Aerosol vertical distributions shaped by boundary layer dynamics in a coastal urban environment: insights from the TRACER campaign

Chen, Bo; Thompson, Seth A.; Matthews, Brianna H.; Sharma, Milind; Li, Ron; Rapp, Anita D.; Nowotarski, Christopher J.; Brooks, Sarah D.

doi:10.5194/acp-26-15543-2026

Articles | Volume 26, issue 21

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-15543-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-15543-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 26, issue 21

Research article

|

05 Nov 2026

Research article |

| 05 Nov 2026

Aerosol vertical distributions shaped by boundary layer dynamics in a coastal urban environment: insights from the TRACER campaign

Bo Chen, Seth A. Thompson, Brianna H. Matthews, Milind Sharma, Ron Li, Anita D. Rapp, Christopher J. Nowotarski, and Sarah D. Brooks

Supplement

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-15543-2026-supplement

Data sets

Mini-Micropulse Lidar data from TAMU TRACER campaign in the Houston TX region from July to September 2022 Sarah Brooks; Bo Chen https://doi.org/10.5439/1972461

TAMU TRACER Upper Air Radiosonde Data June-September 2022 Southeast Texas Milind Sharma et al. https://doi.org/10.5439/1968819

CCN data from TAMU TRACER campaign in the Houston TX region from July to September 2022 Sarah Brooks; Seth Thompson https://doi.org/10.5439/1972179

mplpolfs.b1 Paytsar Muradyan et al. https://doi.org/10.5439/1320657

mergedsmpsaps John Shilling and Maxwell Levin https://doi.org/10.5439/1871375

Balloon-borne sounding system (BBSS), WNPN output data Evan Keeler et al. https://doi.org/10.5439/1595321

Aerosol Chemical Speciation Monitor, mentor processed, .c2 Maria Zawadowicz et al. https://doi.org/10.5439/1763029

TAMU TRACER SMPS-POPS Merged Size Distribution B. Chen et al. https://doi.org/10.18738/T8/NUX5AZ

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Short summary

This paper studies how aerosols, tiny particles suspended in the air, are distributed at different heights in the atmosphere. We use lidar and other ground-based measurements to estimate aerosol vertical profiles. We also develop a simple mathematical equation that can recreate the observed profile shape using a few adjustable parameters. Finally, we examine several case studies and explore how the profile shape is related to boundary-layer structure and atmospheric conditions.