Aerosol particle chemical characteristics measured from aircraft in the lower troposphere during ACE-2
Author
Schmeling, Martina
Russell, Lynn M.
Erlick, Carynelisa
Collins, Donald R.
Jonsson, Haflidi
Wang, Qing
Kregsamer, Peter
Streli, Christina
Date
2000Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
During the Aerosol Characterization Experiment (ACE-2), filter samples were collected aboard
the Center for Interdisciplinary Remotely Piloted Aircraft Studies (CIRPAS) Pelican aircraft
near Tenerife in June and July of 1997. The flights included constant altitude measurements in
the boundary layer as well as profiles up to 3800 m providing detailed chemical information
about the composition of the aerosol distribution in the lower troposphere. Three cases with
different air mass origins — clean marine air, anthropogenically-influenced air from the
European continent, and dust-laden air from the Sahara — were identified. The samples were
analyzed by ion chromatography (IC) for ionic species, by combined thermal and optical
analysis (TOA) for organic carbon, and by total reflection X-ray fluorescence (TXRF) for
elemental composition. Particle composition and size distributions for the range of air masses
encountered illustrate links in the chemical and microphysical characteristics of aerosol from
different sources. Clean marine air masses were characterized by low particle number and mass
concentrations with no detectable metals, while anthropogenically-influenced and dust-laden
air had high number, mass, and trace metal concentrations. Anthropogenic sources were characterized
by high concentrations of submicron particles and some Fe and Cu, whereas dust particle
loadings included a significant mass of micron-sized particles and significant loadings of Fe, in
addition to small amounts of Mn, Cu, and Ni. These results showed similar tracers for air mass
origin as those found in other measurements of oceanic and continental air masses. Aerosol
optical properties were estimated with a simplified model of the aerosol based on the measured
compositions. The real and imaginary refractive indices and single scattering albedos differed
significantly among the three types of aerosol measured, with clean marine aerosol properties
showing the least absorption and dust-containing aerosols showing the most. There were only
small differences in optical properties for the two different cases of clean marine aerosol, but
some significant differences between the two dust cases. Since measurement uncertainties affect
these calculations, we studied the type of mixing and the fraction of absorbing species and
found the calculation was sensitive to these variations only for the dust-containing aerosol case,
probably due to the small amount of water present. While the optical properties varied little with composition for clean marine and anthropogenically-influenced cases, they showed a strong
dependence on variations in particle composition and mixing state for the dust-containing cases.
Description
Tellus (ACE-2 Special Issue), 52B, 185-200.
Rights
This publication is a work of the U.S. Government as defined in Title 17, United States Code, Section 101. Copyright protection is not available for this work in the United States.Collections
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