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The Cloud Nucleating Properties of Aerosols at a Continental Site: CHAPS Study


EMSL Project ID
25638

Abstract

The primary goal of The Cumulus Humilis Aerosol Processing Study (CHAPS) is to characterize and contrast freshly emitted aerosols above, within and below fields of cumulus humilis (or fair-weather cumulus) and to use these observations to address how below-cloud and above-cloud aerosol optical and cloud nucleating properties differ downwind of a mid-size city relative to similar aerosols in air less affected by emissions. The CHAPS study will employ simultaneous measurements and sampling of aerosols on board of G-1 research aircraft. This proposal seeks to employ (1) the cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) counter of EMSL for characterization of CCN concentrations at climatically important supersaturations and their evolutions for various air masses during the CHAPS study and (2) coordinated field sampling of particles followed by the laboratory based analysis using advanced microscopy and microprobe techniques which are the most powerful methods to probe refractive aerosols (i.e., soot, mineral dust, sea salt). Together with other G-1 on board measurements of our colleagues, these methods will provide information over a broad range of particle types, their chemistry, size and morphology leading to more comprehensive understanding of the relationship between particles composition and their CCN activity than would be possible by either method alone. The obtained information will be also intensively correlated with the meteorology records to understand possible sources and transport patterns of the CCN active aerosols in the area.

Project Details

Project type
Large-Scale EMSL Research
Start Date
2007-06-01
End Date
2009-09-30
Status
Closed

Team

Principal Investigator

Jian Wang
Institution
Shenyang Pharmaceutical University

Team Members

Jason Olfert
Institution
Brookhaven National Laboratory

Mary Gilles
Institution
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Yury Dessiaterik
Institution
Colorado State University

Alexander Laskin
Institution
Purdue University

Related Publications

Bateman AP, ML Walser, Y Dessiaterik, J Laskin, A Laskin, and S Nizkorodov. 2008. "The Effect of Solvent on the Analysis of Secondary Organic Aerosol Using Electrospray Ionization Mass Spectrometry." Environmental Science & Technology 42(19):7341-7346. doi:10.1021/es801226w
Moffet RC, AV Tivanski, and MK Gilles. 2010. "Scanning Transmission X-ray Microscopy: Applications in Atmospheric Aerosol Research." In Fundamentals and Applications of Aerosol Spectroscopy, ed. Jonathan Reid and Ruth Signorell. Taylor and Francis Books, Inc., Berkeley, CA.