Cloud condensation nuclei activity, closure, and droplet growth kinetics of Houston aerosol during the Gulf of Mexico Atmospheric Composition and Climate Study (GoMACCS)
Author
Lance, Sara
Nenes, Athanasios
Mazzoleni, Claudio
Dubey, Manvendra K.
Gates, Harmony
Varutbangkul, Varuntida
Rissman, Tracey A.
Murphy, Shane M.
Sorooshian, Armin
Flagan, Richard C.
Seinfeld, John H.
Feingold, Graham
Jonsson, Haflidi H.
Date
2009Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
In situ cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) measurements were obtained in the boundary
layer over Houston, Texas, during the 2006 Gulf of Mexico Atmospheric Composition and
Climate Study (GoMACCS) campaign onboard the CIRPAS Twin Otter. Polluted air
masses in and out of cloudy regions were sampled for a total of 22 flights, with CCN
measurements obtained for 17 of these flights. In this paper, we focus on CCN closure
during two flights, within and downwind of the Houston regional plume and over the
Houston Ship Channel. During both flights, air was sampled with particle concentrations
exceeding 25,000 cm 3 and CCN concentrations exceeding 10,000 cm 3. CCN closure is
evaluated by comparing measured concentrations with those predicted on the basis of
measured aerosol size distributions and aerosol mass spectrometer particle composition.
Different assumptions concerning the internally mixed chemical composition result in
average CCN overprediction ranging from 3% to 36% (based on a linear fit). It is
hypothesized that the externally mixed fraction of the aerosol contributes much of the
CCN closure scatter, while the internally mixed fraction largely controls the
overprediction bias. On the basis of the droplet sizes of activated CCN, organics do not
seem to impact, on average, the CCN activation kinetics.
Description
The article of record as published may be located at http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2008JD011699.
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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