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Integrated experimental and modeling study to investigate vertical profile of atmospheric particles via tethered balloon system


EMSL Project ID
51377

Abstract

We propose a combined experimental and modeling study to characterize the vertical profile of atmospheric aerosol collected via a tethered balloon system using multi-modal micro-spectroscopy techniques, advanced mass spectrometry platforms, and high-performance computing capabilities available at EMSL. The unmanned aerial systems have gained significant interest in atmospheric science, which could mitigate risk and minimize cost in environmental research. The tethered balloon system (TBS) will be deployed at two observation sites operated by the Department of Energy Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) program: the Southern Great Plains atmospheric observatory (SGP; DOE ARM mega-site), Oklahoma and Oliktok Point, Alaska (OLI site) during summer of 2020. Atmospheric aerosol samples will be collected from different altitudes, ranging between boundary layer to free troposphere. Multi-modal micro-spectroscopy of single aerosol particle and molecular-level characterization of collected atmospheric aerosol using the EMSL novel capabilities will provide the physical, chemical, optical, and microphysical properties of ambient aerosols. Furthermore, the dataset will be coupled with predictions from the Weather Research and Forecasting Model coupled to chemistry (WRF-Chem). The knowledge gained from these two activities is crucial to better understand processes contributing to the vertical distribution of ambient aerosols and their impact on cloud properties.

Project Details

Project type
Large-Scale EMSL Research
Start Date
2020-10-01
End Date
2021-12-31
Status
Closed

Team

Principal Investigator

Fan Mei
Institution
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Co-Investigator(s)

Jerome Fast
Institution
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Team Members

Darielle Dexheimer
Institution
Sandia National Laboratory

Jessica DeYoung
Institution
University of Iowa

Related Publications

Mei, F.; McMeeking, G.; Pekour, M.; Gao, R.-S.; Kulkarni, G.; China, S.; Telg, H.; Dexheimer, D.; Tomlinson, J.; Schmid, B. Performance Assessment of Portable Optical Particle Spectrometer (POPS). Sensors 2020, 20, 6294.
undefined undefined, Zezhen Cheng, Swarup China, Darielle Dexheimer, Nurun Lata, Fan Mei, Abu Sayeed Shawon, Gregory Vandergrift. 2021. "Size and Time-Resolved Automated Aerosol Sampling Field Campaign Report." 10.2172/1828151