, but in all cases aging results in a significant and rapid increases in the carbon oxidation state of the particles.

  1. Quantifying the risks of solid aerosol geoengineering: the role of fundamental material properties

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Dykema, J. A.; Keutsch, F. N.; Keith, D.

    2017-12-01

    Solid aerosols have been considered as an alternative to sulfate aerosols for solar geoengineering due to their optical and chemical properties, which lead to different and possibly more attractive risk profiles. Solid aerosols can achieve higher solar scattering efficiency due to their higher refractive index, and in some cases may also be less effective absorbers of thermal infrared radiation. The optical properties of solid aerosols are however sensitive functions of the detailed physical properties of solid materials in question. The relevant details include the exact crystalline structure of the aerosols, the physical size of the particles, and interactions with background stratospheric molecular and particulate constituents. In this work, we examine the impact of these detailed physical properties on the radiative properties of calcite (CaCO3) solid aerosols. We examine how crystal morphology, size, chemical reactions, and interaction with background stratospheric aerosol may alter the scattering and absorption properties of calcite aerosols for solar and thermal infrared radiation. For example, in small particles, crystal lattice vibrations associated with the particle surface may lead to substantially different infrared absorption properties than bulk materials. We examine the wavelength dependence of absorption by the particles, which may lead to altered patterns of stratospheric radiative heating and equilibrium temperatures. Such temperature changes can lead to dynamical changes, with consequences for both stratospheric composition and tropospheric climate. We identify important uncertainties in the current state of understanding, investigate risks associated with these uncertainties, and survey potential approaches to quantitatively improving our knowledge of the relevant material properties.

  2. Overview of ACE-Asia Spring 2001 Investigations on Aerosol Radiative Effects and Related Aerosol Properties

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Russell, Philip B.; Valero, F. P. J.; Flatau, P. J.; Bergin, M.; Holben, B.; Nakajima, T.; Pilewskie, P.; Bergstrom, R.; Hipskind, R. Stephen (Technical Monitor)

    2001-01-01

    A primary, ACE-Asia objective was to quantify the interactions between aerosols and radiation in the Asia-Pacific region. Toward this end, radiometric and related aerosol measurements were made from ocean, land, air and space platforms. Models that predict aerosol fields guided the measurements and are helping integrate and interpret results. Companion overview's survey these measurement and modeling components. Here we illustrate how these components were combined to determine aerosol radiative. impacts and their relation to aerosol properties. Because clouds can obscure or change aerosol direct radiative effects, aircraft and ship sorties to measure these effects depended on predicting and finding cloud-free areas and times with interesting aerosols present. Pre-experiment satellite cloud climatologies, pre-flight aerosol and cloud forecasts, and in-flight guidance from satellite imagery all helped achieve this. Assessments of aerosol regional radiative impacts benefit from the spatiotemporal coverage of satellites, provided satellite-retrieved aerosol properties are accurate. Therefore, ACE-Asia included satellite retrieval tests, as part of many comparisons to judge the consistency (closure) among, diverse measurements. Early results include: (1) Solar spectrally resolved and broadband irradiances and optical depth measurements from the C-130 aircraft and at Kosan, Korea yielded aerosol radiative forcing efficiencies, permitting comparisons between efficiencies of ACE-Asia and INDOEX aerosols, and between dust and "pollution" aerosols. Detailed results will be presented in separate papers. (2) Based on measurements of wavelength dependent aerosol optical depth (AOD) and single scattering albedo the estimated 24-h a average aerosol radiative forcing efficiency at the surface for photosynthetically active radiation (400 - 700 nm) in Yulin, China is approx. 30 W sq m per AOD(500 nm). (3) The R/V Brown cruise from Honolulu to Sea of Japan sampled an aerosol optical

  3. CATS Version 2 Aerosol Feature Detection and Applications for Data Assimilation

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Nowottnick, Ed; Yorks, John; McGill, Matt; Scott, Stan; Palm, Stephen; Hlavka, Dennis; Hart, William; Selmer, Patrick; Kupchock, Andrew; Pauly, Rebecca

    2017-01-01

    Using GEOS-5, we are developing a 1D ENS approach for assimilating CATS near real time observations of total attenuated backscatter at 1064 nm: a) After performing a 1-ENS assimilation of a cloud-free profile, the GEOS-5 analysis closely followed observed total attenuated backscatter. b) Vertical localization length scales were varied for the well-mixed PBL and the free troposphere After assimilating a cloud free segment of a CATS granule, the fine detail of a dust event was obtained in the GEOS-5 analysis for both total attenuated backscatter and extinction. Future Work: a) Explore horizontal localization and test within a cloudy aerosol layer. b) Address noisy analysis increments in the free troposphere where both CATS and GEOS-5 aerosol loadings are low. c) Develop a technique to screen CATS ground return from profiles. d) "Dynamic" lidar ratio that will evolve in conjunction with simulated aerosol mixtures.

  4. Effects of aerosol formulation to amino acids and fatty acids contents in Haruan extract.

    PubMed

    Febriyenti; Bai-Baie, Saringat Bin; Laila, Lia

    2012-01-01

    Haruan (Channa striatus) extract was formulated to aerosol for wound and burn treatment. Haruan extract is containing amino acids and fatty acids that important for wound healing process. The purpose of this study is to observe the effect of formulation and other excipients in the formula to amino acids and fatty acids content in Haruan extract before and after formulated into aerosol. Precolumn derivatization with 6-aminoquinolyl-N-hydroxysuccinimidyl carbamate (AQC) method is used for amino acids analysis. Fatty acids in Haruan extract were esterified using transesterification method to form FAMEs before analyzed using GC. Boron trifluoride-methanol reagent is used for transesterification. Tyrosine and methionine concentrations were different after formulated. The concentrations were decrease. There are six fatty acids have amount that significantly different after formulated into concentrate and aerosol. Contents of these fatty acids were increase. Generally, fatty acids which had content increased after formulated were the long-chain fatty acids. This might be happen because of chain extension process. Saponification and decarboxylation would give the chain extended product. Therefore contents of long-chain fatty acids were increase. Generally, the aerosol formulation did not affect the amino acids concentrations in Haruan extract while some long-chain fatty acids concentrations were increase after formulated into concentrate and aerosol.

  5. Exhaled Aerosol Pattern Discloses Lung Structural Abnormality: A Sensitivity Study Using Computational Modeling and Fractal Analysis

    PubMed Central

    Xi, Jinxiang; Si, Xiuhua A.; Kim, JongWon; Mckee, Edward; Lin, En-Bing

    2014-01-01

    Background Exhaled aerosol patterns, also called aerosol fingerprints, provide clues to the health of the lung and can be used to detect disease-modified airway structures. The key is how to decode the exhaled aerosol fingerprints and retrieve the lung structural information for a non-invasive identification of respiratory diseases. Objective and Methods In this study, a CFD-fractal analysis method was developed to quantify exhaled aerosol fingerprints and applied it to one benign and three malign conditions: a tracheal carina tumor, a bronchial tumor, and asthma. Respirations of tracer aerosols of 1 µm at a flow rate of 30 L/min were simulated, with exhaled distributions recorded at the mouth. Large eddy simulations and a Lagrangian tracking approach were used to simulate respiratory airflows and aerosol dynamics. Aerosol morphometric measures such as concentration disparity, spatial distributions, and fractal analysis were applied to distinguish various exhaled aerosol patterns. Findings Utilizing physiology-based modeling, we demonstrated substantial differences in exhaled aerosol distributions among normal and pathological airways, which were suggestive of the disease location and extent. With fractal analysis, we also demonstrated that exhaled aerosol patterns exhibited fractal behavior in both the entire image and selected regions of interest. Each exhaled aerosol fingerprint exhibited distinct pattern parameters such as spatial probability, fractal dimension, lacunarity, and multifractal spectrum. Furthermore, a correlation of the diseased location and exhaled aerosol spatial distribution was established for asthma. Conclusion Aerosol-fingerprint-based breath tests disclose clues about the site and severity of lung diseases and appear to be sensitive enough to be a practical tool for diagnosis and prognosis of respiratory diseases with structural abnormalities. PMID:25105680

  6. Ensembles of satellite aerosol retrievals based on three AATSR algorithms within aerosol_cci

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kosmale, Miriam; Popp, Thomas

    2016-04-01

    Ensemble techniques are widely used in the modelling community, combining different modelling results in order to reduce uncertainties. This approach could be also adapted to satellite measurements. Aerosol_cci is an ESA funded project, where most of the European aerosol retrieval groups work together. The different algorithms are homogenized as far as it makes sense, but remain essentially different. Datasets are compared with ground based measurements and between each other. Three AATSR algorithms (Swansea university aerosol retrieval, ADV aerosol retrieval by FMI and Oxford aerosol retrieval ORAC) provide within this project 17 year global aerosol records. Each of these algorithms provides also uncertainty information on pixel level. Within the presented work, an ensembles of the three AATSR algorithms is performed. The advantage over each single algorithm is the higher spatial coverage due to more measurement pixels per gridbox. A validation to ground based AERONET measurements shows still a good correlation of the ensemble, compared to the single algorithms. Annual mean maps show the global aerosol distribution, based on a combination of the three aerosol algorithms. In addition, pixel level uncertainties of each algorithm are used for weighting the contributions, in order to reduce the uncertainty of the ensemble. Results of different versions of the ensembles for aerosol optical depth will be presented and discussed. The results are validated against ground based AERONET measurements. A higher spatial coverage on daily basis allows better results in annual mean maps. The benefit of using pixel level uncertainties is analysed.

  7. Impacts of increasing the aerosol complexity in the Met Office global NWP model

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mulcahy, Jane; Walters, David; Bellouin, Nicolas; Milton, Sean

    2014-05-01

    Inclusion of the direct and indirect radiative effects of aerosols in high resolution global numerical weather prediction (NWP) models is being increasingly recognised as important for the improved accuracy of short-range weather forecasts. In this study the impacts of increasing the aerosol complexity in the global NWP configuration of the Met Office Unified Model (MetUM) are investigated. A hierarchy of aerosol representations are evaluated including three dimensional monthly mean speciated aerosol climatologies, fully prognostic aerosols modelled using the CLASSIC aerosol scheme and finally, initialised aerosols using assimilated aerosol fields from the GEMS project. The prognostic aerosol schemes are better able to predict the temporal and spatial variation of atmospheric aerosol optical depth, which is particularly important in cases of large sporadic aerosol events such as large dust storms or forest fires. Including the direct effect of aerosols improves model biases in outgoing longwave radiation over West Africa due to a better representation of dust. Inclusion of the indirect aerosol effects has significant impacts on the SW radiation particularly at high latitudes due to lower cloud amounts in high latitude clean air regions. This leads to improved surface radiation biases at the North Slope of Alaska ARM site. Verification of temperature and height forecasts is also improved in this region. Impacts on the global mean model precipitation and large-scale circulation fields were found to be generally small in the short range forecasts. However, the indirect aerosol effect leads to a strengthening of the low level monsoon flow over the Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal and an increase in precipitation over Southeast Asia. This study highlights the importance of including a more realistic treatment of aerosol-cloud interactions in global NWP models and the potential for improved global environmental prediction systems through the incorporation of more complex

  8. Operational remote sensing of tropospheric aerosol over land from EOS moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kaufman, Y. J.; Tanré, D.; Remer, L. A.; Vermote, E. F.; Chu, A.; Holben, B. N.

    1997-07-01

    Daily distribution of the aerosol optical thickness and columnar mass concentration will be derived over the continents, from the EOS moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS) using dark land targets. Dark land covers are mainly vegetated areas and dark soils observed in the red and blue channels; therefore the method will be limited to the moist parts of the continents (excluding water and ice cover). After the launch of MODIS the distribution of elevated aerosol concentrations, for example, biomass burning in the tropics or urban industrial aerosol in the midlatitudes, will be continuously monitored. The algorithm takes advantage of the MODIS wide spectral range and high spatial resolution and the strong spectral dependence of the aerosol opacity for most aerosol types that result in low optical thickness in the mid-IR (2.1 and 3.8 μm). The main steps of the algorithm are (1) identification of dark pixels in the mid-IR; (2) estimation of their reflectance at 0.47 and 0.66 μm; and (3) derivation of the optical thickness and mass concentration of the accumulation mode from the detected radiance. To differentiate between dust and aerosol dominated by accumulation mode particles, for example, smoke or sulfates, ratios of the aerosol path radiance at 0.47 and 0.66 μm are used. New dynamic aerosol models for biomass burning aerosol, dust and aerosol from industrial/urban origin, are used to determine the aerosol optical properties used in the algorithm. The error in the retrieved aerosol optical thicknesses, τa is expected to be Δτa = 0.05±0.2τa. Daily values are stored on a resolution of 10×10 pixels (1 km nadir resolution). Weighted and gridded 8-day and monthly composites of the optical thickness, the aerosol mass concentration and spectral radiative forcing are generated for selected scattering angles to increase the accuracy. The daily aerosol information over land and oceans [Tanré et al., this issue], combined with continuous aerosol remote

  9. Using OMI Observations to Measure Aerosol Absorption of Biomass Burning Aerosols Above Clouds

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Torres, Omar; Bhartia, P. K.; Jethva, Hiren

    2011-01-01

    The presence of absorbing aerosol layers above clouds is unambiguously detected by the TOMS/OMI UV Aerosol Index (AI) that uses satellite observations at two near-UV channels. A sensitivity study using radiative transfer calculations shows that the AI signal of resulting from the presence of aerosols above clouds is mainly driven by the aerosol absorption optical depth and the optical depth of the underlying cloud. Based on these results, an inversion algorithm has been developed to retrieve the aerosol optical depth (AOD) of aerosol layers above clouds. In this presentation we will discuss the sensitivity analysis, describe the retrieval approach, and present results of applications of the retrieval method to OMI observations over the South Atlantic Ocean. Preliminary error analyses, to be discussed, indicate that the AOD can be underestimated (up to -30%) or overestimated (up to 60%) depending on algorithmic assumptions.

  10. Evaluation of Aerosol-cloud Interaction in the GISS Model E Using ARM Observations

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    DeBoer, G.; Bauer, S. E.; Toto, T.; Menon, Surabi; Vogelmann, A. M.

    2013-01-01

    Observations from the US Department of Energy's Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) program are used to evaluate the ability of the NASA GISS ModelE global climate model in reproducing observed interactions between aerosols and clouds. Included in the evaluation are comparisons of basic meteorology and aerosol properties, droplet activation, effective radius parameterizations, and surface-based evaluations of aerosol-cloud interactions (ACI). Differences between the simulated and observed ACI are generally large, but these differences may result partially from vertical distribution of aerosol in the model, rather than the representation of physical processes governing the interactions between aerosols and clouds. Compared to the current observations, the ModelE often features elevated droplet concentrations for a given aerosol concentration, indicating that the activation parameterizations used may be too aggressive. Additionally, parameterizations for effective radius commonly used in models were tested using ARM observations, and there was no clear superior parameterization for the cases reviewed here. This lack of consensus is demonstrated to result in potentially large, statistically significant differences to surface radiative budgets, should one parameterization be chosen over another.

  11. Comparative Optical Measurements of Airspeed and Aerosols on a DC-8 Aircraft

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Bogue, Rodney; McGann, Rick; Wagener, Thomas; Abbiss, John; Smart, Anthony

    1997-01-01

    NASA Dryden supported a cooperative flight test program on the NASA DC-8 aircraft in November 1993. This program evaluated optical airspeed and aerosol measurement techniques. Three brassboard optical systems were tested. Two were laser Doppler systems designed to measure free-stream-referenced airspeed. The third system was designed to characterize the natural aerosol statistics and airspeed. These systems relied on optical backscatter from natural aerosols for operation. The DC-8 aircraft carried instrumentation that provided real-time flight situation information and reference data on the aerosol environment. This test is believed to be the first to include multiple optical airspeed systems on the same carrier aircraft, so performance could be directly compared. During 23 hr of flight, a broad range of atmospheric conditions was encountered, including aerosol-rich layers, visible clouds, and unusually clean (aerosol-poor) regions. Substantial amounts of data were obtained. Important insights regarding the use of laser-based systems of this type in an aircraft environment were gained. This paper describes the sensors used and flight operations conducted to support the experiments. The paper also briefly describes the general results of the experiments.

  12. Experimental Investigation of the Role of Ions in Aerosol Nucleation

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Pedersen, J. P.; Enghoff, M. B.; Bondo, T.; Johnson, M. S.; Paling, S.; Svensmark, H.

    2008-12-01

    The role of ions in producing aerosols in Earth's atmosphere is an area of very active research. Atmospheric (Clarke et al. 1998) and experimental (Berndt et al. 2005) observations have shown that the nucleation of aerosol particles can occur under conditions that cannot be explained by classical nucleation theory. Several ideas have been put forward to solve this nucleation problem, e.g. Ion-Induced Nucleation and Ternary Nucleation. Experimental investigations exploring the role of ions in particle production are scarce, and often at conditions far removed from those relevant for the lower part of the atmosphere (Bricard et al. 1968). Recent experimental work (Svensmark et al. 2007) demonstrated that ions, produced by cosmic rays in the atmosphere, are likely to play an important role in the production of new aerosol particles. The mechanism whereby energetic cosmic rays can promote the production of cloud condensation nuclei at low altitudes constitutes a link between cosmic rays and Earth's climate and there is thus a need to corroborate the results in a different experiment. The present results are obtained in the same laboratory, but using a new setup The experiments were conducted in a 50 L cylindrical reaction chamber made of electropolished stainless steel. Aerosols were grown using photochemically produced sulphuric acid and ionization levels were controlled with a Cs-137 gamma-source. An increase in nucleation was observed when the chamber was exposed to the radioactive source. The results were analyzed using a model based on the General Dynamic Equation and the analysis revealed that Ion Induced Nucleation is the most likely mechanism for the observed nucleation increases and thus confirm the previous results. Berndt, T, Böge, O., Stratmann, F., Heintzenberg, J. & Kulmala, M. (2005), Science, 307, 698--700 Bricard, J., Billard, F. & Madelaine, G. (1968), J. Geophys. Res. 73, 4487--4496 Clarke, A.D., Davis, D., Kapustin, V. N. Eisele, F. Chen, G. Paluch

  13. Marine Aerosols and Clouds.

    PubMed

    Brooks, Sarah D; Thornton, Daniel C O

    2018-01-03

    The role of marine bioaerosols in cloud formation and climate is currently so uncertain that even the sign of the climate forcing is unclear. Marine aerosols form through direct emissions and through the conversion of gas-phase emissions to aerosols in the atmosphere. The composition and size of aerosols determine how effective they are in catalyzing the formation of water droplets and ice crystals in clouds by acting as cloud condensation nuclei and ice nucleating particles, respectively. Marine organic aerosols may be sourced both from recent regional phytoplankton blooms that add labile organic matter to the surface ocean and from long-term global processes, such as the upwelling of old refractory dissolved organic matter from the deep ocean. Understanding the formation of marine aerosols and their propensity to catalyze cloud formation processes are challenges that must be addressed given the major uncertainties associated with aerosols in climate models.

  14. Influence of wildfires in the boreal forests of Eastern Siberia on atmospheric aerosol parameters

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Tomshin, Oleg A.; Solovyev, Vladimir S.

    2017-11-01

    The results of studies of the dynamics of forest fires in the boreal forests of Yakutia (Eastern Siberia) for 2001-2016 are presented. Variations of aerosol optical thickness (AOT), aerosol index (AI) and total carbon monoxide content during May-September were studied depending on the different forest fire activity level. It is shown that the seasonal variations of AOT, AI and CO in the most fire-dangerous years differ significantly from the fire seasons when forest fire activity was medium or low.

  15. Radiative Effects of Aerosols

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Valero, Francisco P. J.

    1996-01-01

    During the Atlantic Stratocumulus Transition Experiment (ASTEX) in June 1992, two descents in cloud-free regions allowed comparison of the change in aerosol optical depth as determined by an onboard total-direct-diffuse radiometer (TDDR) to the change calculated from measured size-resolved aerosol microphysics and chemistry. Both profiles included a pollution haze from Europe but the second also included the effect of a Saharan dust layer above the haze. The separate contributions of supermicrometer (coarse) and submicrometer (fine) aerosol were determined and thermal analysis of the pollution haze indicated that the fine aerosol was composed primarily of a sulfate/water mixture with a refractory soot-like core. The soot core increased the calculated extinction by about 10% in the most polluted drier layer relative to a pure sulfate aerosol but had significantly less effect at higher humidities. A 3 km descent through a boundary layer air mass dominated by pollutant aerosol with relative humidities (RH) 10-77% yielded a close agreement between the measured and calculated aerosol optical depths (550 nm) of 0.160 (+/- 0.07) and 0. 157 (+/- 0.034) respectively. During descent the aerosol mass scattering coefficient per unit sulfate mass varied from about 5 to 16 m(exp 2)/g and primarily dependent upon ambient RH. However, the total scattering coefficient per total fine mass was far less variable at about 4+/- 0.7 m(exp 2)/g. A subsequent descent through a Saharan dust layer located above the pollution aerosol layer revealed that both layers contributed similarly to aerosol optical depth. The scattering per unit mass of the coarse aged dust was estimated at 1.1 +/- 0.2 m(exp 2)/g. The large difference (50%) in measured and calculated optical depth for the dust layer exceeded measurements.

  16. Size Resolved Measurements of Springtime Aerosol Particles over the Northern South China Sea

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Atwood, Samuel A.; Reid, Jeffrey S.; Kreidenweis, Sonia M.; Cliff, Stephen S.; Zhao, Yongjing; Lin, Neng-Huei; Tsay, Si-Chee; Chu, Yu-Chi; Westphal, Douglas L.

    2012-01-01

    Large sources of aerosol particles and their precursors are ubiquitous in East Asia. Such sources are known to impact the South China Sea (henceforth SCS), a sometimes heavily polluted region that has been suggested as particularly vulnerable to climate change. To help elucidate springtime aerosol transport into the SCS, an intensive study was performed on the remote Dongsha (aka Pratas) Islands Atoll in spring 2010. As part of this deployment, a Davis Rotating-drum Uniform size-cut Monitor (DRUM) cascade impactor was deployed to collect size-resolved aerosol samples at the surface that were analyzed by X-ray fluorescence for concentrations of selected elements. HYSPLIT backtrajectories indicated that the transport of aerosol observed at the surface at Dongsha was occurring primarily from regions generally to the north and east. This observation was consistent with the apparent persistence of pollution and dust aerosol, along with sea salt, in the ground-based dataset. In contrast to the sea-level observations, modeled aerosol transport suggested that the westerly flow aloft (w700 hPa) transported smoke-laden air toward the site from regions from the south and west. Measured aerosol optical depth at the site was highest during time periods of modeled heavy smoke loadings aloft. These periods did not coincide with elevated aerosol concentrations at the surface, although the model suggested sporadic mixing of this free-tropospheric aerosol to the surface over the SCS. A biomass burning signature was not clearly identified in the surface aerosol composition data, consistent with this aerosol type remaining primarily aloft and not mixing strongly to the surface during the study. Significant vertical wind shear in the region also supports the idea that different source regions lead to varying aerosol impacts in different vertical layers, and suggests the potential for considerable vertical inhomogeneity in the SCS aerosol environment.

  17. Variability of aerosol vertical distribution in the Sahel

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Cavalieri, O.; Cairo, F.; Fierli, F.; di Donfrancesco, G.; Snels, M.; Viterbini, M.; Cardillo, F.; Chatenet, B.; Formenti, P.; Marticorena, B.; Rajot, J. L.

    2010-12-01

    In this work, we have studied the seasonal and inter-annual variability of the aerosol vertical distribution over Sahelian Africa for the years 2006, 2007 and 2008, characterizing the different kind of aerosols present in the atmosphere in terms of their optical properties observed by ground-based and satellite instruments, and their sources searched for by using trajectory analysis. This study combines data acquired by three ground-based micro lidar systems located in Banizoumbou (Niger), Cinzana (Mali) and M'Bour (Senegal) in the framework of the African Monsoon Multidisciplinary Analysis (AMMA), by the AEROsol RObotic NETwork (AERONET) sun-photometers and by the space-based Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP) onboard the CALIPSO satellite (Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Observations). During winter, the lower levels air masses arriving in the Sahelian region come mainly from North, North-West and from the Atlantic area, while in the upper troposphere air flow generally originates from West Africa, crossing a region characterized by the presence of large biomass burning sources. The sites of Cinzana, Banizoumbou and M'Bour, along a transect of aerosol transport from East to West, are in fact under the influence of tropical biomass burning aerosol emission during the dry season, as revealed by the seasonal pattern of the aerosol optical properties, and by back-trajectory studies. Aerosol produced by biomass burning are observed mainly during the dry season and are confined in the upper layers of the atmosphere. This is particularly evident for 2006, which was characterized by a large presence of biomass burning aerosols in all the three sites. Biomass burning aerosol is also observed during spring when air masses originating from North and East Africa pass over sparse biomass burning sources, and during summer when biomass burning aerosol is transported from the southern part of the continent by the monsoon flow. During summer

  18. Multidecadal trends in aerosol radiative forcing over the Arctic: Contribution of changes in anthropogenic aerosol to Arctic warming since 1980

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Breider, Thomas J.; Mickley, Loretta J.; Jacob, Daniel J.; Ge, Cui; Wang, Jun; Payer Sulprizio, Melissa; Croft, Betty; Ridley, David A.; McConnell, Joseph R.; Sharma, Sangeeta; Husain, Liaquat; Dutkiewicz, Vincent A.; Eleftheriadis, Konstantinos; Skov, Henrik; Hopke, Phillip K.

    2017-03-01

    Arctic observations show large decreases in the concentrations of sulfate and black carbon (BC) aerosols since the early 1980s. These near-term climate-forcing pollutants perturb the radiative balance of the atmosphere and may have played an important role in recent Arctic warming. We use the GEOS-Chem global chemical transport model to construct a 3-D representation of Arctic aerosols that is generally consistent with observations and their trends from 1980 to 2010. Observations at Arctic surface sites show significant decreases in sulfate and BC mass concentrations of 2-3% per year. We find that anthropogenic aerosols yield a negative forcing over the Arctic, with an average 2005-2010 Arctic shortwave radiative forcing (RF) of -0.19 ± 0.05 W m-2 at the top of atmosphere (TOA). Anthropogenic sulfate in our study yields more strongly negative forcings over the Arctic troposphere in spring (-1.17 ± 0.10 W m-2) than previously reported. From 1980 to 2010, TOA negative RF by Arctic aerosol declined, from -0.67 ± 0.06 W m-2 to -0.19 ± 0.05 W m-2, yielding a net TOA RF of +0.48 ± 0.06 W m-2. The net positive RF is due almost entirely to decreases in anthropogenic sulfate loading over the Arctic. We estimate that 1980-2010 trends in aerosol-radiation interactions over the Arctic and Northern Hemisphere midlatitudes have contributed a net warming at the Arctic surface of +0.27 ± 0.04 K, roughly one quarter of the observed warming. Our study does not consider BC emissions from gas flaring nor the regional climate response to aerosol-cloud interactions or BC deposition on snow.

  19. Generalized reconfigurable memristive dynamical system (MDS) for neuromorphic applications.

    PubMed

    Bavandpour, Mohammad; Soleimani, Hamid; Linares-Barranco, Bernabé; Abbott, Derek; Chua, Leon O

    2015-01-01

    This study firstly presents (i) a novel general cellular mapping scheme for two dimensional neuromorphic dynamical systems such as bio-inspired neuron models, and (ii) an efficient mixed analog-digital circuit, which can be conveniently implemented on a hybrid memristor-crossbar/CMOS platform, for hardware implementation of the scheme. This approach employs 4n memristors and no switch for implementing an n-cell system in comparison with 2n (2) memristors and 2n switches of a Cellular Memristive Dynamical System (CMDS). Moreover, this approach allows for dynamical variables with both analog and one-hot digital values opening a wide range of choices for interconnections and networking schemes. Dynamical response analyses show that this circuit exhibits various responses based on the underlying bifurcation scenarios which determine the main characteristics of the neuromorphic dynamical systems. Due to high programmability of the circuit, it can be applied to a variety of learning systems, real-time applications, and analytically indescribable dynamical systems. We simulate the FitzHugh-Nagumo (FHN), Adaptive Exponential (AdEx) integrate and fire, and Izhikevich neuron models on our platform, and investigate the dynamical behaviors of these circuits as case studies. Moreover, error analysis shows that our approach is suitably accurate. We also develop a simple hardware prototype for experimental demonstration of our approach.

  20. Aerosol Absorption and Radiative Forcing

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Stier, Philip; Seinfeld, J. H.; Kinne, Stefan; Boucher, Olivier

    2007-01-01

    We present a comprehensive examination of aerosol absorption with a focus on evaluating the sensitivity of the global distribution of aerosol absorption to key uncertainties in the process representation. For this purpose we extended the comprehensive aerosol-climate model ECHAM5-HAM by effective medium approximations for the calculation of aerosol effective refractive indices, updated black carbon refractive indices, new cloud radiative properties considering the effect of aerosol inclusions, as well as by modules for the calculation of long-wave aerosol radiative properties and instantaneous aerosol forcing. The evaluation of the simulated aerosol absorption optical depth with the AERONET sun-photometer network shows a good agreement in the large scale global patterns. On a regional basis it becomes evident that the update of the BC refractive indices to Bond and Bergstrom (2006) significantly improves the previous underestimation of the aerosol absorption optical depth. In the global annual-mean, absorption acts to reduce the shortwave anthropogenic aerosol top-of-atmosphere (TOA) radiative forcing clear-sky from -0.79 to -0.53 W m(sup -2) (33%) and all-sky from -0.47 to -0.13W m(sup -2 (72%). Our results confirm that basic assumptions about the BC refractive index play a key role for aerosol absorption and radiative forcing. The effect of the usage of more accurate effective medium approximations is comparably small. We demonstrate that the diversity in the AeroCom land-surface albedo fields contributes to the uncertainty in the simulated anthropogenic aerosol radiative forcings: the usage of an upper versus lower bound of the AeroCom land albedos introduces a global annual-mean TOA forcing range of 0.19W m(sup -2) (36%) clear-sky and of 0.12W m(sup -2) (92%) all-sky. The consideration of black carbon inclusions on cloud radiative properties results in a small global annual-mean all-sky absorption of 0.05W m(sup -2) and a positive TOA forcing perturbation of 0