Articles | Volume 21, issue 13
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-10671-2021
© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-10671-2021
© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
14 Jul 2021
Research article |
| 14 Jul 2021
| 14 Jul 2021
Airborne and ground-based measurements of aerosol optical depth of freshly emitted anthropogenic plumes in the Athabasca Oil Sands Region
Konstantin Baibakov
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Flight Research Laboratory, National Research Council Canada, Ottawa, Canada
now at: Canadian Space Agency, Saint-Hubert, Canada
Samuel LeBlanc
Bay Area Environmental Research Institute, Moffett Field, CA, USA
NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA, USA
Keyvan Ranjbar
Dépt. de géomatique appliquée, Centre d’Applications et de Recherches en Télédétection, Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, QC, Canada
Norman T. O'Neill
Dépt. de géomatique appliquée, Centre d’Applications et de Recherches en Télédétection, Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, QC, Canada
Mengistu Wolde
Flight Research Laboratory, National Research Council Canada, Ottawa, Canada
Jens Redemann
School of Meteorology, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK, USA
Kristina Pistone
Bay Area Environmental Research Institute, Moffett Field, CA, USA
NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA, USA
Shao-Meng Li
Air Quality Process Research Section, Environment and Climate Change Canada, Toronto, ON, Canada
College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Peking University, Beijing, 100871 China
John Liggio
Air Quality Process Research Section, Environment and Climate Change Canada, Toronto, ON, Canada
Katherine Hayden
Air Quality Process Research Section, Environment and Climate Change Canada, Toronto, ON, Canada
Tak W. Chan
Climate Chemistry Measurement and Research, Climate Research Division, Environment and Climate Change Canada, ON, Canada
Michael J. Wheeler
Air Quality Process Research Section, Environment and Climate Change Canada, Toronto, ON, Canada
Leonid Nichman
Flight Research Laboratory, National Research Council Canada, Ottawa, Canada
Connor Flynn
School of Meteorology, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK, USA
Roy Johnson
NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA, USA
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The starphotometers' complex infrastructure prohibits calibration campaigns. On-site calibration procedures appear as the only practical solution. A multi-star approach overcomes site-specific sky transparency stability problems. Star selection strategies were proposed for mitigating some sources of errors. Data processing strategies and instrument design improvements appear necessary.
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Seyed Ali Sayedain, Norman T. O'Neill, James King, Patrick L. Hayes, Daniel Bellamy, Richard Washington, Sebastian Engelstaedter, Andy Vicente-Luis, Jill Bachelder, and Malo Bernhard
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We used (columnar) ground-based remote sensing (RS) tools and surface measurements to characterize local (drainage-basin) dust plumes at a site in the Yukon. Plume height, particle size, and column-to-surface ratios enabled insights into how satellite RS could be used to analyze Arctic-wide dust transport. This helps modelers refine dust impacts in their climate change simulations. It is an important step since local dust is a key source of dust deposition on snow in the sensitive Arctic region.
Taomou Zong, Zhijun Wu, Junrui Wang, Kai Bi, Wenxu Fang, Yanrong Yang, Xuena Yu, Zhier Bao, Xiangxinyue Meng, Yuheng Zhang, Song Guo, Yang Chen, Chunshan Liu, Yue Zhang, Shao-Meng Li, and Min Hu
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 3679–3692, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-3679-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-3679-2023, 2023
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This study developed and characterized an indoor chamber system (AIR) to simulate atmospheric multiphase chemistry processes. The AIR chamber can accurately control temperature and relative humidity (RH) over a broad range and simulate diurnal variation of ambient atmospheric RH. The aerosol generation unit can generate organic-coating seed particles with different phase states. The AIR chamber demonstrates high-quality performance in simulating secondary aerosol formation.
Amie Dobracki, Paquita Zuidema, Steven G. Howell, Pablo Saide, Steffen Freitag, Allison C. Aiken, Sharon P. Burton, Arthur J. Sedlacek III, Jens Redemann, and Robert Wood
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 4775–4799, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-4775-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-4775-2023, 2023
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Southern Africa produces approximately one-third of the world’s carbon from fires. The thick smoke layer can flow westward, interacting with the southeastern Atlantic cloud deck. The net radiative impact can alter regional circulation patterns, impacting rainfall over Africa. We find that the smoke is highly absorbing of sunlight, mostly because it contains more black carbon than smoke over the Northern Hemisphere.
Emily D. Lenhardt, Lan Gao, Jens Redemann, Feng Xu, Sharon P. Burton, Brian Cairns, Ian Chang, Richard A. Ferrare, Chris A. Hostetler, Pablo E. Saide, Calvin Howes, Yohei Shinozuka, Snorre Stamnes, Mary Kacarab, Amie Dobracki, Jenny Wong, Steffen Freitag, and Athanasios Nenes
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 2037–2054, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-2037-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-2037-2023, 2023
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Small atmospheric particles, such as smoke from wildfires or pollutants from human activities, impact cloud properties, and clouds have a strong influence on climate. To better understand the distributions of these particles, we develop relationships to derive their concentrations from remote sensing measurements from an instrument called a lidar. Our method is reliable for smoke particles, and similar steps can be taken to develop relationships for other particle types.
Ian Chang, Lan Gao, Connor J. Flynn, Yohei Shinozuka, Sarah J. Doherty, Michael S. Diamond, Karla M. Longo, Gonzalo A. Ferrada, Gregory R. Carmichael, Patricia Castellanos, Arlindo M. da Silva, Pablo E. Saide, Calvin Howes, Zhixin Xue, Marc Mallet, Ravi Govindaraju, Qiaoqiao Wang, Yafang Cheng, Yan Feng, Sharon P. Burton, Richard A. Ferrare, Samuel E. LeBlanc, Meloë S. Kacenelenbogen, Kristina Pistone, Michal Segal-Rozenhaimer, Kerry G. Meyer, Ju-Mee Ryoo, Leonhard Pfister, Adeyemi A. Adebiyi, Robert Wood, Paquita Zuidema, Sundar A. Christopher, and Jens Redemann
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 4283–4309, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-4283-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-4283-2023, 2023
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Abundant aerosols are present above low-level liquid clouds over the southeastern Atlantic during late austral spring. The model simulation differences in the proportion of aerosol residing in the planetary boundary layer and in the free troposphere can greatly affect the regional aerosol radiative effects. This study examines the aerosol loading and fractional aerosol loading in the free troposphere among various models and evaluates them against measurements from the NASA ORACLES campaign.
Francesca Gallo, Janek Uin, Kevin J. Sanchez, Richard H. Moore, Jian Wang, Robert Wood, Fan Mei, Connor Flynn, Stephen Springston, Eduardo B. Azevedo, Chongai Kuang, and Allison C. Aiken
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 4221–4246, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-4221-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-4221-2023, 2023
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This study provides a summary statistic of multiday aerosol plume transport event influences on aerosol physical properties and the cloud condensation nuclei budget at the U.S. Department of Energy Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Facility in the eastern North Atlantic (ENA). An algorithm that integrates aerosol properties is developed and applied to identify multiday aerosol transport events. The influence of the aerosol plumes on aerosol populations at the ENA is successively assessed.
Ruhi S. Humphries, Melita D. Keywood, Jason P. Ward, James Harnwell, Simon P. Alexander, Andrew R. Klekociuk, Keiichiro Hara, Ian M. McRobert, Alain Protat, Joel Alroe, Luke T. Cravigan, Branka Miljevic, Zoran D. Ristovski, Robyn Schofield, Stephen R. Wilson, Connor J. Flynn, Gourihar R. Kulkarni, Gerald G. Mace, Greg M. McFarquhar, Scott D. Chambers, Alastair G. Williams, and Alan D. Griffiths
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 3749–3777, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-3749-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-3749-2023, 2023
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Observations of aerosols in pristine regions are rare but are vital to constraining the natural baseline from which climate simulations are calculated. Here we present recent seasonal observations of aerosols from the Southern Ocean and contrast them with measurements from Antarctica, Australia and regionally relevant voyages. Strong seasonal cycles persist, but striking differences occur at different latitudes. This study highlights the need for more long-term observations in remote regions.
Norman T. O'Neill, Keyvan Ranjbar, Liviu Ivănescu, Thomas F. Eck, Jeffrey S. Reid, David M. Giles, Daniel Pérez-Ramírez, and Jai Prakash Chaubey
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 1103–1120, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-1103-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-1103-2023, 2023
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Aerosols are atmospheric particles that vary in size (radius) from a fraction of a micrometer (µm) to around 20 µm. They tend to be either smaller than 1 µm (like smoke or pollution) or larger than 1 µm (like dust or sea salt). Their optical effect (scattering and absorbing sunlight) can be divided into FM (fine-mode) and CM (coarse-mode) parts using a cutoff radius around 1 µm or a spectral (color) technique. We present and validate a theoretical link between the types of FM and CM divisions.
Matthew Boyer, Diego Aliaga, Jakob Boyd Pernov, Hélène Angot, Lauriane L. J. Quéléver, Lubna Dada, Benjamin Heutte, Manuel Dall'Osto, David C. S. Beddows, Zoé Brasseur, Ivo Beck, Silvia Bucci, Marina Duetsch, Andreas Stohl, Tiia Laurila, Eija Asmi, Andreas Massling, Daniel Charles Thomas, Jakob Klenø Nøjgaard, Tak Chan, Sangeeta Sharma, Peter Tunved, Radovan Krejci, Hans Christen Hansson, Federico Bianchi, Katrianne Lehtipalo, Alfred Wiedensohler, Kay Weinhold, Markku Kulmala, Tuukka Petäjä, Mikko Sipilä, Julia Schmale, and Tuija Jokinen
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 389–415, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-389-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-389-2023, 2023
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The Arctic is a unique environment that is warming faster than other locations on Earth. We evaluate measurements of aerosol particles, which can influence climate, over the central Arctic Ocean for a full year and compare the data to land-based measurement stations across the Arctic. Our measurements show that the central Arctic has similarities to but also distinct differences from the stations further south. We note that this may change as the Arctic warms and sea ice continues to decline.
Ju-Mee Ryoo, Leonhard Pfister, Rei Ueyama, Paquita Zuidema, Robert Wood, Ian Chang, and Jens Redemann
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 14209–14241, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-14209-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-14209-2022, 2022
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The variability in the meteorological fields during each deployment is highly modulated at a daily to synoptic timescale. This paper, along with part 1, the climatological overview paper, provides a meteorological context for interpreting the airborne measurements gathered during the three ORACLES deployments. This study supports related studies focusing on the detailed investigation of the processes controlling stratocumulus decks, aerosol lifting, transport, and their interactions.
Sergey Y. Matrosov, Alexei Korolev, Mengistu Wolde, and Cuong Nguyen
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 6373–6386, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-6373-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-6373-2022, 2022
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A remote sensing method to retrieve sizes of particles in ice clouds and precipitation from radar measurements at two wavelengths is described. This method is based on relating the particle size information to the ratio of radar signals at these two wavelengths. It is demonstrated that this ratio is informative about different characteristic particle sizes. Knowing atmospheric ice particle sizes is important for many applications such as precipitation estimation and climate modeling.
Paul A. Barrett, Steven J. Abel, Hugh Coe, Ian Crawford, Amie Dobracki, James Haywood, Steve Howell, Anthony Jones, Justin Langridge, Greg M. McFarquhar, Graeme J. Nott, Hannah Price, Jens Redemann, Yohei Shinozuka, Kate Szpek, Jonathan W. Taylor, Robert Wood, Huihui Wu, Paquita Zuidema, Stéphane Bauguitte, Ryan Bennett, Keith Bower, Hong Chen, Sabrina Cochrane, Michael Cotterell, Nicholas Davies, David Delene, Connor Flynn, Andrew Freedman, Steffen Freitag, Siddhant Gupta, David Noone, Timothy B. Onasch, James Podolske, Michael R. Poellot, Sebastian Schmidt, Stephen Springston, Arthur J. Sedlacek III, Jamie Trembath, Alan Vance, Maria A. Zawadowicz, and Jianhao Zhang
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 6329–6371, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-6329-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-6329-2022, 2022
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To better understand weather and climate, it is vital to go into the field and collect observations. Often measurements take place in isolation, but here we compared data from two aircraft and one ground-based site. This was done in order to understand how well measurements made on one platform compared to those made on another. Whilst this is easy to do in a controlled laboratory setting, it is more challenging in the real world, and so these comparisons are as valuable as they are rare.
Broghan M. Erland, Cristen Adams, Andrea Darlington, Mackenzie L. Smith, Andrew K. Thorpe, Gregory R. Wentworth, Steve Conley, John Liggio, Shao-Meng Li, Charles E. Miller, and John A. Gamon
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 5841–5859, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-5841-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-5841-2022, 2022
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Accurately estimating greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is essential to reaching net-zero goals to combat the climate crisis. Airborne box-flights are ideal for assessing regional GHG emissions, as they can attain small error. We compare two box-flight algorithms and found they produce similar results, but daily variability must be considered when deriving emissions inventories. Increasing the consistency and agreement between airborne methods moves us closer to achieving more accurate estimates.
Alexei Korolev, Paul J. DeMott, Ivan Heckman, Mengistu Wolde, Earle Williams, David J. Smalley, and Michael F. Donovan
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 13103–13113, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-13103-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-13103-2022, 2022
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The present study provides the first explicit in situ observation of secondary ice production at temperatures as low as −27 °C, which is well outside the range of the Hallett–Mossop process (−3 to −8 °C). This observation expands our knowledge of the temperature range of initiation of secondary ice in clouds. The obtained results are intended to stimulate laboratory and theoretical studies to develop physically based parameterizations for weather prediction and climate models.
Siddhant Gupta, Greg M. McFarquhar, Joseph R. O'Brien, Michael R. Poellot, David J. Delene, Ian Chang, Lan Gao, Feng Xu, and Jens Redemann
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 12923–12943, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-12923-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-12923-2022, 2022
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The ability of NASA’s Terra and Aqua satellites to retrieve cloud properties and estimate the changes in cloud properties due to aerosol–cloud interactions (ACI) was examined. There was good agreement between satellite retrievals and in situ measurements over the southeast Atlantic Ocean. This suggests that, combined with information on aerosol properties, satellite retrievals of cloud properties can be used to study ACI over larger domains and longer timescales in the absence of in situ data.
Katherine L. Hayden, Shao-Meng Li, John Liggio, Michael J. Wheeler, Jeremy J. B. Wentzell, Amy Leithead, Peter Brickell, Richard L. Mittermeier, Zachary Oldham, Cristian M. Mihele, Ralf M. Staebler, Samar G. Moussa, Andrea Darlington, Mengistu Wolde, Daniel Thompson, Jack Chen, Debora Griffin, Ellen Eckert, Jenna C. Ditto, Megan He, and Drew R. Gentner
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 12493–12523, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-12493-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-12493-2022, 2022
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In this study, airborne measurements provided the most detailed characterization, to date, of boreal forest wildfire emissions. Measurements showed a large diversity of air pollutants expanding the volatility range typically reported. A large portion of organic species was unidentified, likely comprised of complex organic compounds. Aircraft-derived emissions improve wildfire chemical speciation and can support reliable model predictions of pollution from boreal forest wildfires.
Zhipeng Qu, Alexei Korolev, Jason A. Milbrandt, Ivan Heckman, Yongjie Huang, Greg M. McFarquhar, Hugh Morrison, Mengistu Wolde, and Cuong Nguyen
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 12287–12310, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-12287-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-12287-2022, 2022
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Secondary ice production (SIP) is an important physical phenomenon that results in an increase in the cloud ice particle concentration and can have a significant impact on the evolution of clouds. Here, idealized simulations of a tropical convective system were conducted. Agreement between the simulations and observations highlights the impacts of SIP on the maintenance of tropical convection in nature and the importance of including the modelling of SIP in numerical weather prediction models.
Outi Meinander, Pavla Dagsson-Waldhauserova, Pavel Amosov, Elena Aseyeva, Cliff Atkins, Alexander Baklanov, Clarissa Baldo, Sarah L. Barr, Barbara Barzycka, Liane G. Benning, Bojan Cvetkovic, Polina Enchilik, Denis Frolov, Santiago Gassó, Konrad Kandler, Nikolay Kasimov, Jan Kavan, James King, Tatyana Koroleva, Viktoria Krupskaya, Markku Kulmala, Monika Kusiak, Hanna K. Lappalainen, Michał Laska, Jerome Lasne, Marek Lewandowski, Bartłomiej Luks, James B. McQuaid, Beatrice Moroni, Benjamin Murray, Ottmar Möhler, Adam Nawrot, Slobodan Nickovic, Norman T. O’Neill, Goran Pejanovic, Olga Popovicheva, Keyvan Ranjbar, Manolis Romanias, Olga Samonova, Alberto Sanchez-Marroquin, Kerstin Schepanski, Ivan Semenkov, Anna Sharapova, Elena Shevnina, Zongbo Shi, Mikhail Sofiev, Frédéric Thevenet, Throstur Thorsteinsson, Mikhail Timofeev, Nsikanabasi Silas Umo, Andreas Uppstu, Darya Urupina, György Varga, Tomasz Werner, Olafur Arnalds, and Ana Vukovic Vimic
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 11889–11930, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-11889-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-11889-2022, 2022
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High-latitude dust (HLD) is a short-lived climate forcer, air pollutant, and nutrient source. Our results suggest a northern HLD belt at 50–58° N in Eurasia and 50–55° N in Canada and at >60° N in Eurasia and >58° N in Canada. Our addition to the previously identified global dust belt (GDB) provides crucially needed information on the extent of active HLD sources with both direct and indirect impacts on climate and environment in remote regions, which are often poorly understood and predicted.
Samuel E. LeBlanc, Michal Segal-Rozenhaimer, Jens Redemann, Connor Flynn, Roy R. Johnson, Stephen E. Dunagan, Robert Dahlgren, Jhoon Kim, Myungje Choi, Arlindo da Silva, Patricia Castellanos, Qian Tan, Luke Ziemba, Kenneth Lee Thornhill, and Meloë Kacenelenbogen
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 11275–11304, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-11275-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-11275-2022, 2022
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Airborne observations of atmospheric particles and pollution over Korea during a field campaign in May–June 2016 showed that the smallest atmospheric particles are present in the lowest 2 km of the atmosphere. The aerosol size is more spatially variable than optical thickness. We show this with remote sensing (4STAR), in situ (LARGE) observations, satellite measurements (GOCI), and modeled properties (MERRA-2), and it is contrary to the current understanding.
Chong Han, Hongxing Yang, Kun Li, Patrick Lee, John Liggio, Amy Leithead, and Shao-Meng Li
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 10827–10839, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-10827-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-10827-2022, 2022
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We presented yields and compositions of Si-containing SOAs generated from the reaction of cVMSs (D3–D6) with OH radicals. NOx played a negative role in cVMS SOA formation, while ammonium sulfate seeds enhanced D3–D5 SOA yields at short photochemical ages under high-NOx conditions. The aerosol mass spectra confirmed that the components of cVMS SOAs significantly relied on OH exposure. A global cVMS-derived SOA source strength was estimated in order to understand SOA formation potentials of cVMSs.
Peng Xian, Jianglong Zhang, Norm T. O'Neill, Travis D. Toth, Blake Sorenson, Peter R. Colarco, Zak Kipling, Edward J. Hyer, James R. Campbell, Jeffrey S. Reid, and Keyvan Ranjbar
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 9915–9947, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-9915-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-9915-2022, 2022
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The study provides baseline Arctic spring and summertime aerosol optical depth climatology, trend, and extreme event statistics from 2003 to 2019 using a combination of aerosol reanalyses, remote sensing, and ground observations. Biomass burning smoke has an overwhelming contribution to black carbon (an efficient climate forcer) compared to anthropogenic sources. Burning's large interannual variability and increasing summer trend have important implications for the Arctic climate.
Peng Xian, Jianglong Zhang, Norm T. O'Neill, Jeffrey S. Reid, Travis D. Toth, Blake Sorenson, Edward J. Hyer, James R. Campbell, and Keyvan Ranjbar
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 9949–9967, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-9949-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-9949-2022, 2022
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The study provides a baseline Arctic spring and summertime aerosol optical depth climatology, trend, and extreme event statistics from 2003 to 2019 using a combination of aerosol reanalyses, remote sensing, and ground observations. Biomass burning smoke has an overwhelming contribution to black carbon (an efficient climate forcer) compared to anthropogenic sources. Burning's large interannual variability and increasing summer trend have important implications for the Arctic climate.
Caroline Dang, Michal Segal-Rozenhaimer, Haochi Che, Lu Zhang, Paola Formenti, Jonathan Taylor, Amie Dobracki, Sara Purdue, Pui-Shan Wong, Athanasios Nenes, Arthur Sedlacek III, Hugh Coe, Jens Redemann, Paquita Zuidema, Steven Howell, and James Haywood
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 9389–9412, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-9389-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-9389-2022, 2022
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Transmission electron microscopy was used to analyze aged African smoke particles and how the smoke interacts with the marine atmosphere. We found that the volatility of organic aerosol increases with biomass burning plume age, that black carbon is often mixed with potassium salts and that the marine atmosphere can incorporate Na and Cl into smoke particles. Marine salts are more processed when mixed with smoke plumes, and there are interesting Cl-rich yet Na-absent marine particles.
Haochi Che, Michal Segal-Rozenhaimer, Lu Zhang, Caroline Dang, Paquita Zuidema, Arthur J. Sedlacek III, Xiaoye Zhang, and Connor Flynn
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 8767–8785, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-8767-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-8767-2022, 2022
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A 17-month in situ study on Ascension Island found low single-scattering albedo and strong absorption enhancement of the marine boundary layer aerosols during biomass burnings on the African continent, along with apparent patterns of regular monthly variability. We further discuss the characteristics and drivers behind these changes and find that biomass burning conditions in Africa may be the main factor influencing the optical properties of marine boundary aerosols.
Meloë S. F. Kacenelenbogen, Qian Tan, Sharon P. Burton, Otto P. Hasekamp, Karl D. Froyd, Yohei Shinozuka, Andreas J. Beyersdorf, Luke Ziemba, Kenneth L. Thornhill, Jack E. Dibb, Taylor Shingler, Armin Sorooshian, Reed W. Espinosa, Vanderlei Martins, Jose L. Jimenez, Pedro Campuzano-Jost, Joshua P. Schwarz, Matthew S. Johnson, Jens Redemann, and Gregory L. Schuster
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 3713–3742, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-3713-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-3713-2022, 2022
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The impact of aerosols on Earth's radiation budget and human health is important and strongly depends on their composition. One desire of our scientific community is to derive the composition of the aerosol from satellite sensors. However, satellites observe aerosol optical properties (and not aerosol composition) based on remote sensing instrumentation. This study assesses how much aerosol optical properties can tell us about aerosol composition.
Matthew S. Norgren, John Wood, K. Sebastian Schmidt, Bastiaan van Diedenhoven, Snorre A. Stamnes, Luke D. Ziemba, Ewan C. Crosbie, Michael A. Shook, A. Scott Kittelman, Samuel E. LeBlanc, Stephen Broccardo, Steffen Freitag, and Jeffrey S. Reid
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 1373–1394, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-1373-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-1373-2022, 2022
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A new spectral instrument (SPN-S), with the ability to partition solar radiation into direct and diffuse components, is used in airborne settings to study the optical properties of aerosols and cirrus. It is a low-cost and mechanically simple system but has higher measurement uncertainty than existing standards. This challenge is overcome by utilizing the unique measurement capabilities to develop new retrieval techniques. Validation is done with data from two NASA airborne research campaigns.
Yongjie Huang, Wei Wu, Greg M. McFarquhar, Ming Xue, Hugh Morrison, Jason Milbrandt, Alexei V. Korolev, Yachao Hu, Zhipeng Qu, Mengistu Wolde, Cuong Nguyen, Alfons Schwarzenboeck, and Ivan Heckman
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 2365–2384, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-2365-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-2365-2022, 2022
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Numerous small ice crystals in tropical convective storms are difficult to detect and could be potentially hazardous for commercial aircraft. Previous numerical simulations failed to reproduce this phenomenon and hypothesized that key microphysical processes are still lacking in current models to realistically simulate the phenomenon. This study uses numerical experiments to confirm the dominant role of secondary ice production in the formation of these large numbers of small ice crystals.
Cuong M. Nguyen, Mengistu Wolde, Alessandro Battaglia, Leonid Nichman, Natalia Bliankinshtein, Samuel Haimov, Kenny Bala, and Dirk Schuettemeyer
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 775–795, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-775-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-775-2022, 2022
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An analysis of airborne triple-frequency radar and almost perfectly co-located coincident in situ data from an Arctic storm confirms the main findings of modeling work with radar dual-frequency ratios (DFRs) at different zones of the DFR plane associated with different ice habits. High-resolution CPI images provide accurate identification of rimed particles within the DFR plane. The relationships between the triple-frequency signals and cloud microphysical properties are also presented.
Keyvan Ranjbar, Norm T. O'Neill, and Yasmin Aboel-Fetouh
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 1757–1760, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-1757-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-1757-2022, 2022
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We argue that the illustration employed by Huang et al. (2015) to demonstrate the transport of Asian dust to the high Arctic was, in fact, largely a cloud event and that the actual impact of Asian dust was measurable but much weaker than what they proposed and had occurred a day earlier (in agreement with the transport model they had employed to predict the transport path to the high Arctic).
Sabrina P. Cochrane, K. Sebastian Schmidt, Hong Chen, Peter Pilewskie, Scott Kittelman, Jens Redemann, Samuel LeBlanc, Kristina Pistone, Michal Segal Rozenhaimer, Meloë Kacenelenbogen, Yohei Shinozuka, Connor Flynn, Rich Ferrare, Sharon Burton, Chris Hostetler, Marc Mallet, and Paquita Zuidema
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 61–77, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-61-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-61-2022, 2022
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This work presents heating rates derived from aircraft observations from the 2016 and 2017 field campaigns of ORACLES (ObseRvations of Aerosols above CLouds and their intEractionS). We separate the total heating rates into aerosol and gas (primarily water vapor) absorption and explore some of the co-variability of heating rate profiles and their primary drivers, leading to the development of a new concept: the heating rate efficiency (HRE; the heating rate per unit aerosol extinction).
Sarah J. Doherty, Pablo E. Saide, Paquita Zuidema, Yohei Shinozuka, Gonzalo A. Ferrada, Hamish Gordon, Marc Mallet, Kerry Meyer, David Painemal, Steven G. Howell, Steffen Freitag, Amie Dobracki, James R. Podolske, Sharon P. Burton, Richard A. Ferrare, Calvin Howes, Pierre Nabat, Gregory R. Carmichael, Arlindo da Silva, Kristina Pistone, Ian Chang, Lan Gao, Robert Wood, and Jens Redemann
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 1–46, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-1-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-1-2022, 2022
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Between July and October, biomass burning smoke is advected over the southeastern Atlantic Ocean, leading to climate forcing. Model calculations of forcing by this plume vary significantly in both magnitude and sign. This paper compares aerosol and cloud properties observed during three NASA ORACLES field campaigns to the same in four models. It quantifies modeled biases in properties key to aerosol direct radiative forcing and evaluates how these biases propagate to biases in forcing.
Amie Dobracki, Paquita Zuidema, Steve Howell, Pablo Saide, Steffen Freitag, Allison C. Aiken, Sharon P. Burton, Arthur J. Sedlacek III, Jens Redemann, and Robert Wood
Atmos. Chem. Phys. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2021-1081, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2021-1081, 2022
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The global maximum of shortwave-absorbing aerosol above cloud occurs above the southeast Atlantic, where the biomass-burning aerosol provides a distinct aerosol radiative warming of regional climate. The smoke aerosols are unusually highly absorbing of sunlight. This study seeks to understand the cause. We conclude the aerosol is already strongly absorbing at the fire emission source, but that chemical aging, through encouraging a net loss of organic aerosol, also contributes.
Debora Griffin, Chris A. McLinden, Enrico Dammers, Cristen Adams, Chelsea E. Stockwell, Carsten Warneke, Ilann Bourgeois, Jeff Peischl, Thomas B. Ryerson, Kyle J. Zarzana, Jake P. Rowe, Rainer Volkamer, Christoph Knote, Natalie Kille, Theodore K. Koenig, Christopher F. Lee, Drew Rollins, Pamela S. Rickly, Jack Chen, Lukas Fehr, Adam Bourassa, Doug Degenstein, Katherine Hayden, Cristian Mihele, Sumi N. Wren, John Liggio, Ayodeji Akingunola, and Paul Makar
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 7929–7957, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-7929-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-7929-2021, 2021
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Satellite-derived NOx emissions from biomass burning are estimated with TROPOMI observations. Two common emission estimation methods are applied, and sensitivity tests with model output were performed to determine the accuracy of these methods. The effect of smoke aerosols on TROPOMI NO2 columns is estimated and compared to aircraft observations from four different aircraft campaigns measuring biomass burning plumes in 2018 and 2019 in North America.
Kamil Mroz, Alessandro Battaglia, Cuong Nguyen, Andrew Heymsfield, Alain Protat, and Mengistu Wolde
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 7243–7254, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-7243-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-7243-2021, 2021
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A method for estimating microphysical properties of ice clouds based on radar measurements is presented. The algorithm exploits the information provided by differences in the radar response at different frequency bands in relation to changes in the snow morphology. The inversion scheme is based on a statistical relation between the radar simulations and the properties of snow calculated from in-cloud sampling.
Ju-Mee Ryoo, Leonhard Pfister, Rei Ueyama, Paquita Zuidema, Robert Wood, Ian Chang, and Jens Redemann
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 16689–16707, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-16689-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-16689-2021, 2021
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Part 1 of the meteorological overview paper highlights the anomalous meteorological characteristics during the ORACLES deployment compared to the climatological mean at monthly timescales. The upper-level wave disturbance and the associated anomalous circulation explain the weakening of AEJ-S through the reduction of the strength of the heat low over the land during August 2017. This may also help explain the anomalously low aerosol optical depth observed in the August 2017 ORACLES deployment.
Sepehr Fathi, Mark Gordon, Paul A. Makar, Ayodeji Akingunola, Andrea Darlington, John Liggio, Katherine Hayden, and Shao-Meng Li
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 15461–15491, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-15461-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-15461-2021, 2021
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We have investigated the accuracy of aircraft-based mass balance methodologies through computer model simulations of the atmosphere and air quality at a regional high-resolution scale. We have defined new quantitative metrics to reduce emission retrieval uncertainty by evaluating top-down mass balance estimates against the known simulated meteorology and input emissions. We also recommend methodologies and flight strategies for improved retrievals in future aircraft-based studies.
Liviu Ivănescu, Konstantin Baibakov, Norman T. O'Neill, Jean-Pierre Blanchet, and Karl-Heinz Schulz
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 6561–6599, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-6561-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-6561-2021, 2021
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Starphotometry seeks to provide accurate measures of nocturnal optical depth (OD). It is driven by a need to characterize aerosols and their radiative forcing effects during a very data-sparse period. A sub-0.01 OD error is required to adequately characterize key aerosol parameters. We found approaches for sufficiently mitigating errors to achieve the 0.01 standard. This renders starphotometry the equal of daytime techniques and opens the door to exploiting its distinct star-pointing advantages.
Ruhi S. Humphries, Melita D. Keywood, Sean Gribben, Ian M. McRobert, Jason P. Ward, Paul Selleck, Sally Taylor, James Harnwell, Connor Flynn, Gourihar R. Kulkarni, Gerald G. Mace, Alain Protat, Simon P. Alexander, and Greg McFarquhar
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 12757–12782, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-12757-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-12757-2021, 2021
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The Southern Ocean region is one of the most pristine in the world and serves as an important proxy for the pre-industrial atmosphere. Improving our understanding of the natural processes in this region is likely to result in the largest reductions in the uncertainty of climate and earth system models. In this paper we present a statistical summary of the latitudinal gradient of aerosol and cloud condensation nuclei concentrations obtained from five voyages spanning the Southern Ocean.
Stefanie Kremser, Mike Harvey, Peter Kuma, Sean Hartery, Alexia Saint-Macary, John McGregor, Alex Schuddeboom, Marc von Hobe, Sinikka T. Lennartz, Alex Geddes, Richard Querel, Adrian McDonald, Maija Peltola, Karine Sellegri, Israel Silber, Cliff S. Law, Connor J. Flynn, Andrew Marriner, Thomas C. J. Hill, Paul J. DeMott, Carson C. Hume, Graeme Plank, Geoffrey Graham, and Simon Parsons
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 13, 3115–3153, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-3115-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-3115-2021, 2021
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Aerosol–cloud interactions over the Southern Ocean are poorly understood and remain a major source of uncertainty in climate models. This study presents ship-borne measurements, collected during a 6-week voyage into the Southern Ocean in 2018, that are an important supplement to satellite-based measurements. For example, these measurements include data on low-level clouds and aerosol composition in the marine boundary layer, which can be used in climate model evaluation efforts.
Kristina Pistone, Paquita Zuidema, Robert Wood, Michael Diamond, Arlindo M. da Silva, Gonzalo Ferrada, Pablo E. Saide, Rei Ueyama, Ju-Mee Ryoo, Leonhard Pfister, James Podolske, David Noone, Ryan Bennett, Eric Stith, Gregory Carmichael, Jens Redemann, Connor Flynn, Samuel LeBlanc, Michal Segal-Rozenhaimer, and Yohei Shinozuka
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 9643–9668, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-9643-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-9643-2021, 2021
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Using aircraft-based measurements off the Atlantic coast of Africa, we found the springtime smoke plume was strongly correlated with the amount of water vapor in the atmosphere (more smoke indicated more humidity). We see the same general feature in satellite-assimilated and free-running models. Our analysis suggests this relationship is not caused by the burning but originates due to coincident continental meteorology plus fires. This air is transported over the ocean without further mixing.
Katherine Hayden, Shao-Meng Li, Paul Makar, John Liggio, Samar G. Moussa, Ayodeji Akingunola, Robert McLaren, Ralf M. Staebler, Andrea Darlington, Jason O'Brien, Junhua Zhang, Mengistu Wolde, and Leiming Zhang
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 8377–8392, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-8377-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-8377-2021, 2021
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We developed a method using aircraft measurements to determine lifetimes with respect to dry deposition for oxidized sulfur and nitrogen compounds over the boreal forest in Alberta, Canada. Atmospheric lifetimes were significantly shorter than derived from chemical transport models with differences related to modelled dry deposition velocities. The shorter lifetimes suggest models need to reassess dry deposition treatment and predictions of sulfur and nitrogen in the atmosphere and ecosystems.
Yongjie Huang, Wei Wu, Greg M. McFarquhar, Xuguang Wang, Hugh Morrison, Alexander Ryzhkov, Yachao Hu, Mengistu Wolde, Cuong Nguyen, Alfons Schwarzenboeck, Jason Milbrandt, Alexei V. Korolev, and Ivan Heckman
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 6919–6944, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-6919-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-6919-2021, 2021
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Numerous small ice crystals in the tropical convective storms are difficult to detect and could be potentially hazardous for commercial aircraft. This study evaluated the numerical models against the airborne observations and investigated the potential cloud processes that could lead to the production of these large numbers of small ice crystals. It is found that key microphysical processes are still lacking or misrepresented in current numerical models to realistically simulate the phenomenon.
Nick Schutgens, Oleg Dubovik, Otto Hasekamp, Omar Torres, Hiren Jethva, Peter J. T. Leonard, Pavel Litvinov, Jens Redemann, Yohei Shinozuka, Gerrit de Leeuw, Stefan Kinne, Thomas Popp, Michael Schulz, and Philip Stier
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 6895–6917, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-6895-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-6895-2021, 2021
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Absorptive aerosol has a potentially large impact on climate change. We evaluate and intercompare four global satellite datasets of absorptive aerosol optical depth (AAOD) and single-scattering albedo (SSA). We show that these datasets show reasonable correlations with the AErosol RObotic NETwork (AERONET) reference, although significant biases remain. In a follow-up paper we show that these observations nevertheless can be used for model evaluation.
David S. McLagan, Geoff W. Stupple, Andrea Darlington, Katherine Hayden, and Alexandra Steffen
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 5635–5653, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-5635-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-5635-2021, 2021
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An assessment of mercury emissions from a burning boreal forest was made by flying an aircraft through its plume to collect in situ gas and particulate measurements. Direct data show that in-plume gaseous elemental mercury concentrations reach up to 2.4× background for this fire and up to 5.6× when using a correlation with CO data. These unique data are applied to a series of known empirical emissions estimates and used to highlight current uncertainties in the literature.
Siddhant Gupta, Greg M. McFarquhar, Joseph R. O'Brien, David J. Delene, Michael R. Poellot, Amie Dobracki, James R. Podolske, Jens Redemann, Samuel E. LeBlanc, Michal Segal-Rozenhaimer, and Kristina Pistone
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 4615–4635, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-4615-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-4615-2021, 2021
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Observations from the 2016 NASA ObseRvations of Aerosols above CLouds and their intEractionS (ORACLES) field campaign examine how biomass burning aerosols from southern Africa affect marine stratocumulus cloud decks over the Southeast Atlantic. Instances of contact and separation between aerosols and clouds are examined to quantify the impact of aerosol mixing into cloud top on cloud drop numbers and sizes. This information is needed for improving Earth system models and satellite retrievals.
Jens Redemann, Robert Wood, Paquita Zuidema, Sarah J. Doherty, Bernadette Luna, Samuel E. LeBlanc, Michael S. Diamond, Yohei Shinozuka, Ian Y. Chang, Rei Ueyama, Leonhard Pfister, Ju-Mee Ryoo, Amie N. Dobracki, Arlindo M. da Silva, Karla M. Longo, Meloë S. Kacenelenbogen, Connor J. Flynn, Kristina Pistone, Nichola M. Knox, Stuart J. Piketh, James M. Haywood, Paola Formenti, Marc Mallet, Philip Stier, Andrew S. Ackerman, Susanne E. Bauer, Ann M. Fridlind, Gregory R. Carmichael, Pablo E. Saide, Gonzalo A. Ferrada, Steven G. Howell, Steffen Freitag, Brian Cairns, Brent N. Holben, Kirk D. Knobelspiesse, Simone Tanelli, Tristan S. L'Ecuyer, Andrew M. Dzambo, Ousmane O. Sy, Greg M. McFarquhar, Michael R. Poellot, Siddhant Gupta, Joseph R. O'Brien, Athanasios Nenes, Mary Kacarab, Jenny P. S. Wong, Jennifer D. Small-Griswold, Kenneth L. Thornhill, David Noone, James R. Podolske, K. Sebastian Schmidt, Peter Pilewskie, Hong Chen, Sabrina P. Cochrane, Arthur J. Sedlacek, Timothy J. Lang, Eric Stith, Michal Segal-Rozenhaimer, Richard A. Ferrare, Sharon P. Burton, Chris A. Hostetler, David J. Diner, Felix C. Seidel, Steven E. Platnick, Jeffrey S. Myers, Kerry G. Meyer, Douglas A. Spangenberg, Hal Maring, and Lan Gao
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 1507–1563, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-1507-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-1507-2021, 2021
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Southern Africa produces significant biomass burning emissions whose impacts on regional and global climate are poorly understood. ORACLES (ObseRvations of Aerosols above CLouds and their intEractionS) is a 5-year NASA investigation designed to study the key processes that determine these climate impacts. The main purpose of this paper is to familiarize the broader scientific community with the ORACLES project, the dataset it produced, and the most important initial findings.
Sabrina P. Cochrane, K. Sebastian Schmidt, Hong Chen, Peter Pilewskie, Scott Kittelman, Jens Redemann, Samuel LeBlanc, Kristina Pistone, Meloë Kacenelenbogen, Michal Segal Rozenhaimer, Yohei Shinozuka, Connor Flynn, Amie Dobracki, Paquita Zuidema, Steven Howell, Steffen Freitag, and Sarah Doherty
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 567–593, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-567-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-567-2021, 2021
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Based on observations from the 2016 and 2017 field campaigns of ORACLES (ObseRvations of Aerosols above CLouds and their intEractionS), this work establishes an observationally driven link from mid-visible aerosol optical depth (AOD) and other scene parameters to broadband shortwave irradiance (and by extension the direct aerosol radiative effect, DARE). The majority of the case-to-case DARE variability within the ORACLES dataset is attributable to the dependence on AOD and scene albedo.
Jim M. Haywood, Steven J. Abel, Paul A. Barrett, Nicolas Bellouin, Alan Blyth, Keith N. Bower, Melissa Brooks, Ken Carslaw, Haochi Che, Hugh Coe, Michael I. Cotterell, Ian Crawford, Zhiqiang Cui, Nicholas Davies, Beth Dingley, Paul Field, Paola Formenti, Hamish Gordon, Martin de Graaf, Ross Herbert, Ben Johnson, Anthony C. Jones, Justin M. Langridge, Florent Malavelle, Daniel G. Partridge, Fanny Peers, Jens Redemann, Philip Stier, Kate Szpek, Jonathan W. Taylor, Duncan Watson-Parris, Robert Wood, Huihui Wu, and Paquita Zuidema
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 1049–1084, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-1049-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-1049-2021, 2021
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Every year, the seasonal cycle of biomass burning from agricultural practices in Africa creates a huge plume of smoke that travels many thousands of kilometres over the Atlantic Ocean. This study provides an overview of a measurement campaign called the cloud–aerosol–radiation interaction and forcing for year 2017 (CLARIFY-2017) and documents the rationale, deployment strategy, observations, and key results from the campaign which utilized the heavily equipped FAAM atmospheric research aircraft.
Jenna C. Ditto, Megan He, Tori N. Hass-Mitchell, Samar G. Moussa, Katherine Hayden, Shao-Meng Li, John Liggio, Amy Leithead, Patrick Lee, Michael J. Wheeler, Jeremy J. B. Wentzell, and Drew R. Gentner
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 255–267, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-255-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-255-2021, 2021
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Forest fires are an important source of reactive organic gases and aerosols to the atmosphere. We analyzed organic aerosols collected from an aircraft above a boreal forest fire and reported an increasing contribution from compounds containing oxygen, nitrogen, and sulfur as the plume aged, with sulfide and ring-bound nitrogen functionality. Our results demonstrated chemistry that is important in biomass burning but also in urban/developing regions with high local nitrogen and sulfur emissions.
Peter Kuma, Adrian J. McDonald, Olaf Morgenstern, Richard Querel, Israel Silber, and Connor J. Flynn
Geosci. Model Dev., 14, 43–72, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-14-43-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-14-43-2021, 2021
Cuiqi Zhang, Yue Zhang, Martin J. Wolf, Leonid Nichman, Chuanyang Shen, Timothy B. Onasch, Longfei Chen, and Daniel J. Cziczo
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 13957–13984, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-13957-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-13957-2020, 2020
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Black carbon (BC) is considered the second most important global warming agent. However, the role of BC aerosol–cloud–climate interactions in the cirrus formation remains uncertain. Our study of selected BC types and sizes suggests that increases in diameter, compactness, and/or surface oxidation of BC particles lead to more efficient ice nucleation (IN) via pore condensation freezing (PCF) pathways，and that coatings of common secondary organic aerosol (SOA) materials can inhibit ice formation.
Marc Mallet, Fabien Solmon, Pierre Nabat, Nellie Elguindi, Fabien Waquet, Dominique Bouniol, Andrew Mark Sayer, Kerry Meyer, Romain Roehrig, Martine Michou, Paquita Zuidema, Cyrille Flamant, Jens Redemann, and Paola Formenti
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 13191–13216, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-13191-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-13191-2020, 2020
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This paper presents numerical simulations using two regional climate models to study the impact of biomass fire plumes from central Africa on the radiative balance of this region. The results indicate that biomass fires can either warm the regional climate when they are located above low clouds or cool it when they are located above land. They can also alter sea and land surface temperatures by decreasing solar radiation at the surface. Finally, they can also modify the atmospheric dynamics.
Yohei Shinozuka, Pablo E. Saide, Gonzalo A. Ferrada, Sharon P. Burton, Richard Ferrare, Sarah J. Doherty, Hamish Gordon, Karla Longo, Marc Mallet, Yan Feng, Qiaoqiao Wang, Yafang Cheng, Amie Dobracki, Steffen Freitag, Steven G. Howell, Samuel LeBlanc, Connor Flynn, Michal Segal-Rosenhaimer, Kristina Pistone, James R. Podolske, Eric J. Stith, Joseph Ryan Bennett, Gregory R. Carmichael, Arlindo da Silva, Ravi Govindaraju, Ruby Leung, Yang Zhang, Leonhard Pfister, Ju-Mee Ryoo, Jens Redemann, Robert Wood, and Paquita Zuidema
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 11491–11526, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-11491-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-11491-2020, 2020
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In the southeast Atlantic, well-defined smoke plumes from Africa advect over marine boundary layer cloud decks; both are most extensive around September, when most of the smoke resides in the free troposphere. A framework is put forth for evaluating the performance of a range of global and regional atmospheric composition models against observations made during the NASA ORACLES (ObseRvations of Aerosols above CLouds and their intEractionS) airborne mission in September 2016.
Yohei Shinozuka, Meloë S. Kacenelenbogen, Sharon P. Burton, Steven G. Howell, Paquita Zuidema, Richard A. Ferrare, Samuel E. LeBlanc, Kristina Pistone, Stephen Broccardo, Jens Redemann, K. Sebastian Schmidt, Sabrina P. Cochrane, Marta Fenn, Steffen Freitag, Amie Dobracki, Michal Segal-Rosenheimer, and Connor J. Flynn
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 11275–11285, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-11275-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-11275-2020, 2020
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To help satellite retrieval of aerosols and studies of their radiative effects, we demonstrate that daytime aerosol optical depth over low-level clouds is similar to that in neighboring clear skies at the same heights. Based on recent airborne lidar and sun photometer observations above the southeast Atlantic, the mean AOD difference at 532 nm is between 0 and -0.01, when comparing the cloudy and clear sides of cloud edges, with each up to 20 km wide.
Mario Simon, Lubna Dada, Martin Heinritzi, Wiebke Scholz, Dominik Stolzenburg, Lukas Fischer, Andrea C. Wagner, Andreas Kürten, Birte Rörup, Xu-Cheng He, João Almeida, Rima Baalbaki, Andrea Baccarini, Paulus S. Bauer, Lisa Beck, Anton Bergen, Federico Bianchi, Steffen Bräkling, Sophia Brilke, Lucia Caudillo, Dexian Chen, Biwu Chu, António Dias, Danielle C. Draper, Jonathan Duplissy, Imad El-Haddad, Henning Finkenzeller, Carla Frege, Loic Gonzalez-Carracedo, Hamish Gordon, Manuel Granzin, Jani Hakala, Victoria Hofbauer, Christopher R. Hoyle, Changhyuk Kim, Weimeng Kong, Houssni Lamkaddam, Chuan P. Lee, Katrianne Lehtipalo, Markus Leiminger, Huajun Mai, Hanna E. Manninen, Guillaume Marie, Ruby Marten, Bernhard Mentler, Ugo Molteni, Leonid Nichman, Wei Nie, Andrea Ojdanic, Antti Onnela, Eva Partoll, Tuukka Petäjä, Joschka Pfeifer, Maxim Philippov, Lauriane L. J. Quéléver, Ananth Ranjithkumar, Matti P. Rissanen, Simon Schallhart, Siegfried Schobesberger, Simone Schuchmann, Jiali Shen, Mikko Sipilä, Gerhard Steiner, Yuri Stozhkov, Christian Tauber, Yee J. Tham, António R. Tomé, Miguel Vazquez-Pufleau, Alexander L. Vogel, Robert Wagner, Mingyi Wang, Dongyu S. Wang, Yonghong Wang, Stefan K. Weber, Yusheng Wu, Mao Xiao, Chao Yan, Penglin Ye, Qing Ye, Marcel Zauner-Wieczorek, Xueqin Zhou, Urs Baltensperger, Josef Dommen, Richard C. Flagan, Armin Hansel, Markku Kulmala, Rainer Volkamer, Paul M. Winkler, Douglas R. Worsnop, Neil M. Donahue, Jasper Kirkby, and Joachim Curtius
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 9183–9207, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-9183-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-9183-2020, 2020
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Highly oxygenated organic compounds (HOMs) have been identified as key vapors involved in atmospheric new-particle formation (NPF). The molecular distribution, HOM yield, and NPF from α-pinene oxidation experiments were measured at the CLOUD chamber over a wide tropospheric-temperature range. This study shows on a molecular scale that despite the sharp reduction in HOM yield at lower temperatures, the reduced volatility counteracts this effect and leads to an overall increase in the NPF rate.
Daniel J. Miller, Michal Segal-Rozenhaimer, Kirk Knobelspiesse, Jens Redemann, Brian Cairns, Mikhail Alexandrov, Bastiaan van Diedenhoven, and Andrzej Wasilewski
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 3447–3470, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-3447-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-3447-2020, 2020
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A neural network (NN) is developed and used to retrieve cloud microphysical properties from multiangular and multispectral polarimetric remote sensing observations. The NN is applied to research scanning polarimeter (RSP) observations obtained during the ORACLES field campaign and compared to other co-located remote sensing retrievals of cloud effective radius and optical thickness. A NN approach can advance more complex iterative search retrieval algorithms by providing a quick initial guess.
Mary Kacarab, K. Lee Thornhill, Amie Dobracki, Steven G. Howell, Joseph R. O'Brien, Steffen Freitag, Michael R. Poellot, Robert Wood, Paquita Zuidema, Jens Redemann, and Athanasios Nenes
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 3029–3040, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-3029-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-3029-2020, 2020
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We find that extensive biomass burning aerosol plumes from southern Africa can profoundly influence clouds in the southeastern Atlantic. Concurrent variations in vertical velocity, however, are found to magnify the relationship between boundary layer aerosol and the cloud droplet number. Neglecting these covariances may strongly bias the sign and magnitude of aerosol impacts on the cloud droplet number.
Samuel E. LeBlanc, Jens Redemann, Connor Flynn, Kristina Pistone, Meloë Kacenelenbogen, Michal Segal-Rosenheimer, Yohei Shinozuka, Stephen Dunagan, Robert P. Dahlgren, Kerry Meyer, James Podolske, Steven G. Howell, Steffen Freitag, Jennifer Small-Griswold, Brent Holben, Michael Diamond, Robert Wood, Paola Formenti, Stuart Piketh, Gillian Maggs-Kölling, Monja Gerber, and Andreas Namwoonde
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 1565–1590, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-1565-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-1565-2020, 2020
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The southeast Atlantic during August–October experiences layers of smoke from biomass burning over marine stratocumulus clouds. Here we present the light attenuation of the smoke and its dependence in the spatial, vertical, and spectral domain through direct measurements from an airborne platform during September 2016. From our observations of this climatically important smoke, we found an average aerosol optical depth of 0.32 at 500 nm, slightly lower than comparative satellite measurements.
Alexei Korolev, Ivan Heckman, Mengistu Wolde, Andrew S. Ackerman, Ann M. Fridlind, Luis A. Ladino, R. Paul Lawson, Jason Milbrandt, and Earle Williams
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 1391–1429, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-1391-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-1391-2020, 2020
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This study attempts identification of mechanisms of secondary ice production (SIP) based on the observation of small faceted ice crystals. It was found that in both mesoscale convective systems and frontal clouds, SIP was observed right above the melting layer and extended to the higher altitudes with colder temperatures. A principal conclusion of this work is that the freezing drop shattering mechanism is plausibly accounting for the measured ice concentrations in the observed condition.
Bing Pu, Paul Ginoux, Huan Guo, N. Christina Hsu, John Kimball, Beatrice Marticorena, Sergey Malyshev, Vaishali Naik, Norman T. O'Neill, Carlos Pérez García-Pando, Juliette Paireau, Joseph M. Prospero, Elena Shevliakova, and Ming Zhao
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 55–81, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-55-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-55-2020, 2020
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Dust emission initiates when surface wind velocities exceed a threshold depending on soil and surface characteristics and varying spatially and temporally. Climate models widely use wind erosion thresholds. The climatological monthly global distribution of the wind erosion threshold, Vthreshold, is retrieved using satellite and reanalysis products and improves the simulation of dust frequency, magnitude, and the seasonal cycle in the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory land–atmosphere model.
Sabrina P. Cochrane, K. Sebastian Schmidt, Hong Chen, Peter Pilewskie, Scott Kittelman, Jens Redemann, Samuel LeBlanc, Kristina Pistone, Meloë Kacenelenbogen, Michal Segal Rozenhaimer, Yohei Shinozuka, Connor Flynn, Steven Platnick, Kerry Meyer, Rich Ferrare, Sharon Burton, Chris Hostetler, Steven Howell, Steffen Freitag, Amie Dobracki, and Sarah Doherty
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 12, 6505–6528, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-6505-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-6505-2019, 2019
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For two cases from the NASA ORACLES experiments, we retrieve aerosol and cloud properties and calculate a direct aerosol radiative effect (DARE). We investigate the relationship between DARE and the cloud albedo by specifying the albedo for which DARE transitions from a cooling to warming radiative effect. Our new aerosol retrieval algorithm is successful despite complexities associated with scenes that contain aerosols above clouds and decreases the uncertainty on retrieved aerosol parameters.
Cuong M. Nguyen, Mengistu Wolde, and Alexei Korolev
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 12, 5897–5911, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-5897-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-5897-2019, 2019
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This paper presents a methodology for high ice water content (HIWC) (up to 3.5 g m−3) retrieval from a dual-polarization side-looking X-band airborne radar. Zdr and Kdp are used to mitigate the effects of ice crystal shape and orientation on the variation in IWC – specific differential phase (Kdp) joint distribution. Empirical analysis shows that the proposed method improves the estimation bias by 35 % and increases the correlation by 4 % on average, compared to the method using Kdp alone.
Alex K. Y. Lee, Max G. Adam, John Liggio, Shao-Meng Li, Kun Li, Megan D. Willis, Jonathan P. D. Abbatt, Travis W. Tokarek, Charles A. Odame-Ankrah, Hans D. Osthoff, Kevin Strawbridge, and Jeffery R. Brook
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 12209–12219, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-12209-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-12209-2019, 2019
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This work provides the first direct field evidence that anthropogenic organo-nitrate contributed up to half of secondary organic aerosol (SOA) mass that was freshly produced within the emission plumes of oil sands facilities in Alberta, Canada. The findings illustrate the central role of organo-nitrate in SOA production from the oil and gas industry, with relevance for other urban and industrial regions with significant intermediate-volatility organic compounds (IVOCs) and NOx emissions.
Leonid Nichman, Martin Wolf, Paul Davidovits, Timothy B. Onasch, Yue Zhang, Doug R. Worsnop, Janarjan Bhandari, Claudio Mazzoleni, and Daniel J. Cziczo
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 12175–12194, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-12175-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-12175-2019, 2019
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Previous studies showed widespread ice nucleation activity of soot. In this systematic study we investigated the factors that affect the heterogeneous ice nucleation activity of soot surrogates in the cirrus cloud regime. Our observations are consistent with an ice nucleation mechanism of pore condensation followed by freezing. The results show significant variations in ice nucleation activity as a function of size, morphology, and surface chemistry of the black-carbon-containing particles.
Tak W. Chan, Lin Huang, Kulbir Banwait, Wendy Zhang, Darrell Ernst, Xiaoliang Wang, John G. Watson, Judith C. Chow, Mark Green, Claudia I. Czimczik, Guaciara M. Santos, Sangeeta Sharma, and Keith Jones
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 12, 4543–4560, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-4543-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-4543-2019, 2019
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This study compared 10 years of carbonaceous aerosol measurements collected at Egbert by three North American long-term monitoring networks. The study evaluated how differences in sample collection and analysis affected the concentrations of total carbon (TC), organic carbon (OC), and elemental carbon (EC). Various carbonaceous fractions measured by the three networks were consistent and comparable over the period. Elevated OC and EC were observed when ambient temperature exceeded 10 °C.
Kun Li, John Liggio, Patrick Lee, Chong Han, Qifan Liu, and Shao-Meng Li
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 9715–9731, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-9715-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-9715-2019, 2019
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A new oxidation flow reactor was developed and applied to study the secondary organic aerosol (SOA) formation from precursors associated with oil-sands (OS) operations. The results reveal that the SOA yields from OS precursors are related to the volatilities of precursors and that open-pit mining is the main source of SOA formed from oil sands. In addition, cyclic alkanes are found to play an important role in SOA formation from oil-sands precursors.
Kristina Pistone, Jens Redemann, Sarah Doherty, Paquita Zuidema, Sharon Burton, Brian Cairns, Sabrina Cochrane, Richard Ferrare, Connor Flynn, Steffen Freitag, Steven G. Howell, Meloë Kacenelenbogen, Samuel LeBlanc, Xu Liu, K. Sebastian Schmidt, Arthur J. Sedlacek III, Michal Segal-Rozenhaimer, Yohei Shinozuka, Snorre Stamnes, Bastiaan van Diedenhoven, Gerard Van Harten, and Feng Xu
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 9181–9208, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-9181-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-9181-2019, 2019
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Understanding how smoke particles interact with sunlight is important in calculating their effects on climate, since some smoke is more scattering (cooling) and some is more absorbing (heating). Knowing this proportion is important for both satellite observations and climate models. We measured smoke properties in a recent aircraft-based field campaign off the west coast of Africa and present a comparison of these properties as measured using the six different, independent techniques available.
Andrew M. Sayer, N. Christina Hsu, Jaehwa Lee, Woogyung V. Kim, Sharon Burton, Marta A. Fenn, Richard A. Ferrare, Meloë Kacenelenbogen, Samuel LeBlanc, Kristina Pistone, Jens Redemann, Michal Segal-Rozenhaimer, Yohei Shinozuka, and Si-Chee Tsay
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 12, 3595–3627, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-3595-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-3595-2019, 2019
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Aerosols are small particles in the atmosphere such as dust or smoke. They are routinely monitored by satellites due to their importance for climate and air quality. However aerosols above clouds are more difficult to monitor. This study describes an improvement to a technique to monitor light-absorbing aerosols above clouds from four Earth-orbiting satellite instruments. The improved method is evaluated using data from the ORACLES field campaign, which measured these aerosols from aircraft.
Meloë S. Kacenelenbogen, Mark A. Vaughan, Jens Redemann, Stuart A. Young, Zhaoyan Liu, Yongxiang Hu, Ali H. Omar, Samuel LeBlanc, Yohei Shinozuka, John Livingston, Qin Zhang, and Kathleen A. Powell
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 4933–4962, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-4933-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-4933-2019, 2019
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Significant efforts are required to estimate the direct radiative effects of aerosols above clouds (DAREcloudy). We have used a combination of passive and active A-Train satellite sensors and derive mainly positive global and regional DAREcloudy values (e.g., global seasonal values between 0.13 and 0.26 W m-2). Despite differences in methods and sensors, the DAREcloudy values in this study are generally higher than previously reported. We discuss the primary reasons for these higher estimates.
Marc Mallet, Pierre Nabat, Paquita Zuidema, Jens Redemann, Andrew Mark Sayer, Martin Stengel, Sebastian Schmidt, Sabrina Cochrane, Sharon Burton, Richard Ferrare, Kerry Meyer, Pablo Saide, Hiren Jethva, Omar Torres, Robert Wood, David Saint Martin, Romain Roehrig, Christina Hsu, and Paola Formenti
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 4963–4990, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-4963-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-4963-2019, 2019
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The model is able to represent LWP but not the LCF. AOD is consistent over the continent but also over ocean (ACAOD). Differences are observed in SSA due to the absence of internal mixing in ALADIN-Climate. A significant regional gradient of the forcing at TOA is observed. An intense positive forcing is simulated over Gabon. Results highlight the significant effect of enhanced moisture on BBA extinction. The surface dimming modifies the energy budget.
Jonathan P. D. Abbatt, W. Richard Leaitch, Amir A. Aliabadi, Allan K. Bertram, Jean-Pierre Blanchet, Aude Boivin-Rioux, Heiko Bozem, Julia Burkart, Rachel Y. W. Chang, Joannie Charette, Jai P. Chaubey, Robert J. Christensen, Ana Cirisan, Douglas B. Collins, Betty Croft, Joelle Dionne, Greg J. Evans, Christopher G. Fletcher, Martí Galí, Roya Ghahreman, Eric Girard, Wanmin Gong, Michel Gosselin, Margaux Gourdal, Sarah J. Hanna, Hakase Hayashida, Andreas B. Herber, Sareh Hesaraki, Peter Hoor, Lin Huang, Rachel Hussherr, Victoria E. Irish, Setigui A. Keita, John K. Kodros, Franziska Köllner, Felicia Kolonjari, Daniel Kunkel, Luis A. Ladino, Kathy Law, Maurice Levasseur, Quentin Libois, John Liggio, Martine Lizotte, Katrina M. Macdonald, Rashed Mahmood, Randall V. Martin, Ryan H. Mason, Lisa A. Miller, Alexander Moravek, Eric Mortenson, Emma L. Mungall, Jennifer G. Murphy, Maryam Namazi, Ann-Lise Norman, Norman T. O'Neill, Jeffrey R. Pierce, Lynn M. Russell, Johannes Schneider, Hannes Schulz, Sangeeta Sharma, Meng Si, Ralf M. Staebler, Nadja S. Steiner, Jennie L. Thomas, Knut von Salzen, Jeremy J. B. Wentzell, Megan D. Willis, Gregory R. Wentworth, Jun-Wei Xu, and Jacqueline D. Yakobi-Hancock
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 2527–2560, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-2527-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-2527-2019, 2019
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The Arctic is experiencing considerable environmental change with climate warming, illustrated by the dramatic decrease in sea-ice extent. It is important to understand both the natural and perturbed Arctic systems to gain a better understanding of how they will change in the future. This paper summarizes new insights into the relationships between Arctic aerosol particles and climate, as learned over the past five or so years by a large Canadian research consortium, NETCARE.
Ian G. McKendry, Andreas Christen, Sung-Ching Lee, Madison Ferrara, Kevin B. Strawbridge, Norman O'Neill, and Andrew Black
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 835–846, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-835-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-835-2019, 2019
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Wildfire smoke in July 2015 had a significant impact on air quality, radiation, and energy budgets across British Columbia. With lighter smoke, a wetland and forested site showed enhanced photosynthetic activity (taking in carbon dioxide). However, with dense smoke the forested site became a strong source. These results suggest that smoke during the growing season potentially plays an important role in the carbon budget, and this effect will likely increase as climate changes.
Mengistu Wolde, Alessandro Battaglia, Cuong Nguyen, Andrew L. Pazmany, and Anthony Illingworth
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 12, 253–269, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-253-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-253-2019, 2019
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This paper presents an implementation of polarization diversity pulse-pair processing (PDPP) on the National Research Council of Canada airborne W-band radar (NAW) system. A description of the NAW PDPP pulsing schemes and an analysis of comprehensive airborne data collected in diverse weather conditions in Canada is presented. The analysis shows a successful airborne measurement of Doppler velocity exceeding 100 m s−1 using PDPP approach, the first such measurement from a moving platform.
Travis W. Tokarek, Charles A. Odame-Ankrah, Jennifer A. Huo, Robert McLaren, Alex K. Y. Lee, Max G. Adam, Megan D. Willis, Jonathan P. D. Abbatt, Cristian Mihele, Andrea Darlington, Richard L. Mittermeier, Kevin Strawbridge, Katherine L. Hayden, Jason S. Olfert, Elijah G. Schnitzler, Duncan K. Brownsey, Faisal V. Assad, Gregory R. Wentworth, Alex G. Tevlin, Douglas E. J. Worthy, Shao-Meng Li, John Liggio, Jeffrey R. Brook, and Hans D. Osthoff
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 17819–17841, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-17819-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-17819-2018, 2018
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Measurements of air pollutants at a ground site near Fort McKay in the Athabasca oil sands region in the summer of 2013 are presented. A large number of intermediate-volatility organic compounds (IVOCs) were observed; these molecules were shown previously to generate atmospheric particles downwind of the region. A principal component analysis was performed to identify major pollution source types, including which source(s) is(are) associated with IVOC emissions (e.g., freshly mined bitumen).
Sumi N. Wren, John Liggio, Yuemei Han, Katherine Hayden, Gang Lu, Cris M. Mihele, Richard L. Mittermeier, Craig Stroud, Jeremy J. B. Wentzell, and Jeffrey R. Brook
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 16979–17001, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-16979-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-16979-2018, 2018
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We made measurements from a mobile laboratory across a large urban area and determined fleet-average vehicle emission factors (EFs) for a suite of traffic-related air pollutants. We present the first real-world EFs for isocyanic acid (HNCO) and hydrogen cyanide (HCN) and insight into their on-road variability. We find that vehicles may represent an important source of these air toxics at an urban scale. This work has implications for understanding population exposure to these species.
Mark Gordon, Paul A. Makar, Ralf M. Staebler, Junhua Zhang, Ayodeji Akingunola, Wanmin Gong, and Shao-Meng Li
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 14695–14714, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-14695-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-14695-2018, 2018
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This work uses aircraft-based measurements of smokestack plumes carried out in northern Alberta in 2013. These measurements are used to test equations used to predict how high in the air smokestack plumes rise. It is important to predict plume rise height accurately as it tells us how far downwind pollutants are carried and what air quality can be expected at the surface. We found that the equations that are typically used significantly underestimate the plume rise at this location.
Craig A. Stroud, Paul A. Makar, Junhua Zhang, Michael D. Moran, Ayodeji Akingunola, Shao-Meng Li, Amy Leithead, Katherine Hayden, and May Siu
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 13531–13545, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-13531-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-13531-2018, 2018
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It is shown that using measurement-derived volatile organic compound (VOC) and organic aerosol (OA) emissions in the GEM-MACH air quality model provides better overall predictions compared to using bottom-up emission inventories. This work was done to better constrain the fugitive organic emissions from the Athabasca oil sands region, which are a challenge to estimate with bottom-up emission approaches. We use observations from the 2013 Joint Oil Sands Monitoring study.
Junhua Zhang, Michael D. Moran, Qiong Zheng, Paul A. Makar, Pegah Baratzadeh, George Marson, Peter Liu, and Shao-Meng Li
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 10459–10481, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-10459-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-10459-2018, 2018
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This paper discusses the development of new synthesized emissions inventories and the generation of air quality model-ready emissions files for the Athabasca Oil Sands Region of Alberta, Canada, using multiple emissions inventories, continuous emissions monitoring data, and inferred emission rates based on aircraft measurements. Novel facility-specific gridded spatial surrogate fields were generated to allocate emissions spatially within each huge mining facility.
Emma L. Mungall, Jonathan P. D. Abbatt, Jeremy J. B. Wentzell, Gregory R. Wentworth, Jennifer G. Murphy, Daniel Kunkel, Ellen Gute, David W. Tarasick, Sangeeta Sharma, Christopher J. Cox, Taneil Uttal, and John Liggio
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 10237–10254, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-10237-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-10237-2018, 2018
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We measured gas-phase formic and acetic acid at Alert, Nunavut. These acids play an important role in cloud water acidity in remote environments, yet they are not well represented in chemical transport models, particularly in the Arctic. We observed high levels of formic and acetic acid under both cold, wet, and cloudy and warm, sunny, and dry conditions, suggesting that multiple sources significantly contribute to gas-phase concentrations of these species in the summer Arctic.
Paul A. Makar, Ayodeji Akingunola, Julian Aherne, Amanda S. Cole, Yayne-abeba Aklilu, Junhua Zhang, Isaac Wong, Katherine Hayden, Shao-Meng Li, Jane Kirk, Ken Scott, Michael D. Moran, Alain Robichaud, Hazel Cathcart, Pegah Baratzedah, Balbir Pabla, Philip Cheung, Qiong Zheng, and Dean S. Jeffries
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 9897–9927, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-9897-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-9897-2018, 2018
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Complex computer model output was compared to and fused with observation data, to estimate potential damage due to acidifying precipitation for ecosystems in the Canadian provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan. Estimated deposition was compared to the maximum no-damage ecosystem capacity for sulfur and/or nitrogen uptake; these critical loads were exceeded, for areas between 10 000 and 330 000 square kilometres, depending on ecosystem type: ecosystem damage will occur at 2013 emission levels.
Monika Aggarwal, James Whiteway, Jeffrey Seabrook, Lawrence Gray, Kevin Strawbridge, Peter Liu, Jason O'Brien, Shao-Meng Li, and Robert McLaren
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 3829–3849, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-3829-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-3829-2018, 2018
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Aircraft-based laser remote sensing measurements of atmospheric aerosol and ozone were conducted to study air pollution from the oil sands extraction industry in northern Alberta. The ozone mixing ratio measured in the polluted boundary layer air was equal to or less than the background ozone mixing ratio. The lidar measurements detected a layer of forest fire smoke above the surface boundary layer in which the measured ozone mixing ratio was substantially greater than the background amount.
Ayodeji Akingunola, Paul A. Makar, Junhua Zhang, Andrea Darlington, Shao-Meng Li, Mark Gordon, Michael D. Moran, and Qiong Zheng
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 8667–8688, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-8667-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-8667-2018, 2018
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We examine the manner in which air-quality models simulate lofting of buoyant plumes of emissions from stacks (plume rise) and the impact of the level of detail in algorithms simulating particles' variation in size (particle size distribution). The most commonly used plume rise algorithm underestimates the height of plumes compared to observations, while a revised algorithm has much better performance. A 12-bin size distribution reduced the forecast 2-bin size distribution bias error by 32 %.
Sabour Baray, Andrea Darlington, Mark Gordon, Katherine L. Hayden, Amy Leithead, Shao-Meng Li, Peter S. K. Liu, Richard L. Mittermeier, Samar G. Moussa, Jason O'Brien, Ralph Staebler, Mengistu Wolde, Doug Worthy, and Robert McLaren
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 7361–7378, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-7361-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-7361-2018, 2018
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Methane emissions from major oil sands facilities in the Athabasca Oil Sands Region (AOSR) of Alberta were measured in the summer of 2013 using two related aircraft mass-balance approaches. Tailings ponds and fugitive emissions of methane from open pit mines were found to be the major sources of methane in the region. Total methane emissions in the AOSR were measured to be ~ 20 tonnes of CH4 per hour, which is 48 % higher than the Canadian Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program Emissions Inventory.
Dean B. Atkinson, Mikhail Pekour, Duli Chand, James G. Radney, Katheryn R. Kolesar, Qi Zhang, Ari Setyan, Norman T. O'Neill, and Christopher D. Cappa
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 5499–5514, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-5499-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-5499-2018, 2018
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We use in situ measurements of particle light extinction to assess the performance of a typical aerosol remote retrieval method. The retrieved fine-mode fraction of extinction, a property commonly used to characterize the anthropogenic influence on the aerosol optical depth, compares well with the in situ measurements as does the retrieved effective fine-mode radius, which characterizes the average size of the particles that contribute most to scattering.
Yuan Cheng, Shao-Meng Li, Mark Gordon, and Peter Liu
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 2653–2667, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-2653-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-2653-2018, 2018
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An aircraft campaign was conducted over the Athabasca oil sands (OS) region to characterize refractory black carbon (rBC) particles as they were emitted from the sources and as they were transported downwind; rBC size distributions were consistent at different downwind distances from the source area whereas coating thicknesses on the rBC cores increased considerably as the OS plumes were transported downwind. These results provide insights into the evolution of BC aerosol in the real atmosphere.
Brent N. Holben, Jhoon Kim, Itaru Sano, Sonoyo Mukai, Thomas F. Eck, David M. Giles, Joel S. Schafer, Aliaksandr Sinyuk, Ilya Slutsker, Alexander Smirnov, Mikhail Sorokin, Bruce E. Anderson, Huizheng Che, Myungje Choi, James H. Crawford, Richard A. Ferrare, Michael J. Garay, Ukkyo Jeong, Mijin Kim, Woogyung Kim, Nichola Knox, Zhengqiang Li, Hwee S. Lim, Yang Liu, Hal Maring, Makiko Nakata, Kenneth E. Pickering, Stuart Piketh, Jens Redemann, Jeffrey S. Reid, Santo Salinas, Sora Seo, Fuyi Tan, Sachchida N. Tripathi, Owen B. Toon, and Qingyang Xiao
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 655–671, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-655-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-655-2018, 2018
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Aerosol particles, such as smoke, vary over space and time. This paper describes a series of very high-resolution ground-based aerosol measurement networks and associated studies that contributed new understanding of aerosol processes and detailed comparisons to satellite aerosol validation. Significantly, these networks also provide an opportunity to statistically relate grab samples of an aerosol parameter to companion satellite observations, a step toward air quality assessment from space.
Leonid Nichman, Emma Järvinen, James Dorsey, Paul Connolly, Jonathan Duplissy, Claudia Fuchs, Karoliina Ignatius, Kamalika Sengupta, Frank Stratmann, Ottmar Möhler, Martin Schnaiter, and Martin Gallagher
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 10, 3231–3248, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-3231-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-3231-2017, 2017
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Optical probes are frequently used for the detection of cloud particles. The detected microphysical properties may affect particle growth and accretion mechanisms and the light scattering properties of cirrus clouds. In the CLOUD chamber study at CERN, we compared four optical measurement techniques. We show that shape derivation alone is not sufficient to determine the phase of the small cloud particles. None of the instruments were able to unambiguously determine the phase of small particles.
John Liggio, Samar G. Moussa, Jeremy Wentzell, Andrea Darlington, Peter Liu, Amy Leithead, Katherine Hayden, Jason O'Brien, Richard L. Mittermeier, Ralf Staebler, Mengistu Wolde, and Shao-Meng Li
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 8411–8427, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-8411-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-8411-2017, 2017
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The emission and formation of gaseous organic acids from the oil sands industry in Canada is explored through aircraft measurements directly over and downwind wind of industrial facilities. Results demonstrated that the formation of organic acids through atmospheric chemical reactions dominated over the direct emissions from mining activities but could not be explicitly modeled. The results highlight the need for improved understanding of photochemical mechanisms leading to these species.
Yann Blanchard, Alain Royer, Norman T. O'Neill, David D. Turner, and Edwin W. Eloranta
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 10, 2129–2147, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-2129-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-2129-2017, 2017
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Multiband thermal measurements of zenith sky radiance were used in a retrieval algorithm, to estimate cloud optical depth and effective particle diameter of thin ice clouds in the Canadian High Arctic. The retrieval technique was validated using a synergy lidar and radar data. Inversions were performed across three polar winters and results showed a significant correlation (R2 = 0.95) for cloud optical depth retrievals and an overall accuracy of 83 % for the classification of thin ice clouds.
Yuemei Han, Craig A. Stroud, John Liggio, and Shao-Meng Li
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 13929–13944, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-13929-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-13929-2016, 2016
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This study investigates the acidity effect on the yield and chemical composition of α-pinene secondary organic aerosol based on a series of laboratory experiments performed using a photochemical reaction chamber under high- and low-NOx conditions. We have found that the acidity effect largely depends on NOx level and the inorganic acidity has a significant role to play in determining various organic aerosol chemical properties such as mass yields, oxidation state, and organic nitrate content.
Hiren Jethva, Omar Torres, Lorraine Remer, Jens Redemann, John Livingston, Stephen Dunagan, Yohei Shinozuka, Meloe Kacenelenbogen, Michal Segal Rosenheimer, and Rob Spurr
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 9, 5053–5062, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-5053-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-5053-2016, 2016
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Validation of the above-cloud aerosol optical depth retrieved using the "color ratio" method applied to MODIS cloudy-sky
measurements against airborne direct measurements made by NASA’s AATS and 4STAR sun photometers during SAFARI-2000,
ACE-ASIA 2001, and SEAC4RS 2013 reveals a good level of agreement (difference < 0.1), in which most matchups are found
be constrained within the estimated uncertainties associated with the MODIS retrievals (-10 % to +50 %).
Norman T. O'Neill, Konstantin Baibakov, Sareh Hesaraki, Liviu Ivanescu, Randall V. Martin, Chris Perro, Jai P. Chaubey, Andreas Herber, and Thomas J. Duck
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 12753–12765, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-12753-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-12753-2016, 2016
Vitali E. Fioletov, Chris A. McLinden, Alexander Cede, Jonathan Davies, Cristian Mihele, Stoyka Netcheva, Shao-Meng Li, and Jason O'Brien
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 9, 2961–2976, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-2961-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-2961-2016, 2016
Sarvesh Garimella, Thomas Bjerring Kristensen, Karolina Ignatius, Andre Welti, Jens Voigtländer, Gourihar R. Kulkarni, Frank Sagan, Gregory Lee Kok, James Dorsey, Leonid Nichman, Daniel Alexander Rothenberg, Michael Rösch, Amélie Catharina Ruth Kirchgäßner, Russell Ladkin, Heike Wex, Theodore W. Wilson, Luis Antonio Ladino, Jon P. D. Abbatt, Olaf Stetzer, Ulrike Lohmann, Frank Stratmann, and Daniel James Cziczo
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 9, 2781–2795, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-2781-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-2781-2016, 2016
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The SPectrometer for Ice Nuclei (SPIN) is a commercially available ice nuclei counter manufactured by Droplet Measurement Technologies in Boulder, CO. This study characterizes the SPIN chamber, reporting data from laboratory measurements and quantifying uncertainties. Overall, we report that the SPIN is able to reproduce previous CFDC ice nucleation measurements.
Alex K. Y. Lee, Jonathan P. D. Abbatt, W. Richard Leaitch, Shao-Meng Li, Steve J. Sjostedt, Jeremy J. B. Wentzell, John Liggio, and Anne Marie Macdonald
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 6721–6733, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-6721-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-6721-2016, 2016
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Substantial biogenic secondary organic aerosol (BSOA) formation was investigated in a coniferous forest mountain region in Whistler, British Columbia. A largely biogenic aerosol growth episode was observed, providing a unique opportunity to investigate BSOA formation chemistry in a forested environment. In particular, our observations provide insights into the relative importance of different oxidation mechanisms between day and night.
Emma L. Mungall, Betty Croft, Martine Lizotte, Jennie L. Thomas, Jennifer G. Murphy, Maurice Levasseur, Randall V. Martin, Jeremy J. B. Wentzell, John Liggio, and Jonathan P. D. Abbatt
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 6665–6680, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-6665-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-6665-2016, 2016
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Previous work has suggested that marine emissions of dimethyl sulfide (DMS) could impact the Arctic climate through interactions with clouds. We made the first high-time-resolution measurements of summertime atmospheric DMS in the Canadian Arctic, and performed source sensitivity simulations. We found that regional marine sources dominated, but do not appear to be sufficient to explain our observations. Understanding DMS sources in the Arctic is necessary to model future climate in the region.
Karoliina Ignatius, Thomas B. Kristensen, Emma Järvinen, Leonid Nichman, Claudia Fuchs, Hamish Gordon, Paul Herenz, Christopher R. Hoyle, Jonathan Duplissy, Sarvesh Garimella, Antonio Dias, Carla Frege, Niko Höppel, Jasmin Tröstl, Robert Wagner, Chao Yan, Antonio Amorim, Urs Baltensperger, Joachim Curtius, Neil M. Donahue, Martin W. Gallagher, Jasper Kirkby, Markku Kulmala, Ottmar Möhler, Harald Saathoff, Martin Schnaiter, Antonio Tomé, Annele Virtanen, Douglas Worsnop, and Frank Stratmann
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 6495–6509, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-6495-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-6495-2016, 2016
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Viscous solid or semi-solid secondary organic aerosol (SOA) may influence cloud properties through ice nucleation in the atmosphere. Here, we observed heterogeneous ice nucleation of viscous α-pinene SOA at temperatures between −39 °C and −37.2 °C with ice saturation ratios significantly below the homogeneous freezing limit. Global modelling suggests that viscous biogenic SOA are present in regions where cirrus formation takes place and could contribute to the global ice nuclei budget.
Kristina Pistone, Puppala S. Praveen, Rick M. Thomas, Veerabhadran Ramanathan, Eric M. Wilcox, and Frida A.-M. Bender
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 5203–5227, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-5203-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-5203-2016, 2016
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A recent field campaign (CARDEX) in the northern Indian Ocean concurrently measured cloud and aerosol properties and atmospheric structure and dynamics from a ground-based observatory and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). These new measurements show a correlation between highly polluted conditions and increased cloud water content, concurrent with higher atmospheric temperature and humidity. Such correlations may be of interest in future studies of the effects of pollution on cloud properties.
Emma Järvinen, Karoliina Ignatius, Leonid Nichman, Thomas B. Kristensen, Claudia Fuchs, Christopher R. Hoyle, Niko Höppel, Joel C. Corbin, Jill Craven, Jonathan Duplissy, Sebastian Ehrhart, Imad El Haddad, Carla Frege, Hamish Gordon, Tuija Jokinen, Peter Kallinger, Jasper Kirkby, Alexei Kiselev, Karl-Heinz Naumann, Tuukka Petäjä, Tamara Pinterich, Andre S. H. Prevot, Harald Saathoff, Thea Schiebel, Kamalika Sengupta, Mario Simon, Jay G. Slowik, Jasmin Tröstl, Annele Virtanen, Paul Vochezer, Steffen Vogt, Andrea C. Wagner, Robert Wagner, Christina Williamson, Paul M. Winkler, Chao Yan, Urs Baltensperger, Neil M. Donahue, Rick C. Flagan, Martin Gallagher, Armin Hansel, Markku Kulmala, Frank Stratmann, Douglas R. Worsnop, Ottmar Möhler, Thomas Leisner, and Martin Schnaiter
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 4423–4438, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-4423-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-4423-2016, 2016
Leonid Nichman, Claudia Fuchs, Emma Järvinen, Karoliina Ignatius, Niko Florian Höppel, Antonio Dias, Martin Heinritzi, Mario Simon, Jasmin Tröstl, Andrea Christine Wagner, Robert Wagner, Christina Williamson, Chao Yan, Paul James Connolly, James Robert Dorsey, Jonathan Duplissy, Sebastian Ehrhart, Carla Frege, Hamish Gordon, Christopher Robert Hoyle, Thomas Bjerring Kristensen, Gerhard Steiner, Neil McPherson Donahue, Richard Flagan, Martin William Gallagher, Jasper Kirkby, Ottmar Möhler, Harald Saathoff, Martin Schnaiter, Frank Stratmann, and António Tomé
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 3651–3664, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-3651-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-3651-2016, 2016
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Processes in the atmosphere are often governed by the physical and chemical properties of small cloud particles. Ice, water, and mixed clouds, as well as viscous aerosols, were formed under controlled conditions at the CLOUD-CERN facility. The experimental results show a link between cloud particle properties and their unique optical fingerprints. The classification map presented here allows easier discrimination between various particles such as viscous organic aerosol, salt, ice, and liquid.
Bin Yuan, John Liggio, Jeremy Wentzell, Shao-Meng Li, Harald Stark, James M. Roberts, Jessica Gilman, Brian Lerner, Carsten Warneke, Rui Li, Amy Leithead, Hans D. Osthoff, Robert Wild, Steven S. Brown, and Joost A. de Gouw
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 2139–2153, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-2139-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-2139-2016, 2016
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We describe high-resolution measurements of nitrated phenols using a time-of-flight chemical ionization mass spectrometer (ToF-CIMS). Strong diurnal profiles were observed for nitrated phenols, with concentration maxima at night. Box model simulations were able to reproduce the measured nitrated phenols.
C. R. Hoyle, C. Fuchs, E. Järvinen, H. Saathoff, A. Dias, I. El Haddad, M. Gysel, S. C. Coburn, J. Tröstl, A.-K. Bernhammer, F. Bianchi, M. Breitenlechner, J. C. Corbin, J. Craven, N. M. Donahue, J. Duplissy, S. Ehrhart, C. Frege, H. Gordon, N. Höppel, M. Heinritzi, T. B. Kristensen, U. Molteni, L. Nichman, T. Pinterich, A. S. H. Prévôt, M. Simon, J. G. Slowik, G. Steiner, A. Tomé, A. L. Vogel, R. Volkamer, A. C. Wagner, R. Wagner, A. S. Wexler, C. Williamson, P. M. Winkler, C. Yan, A. Amorim, J. Dommen, J. Curtius, M. W. Gallagher, R. C. Flagan, A. Hansel, J. Kirkby, M. Kulmala, O. Möhler, F. Stratmann, D. R. Worsnop, and U. Baltensperger
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 1693–1712, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-1693-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-1693-2016, 2016
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A significant portion of sulphate, an important constituent of atmospheric aerosols, is formed via the aqueous phase oxidation of sulphur dioxide by ozone. The rate of this reaction has previously only been measured over a relatively small temperature range. Here, we use the state of the art CLOUD chamber at CERN to perform the first measurements of this reaction rate in super-cooled droplets, confirming that the existing extrapolation of the reaction rate to sub-zero temperatures is accurate.
M. W. Shephard, C. A. McLinden, K. E. Cady-Pereira, M. Luo, S. G. Moussa, A. Leithead, J. Liggio, R. M. Staebler, A. Akingunola, P. Makar, P. Lehr, J. Zhang, D. K. Henze, D. B. Millet, J. O. Bash, L. Zhu, K. C. Wells, S. L. Capps, S. Chaliyakunnel, M. Gordon, K. Hayden, J. R. Brook, M. Wolde, and S.-M. Li
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 8, 5189–5211, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-5189-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-5189-2015, 2015
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This study provides direct validations of Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer (TES) satellite retrieved profiles against coincident aircraft profiles of carbon monoxide, ammonia, methanol, and formic acid, all of which are of interest for air quality. The comparisons are performed over the Canadian oil sands region during an intensive field campaign in support of the Joint Canada-Alberta Implementation Plan for the Oil Sands Monitoring (JOSM). Initial model evaluations are also provided.
Y. Liu, J. Liggio, R. Staebler, and S.-M. Li
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 15, 13569–13584, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-13569-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-13569-2015, 2015
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This work for the first time demonstrated that organonitrogen compounds (NOC) can be formed efficiently via the uptake of ammonia by newly formed secondary organic aerosol using a smog chamber equipped with a HR-ToF-AMS. Based on the measured kinetics, this study suggests that light absorption by NOC in atmospheric particles may be important in regions where the BC contribution is minimal and NOC from ammonia should be considered with respect to overall deposition of nitrogen to ecosystems.
K. Baibakov, N. T. O'Neill, L. Ivanescu, T. J. Duck, C. Perro, A. Herber, K.-H. Schulz, and O. Schrems
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 8, 3789–3809, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-3789-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-3789-2015, 2015
M. Gordon, S.-M. Li, R. Staebler, A. Darlington, K. Hayden, J. O'Brien, and M. Wolde
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 8, 3745–3765, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-3745-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-3745-2015, 2015
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Aircraft-based measurements of air pollutants from sources in the Canadian oil sands were made during a summer intensive field campaign in 2013. This paper describes the top-down emission rate retrieval algorithm (TERRA) to determine facility emissions of pollutants, using SO2 and CH4 as examples. Uncertainty of the emission rates estimated with TERRA is estimated as less than 30%, which is primarily due to the unknown SO2 and CH4 mixing ratios near the surface below the lowest flight level.
Y. Shinozuka, A. D. Clarke, A. Nenes, A. Jefferson, R. Wood, C. S. McNaughton, J. Ström, P. Tunved, J. Redemann, K. L. Thornhill, R. H. Moore, T. L. Lathem, J. J. Lin, and Y. J. Yoon
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 15, 7585–7604, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-7585-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-7585-2015, 2015
N. D. Rider, Y. M. Taha, C. A. Odame-Ankrah, J. A. Huo, T. W. Tokarek, E. Cairns, S. G. Moussa, J. Liggio, and H. D. Osthoff
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 8, 2737–2748, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-2737-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-2737-2015, 2015
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A photochemical source of peroxycarboxylic nitric anhydrides (PANs) in which a dialkyl ketone (acetone, diethyl-, di-isopropyl, or di-n-propyl ketone) in the presence of oxygen and nitric oxide is photodissociated by arrays of ultraviolet light-emitting diodes (UV-LEDs) is described. The source output was analyzed by gas chromatography and thermal dissociation cavity ring-down spectroscopy and modeled using the Master Chemical Mechanism.
S. E. LeBlanc, P. Pilewskie, K. S. Schmidt, and O. Coddington
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 8, 1361–1383, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-1361-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-1361-2015, 2015
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Cloud properties are obtained via transmitted light that has interacted with cloud particles throughout its vertical extent. To achieve this, we introduce a new retrieval based on spectrally resolved measurements. We used 15 parameters to quantify spectral features in transmitted light modulated by cloud optical thickness, effective radius, and thermodynamic phase. When applied to ground-based measurements, this method results in a closer match to measured spectra than two other methods.
B. Yuan, P. R. Veres, C. Warneke, J. M. Roberts, J. B. Gilman, A. Koss, P. M. Edwards, M. Graus, W. C. Kuster, S.-M. Li, R. J. Wild, S. S. Brown, W. P. Dubé, B. M. Lerner, E. J. Williams, J. E. Johnson, P. K. Quinn, T. S. Bates, B. Lefer, P. L. Hayes, J. L. Jimenez, R. J. Weber, R. Zamora, B. Ervens, D. B. Millet, B. Rappenglück, and J. A. de Gouw
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 15, 1975–1993, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-1975-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-1975-2015, 2015
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In this work, secondary formation of formic acid at an urban site and a site in an oil and gas production region is studied. We investigated various gas phase formation pathways of formic acid, including those recently proposed, using a box model. The contributions from aerosol-related processes, fog events and air-snow exchange to formic acid are also quantified.
C. Warneke, P. Veres, S. M. Murphy, J. Soltis, R. A. Field, M. G. Graus, A. Koss, S.-M. Li, R. Li, B. Yuan, J. M. Roberts, and J. A. de Gouw
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 8, 411–420, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-411-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-411-2015, 2015
I. Nuaaman, S.-M. Li, K. L. Hayden, T. B. Onasch, P. Massoli, D. Sueper, D. R. Worsnop, T. S. Bates, P. K. Quinn, and R. McLaren
Atmos. Chem. Phys. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/acpd-15-2085-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/acpd-15-2085-2015, 2015
Revised manuscript has not been submitted
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In this paper, we focus on the measurement and reporting of mass concentrations of particulate chloride and sea salt in a marine area off the coast of California using a High Resolution Aerosol Mass Spectrometer. We outline a method of deconvolving the total aerosol chloride mass into refractory and non-refractory components, previously not reported in the literature. This can be important in regions where refractory sea salt aerosols can contribute to the aerosol chloride signal measured with t
L. Huang, S. L. Gong, M. Gordon, J. Liggio, R. Staebler, C. A. Stroud, G. Lu, C. Mihele, J. R. Brook, and C. Q. Jia
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 14, 12631–12648, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-12631-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-12631-2014, 2014
B. H. Samset, G. Myhre, A. Herber, Y. Kondo, S.-M. Li, N. Moteki, M. Koike, N. Oshima, J. P. Schwarz, Y. Balkanski, S. E. Bauer, N. Bellouin, T. K. Berntsen, H. Bian, M. Chin, T. Diehl, R. C. Easter, S. J. Ghan, T. Iversen, A. Kirkevåg, J.-F. Lamarque, G. Lin, X. Liu, J. E. Penner, M. Schulz, Ø. Seland, R. B. Skeie, P. Stier, T. Takemura, K. Tsigaridis, and K. Zhang
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 14, 12465–12477, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-12465-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-12465-2014, 2014
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Far from black carbon (BC) emission sources, present climate models are unable to reproduce flight measurements. By comparing recent models with data, we find that the atmospheric lifetime of BC may be overestimated in models. By adjusting modeled BC concentrations to measurements in remote regions - over oceans and at high altitudes - we arrive at a reduced estimate for BC radiative forcing over the industrial era.
Y. Liu, L. Huang, S.-M. Li, T. Harner, and J. Liggio
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 14, 12195–12207, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-12195-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-12195-2014, 2014
R. Li, C. Warneke, M. Graus, R. Field, F. Geiger, P. R. Veres, J. Soltis, S.-M. Li, S. M. Murphy, C. Sweeney, G. Pétron, J. M. Roberts, and J. de Gouw
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 7, 3597–3610, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-7-3597-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-7-3597-2014, 2014
K. C. Kaku, J. S. Reid, N. T. O'Neill, P. K. Quinn, D. J. Coffman, and T. F. Eck
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 7, 3399–3412, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-7-3399-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-7-3399-2014, 2014
Y. Liu, S.-M. Li, and J. Liggio
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 14, 9201–9211, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-9201-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-9201-2014, 2014
M. Gordon, A. Vlasenko, R. M. Staebler, C. Stroud, P. A. Makar, J. Liggio, S.-M. Li, and S. Brown
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 14, 9087–9097, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-9087-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-9087-2014, 2014
T. P. Riedel, G. M. Wolfe, K. T. Danas, J. B. Gilman, W. C. Kuster, D. M. Bon, A. Vlasenko, S.-M. Li, E. J. Williams, B. M. Lerner, P. R. Veres, J. M. Roberts, J. S. Holloway, B. Lefer, S. S. Brown, and J. A. Thornton
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 14, 3789–3800, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-3789-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-3789-2014, 2014
J. M. Livingston, J. Redemann, Y. Shinozuka, R. Johnson, P. B. Russell, Q. Zhang, S. Mattoo, L. Remer, R. Levy, L. Munchak, and S. Ramachandran
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 14, 2015–2038, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-2015-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-2015-2014, 2014
G. M. Buffaloe, D. A. Lack, E. J. Williams, D. Coffman, K. L. Hayden, B. M. Lerner, S.-M. Li, I. Nuaaman, P. Massoli, T. B. Onasch, P. K. Quinn, and C. D. Cappa
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 14, 1881–1896, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-1881-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-1881-2014, 2014
S. Zhou, L. Gonzalez, A. Leithead, Z. Finewax, R. Thalman, A. Vlasenko, S. Vagle, L.A. Miller, S.-M. Li, S. Bureekul, H. Furutani, M. Uematsu, R. Volkamer, and J. Abbatt
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 14, 1371–1384, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-1371-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-1371-2014, 2014
C. D. Cappa, E. J. Williams, D. A. Lack, G. M. Buffaloe, D. Coffman, K. L. Hayden, S. C. Herndon, B. M. Lerner, S.-M. Li, P. Massoli, R. McLaren, I. Nuaaman, T. B. Onasch, and P. K. Quinn
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 14, 1337–1352, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-1337-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-1337-2014, 2014
A. Petzold, J. A. Ogren, M. Fiebig, P. Laj, S.-M. Li, U. Baltensperger, T. Holzer-Popp, S. Kinne, G. Pappalardo, N. Sugimoto, C. Wehrli, A. Wiedensohler, and X.-Y. Zhang
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 13, 8365–8379, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-8365-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-8365-2013, 2013
P. Cottle, K. Strawbridge, I. McKendry, N. O'Neill, and A. Saha
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 13, 4515–4527, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-4515-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-4515-2013, 2013
L. Ahlm, K. M. Shakya, L. M. Russell, J. C. Schroder, J. P. S. Wong, S. J. Sjostedt, K. L. Hayden, J. Liggio, J. J. B. Wentzell, H. A. Wiebe, C. Mihele, W. R. Leaitch, and A. M. Macdonald
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 13, 3393–3407, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-3393-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-3393-2013, 2013
J. Liggio and S.-M. Li
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 13, 2989–3002, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-2989-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-2989-2013, 2013
Related subject area
Subject: Aerosols | Research Activity: Remote Sensing | Altitude Range: Troposphere | Science Focus: Physics (physical properties and processes)
Atmospheric processing and aerosol aging responsible for observed increase in absorptivity of long-range-transported smoke over the southeast Atlantic
Discussion of the spectral slope of the lidar ratio between 355 and 1064 nm from multiwavelength Raman lidar observations
Observational constraints suggest a smaller effective radiative forcing from aerosol–cloud interactions
Analysis of a saline dust storm from the Aralkum Desert – Part 1: Consistency between multisensor satellite aerosol products
Retrieval of microphysical properties of dust aerosols from extinction, backscattering and depolarization lidar measurements using various particle scattering models
Fluorescence spectra of atmospheric aerosols
All-Sky Direct Aerosol Radiative Effects Estimated from Integrated A-Train Satellite Measurements
Invisible aerosol layers: improved lidar detection capabilities by means of laser-induced aerosol fluorescence
Wildfires heat the middle troposphere over the Himalayas and Tibetan Plateau during the peak of fire season
Characterization of aerosol optical depth (AOD) anomalies in September and October 2022 over Skukuza in South Africa
Technical note: Evolution of convective boundary layer height estimated by Ka-band continuous millimeter wave radar at Wuhan in central China
Evolution of aerosol optical depth over China in 2010–2024: increasing importance of meteorological influences
Trends in the erythemal radiant exposure from re-evaluated measurements (1976–2023) with biometers at Belsk, Poland, and their sources from corresponding ozone, aerosol, and cloud observations
Fluorescence properties of long-range-transported smoke: insights from five-channel lidar observations over Moscow during the 2023 wildfire season
Lidar estimates of birch pollen number, mass, and CCN-related concentrations
An observational estimate of Arctic UV-absorbing aerosol direct radiative forcing on instantaneous and climatic scales
Distinct effects of fine and coarse aerosols on microphysical processes of shallow-precipitation systems in summer over southern China
Increased number concentrations of small particles explain perceived stagnation in air quality over Korea
Remote-sensing detectability of airborne Arctic dust
Regional transport of aerosols from Northern India and its impact on boundary layer dynamics and air quality over Chennai, a coastal megacity in Southern India
Investigating the link between mineral dust hematite content and intensive optical properties by means of lidar measurements and aerosol modelling
The role of refractive indices in measuring mineral dust with high-spectral-resolution infrared satellite sounders: application to the Gobi Desert
Influence of covariance of aerosol and meteorology on co-located precipitating and non-precipitating clouds over the Indo-Gangetic Plain
Light-absorbing black carbon and brown carbon components of smoke aerosol from DSCOVR EPIC measurements over North America and central Africa
The emission, transport, and impacts of the extreme Saharan dust storm of 2015
California wildfire smoke contributes to a positive atmospheric temperature anomaly over the western United States
Dust storms from the Taklamakan Desert significantly darken snow surface on surrounding mountains
Opposite effects of aerosols and meteorological parameters on warm clouds in two contrasting regions over eastern China
Effect of wind speed on marine aerosol optical properties over remote oceans with use of spaceborne lidar observations
Assessment of smoke plume height products derived from multisource satellite observations using lidar-derived height metrics for wildfires in the western US
A remote sensing algorithm for vertically resolved cloud condensation nuclei number concentrations from airborne and spaceborne lidar observations
Opinion: Aerosol remote sensing over the next 20 years
Monitoring biomass burning aerosol transport using CALIOP observations and reanalysis models: a Canadian wildfire event in 2019
Thermal infrared observations of a western United States biomass burning aerosol plume
A new look into the impacts of dust radiative effects on the energetics of tropical easterly waves
Wind-driven emissions of coarse-mode particles in an urban environment
Measurement report: Dust and anthropogenic aerosols' vertical distributions over northern China dense aerosols gathered at the top of the mixing layer
Climatological assessment of the vertically resolved optical and microphysical aerosol properties by lidar measurements, sun photometer, and in situ observations over 17 years at Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) Barcelona
Aerosol optical depth climatology from the high-resolution MAIAC product over Europe: differences between major European cities and their surrounding environments
Impact of assimilating NOAA VIIRS aerosol optical depth (AOD) observations on global AOD analysis from the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS)
Spectral dependence of birch and pine pollen optical properties using a synergy of lidar instruments
Validation activities of Aeolus wind products on the southeastern Iberian Peninsula
Thermal infrared dust optical depth and coarse-mode effective diameter over oceans retrieved from collocated MODIS and CALIOP observations
A comprehensive reappraisal of long-term aerosol characteristics, trends, and variability in Asia
Satellite (GOSAT-2 CAI-2) retrieval and surface (ARFINET) observations of aerosol black carbon over India
Spatiotemporal variation characteristics of global fires and their emissions
The (mis)identification of high-latitude dust events using remote sensing methods in the Yukon, Canada: a sub-daily variability analysis
Comparison of dust optical depth from multi-sensor products and MONARCH (Multiscale Online Non-hydrostatic AtmospheRe CHemistry) dust reanalysis over North Africa, the Middle East, and Europe
Understanding day–night differences in dust aerosols over the dust belt of North Africa, the Middle East, and Asia
Satellite observations of smoke–cloud–radiation interactions over the Amazon rainforest
Abdulamid A. Fakoya, Jens Redemann, Pablo E. Saide, Lan Gao, Logan T. Mitchell, Calvin Howes, Amie Dobracki, Ian Chang, Gonzalo A. Ferrada, Kristina Pistone, Samuel E. Leblanc, Michal Segal-Rozenhaimer, Arthur J. Sedlacek III, Thomas Eck, Brent Holben, Pawan Gupta, Elena Lind, Paquita Zuidema, Gregory Carmichael, and Connor J. Flynn
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 7879–7902, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-7879-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-7879-2025, 2025
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Tiny atmospheric particles from wildfire smoke impact the climate by interacting with sunlight and clouds, the extent of which is uncertain due to gaps in understanding how smoke changes over time. We developed a new method using remote sensing instruments to track how these particles evolve during atmospheric transport. Our results show that the ability of these particles to absorb sunlight increases as they travel. This discovery could help improve predictions of future climate scenarios.
Moritz Haarig, Ronny Engelmann, Holger Baars, Benedikt Gast, Dietrich Althausen, and Albert Ansmann
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 7741–7763, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-7741-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-7741-2025, 2025
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The lidar ratio is an important quantity in aerosol typing. Its spectral slope contains information about the source region or transport paths of the observed aerosol. The extension to 1064 nm is a recent development led by our institute. We gathered previous observations and added new ones to provide the spectral slope for the most important aerosol types such as marine and continental aerosol, dust, smoke, and sulfate. We compared it to assumptions used for spaceborne backscatter lidars.
Chanyoung Park, Brian J. Soden, Ryan J. Kramer, Tristan S. L'Ecuyer, and Haozhe He
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 7299–7313, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-7299-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-7299-2025, 2025
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This study addresses the long-standing challenge of quantifying the impact of aerosol–cloud interactions. Using satellite observations, reanalysis data, and a "perfect-model" cross-validation, we show that explicitly accounting for aerosol–cloud droplet activation rates is key to accurately estimating ERFaci (effective radiative forcing due to aerosol–cloud interactions). Our results indicate a smaller and less uncertain ERFaci than previously assessed, implying the reduced role of aerosol–cloud interactions in shaping climate sensitivity.
Xin Xi, Jun Wang, Zhendong Lu, Andrew M. Sayer, Jaehwa Lee, Robert C. Levy, Yujie Wang, Alexei Lyapustin, Hongqing Liu, Istvan Laszlo, Changwoo Ahn, Omar Torres, Sabur Abdullaev, James Limbacher, and Ralph A. Kahn
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 7403–7429, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-7403-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-7403-2025, 2025
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The Aralkum Desert is challenging for aerosol retrieval due to its bright, heterogeneous, and dynamic surfaces and the lack of in situ constraints on aerosol properties. The performance and consistency of satellite algorithms in observing Aralkum-generated saline dust remain unknown. This study compares multisensor UVAI (ultraviolet aerosol index), AOD (aerosol optical depth), and ALH (aerosol layer height) products and reveals inconsistencies and potential biases over the Aral Sea basin.
Yuyang Chang, Qiaoyun Hu, Philippe Goloub, Thierry Podvin, Igor Veselovskii, Fabrice Ducos, Gaël Dubois, Masanori Saito, Anton Lopatin, Oleg Dubovik, and Cheng Chen
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 6787–6821, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-6787-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-6787-2025, 2025
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Our study retrieved dust aerosol microphysical properties from lidar measurements using different scattering models. Numeric simulations and real data applications revealed the importance of considering depolarization measurements and the superiority of the irregular–hexahedral model in the retrieval of dust aerosols from lidar measurements.
Jens Reichardt, Felix Lauermann, and Oliver Behrendt
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 5857–5892, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-5857-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-5857-2025, 2025
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Optical remote sensing systems, so-called lidars, are used to learn more about aerosols, which play an important role in atmospheric processes. The present study demonstrates that lidars, which measure the backscattering behavior of aerosols over the entire visible wavelength range, can increase our knowledge of the spatial and temporal occurrence of aerosol layers, the type of aerosol, and their interaction with clouds. The focus of the publication is on wildfire aerosol and Saharan dust.
Meloë S. F. Kacenelenbogen, Ralph Kuehn, Nandana Amarasinghe, Kerry Meyer, Edward Nowottnick, Mark Vaughan, Hong Chen, Sebastian Schmidt, Richard Ferrare, John Hair, Robert Levy, Hongbin Yu, Paquita Zuidema, Robert Holz, and Willem Marais
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1403, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1403, 2025
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Aerosols perturb the radiation balance of the Earth-atmosphere system. To reduce the uncertainty in quantifying present-day climate change, we combine two satellite sensors and a model to assess the aerosol effects on radiation in all-sky conditions. Satellite-based and coincident aircraft measurements of aerosol radiative effects agree well over the Southeast Atlantic. This constitutes a crucial first evaluation before we apply our method to more years and regions of the world.
Benedikt Gast, Cristofer Jimenez, Albert Ansmann, Moritz Haarig, Ronny Engelmann, Felix Fritzsch, Athena A. Floutsi, Hannes Griesche, Kevin Ohneiser, Julian Hofer, Martin Radenz, Holger Baars, Patric Seifert, and Ulla Wandinger
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 3995–4011, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-3995-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-3995-2025, 2025
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In this study, we discuss the enhanced detection capabilities of a fluorescence lidar in the case of optically thin aerosol layers in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere (UTLS) region. Our results suggest that such thin aerosol layers are not so rare in the UTLS and can potentially trigger and impact cirrus cloud formation through heterogeneous ice nucleation. By altering the microphysical cloud properties, this could affect clouds' evolution and lifetime and thus their climate effect.
Qiaomin Pei, Chuanfeng Zhao, Yikun Yang, Annan Chen, Zhiyuan Cong, Xin Wan, Haotian Zhang, and Guangming Wu
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1172, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1172, 2025
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This study investigates smoke's impact on atmospheric warming over the Himalayan and Tibetan Plateau (HTP) using MODIS fire data, ground-based and satellite aerosol observations, and model simulations. It finds that smoke aerosols – predominantly concentrated between 6 and 8 km in the mid-troposphere over southern HTP – likely alter regional atmospheric stability by modifying the vertical temperature profile, as indicated by a reduced lapse rate.
Marion Ranaivombola, Nelson Bègue, Lucas Vaz Peres, Farahnaz Fazel-Rastgar, Venkataraman Sivakumar, Gisèle Krysztofiak, Gwenaël Berthet, Fabrice Jegou, Stuart Piketh, and Hassan Bencherif
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 3519–3540, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-3519-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-3519-2025, 2025
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From September to October 2022, the Biomass Burning Aerosol Campaign (BiBAC) in Kruger National Park revealed a significant aerosol loading linked to biomass burning activity, with southeastward transport over southern Africa and the southwestern Indian Ocean (SWIO) basin. The study revealed a predominance of biomass burning aerosols and two distinct transport mechanisms of aerosol plumes and CO, underscoring the importance of east-coast observations in understanding atmospheric dynamics.
Zirui Zhang, Kaiming Huang, Fan Yi, Wei Cheng, Fuchao Liu, Jian Zhang, and Yue Jia
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 3347–3361, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-3347-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-3347-2025, 2025
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The height of the convective boundary layer (CBLH) is related to our health due to its crucial role in pollutant dispersion. The variance of vertical velocity from millimeter wave cloud radar (MMCR) can accurately capture the diurnal evolution of the CBLH, due to a small blind range and less impact by the residual layer. The CBLH is affected by radiation, humidity, cloud, and precipitation; thus, the MMCR is suitable for monitoring the CBLH, owing to its observation capability in various weather conditions.
Cheng Fan, Gerrit de Leeuw, Xiaoxi Yan, Jiantao Dong, Hanqing Kang, Chengwei Fang, Zhengqiang Li, and Ying Zhang
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-880, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-880, 2025
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This study describes the analysis of time series of the MODIS-derived Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) over China between 2010 and 2024. Emission reduction policy has been effective in reducing the AOD until 2018. Thereafter the overall reduction until the end of the study was very small due to unfavorable meteorological factors cancelling favorable anthropogenic effects which resulted in AOD increase during extended periods. The variations over different areas in China are discussed.
Agnieszka Czerwińska, Janusz Krzyścin, Janusz Jarosławski, Piotr S. Sobolewski, and Aleksander Pietruczuk
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1129, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1129, 2025
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Excessive levels of ultraviolet solar radiation at the Earth's surface have been linked to several types of skin cancer. The world's longest record of solar radiation intensities causing harmful skin redness comes from observations at Belsk, Poland, between 1976 and 2023. In this century, the intensity of such radiation is stable, but 15 % higher than in the 1970s. This trend is due to the combined effects of a decrease in stratospheric ozone and an increase in cloud transparency before 2000.
Igor Veselovskii, Mikhail Korenskiy, Nikita Kasianik, Boris Barchunov, Qiaoyun Hu, Philippe Goloub, and Thierry Podvin
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 1603–1615, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-1603-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-1603-2025, 2025
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A fluorescence lidar was used to study transported Canadian smoke in May–September 2023. The fluorescence measurements were taken at five wavelengths. The results revealed that fluorescence capacity increases with altitude, suggesting a higher concentration of organic compounds in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere than in the lower troposphere. The fluorescence spectra peaked in the 513 and 560 nm channels in smoke layers but decreased with wavelength in urban aerosols.
Maria Filioglou, Petri Tiitta, Xiaoxia Shang, Ari Leskinen, Pasi Ahola, Sanna Pätsi, Annika Saarto, Ville Vakkari, Uula Isopahkala, and Mika Komppula
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 1639–1657, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-1639-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-1639-2025, 2025
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Every year a vast number of people experience allergic reactions due to exposure to airborne pollen. These symptoms are concentration dependent; thus accurate information about the pollen load in the atmosphere is essential. Moreover, pollen grains and fragments of it are likely to contribute to cloud processes and suppress precipitation. Here, we estimate the concentration and cloud-relevant parameters of birch pollen in the atmosphere using observations from a PollyXT and a CL61 ceilometer.
Blake T. Sorenson, Jianglong Zhang, Jeffrey S. Reid, and Peng Xian
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-80, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-80, 2025
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Plumes of wildfire smoke in the Arctic affect the Arctic radiative budget. Using a neural network and observations from satellite-based sensors, we analyzed the direct radiative forcing of smoke particles on the Arctic climate and estimated long-term forcing trends. Strong negative trends in aerosol direct radiative forcing were found in northern Russia and Canada, with positive trends found over parts of the Arctic Ocean. Overall, smoke plumes may act to counter future Arctic warming.
Fengjiao Chen, Yuanjian Yang, Lu Yu, Yang Li, Weiguang Liu, Yan Liu, and Simone Lolli
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 1587–1601, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-1587-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-1587-2025, 2025
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The microphysical mechanisms of precipitation responsible for the varied impacts of aerosol particles on shallow precipitation remain unclear. This study reveals that coarse aerosol particles invigorate shallow rainfall through enhanced coalescence processes, whereas fine aerosol particles suppress shallow rainfall through intensified microphysical breaks. These impacts are independent of thermodynamic environments but are more significant in low-humidity conditions.
Sohee Joo, Juseon Shin, Matthias Tesche, Naghmeh Dehkhoda, Taegyeong Kim, and Youngmin Noh
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 1023–1036, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-1023-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-1023-2025, 2025
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In our study, we investigated why, in northeast Asia, visibility has not improved even though air pollution levels have decreased. By examining trends in Seoul and Ulsan, we found that the particles in the air are getting smaller, which scatters light more effectively and reduces how far we can see. Our findings suggest that changes in particle properties adversely affected public perception of air quality improvement even though the PM2.5 mass concentration is continuously decreasing.
Norman T. O'Neill, Keyvan Ranjbar, Liviu Ivănescu, Yann Blanchard, Seyed Ali Sayedain, and Yasmin AboEl-Fetouh
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 27–44, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-27-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-27-2025, 2025
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Dust from mid-latitude deserts or from local drainage basins is a weak component of atmospheric aerosols in the Arctic. Satellite-based dust estimates are often overestimated because dust and cloud measurements can be confused. Illustrations are given with an emphasis on the flawed claim that a classic indicator of dust (negative brightness temperature differences) is proof of the presence of airborne Arctic dust. Low-altitude warm-water plumes are the likely source of such negative values.
Saleem Ali, Chandan Sarangi, and Sanjay Kumar Mehta
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3093, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3093, 2024
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The pollutants over Northern India are transported towards South India under the influence of the prevalent wind system, especially during winter. This long-range transport induces a widespread haziness over southern India, lasting for days. We evaluated the occurrence of such transport episodes over south India using observational methods and found that it suppresses the boundary layer height by ~38 % compared to the clear days while exacerbating the surface pollution by ~30–35 %.
Sofía Gómez Maqueo Anaya, Dietrich Althausen, Julian Hofer, Moritz Haarig, Ulla Wandinger, Bernd Heinold, Ina Tegen, Matthias Faust, Holger Baars, Albert Ansmann, Ronny Engelmann, Annett Skupin, Birgit Heese, and Kerstin Schepanski
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3159, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3159, 2024
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This study investigates how hematite (an iron oxide mineral) in the Saharan Desert dust affects how dust particles interact with radiation. Using lidar data from Cabo Verde (2021–2022) and hematite content from atmospheric model simulations, the results show that higher hematite fraction leads to stronger particle backscattering at specific wavelengths. These findings can improve the representaiton of mineral dust in climate models, particularly regarding their radiative effect.
Perla Alalam, Fabrice Ducos, and Hervé Herbin
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 12277–12294, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-12277-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-12277-2024, 2024
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This study dives into the impact of mineral dust laboratory complex refractive indices (CRIs) on quantifying the dust microphysical properties using satellite infrared remote sensing. Results show that using CRIs obtained by advanced realistic techniques can improve the accuracy of these measurements, emphasizing the importance of choosing the suitable CRI in atmospheric models. This improvement is crucial for better predicting the dust radiative effect and impact on the climate.
Nabia Gulistan, Khan Alam, and Yangang Liu
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 11333–11349, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-11333-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-11333-2024, 2024
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This study looks at the influence of aerosol and meteorology on precipitating and non-precipitating clouds over the Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP). A major finding of this study was that the high loading of aerosols led to a high occurrence of precipitating clouds under unstable conditions in summer. The study has the potential to open a new avenue for the scientific community to further explore and understand the complications of aerosol–cloud–precipitation over the complex topography of the IGP.
Myungje Choi, Alexei Lyapustin, Gregory L. Schuster, Sujung Go, Yujie Wang, Sergey Korkin, Ralph Kahn, Jeffrey S. Reid, Edward J. Hyer, Thomas F. Eck, Mian Chin, David J. Diner, Olga Kalashnikova, Oleg Dubovik, Jhoon Kim, and Hans Moosmüller
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 10543–10565, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-10543-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-10543-2024, 2024
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This paper introduces a retrieval algorithm to estimate two key absorbing components in smoke (black carbon and brown carbon) using DSCOVR EPIC measurements. Our analysis reveals distinct smoke properties, including spectral absorption, layer height, and black carbon and brown carbon, over North America and central Africa. The retrieved smoke properties offer valuable observational constraints for modeling radiative forcing and informing health-related studies.
Brian Harr, Bing Pu, and Qinjian Jin
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 8625–8651, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-8625-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-8625-2024, 2024
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We found that the formation of the extreme trans-Atlantic African dust event in June 2015 was associated with a brief surge in dust emissions over western North Africa and extreme circulation patterns, including intensified easterly jets, which facilitated the westward transport of dust. The dust plume modified radiative flux along its transport pathway but had minor impacts on air quality in the US due to the record-high Caribbean low-level jet advecting part of the plume to the Pacific.
James L. Gomez, Robert J. Allen, and King-Fai Li
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 6937–6963, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-6937-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-6937-2024, 2024
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Wildfires in California (CA) have grown very large during the past 20 years. These fires emit sunlight-absorbing aerosols. Analyzing observational data, our study finds that aerosols emitted from large fires in northern CA spread throughout CA and Nevada and heat the atmosphere. This heating is consistent with larger-than-normal temperatures and dry conditions. Further study is needed to determine how much the aerosols heat the atmosphere and whether they are drying the atmosphere as well.
Yuxuan Xing, Yang Chen, Shirui Yan, Xiaoyi Cao, Yong Zhou, Xueying Zhang, Tenglong Shi, Xiaoying Niu, Dongyou Wu, Jiecan Cui, Yue Zhou, Xin Wang, and Wei Pu
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 5199–5219, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-5199-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-5199-2024, 2024
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This study investigated the impact of dust storms from the Taklamakan Desert on surrounding high mountains and regional radiation balance. Using satellite data and simulations, researchers found that dust storms significantly darken the snow surface in the Tien Shan, Kunlun, and Qilian mountains, reaching mountains up to 1000 km away. This darkening occurs not only in spring but also during summer and autumn, leading to increased absorption of solar radiation.
Yuqin Liu, Tao Lin, Jiahua Zhang, Fu Wang, Yiyi Huang, Xian Wu, Hong Ye, Guoqin Zhang, Xin Cao, and Gerrit de Leeuw
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 4651–4673, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-4651-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-4651-2024, 2024
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A new method, the geographical detector method (GDM), has been applied to satellite data, in addition to commonly used statistical methods, to study the sensitivity of cloud properties to aerosol over China. Different constraints for aerosol and cloud liquid water path apply over polluted and clean areas. The GDM shows that cloud parameters are more sensitive to combinations of parameters than to individual parameters, but confounding effects due to co-variation of parameters cannot be excluded.
Kangwen Sun, Guangyao Dai, Songhua Wu, Oliver Reitebuch, Holger Baars, Jiqiao Liu, and Suping Zhang
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 4389–4409, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-4389-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-4389-2024, 2024
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This paper investigates the correlation between marine aerosol optical properties and wind speeds over remote oceans using the spaceborne lidars ALADIN and CALIOP. Three remote ocean areas are selected. Pure marine aerosol optical properties at 355 nm are derived from ALADIN. The relationships between marine aerosol optical properties and wind speeds are analyzed within and above the marine atmospheric boundary layer, revealing the effect of wind speed on marine aerosols over remote oceans.
Jingting Huang, S. Marcela Loría-Salazar, Min Deng, Jaehwa Lee, and Heather A. Holmes
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 3673–3698, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-3673-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-3673-2024, 2024
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Increased wildfire intensity has resulted in taller wildfire smoke plumes. We investigate the vertical structure of wildfire smoke plumes using aircraft lidar data and establish two effective smoke plume height metrics. Four novel satellite-based plume height products are evaluated for wildfires in the western US. Our results provide guidance on the strengths and limitations of these satellite products and set the stage for improved plume rise estimates by leveraging satellite products.
Piyushkumar N. Patel, Jonathan H. Jiang, Ritesh Gautam, Harish Gadhavi, Olga Kalashnikova, Michael J. Garay, Lan Gao, Feng Xu, and Ali Omar
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 2861–2883, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-2861-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-2861-2024, 2024
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Global measurements of cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) are essential for understanding aerosol–cloud interactions and predicting climate change. To address this gap, we introduced a remote sensing algorithm that retrieves vertically resolved CCN number concentrations from airborne and spaceborne lidar systems. This innovation offers a global distribution of CCN concentrations from space, facilitating model evaluation and precise quantification of aerosol climate forcing.
Lorraine A. Remer, Robert C. Levy, and J. Vanderlei Martins
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 2113–2127, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-2113-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-2113-2024, 2024
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Aerosols are small liquid or solid particles suspended in the atmosphere, including smoke, particulate pollution, dust, and sea salt. Today, we rely on satellites viewing Earth's atmosphere to learn about these particles. Here, we speculate on the future to imagine how satellite viewing of aerosols will change. We expect more public and private satellites with greater capabilities, better ways to infer information from satellites, and merging of data with models.
Xiaoxia Shang, Antti Lipponen, Maria Filioglou, Anu-Maija Sundström, Mark Parrington, Virginie Buchard, Anton S. Darmenov, Ellsworth J. Welton, Eleni Marinou, Vassilis Amiridis, Michael Sicard, Alejandro Rodríguez-Gómez, Mika Komppula, and Tero Mielonen
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 1329–1344, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-1329-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-1329-2024, 2024
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In June 2019, smoke particles from a Canadian wildfire event were transported to Europe. The long-range-transported smoke plumes were monitored with a spaceborne lidar and reanalysis models. Based on the aerosol mass concentrations estimated from the observations, the reanalysis models had difficulties in reproducing the amount and location of the smoke aerosols during the transport event. Consequently, more spaceborne lidar missions are needed for reliable monitoring of aerosol plumes.
Blake T. Sorenson, Jeffrey S. Reid, Jianglong Zhang, Robert E. Holz, William L. Smith Sr., and Amanda Gumber
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 1231–1248, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-1231-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-1231-2024, 2024
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Smoke particles are typically submicron in size and assumed to have negligible impacts at the thermal infrared spectrum. However, we show that infrared signatures can be observed over dense smoke plumes from satellites. We found that giant particles are unlikely to be the dominant cause. Rather, co-transported water vapor injected to the middle to upper troposphere and surface cooling beneath the plume due to shadowing are significant, with the surface cooling effect being the most dominant.
Farnaz Hosseinpour and Eric M. Wilcox
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 707–724, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-707-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-707-2024, 2024
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This study shows mechanistic relationships between the radiative effect of dust aerosols in the Saharan air layer and the kinetic energy of the African easterly waves across the tropical Atlantic Ocean using 22 years of daily satellite observations and reanalysis data based on satellite assimilation. Our findings suggest that dust aerosols not merely are transported by these waves but also contribute to the growth of waves through the enhancement of diabatic heating induced by dust.
Markus D. Petters, Tyas Pujiastuti, Ajmal Rasheeda Satheesh, Sabin Kasparoglu, Bethany Sutherland, and Nicholas Meskhidze
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 745–762, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-745-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-745-2024, 2024
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This work introduces a new method that uses remote sensing techniques to obtain surface number emissions of particles with a diameter greater than 500 nm. The technique was applied to study particle emissions at an urban site near Houston, TX, USA. The emissions followed a diurnal pattern and peaked near noon local time. The daily averaged emissions correlated with wind speed. The source is likely due to wind-driven erosion of material situated on asphalted and other hard surfaces.
Zhuang Wang, Chune Shi, Hao Zhang, Yujia Chen, Xiyuan Chi, Congzi Xia, Suyao Wang, Yizhi Zhu, Kaidi Zhang, Xintong Chen, Chengzhi Xing, and Cheng Liu
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 14271–14292, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-14271-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-14271-2023, 2023
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The annual cycle of dust and anthropogenic aerosols' vertical distributions was revealed by polarization Raman lidar in Beijing. Anthropogenic aerosols typically accumulate at the top of the mixing layer (ML) due to the hygroscopic growth of atmospheric particles, and this is most significant in summer. There is no significant relationship between bottom dust mass concentration and ML height, while the dust in the upper air tends to be distributed near the mixing layer.
Simone Lolli, Michaël Sicard, Francesco Amato, Adolfo Comeron, Cristina Gíl-Diaz, Tony C. Landi, Constantino Munoz-Porcar, Daniel Oliveira, Federico Dios Otin, Francesc Rocadenbosch, Alejandro Rodriguez-Gomez, Andrés Alastuey, Xavier Querol, and Cristina Reche
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 12887–12906, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-12887-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-12887-2023, 2023
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We evaluated the long-term trends and seasonal variability of the vertically resolved aerosol properties over the past 17 years in Barcelona. Results shows that air quality is improved, with a consistent drop in PM concentrations at the surface, as well as the column aerosol optical depth. The results also show that natural dust outbreaks are more likely in summer, with aerosols reaching an altitude of 5 km, while in winter, aerosols decay as an exponential with a scale height of 600 m.
Ludovico Di Antonio, Claudia Di Biagio, Gilles Foret, Paola Formenti, Guillaume Siour, Jean-François Doussin, and Matthias Beekmann
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 12455–12475, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-12455-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-12455-2023, 2023
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Long-term (2000–2021) 1 km resolution satellite data have been used to investigate the climatological aerosol optical depth (AOD) variability and trends at different scales in Europe. Average enhancements of the local-to-regional AOD ratio at 550 nm of 57 %, 55 %, 39 % and 32 % are found for large metropolitan areas such as Barcelona, Lisbon, Paris and Athens, respectively, suggesting a non-negligible enhancement of the aerosol burden through local emissions.
Sebastien Garrigues, Melanie Ades, Samuel Remy, Johannes Flemming, Zak Kipling, Istvan Laszlo, Mark Parrington, Antje Inness, Roberto Ribas, Luke Jones, Richard Engelen, and Vincent-Henri Peuch
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 10473–10487, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-10473-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-10473-2023, 2023
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The Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) provides global monitoring of aerosols using the ECMWF forecast model constrained by the assimilation of satellite aerosol optical depth (AOD). This work aims at evaluating the assimilation of the NOAA VIIRS AOD product in the ECMWF model. It shows that the introduction of VIIRS in the CAMS data assimilation system enhances the accuracy of the aerosol analysis, particularly over Europe and desert and maritime sites.
Maria Filioglou, Ari Leskinen, Ville Vakkari, Ewan O'Connor, Minttu Tuononen, Pekko Tuominen, Samuli Laukkanen, Linnea Toiviainen, Annika Saarto, Xiaoxia Shang, Petri Tiitta, and Mika Komppula
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 9009–9021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-9009-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-9009-2023, 2023
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Pollen impacts climate and public health, and it can be detected in the atmosphere by lidars which measure the linear particle depolarization ratio (PDR), a shape-relevant optical parameter. As aerosols also cause depolarization, surface aerosol and pollen observations were combined with measurements from ground-based lidars operating at different wavelengths to determine the optical properties of birch and pine pollen and quantify their relative contribution to the PDR.
Jesús Abril-Gago, Pablo Ortiz-Amezcua, Diego Bermejo-Pantaleón, Juana Andújar-Maqueda, Juan Antonio Bravo-Aranda, María José Granados-Muñoz, Francisco Navas-Guzmán, Lucas Alados-Arboledas, Inmaculada Foyo-Moreno, and Juan Luis Guerrero-Rascado
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 8453–8471, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-8453-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-8453-2023, 2023
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Validation activities of Aeolus wind products were performed in Granada with different upward-probing instrumentation (Doppler lidar system and radiosondes) and spatiotemporal collocation criteria. Specific advantages and disadvantages of each instrument were identified, and an optimal comparison criterion is proposed. Aeolus was proven to provide reliable wind products, and the upward-probing instruments were proven to be useful for Aeolus wind product validation activities.
Jianyu Zheng, Zhibo Zhang, Hongbin Yu, Anne Garnier, Qianqian Song, Chenxi Wang, Claudia Di Biagio, Jasper F. Kok, Yevgeny Derimian, and Claire Ryder
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 8271–8304, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-8271-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-8271-2023, 2023
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We developed a multi-year satellite-based retrieval of dust optical depth at 10 µm and the coarse-mode dust effective diameter over global oceans. It reveals climatological coarse-mode dust transport patterns and regional differences over the North Atlantic, the Indian Ocean and the North Pacific.
Shikuan Jin, Yingying Ma, Zhongwei Huang, Jianping Huang, Wei Gong, Boming Liu, Weiyan Wang, Ruonan Fan, and Hui Li
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 8187–8210, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-8187-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-8187-2023, 2023
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To better understand the Asian aerosol environment, we studied distributions and trends of aerosol with different sizes and types. Over the past 2 decades, dust, sulfate, and sea salt aerosol decreased by 5.51 %, 3.07 %, and 9.80 %, whereas organic carbon and black carbon aerosol increased by 17.09 % and 6.23 %, respectively. The increase in carbonaceous aerosols was a feature of Asia. An exception is found in East Asia, where the carbonaceous aerosols reduced, owing largely to China's efforts.
Mukunda M. Gogoi, S. Suresh Babu, Ryoichi Imasu, and Makiko Hashimoto
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 8059–8079, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-8059-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-8059-2023, 2023
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Considering the climate warming potential of atmospheric black carbon (BC), satellite-based retrieval is a novel idea. This study highlights the regional distribution of BC based on observations by the Cloud and Aerosol Imager-2 on board the GOSAT-2 satellite and near-surface measurements of BC in ARFINET. The satellite retrieval fairly depicts the regional and seasonal features of BC over the Indian region, which are similar to those recorded by surface observations.
Hao Fan, Xingchuan Yang, Chuanfeng Zhao, Yikun Yang, and Zhenyao Shen
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 7781–7798, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-7781-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-7781-2023, 2023
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Using 20-year multi-source data, this study shows pronounced regional and seasonal variations in fire activities and emissions. Seasonal variability of fires is larger with increasing latitude. The increase in temperature in the Northern Hemisphere's middle- and high-latitude forest regions was primarily responsible for the increase in fires and emissions, while the changes in fire occurrence in tropical regions were more influenced by the decrease in precipitation and relative humidity.
Rosemary Huck, Robert G. Bryant, and James King
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 6299–6318, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-6299-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-6299-2023, 2023
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This study shows that mineral aerosol (dust) emission events in high-latitude areas are under-represented in both ground- and space-based detecting methods. This is done through a suite of ground-based data to prove that dust emissions from the proglacial area, Lhù’ààn Mân, occur almost daily but are not always recorded at different timescales. Dust has multiple effects on atmospheric processes; therefore, accurate quantification is important in the calibration and validation of climate models.
Michail Mytilinaios, Sara Basart, Sergio Ciamprone, Juan Cuesta, Claudio Dema, Enza Di Tomaso, Paola Formenti, Antonis Gkikas, Oriol Jorba, Ralph Kahn, Carlos Pérez García-Pando, Serena Trippetta, and Lucia Mona
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 5487–5516, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-5487-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-5487-2023, 2023
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Multiscale Online Non-hydrostatic AtmospheRe CHemistry model (MONARCH) dust reanalysis provides a high-resolution 3D reconstruction of past dust conditions, allowing better quantification of climate and socioeconomic dust impacts. We assess the performance of the reanalysis needed to reproduce dust optical depth using dust-related products retrieved from satellite and ground-based observations and show that it reproduces the spatial distribution and seasonal variability of atmospheric dust well.
Jacob Z. Tindan, Qinjian Jin, and Bing Pu
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 5435–5466, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-5435-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-5435-2023, 2023
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We use the Infrared Atmospheric Sounder Interferometer (IASI) retrievals of dust variables (dust optical depth and dust layer height) and surface observations to understand the day- and nighttime variations in dust aerosols over the dust belt. Our results show that daytime dust aerosols are significantly different from nighttime, and such day–night variations are influenced by meteorological factors such as wind speed, precipitation, and turbulent motions within the atmospheric boundary layer.
Ross Herbert and Philip Stier
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 4595–4616, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-4595-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-4595-2023, 2023
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We provide robust evidence from multiple sources showing that smoke from fires in the Amazon rainforest significantly modifies the diurnal cycle of convection and cools the climate. Low to moderate amounts of smoke increase deep convective clouds and rain, whilst beyond a threshold amount, the smoke starts to suppress the convection and rain. We are currently at this threshold, suggesting increases in fires from agricultural practices or droughts will reduce cloudiness and rain over the region.
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Short summary
We find that the airborne measurements of the vertical extinction due to aerosols (aerosol optical depth, AOD) obtained in the Athabasca Oil Sands Region (AOSR) can significantly exceed ground-based values. This can have an effect on estimating the AOSR radiative impact and is relevant to satellite validation based on ground-based measurements. We also show that the AOD can marginally increase as the plumes are being transported away from the source and the new particles are being formed.
We find that the airborne measurements of the vertical extinction due to aerosols (aerosol...
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