Observation of ambient aerosol particle growth due to in-cloud processes within boundary layers
Author
Wang, Jian
Daum, Peter H.
Kleinman, Lawrence I.
Lee, Yin-Nan
Schwartz, Stephen E.
Springston, Stephen R.
Jonsson, Haflidi
Covert, David
Elleman, Robert
Date
2007Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Aerosol microphysical and optical properties were measured on board the CIRPAS
Twin Otter aircraft during 16 flights at the Southern Great Plain (SGP) site in northern
central Oklahoma as part of the Aerosol Intensive Operation period in May 2003.
Within well-mixed boundary layers on four cloudy days, vertical profiles measured on
board the Twin Otter show that dry aerosol size, volume concentration, and scattering
coefficients all increased with increasing altitude, whereas the total number concentration
remained essentially constant. A one-dimensional model, which uses simultaneous
meteorological measurements as inputs, shows that the observed increase in aerosol
volume concentration with increasing altitude is consistent with in-cloud sulfate
production at the top of the boundary layer. The sulfate production rate was sufficiently
fast to overcome the homogenization resulting from turbulent mixing. In contrast, on
cloud-free days, measurements on a second aircraft show nearly uniform aerosol volume
concentrations within well-mixed boundary layers. The observed vertical gradients in
aerosol volume concentration suggest that even within well-mixed boundary layers,
surface measurements may not be representative of aerosols properties (e.g., loading and
scattering coefficients, etc.) at elevated altitudes, especially when SO2 concentration
and cloud coverage are high.
Description
Journal of Geophysical Research, Vol. 112, D14207
The article of record as published may be located at http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2006JD007989.
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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