The Optical Properties of the Maritime Aerosol and their Correlation to the Electrical Conductivity of the Marine Atmosphere

LONG-TERM GOAL: The long term goal is to have a capability of simultaneously measuring aerosol properties, optical properties, and electrical properties from an aircraft in the marine boundary layer. This involves integration of CN counters, particle spectrometers, nephelometers, Gerdien condenser, and radon detector onto the CIRPAS Twin Otter airplane, along with a suitable data acquisition system.Award Number: N0001499AF0000

Bernard Vonnegut (1914-1997)

Bernard Vonnegut, a Fellow of AGU, the American Meteorological Society, and the Royal Meteorological Society, died of cancer in Albany, N.Y. on April 25,1997. At 82, he was still an active and innovative scientist serving as both Distinguished Professor of Atmospheric Sciences at the State University of New York, at Albany and Honorary President of the International Commission of the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics

Evolution of the vertical profile and flux of large sea-salt particles in a coastal zone

Journal of Geophysical Research, Vol. 106, No. D11, pp. 12,039 - 12,053, June 16, 2001.In the vicinity of the North Carolina Outer Banks we observed both steady onshore flow conditions and a continental air mass transition into a marine boundary layer. Using the CIRPAS Twin Otter aircraft, we measuredc hangesin the columnb urden of sea salt as the air mass was advected out to sea. We also measured the flux of whitecap-generatesde a-saltp articlesi n neutrallys tablea tmospherea t wind speedso f 4, 8, and1 2r n s- •. Productioonf saltp articleass s malla s0 .27/•mi n diametewr aso bserved. Furthermore,w e measureds alt particle size distributionsa t variousw ind speedsd uring alongs horew ind and near steadys tate conditionsU. sing thesem easurementsa s a frame of reference,w e discussth e very large differencesi n the reported size and flux of sea salt presentedi n the literature. The disagreemenitn reported salt fluxesi s larger for smallersizedp articles( almosta n order of magnitude)a nd is most likely due to assumptionms ade when the fluxesw ere computed,e speciallyt he particle dry depositionv elocitya nd air mass history.H owever,f or giant salt particlesw ith short atmosphericli fetimes (>-10/•m in diameter),t here is generala greementb etweenf luxesa nd size distributionsm easuredi n this studya nd previouso nes.R eported salt particle size distributionsin the literature also vary considerablyu nder similar steadyw ind and stability conditions.F rom these and our results it is clear that no more than half of the variance in salt particle concentration can be explainedb y wind speeda lone, suggestingth at the idea of "steadys tate" in the marine boundary layer rarely exists at midlatitudes

Observations of Sharp Oxalate Reductions in Stratocumulus Clouds at Variable Altitudes: Organic Acid and Metal Measurements During the 2011 E-PEACE Campaign

This work examines organic acid and metal concentrations in northeastern Pacific Ocean stratocumulus cloudwater samples collected by the CIRPAS Twin Otter between July and August 2011. Correlations between a suite of various monocarboxylic and dicarboxylic acid concentrations are consistent with documented aqueous-phase mechanistic relationships leading up to oxalate production. Monocarboxylic and dicarboxylic acids exhibited contrasting spatial profiles reflecting their different sources; the former were higher in concentration near the continent due to fresh organic emissions. Concentrations of sea salt crustal tracer species, oxalate, and malonate were positively correlated with low-level wind speed suggesting that an important route for oxalate and malonate entry in cloudwater is via some combination of association with coarse particles and gaseous precursors emitted from the ocean surface. Three case flights show that oxalate (and no other organic acid) concentrations drop by nearly an order of magnitude relative to samples in the same vicinity. A consistent feature in these cases was an inverse relationship between oxalate and several metals (Fe, Mn, K, Na, Mg, Ca), especially Fe. By means of box model studies we show that the loss of oxalate due to the photolysis of iron oxalato complexes is likely a significant oxalate sink in the study region due to the ubiquity of oxalate precursors, clouds, and metal emissions from ships, the ocean, and continental sources

An instrument for measuring size-resolved aerosol hygroscopicity at both sub- and super-micron sizes

The article of record as published may be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02786820701506955A new instrument to measure the size-resolved hygroscopic growth of both sub- and super-micron atmospheric aerosol is described. It consists of two white-light optical particle counters measuring the same sample aerosol simultaneously at two different controlled relative humidities. Calibration with aerosols of different refractive index confirms the expected relative insensitivity of the instrument to index of refraction. Data obtained in the field from airborne sampling support the utility of the instrument in measuring differences in size-resolved hygroscopicity in the marine boundary layer and also in addressing the issue of kinetic limitations to aerosol condensational growth.Office of Naval ResearchGrant no. N0014-97-1-013

Retrieval of vertical air motion in precipitating clouds using Mie scattering and comparison with in situ measurements

The article of record as published may be located at http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/JAMC-D-16-0158.1For the first time, the Mie notch retrieval technique is applied to airborne cloud Doppler radar observations in warm precipitating clouds to retrieve the vertical air velocity profile above the aircraft. The retrieval algorithm prescribed here accounts for two major sources of bias: aircraft motion and horizontal wind. The retrieval methodology is evaluated using the aircraft in situ vertical air velocity measurements. The standard deviations of the residuals for the retrieved and in situ measured data for an 18-s time segment are 0.21 and 0.24 m s−1, respectively; the mean difference between the two is 0.01 m s−1. For the studied cases, the total theoretical uncertainty is less than 0.19 m s−1 and the actual retrieval uncertainty is about 0.1 m s−1. These results demonstrate that the Mie notch technique combined with the bias removal procedure described in this paper can successfully retrieve vertical air velocity from airborne radar observations with low spectral broadening due to Doppler fading, which enables new opportunities in cloud and precipitation research. A separate spectral peak due to returns from the cloud droplets is also observed in the same radar Doppler spectra and is also used to retrieve vertical air motion. The vertical air velocities retrieved using the two different methods agree well with each other, and the correlation coefficient is as high as 0.996, which indicates that the spectral peak due to cloud droplets might provide another way to retrieve vertical air velocity in clouds when the Mie notch is not detected but the cloud droplets’ spectral peak is discernable.ONR N000140810465

Aerosol and Cloud Microphysical Characteristics of Rifts and Gradients in Maritime Stratocumulus Clouds

A cloud rift is characterized as a large-scale, persistent area of broken, low-reflectivity stratocumulus clouds usually surrounded by a solid deck of stratocumulus. A rift observed off the coast of California was investigated using an instrumented aircraft to compare the aerosol, cloud microphysical, and thermodynamic properties in the rift with those of the surrounding solid stratocumulus deck. The microphysical characteristics in the solid stratocumulus deck differ substantially from those of a broken, cellular rift where cloud droplet concentrations are a factor of 2 lower than those in the solid cloud. Furthermore, cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) concentrations were found to be about 3 times greater in the solid-cloud area compared with those in the rift. Although drizzle was observed near cloud top in parts of the solid stratocumulus cloud, the largest drizzle rates were associated with the broken clouds within the rift area and with extremely large effective droplet sizes retrieved from satellite data. Minimal thermodynamic differences between the rift and solid cloud deck were observed. In addition to marked differences in particle concentrations, evidence of a mesoscale circulation near the solid cloud–rift boundary is presented. This mesoscale circulation may provide a mechanism for maintaining a rift, but further study is required to understand the initiation of a rift and the conditions that may cause it to fill. A review of results from previous studies indicates similar microphysical characteristics in rift features sampled serendipitously. These observations indicate that cloud rifts are depleted of aerosols through the cleansing associated with drizzle and are a manifestation of natural processes occurring in marine stratocumulus

On the presence of giant particles downwind of ships in the marine boundary layer

This study examines large oceangoing ships as a source of giant cloud condensation nuclei (D_p > 2 µm) due to wake and stack emissions off the California coast. Observed particle number concentrations behind 10 ships exceeded those in “control” areas, exhibiting number concentration enhancement ratios (ERs) for minimum threshold diameters of ~2, ~10, and ~20 µm as high as 2.7, 5.5, and 7.5, respectively. ER decreases with increasing downwind distance and altitude. ER becomes better correlated with ship size variables (gross tonnage, length, and beam) as the minimum size threshold increases from 2 to 20 µm, whereas ship speed has a less distinct relationship with ER. One case study of a container ship shows that there are higher concentrations of sea-salt tracer species behind it relative to adjacent control areas. These results have implications for cloud properties and precipitation in marine boundary layers exposed to ship traffic

Marine stratocumulus aerosol‐cloud relationships in the MASE‐II experiment: Precipitation susceptibility in eastern Pacific marine stratocumulus

Journal of Geophysical Research, Vol. 114, D24203The article of record as published may be located at http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2009JD012774.Observational data on aerosol-cloud-drizzle relationships in marine stratocumulus are presented from the second Marine Stratus/Stratocumulus Experiment (MASE-II) carried out in July 2007 over the eastern Pacific near Monterey, California. Observations, carried out in regions of essentially uniform meteorology with localized aerosol enhancements due to ship exhaust (‘‘ship tracks’’), demonstrate, in accord with those from numerous other field campaigns, that increased cloud drop number concentration Nc and decreased cloud top effective radius re are associated with increased subcloud aerosol concentration

Water-soluble organic aerosol in the Los Angeles Basin and outflow regions: Airborne and ground measurements during the 2010 CalNex field campaign

A particle-into-liquid sampler coupled to a total organic carbon analyzer (PILS-TOC) quantified particulate water-soluble organic carbon (WSOC) mass concentrations during the May 2010 deployment of the Center for Interdisciplinary Remotely Piloted Aircraft Studies (CIRPAS) Twin Otter in the CalNex field study. WSOC data collected during 16 flights provide the first spatiotemporal maps of WSOC in the San Joaquin Valley, Los Angeles Basin, and outflow regions of the Basin. WSOC was consistently higher in concentration within the Los Angeles Basin, where sea breeze transport and Basin topography strongly influence the spatial distribution of WSOC. The highest WSOC levels were associated with fire plumes, highlighting the importance of both primary and secondary sources for WSOC in the region. Residual pollution layers enriched with WSOC are observed aloft up to an altitude of 3.2 km and the highest WSOC levels for each flight were typically observed above 500 m. Simultaneous ground WSOC measurements during aircraft overpasses in Pasadena and Riverside typically exhibit lower levels, especially when relative humidity (RH) was higher aloft suggestive of the influence of aerosol-phase water. This points to the underestimation of the radiative effects of WSOC when using only surface measurements. Reduced aerosol-phase water in the eastern desert outflow region likely promotes the re-partitioning of WSOC to the gas phase and suppression of processes to produce these species (partitioning, multiphase chemistry, photolytic production); as a result, WSOC is reduced relative to sulfate (but not as much as nitrate) as aerosol is advected from the Basin to the outflows