Increase of the aerosol hygroscopicity by aqueous mixing in a mesoscale convective system: a case study from the AMMA campaign

International audienceAerosol properties were measured during an airborne campaign experiment that took place in July 2006 in West Africa within the framework of the African Monsoon Multidisciplinary Analyses (AMMA). The goal of the present study was to determine the main microphysical processes that affect the aerosols during the passage of a mesoscale convective system (MCS) over the region of Niamey in Niger. A main difference in the aerosol profiles measured before and after the passage of the MCS was found for a layer located between 1300 and 3000 m where the aerosol concentration has drastically decreased after the passage of the MCS. Concurrently, a significant increase of the cloud condensation nuclei fraction was also observed during the post-MCS period in the same layer. Moreover, the results of the elemental composition analyses of individual particles collected in this layer after the MCS passage have shown higher contributions of sulfate, nitrate and chloride to the total aerosol. A mesoscale atmospheric model with on-line dust parameterization and Lagrangian backtrajectories was used to interpret the impact of the MCS on the aerosol properties. The results of the simulation show that the MCS 1) generates dust particles at the surface in front of the system and washout particles behind, 2) modifies the aerosol mixing state through cloud processing, and 3) enhances CCN activity of particles through the coating of soluble material

Anthropogenic and forest fire pollution aerosol transported to the Arctic: observations from the POLARCAT-France spring campaign

During the POLARCAT-France airborne measurement campaign in spring 2008, several pollution plumes transported from mid-latitude regions were encountered. The study presented here focuses on air masses from two different geographic origins (Europe and Asia) and from 2 different source types (anthropogenic pollution and forest fires). One case study analyses an European air mass, which was sampled during three consecutive day. Modelling of the aerosol particle ageing by coagulation suggests that coagulation cannot solely explain the evolution of the size distributions, which is particularly true for the accumulation mode. Analyses of the aerosol refractory size distributions indicate that the Aitken mode was mostly composed of volatile compounds, while accumulation mode particles desorbed to a refractory mode yielding a modal mean diameter evolving from 48 to 59 nm for the three consecutive days of sampling the same air mass. The single refractory mode suggests an internally mixed aerosol population which is supported from electron microscopy and subsequent EDX analyses of the accumulation mode particles. Another case study focuses on European air masses polluted by fire emissions and Asian air masses with contributions from both biomass burning and anthropogenic emissions. On the one hand, the aerosol size distributions of the European biomass burning plumes are almost mono-modal with most of the particles found in the aged accumulation mode which desorbed uniformly. On the other hand, Asian air masses were more complex because of the mixing of different source contributions related to more variable and multimodal ambient and refractory aerosol size distributions. Electron microscopy illustrated soot-like inclusions in several samples. Within samples attributed to forest fire sources, the chemical signature is highly associated with the presence of potassium, which is characteristic for biomass burning plumes. The particle images suggest an internal mixing of sampled aerosol particles

Preliminary Flight Deck Observations During Flight in High Ice Water Content Conditions

In 2006, Mason et al. identified common observations that occurred in engine power-loss events attributed to flight in high concentrations of ice crystals. Observations included light to moderate turbulence, precipitation on the windscreen (often reported as rain), aircraft total temperature anomalies, lack of significant airframe icing, and no flight radar echoes at the location and altitude of the engine event. Since 2006, Mason et al. and others have collected information from pilots who experienced engine power-loss events via interviews and questionnaires to substantiate earlier observations and support event analyses. In 2011, Mason and Grzych reported that vertical acceleration data showed increases in turbulence prior to engine events, although the turbulence was usually light to moderate and not unique to high ice water content (HIWC) clouds. Mason concluded that the observation of rain on the windscreen was due to melting of ice high concentrations of ice crystals on the windscreen, coalescing into drops. Mason also reported that these pilot observations of rain on the windscreen were varied. Many pilots indicated no rain was observed, while others observed moderate rain with unique impact sounds. Mason concluded that the variation in the reports may be due to variation in the ice concentration, particle size, and temperature

Transport of dust particles from the Bodﾃｩlﾃｩ region to the monsoon layer - AMMA case study of the 9-14 June 2006 period

金沢大学フロンティアサイエンス機構Aerosol properties were measured during an airborne campaign experiment that took place in June 2006 in West Africa within the framework of the African Monsoon Multidisciplinary Analyses (AMMA). The goal of the present study was to investigate a dynamical mechanism able to facilitate the sedimentation of dust particles from the Saharan Air Layer (SAL) into the boundary layer. A significant change in the dust particle concentration measured along the meridian between Niamey (Niger) and Cotonou (Benin) was found in the boundary layer (∼700 m), where the dust particle concentration increased in a zone where local emission is not possible. Moreover, the boundary layer top observed with the dropsondes launched with the F-F20 shows a strong relationship with the surface cover anomalies, with higher Boundary Layer (BL) tops over the warmer surfaces, such as croplands, as opposed to adjacent forest. A mesoscale atmospheric model with a new on-line dust parameterization, resulting from the Alfaro and Gomes (2001) parametrisation and AMMA observations, was used to interpret the impact of vegetation anomalies on dust particle sedimentation. The results of the simulation are consistent with the observations, with higher dust concentration over the warm surface cover anomalies. © 2011 Author(s)

Overview of aerosol properties associated with air masses sampled by the ATR-42 during the EUCAARI campaign (2008)

International audienceWithin the frame of the European Aerosol Cloud Climate and Air Quality Interactions (EUCAARI) project the Météo-France aircraft ATR-42 performed 22 research flights, over central Europe and the North Sea during the intensive observation period in May 2008. For the campaign, the ATR-42 was equipped in order to study aerosol physical, chemical and optical properties, as well as cloud microphysics. During the campaign, continental air masses from Eastern and Western Europe were encountered, along with polar and Scandinavian air masses. For the 22 research flights, retroplume analyses along the flight tracks were performed with FLEXPART in order to classify air masses into five sectors of origin which allows for a qualitative evaluation of emission influence on the respective air parcel. In the polluted boundary layer (BL), typical concentrations of particles with diameters larger than 10 nm (N10) are of the order of 5000-6000 cm−3, whereas N10 concentrations of clean air masses were lower than 1300 cm−3. The detection of the largest particle number concentrations occurred in air masses coming from Polar and Scandinavian regions for which an elevated number of nucleation mode (25-28 nm) particles was observed and attributed to new particle formation over open sea. In the free troposphere (FT), typical observed N10 are of the order of 900 cm−3 in polluted air masses and 400-600 cm−3 in clean air masses, respectively. In both layers, the chemical composition of submicron aerosol particles is dominated by organic matter and nitrate in polluted air masses, while, sulphate and ammonium followed by organics dominate the submicron aerosols in clean air masses. The highest CCN/CN ratios were observed within the polar air masses while the CCN concentration values are the highest within the polluted air masses. Within the five air mass sectors defined and the two layers (BL and FT), observations have been distinguished into anticyclonic (first half of May 2008) and cyclonic conditions (second half of May 2008). Strong relationships between meteorological conditions and physical, chemical as well as optical properties are found

Physical and optical properties of 2010 Eyjafjallajökull volcanic eruption aerosol: ground-based, Lidar and airborne measurements in France

International audienceDuring the Eyjafjallajökull eruption (14 April to 24 May 2010), the volcanic aerosol cloud was observed across Europe by several airborne in situ and ground-based remote-sensing instruments. On 18 and 19 May, layers of depolarizing particles (i.e. non-spherical particles) were detected in the free troposphere above the Puy de Dôme station, (PdD, France) with a Rayleigh-Mie LIDAR emitting at a wavelength of 355 nm, with parallel and crossed polarization channels. These layers in the free troposphere (FT) were also well captured by simulations with the Lagrangian particle dispersion model FLEXPART, which furthermore showed that the ash was eventually entrained into the planetary boundary layer (PBL). Indeed, the ash cloud was then detected and characterized with a comprehensive set of in situ instruments at the Puy de Dôme station (PdD). In agreement with the FLEXPART simulation, up to 65 μg m−3 of particle mass and 2.2 ppb of SO2 were measured at PdD, corresponding to concentrations higher than the 95 percentile of 2 yr of measurements at PdD. Moreover, the number concentration of particles increased to 24 000 cm−3, mainly in the submicronic mode, but a supermicronic mode was also detected with a modal diameter of 2 μm. The resulting optical properties of the ash aerosol were characterized by a low scattering Ångström exponent (0.98), showing the presence of supermicronic particles. For the first time to our knowledge, the combination of in situ optical and physical characterization of the volcanic ash allowed the calculation of the mass-to-extinction ratio (η) with no assumptions on the aerosol density. The mass-to-extinction ratio was found to be significantly different from the background boundary layer aerosol (max: 1.57 g m−2 as opposed to 0.33 ± 0.03 g m−2). Using this ratio, ash mass concentration in the volcanic plume derived from LIDAR measurements was found to be 655 ± 23 μg m−3 when the plume was located in the FT (3000 m above the sea level - a.s.l.). This ratio could also be used to retrieve an aerosol mass concentration of 579 ± 60 μg m−3 on 19 April, when LIDAR observations detected the ash cloud at 3000 m a.s.l. in correspondence with model simulations (FLEXPART). On 22 April, another ash plume entered the BL, and although it was more diluted than during the May episode, the French research aircraft ATR42 that passed over Clermont-Ferrand in the PBL confirmed the presence of particles with a supermicronic mode, again with a modal diameter at 2 μm. This data set combining airborne, ground-based and remote sensing observations with dispersion model simulations shows an overall very good coherence during the volcanic eruption period, which allows a good confidence in the characteristics of the ash particles that can be derived from this unique data set

Assessing the role of anthropogenic and biogenic sources on PM₁ over southern West Africa using aircraft measurements

As part of the Dynamics-Aerosol-Chemistry-Cloud Interactions in West Africa (DACCIWA) project, an airborne campaign was designed to measure a large range of atmospheric constituents, focusing on the effect of anthropogenic emissions on regional climate. The presented study details results of the French ATR42 research aircraft, which aimed to characterize gas-phase, aerosol and cloud properties in the region during the field campaign carried out in June/July 2016 in combination with the German Falcon 20 and the British Twin Otter aircraft. The aircraft flight paths covered large areas of Benin, Togo, Ghana and Côte d\u27Ivoire, focusing on emissions from large urban conurbations such as Abidjan, Accra and Lomé, as well as remote continental areas and the Gulf of Guinea. This paper focuses on aerosol particle measurements within the boundary layer (<  2000 m), in particular their sources and chemical composition in view of the complex mix of both biogenic and anthropogenic emissions, based on measurements from a compact time-of-flight aerosol mass spectrometer (C-ToF-AMS) and ancillary instrumentation. Background concentrations (i.e. outside urban plumes) observed from the ATR42 indicate a fairly polluted region during the time of the campaign, with average concentrations of carbon monoxide of 131 ppb, ozone of 32 ppb, and aerosol particle number concentration ( >  15 nm) of 735 cm−3 stp. Regarding submicron aerosol composition (considering non-refractory species and black carbon, BC), organic aerosol (OA) is the most abundant species contributing 53 %, followed by SO4 (27 %), NH4 (11 %), BC (6 %), NO3 (2 %) and minor contribution of Cl (<  0.5 %). Average background PM1 in the region was 5.9 µg m−3 stp. During measurements of urban pollution plumes, mainly focusing on the outflow of Abidjan, Accra and Lomé, pollutants are significantly enhanced (e.g. average concentration of CO of 176 ppb, and aerosol particle number concentration of 6500 cm−3 stp), as well as PM1 concentration (11.9 µg m−3 stp). Two classes of organic aerosols were estimated based on C-ToF-AMS: particulate organic nitrates (pONs) and isoprene epoxydiols secondary organic aerosols (IEPOX–SOA). Both classes are usually associated with the formation of particulate matter through complex interactions of anthropogenic and biogenic sources. During DACCIWA, pONs have a fairly small contribution to OA (around 5 %) and are more associated with long-range transport from central Africa than local formation. Conversely, IEPOX–SOA provides a significant contribution to OA (around 24 and 28 % under background and in-plume conditions). Furthermore, the fractional contribution of IEPOX–SOA is largely unaffected by changes in the aerosol composition (particularly the SO4 concentration), which suggests that IEPOX–SOA concentration is mainly driven by pre-existing aerosol surface, instead of aerosol chemical properties. At times of large in-plume SO4 enhancements (above 5 µg m−3), the fractional contribution of IEPOX–SOA to OA increases above 50 %, suggesting only then a change in the IEPOX–SOA-controlling mechanism. It is important to note that IEPOX–SOA constitutes a lower limit to the contribution of biogenic OA, given that other processes (e.g. non-IEPOX isoprene, monoterpene SOA) are likely in the region. Given the significant contribution to aerosol concentration, it is crucial that such complex biogenic–anthropogenic interactions are taken into account in both present-day and future scenario models of this fast-changing, highly sensitive region