Single-Particle Microscopy of Arctic Atmospheric Particles
EMSL Project ID
51054
Abstract
Single-particle microscopy will be used to characterize the chemical composition of individual Arctic atmospheric particles collected during two Department of Energy Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (DOE ARM) field campaigns as part of PI Pratt's DOE Early Career Award. This proposal directly addresses the FY 2020 Focus Topic in the Environmental Sciences Area: "Experimental characterization...to understand the physical, chemical, and/or optical properties and/or cloud nucleating potential of atmospheric aerosols collected from ARM and ASR field campaigns." The aim of this project is to determine aerosol chemical composition, sources, mixing states, and aging processes across the entire annual cycle in the high Arctic, and in the Alaskan Arctic during fall - winter, to address the most significant gaps in aerosol observational data in the Arctic. EMSL resources will be used to measure individual particle morphology and elemental composition. These analyses will provide insights into how changing natural and anthropogenic emissions, along with atmospheric processing, are driving interactions with radiation and clouds in the Arctic region. In these ways, the proposed project will fill a critical gap in our understanding of the Arctic system by improving our knowledge of the sources and processing of atmospheric particles through individual particle measurements. Model estimates of atmospheric aerosol radiative forcing are currently limited in part by the dearth of measurement data available for evaluation; therefore, it is estimated that this project will ultimately lead to improved estimates of aerosol-climate feedbacks. Atmospheric particle samples were collected near Utqiagvik, Alaska during Nov. - Dec. 2018 (ARM field campaign: Aerosols in the Polar Utqiagvik Night, APUN) and will be collected during year-long (Oct. 2019 - Sep. 2020) international Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate (MOSAiC ARM field campaign) in the high Arctic. The APUN field campaign focuses on the rapidly changing and understudied transitional period of sea ice freeze-up, and MOSAiC provides an unparalleled opportunity to study seasonal changes in aerosol processes in the high Arctic. The microscopy measurement capabilities, available at EMSL with the leading researchers in the use of this instrumentation for aerosol analysis, are essential to the success of the proposed project. Access to computer-controlled scanning electron microscopy with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (CCSEM-EDX) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) is limited at the University of Michigan. Therefore, access to these EMSL resources is necessary and paramount to the success of this project, which is expected to yield significant insights into our understanding of aerosol composition and resulting aerosol-climate feedbacks in the Arctic.
Project Details
Project type
Exploratory Research
Start Date
2019-11-26
End Date
2021-03-31
Status
Closed
Released Data Link
Team
Principal Investigator
Team Members