Articles | Volume 11, issue 6
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-11-2423-2011
© Author(s) 2011. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-11-2423-2011
© Author(s) 2011. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
Research article
| 
16 Mar 2011
Research article |
| 16 Mar 2011
Characteristics, sources, and transport of aerosols measured in spring 2008 during the aerosol, radiation, and cloud processes affecting Arctic Climate (ARCPAC) Project
C. A. Brock
Earth System Research Laboratory, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Boulder, Colorado, USA
J. Cozic
Earth System Research Laboratory, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Boulder, Colorado, USA
Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, USA
now at: Laboratoire de Glaciologie et Géophysique de l'Environnement, Grenoble, France
R. Bahreini
Earth System Research Laboratory, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Boulder, Colorado, USA
Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, USA
K. D. Froyd
Earth System Research Laboratory, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Boulder, Colorado, USA
Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, USA
A. M. Middlebrook
Earth System Research Laboratory, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Boulder, Colorado, USA
A. McComiskey
Earth System Research Laboratory, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Boulder, Colorado, USA
Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, USA
J. Brioude
Earth System Research Laboratory, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Boulder, Colorado, USA
Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, USA
O. R. Cooper
Earth System Research Laboratory, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Boulder, Colorado, USA
Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, USA
A. Stohl
Norsk Institutt for Luftforskning, Kjeller, Norway
K. C. Aikin
Earth System Research Laboratory, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Boulder, Colorado, USA
Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, USA
J. A. de Gouw
Earth System Research Laboratory, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Boulder, Colorado, USA
Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, USA
D. W. Fahey
Earth System Research Laboratory, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Boulder, Colorado, USA
Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, USA
R. A. Ferrare
Langley Research Center, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Hampton, Virginia, USA
R.-S. Gao
Earth System Research Laboratory, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Boulder, Colorado, USA
W. Gore
Ames Research Center, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Moffett Field, California, USA
J. S. Holloway
Earth System Research Laboratory, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Boulder, Colorado, USA
Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, USA
G. Hübler
Earth System Research Laboratory, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Boulder, Colorado, USA
Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, USA
A. Jefferson
Earth System Research Laboratory, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Boulder, Colorado, USA
D. A. Lack
Earth System Research Laboratory, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Boulder, Colorado, USA
Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, USA
S. Lance
Earth System Research Laboratory, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Boulder, Colorado, USA
Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, USA
R. H. Moore
Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
D. M. Murphy
Earth System Research Laboratory, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Boulder, Colorado, USA
A. Nenes
Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Earth and Atmospheric Science, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
P. C. Novelli
Earth System Research Laboratory, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Boulder, Colorado, USA
J. B. Nowak
Earth System Research Laboratory, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Boulder, Colorado, USA
Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, USA
J. A. Ogren
Earth System Research Laboratory, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Boulder, Colorado, USA
J. Peischl
Earth System Research Laboratory, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Boulder, Colorado, USA
Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, USA
R. B. Pierce
National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Madison, Wisconsin, USA
P. Pilewskie
Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, USA
P. K. Quinn
Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Seattle, Washington, USA
T. B. Ryerson
Earth System Research Laboratory, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Boulder, Colorado, USA
K. S. Schmidt
Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, USA
J. P. Schwarz
Earth System Research Laboratory, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Boulder, Colorado, USA
Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, USA
H. Sodemann
Norsk Institutt for Luftforskning, Kjeller, Norway
now at: Institute for Atmospheric and Climate Science, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
J. R. Spackman
Earth System Research Laboratory, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Boulder, Colorado, USA
Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, USA
H. Stark
Earth System Research Laboratory, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Boulder, Colorado, USA
Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, USA
D. S. Thomson
Earth System Research Laboratory, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Boulder, Colorado, USA
Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, USA
now at: Droplet Measurement Technologies Inc., Boulder, Colorado, USA
T. Thornberry
Earth System Research Laboratory, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Boulder, Colorado, USA
Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, USA
P. Veres
Earth System Research Laboratory, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Boulder, Colorado, USA
Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, USA
L. A. Watts
Earth System Research Laboratory, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Boulder, Colorado, USA
Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, USA
C. Warneke
Earth System Research Laboratory, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Boulder, Colorado, USA
Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, USA
A. G. Wollny
Earth System Research Laboratory, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Boulder, Colorado, USA
Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, USA
now at: Biogeochemistry, Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, Mainz, Germany
Abstract. We present an overview of the background, scientific goals, and execution of the Aerosol, Radiation, and Cloud Processes affecting Arctic Climate (ARCPAC) project of April 2008. We then summarize airborne measurements, made in the troposphere of the Alaskan Arctic, of aerosol particle size distributions, composition, and optical properties and discuss the sources and transport of the aerosols. The aerosol data were grouped into four categories based on gas-phase composition. First, the background troposphere contained a relatively diffuse, sulfate-rich aerosol extending from the top of the sea-ice inversion layer to 7.4 km altitude. Second, a region of depleted (relative to the background) aerosol was present within the surface inversion layer over sea-ice. Third, layers of dense, organic-rich smoke from open biomass fires in southern Russia and southeastern Siberia were frequently encountered at all altitudes from the top of the inversion layer to 7.1 km. Finally, some aerosol layers were dominated by components originating from fossil fuel combustion.
Of these four categories measured during ARCPAC, the diffuse background aerosol was most similar to the average springtime aerosol properties observed at a long-term monitoring site at Barrow, Alaska. The biomass burning (BB) and fossil fuel layers were present above the sea-ice inversion layer and did not reach the sea-ice surface during the course of the ARCPAC measurements. The BB aerosol layers were highly scattering and were moderately hygroscopic. On average, the layers produced a noontime net heating of ~0.1 K day−1 between 3 and 7 km and a slight cooling at the surface. The ratios of particle mass to carbon monoxide (CO) in the BB plumes, which had been transported over distances >5000 km, were comparable to the high end of literature values derived from previous measurements in wildfire smoke. These ratios suggest minimal precipitation scavenging and removal of the BB particles between the time they were emitted and the time they were observed in dense layers above the sea-ice inversion layer.
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How to cite. Brock, C. A., Cozic, J., Bahreini, R., Froyd, K. D., Middlebrook, A. M., McComiskey, A., Brioude, J., Cooper, O. R., Stohl, A., Aikin, K. C., de Gouw, J. A., Fahey, D. W., Ferrare, R. A., Gao, R.-S., Gore, W., Holloway, J. S., Hübler, G., Jefferson, A., Lack, D. A., Lance, S., Moore, R. H., Murphy, D. M., Nenes, A., Novelli, P. C., Nowak, J. B., Ogren, J. A., Peischl, J., Pierce, R. B., Pilewskie, P., Quinn, P. K., Ryerson, T. B., Schmidt, K. S., Schwarz, J. P., Sodemann, H., Spackman, J. R., Stark, H., Thomson, D. S., Thornberry, T., Veres, P., Watts, L. A., Warneke, C., and Wollny, A. G.: Characteristics, sources, and transport of aerosols measured in spring 2008 during the aerosol, radiation, and cloud processes affecting Arctic Climate (ARCPAC) Project, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 11, 2423–2453, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-11-2423-2011, 2011.