Articles | Volume 10, issue 4
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-1323-2017
© Author(s) 2017. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-1323-2017
© Author(s) 2017. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
Research article
| 
04 Apr 2017
Research article |
| 04 Apr 2017
FATES: a flexible analysis toolkit for the exploration of single-particle mass spectrometer data
Camille M. Sultana
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California,
San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA
Gavin C. Cornwell
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California,
San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA
Paul Rodriguez
San Diego Supercomputer Center, University of California, San Diego,
La Jolla, CA 92093, USA
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California,
San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA
Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San
Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA
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Sara D. Forestieri, Gavin C. Cornwell, Taylor M. Helgestad, Kathryn A. Moore, Christopher Lee, Gordon A. Novak, Camille M. Sultana, Xiaofei Wang, Timothy H. Bertram, Kimberly A. Prather, and Christopher D. Cappa
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 9003–9018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-9003-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-9003-2016, 2016
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Hygroscopic growth factors at 85 % relative humidity (GF(85 %)) were quantified along with particle composition for primary sea spray aerosol (SSA) particles generated in marine aerosol reference tanks (MARTs) from seawater in which two independent phytoplankton blooms were induced. The observed 5 to 15 % depression in the GF(85 %) values (relative to pure sea salt) is consistent with the large observed volume fractions of non-refractory organic matter (NR-OM) comprising the SSA.
Kathryn A. Moore, Thomas C. J. Hill, Chamika K. Madawala, Raymond J. Leibensperger III, Samantha Greeney, Christopher D. Cappa, M. Dale Stokes, Grant B. Deane, Christopher Lee, Alexei V. Tivanski, Kimberly A. Prather, and Paul J. DeMott
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This article presents results from the first study in a new wind–wave channel at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. The experiment tested how wind over the ocean surface influences production of sea spray particles, which are important for radiative forcing and cloud formation in the atmosphere. We found that particle concentration and chemical composition varied with wind speed and that variations were driven by changes in wind and wave breaking rather than seawater biology or chemistry.
Charlotte M. Beall, Thomas C. J. Hill, Paul J. DeMott, Tobias Köneman, Michael Pikridas, Frank Drewnick, Hartwig Harder, Christopher Pöhlker, Jos Lelieveld, Bettina Weber, Minas Iakovides, Roman Prokeš, Jean Sciare, Meinrat O. Andreae, M. Dale Stokes, and Kimberly A. Prather
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 12607–12627, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-12607-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-12607-2022, 2022
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Delaney B. Kilgour, Gordon A. Novak, Jon S. Sauer, Alexia N. Moore, Julie Dinasquet, Sarah Amiri, Emily B. Franklin, Kathryn Mayer, Margaux Winter, Clare K. Morris, Tyler Price, Francesca Malfatti, Daniel R. Crocker, Christopher Lee, Christopher D. Cappa, Allen H. Goldstein, Kimberly A. Prather, and Timothy H. Bertram
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Charlotte M. Beall, Jennifer M. Michaud, Meredith A. Fish, Julie Dinasquet, Gavin C. Cornwell, M. Dale Stokes, Michael D. Burkart, Thomas C. Hill, Paul J. DeMott, and Kimberly A. Prather
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Charlotte M. Beall, Dolan Lucero, Thomas C. Hill, Paul J. DeMott, M. Dale Stokes, and Kimberly A. Prather
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Ice-nucleating particles (INPs) can influence multiple climate-relevant cloud properties. Previous studies report INP observations from precipitation samples that were stored prior to analysis, yet storage protocols vary widely, and little is known about how storage impacts INPs. This study finds that storing samples at −20 °C best preserves INP concentrations and that significant losses of small INPs occur across all storage protocols.
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Aerosols that promote ice formation in clouds were investigated during an atmospheric river that caused significant rain in northern California. We found that biological particles produced by local terrestrial ecosystems greatly enhanced cloud ice when meteorology allowed for their injection to the storm. The local terrestrial particles had greater impact on clouds than particles transported from across the Pacific Ocean, lending additional insight to which aerosols are important for cloud ice.
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Atmos. Meas. Tech., 10, 2613–2626, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-2613-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-2613-2017, 2017
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Ice nucleating particles (INPs) influence cloud properties and can affect the overall precipitation efficiency. An existing technique for measuring INP
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Andrew C. Martin, Gavin C. Cornwell, Samuel A. Atwood, Kathryn A. Moore, Nicholas E. Rothfuss, Hans Taylor, Paul J. DeMott, Sonia M. Kreidenweis, Markus D. Petters, and Kimberly A. Prather
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Anthropogenic influence on air quality, aerosol properties, and cloud activity was observed at Bodega Bay, CA, during periods when air from California's interior was transported to the coast. The sudden change in aerosol properties can impact atmospheric radiative balance and cloud formation in ways that must be accounted for in regional climate simulations.
Sara D. Forestieri, Gavin C. Cornwell, Taylor M. Helgestad, Kathryn A. Moore, Christopher Lee, Gordon A. Novak, Camille M. Sultana, Xiaofei Wang, Timothy H. Bertram, Kimberly A. Prather, and Christopher D. Cappa
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J. M. Creamean, A. P. Ault, A. B. White, P. J. Neiman, F. M. Ralph, P. Minnis, and K. A. Prather
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D. B. Collins, D. F. Zhao, M. J. Ruppel, O. Laskina, J. R. Grandquist, R. L. Modini, M. D. Stokes, L. M. Russell, T. H. Bertram, V. H. Grassian, G. B. Deane, and K. A. Prather
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Sea spray aerosol particles represent a system of relatively high chemical complexity. The chemical composition of sea spray aerosol particles was shown in this study to be directly determined by the method used to produce bubbles, which produce aerosol upon bursting at the sea surface. Using methods which deviate from natural breaking waves directly translated into differences in the measured particle sizes and the chemical mixing state of laboratory-generated sea spray aerosol particles.
J. Fan, L. R. Leung, P. J. DeMott, J. M. Comstock, B. Singh, D. Rosenfeld, J. M. Tomlinson, A. White, K. A. Prather, P. Minnis, J. K. Ayers, and Q. Min
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 14, 81–101, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-81-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-81-2014, 2014
A. Cazorla, R. Bahadur, K. J. Suski, J. F. Cahill, D. Chand, B. Schmid, V. Ramanathan, and K. A. Prather
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 13, 9337–9350, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-9337-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-9337-2013, 2013
M. D. Stokes, G. B. Deane, K. Prather, T. H. Bertram, M. J. Ruppel, O. S. Ryder, J. M. Brady, and D. Zhao
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Related subject area
Subject: Aerosols | Technique: In Situ Measurement | Topic: Data Processing and Information Retrieval
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A novel probabilistic source apportionment approach: Bayesian auto-correlated matrix factorization
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Enhancing characterization of organic nitrogen components in aerosols and droplets using high-resolution aerosol mass spectrometry
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A searchable database and mass spectral comparison tool for the Aerosol Mass Spectrometer (AMS) and the Aerosol Chemical Speciation Monitor (ACSM)
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Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 1149–1162, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-1149-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-1149-2025, 2025
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The radiative effect of black carbon (BC) is substantially modulated by its mixing state, which is challenging to derive physically with a single-particle soot photometer. This study establishes a machine-learning-based inversion model which can accurately and efficiently acquire the BC mixing state. Compared to the widely used leading-edge-only method, our model utilizes a broader scattering signal coverage to more accurately capture diverse particle characteristics.
Aishah I. Shittu, Kirsty J. Pringle, Stephen R. Arnold, Richard J. Pope, Ailish M. Graham, Carly Reddington, Richard Rigby, and James B. McQuaid
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 817–828, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-817-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-817-2025, 2025
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The study highlighted the performance of Atmotube PRO sensor particulate matter (PM) data. The result showed inter-sensor variability among the Atmotube PRO sensor data. This study showed 62.5 % of the sensors used for the study exhibited greater precision in their PM2.5 measurements. The overall performance showed that sensors passed the base testing using 1 h averaged data and that a multiple linear regression model using relative humidity values improved the performance of the PM2.5 data.
Rósín Byrne, John C. Wenger, and Stig Hellebust
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 5129–5146, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-5129-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-5129-2024, 2024
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This study presents the concentration similarity index (CSI) for a quantitative and robust comparison of PM2.5 measurements within air quality sensor networks. Developed and tested on two Irish sensor networks, the CSI revealed real spatial variations in PM2.5 and enables assessment of the representativeness of regulatory monitoring locations. It underscores the impact of solid fuel combustion on PM2.5 and highlights the importance of wintertime data for accurate exposure assessments.
Anton Rusanen, Anton Björklund, Manousos I. Manousakas, Jianhui Jiang, Markku T. Kulmala, Kai Puolamäki, and Kaspar R. Daellenbach
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 1251–1277, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-1251-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-1251-2024, 2024
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We present a Bayesian non-negative matrix factorization model that performs better on our test datasets than currently widely used models. Its advantages are better use of time information and providing a direct error estimation. We believe this could lead to better estimates of emission sources from measurements.
Milan Y. Patel, Pietro F. Vannucci, Jinsol Kim, William M. Berelson, and Ronald C. Cohen
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 1051–1060, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-1051-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-1051-2024, 2024
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Low-cost particulate matter (PM) sensors are becoming increasingly common in community monitoring and atmospheric research, but these sensors require proper calibration to provide accurate reporting. Here, we propose a hygroscopic growth calibration scheme that evolves in time to account for seasonal changes in hygroscopic growth. In San Francisco and Los Angeles, CA, applying a seasonal hygroscopic growth calibration can account for sensor biases driven by the seasonal cycles in PM composition.
Xinlei Ge, Yele Sun, Justin Trousdell, Mindong Chen, and Qi Zhang
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 423–439, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-423-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-423-2024, 2024
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This study aims to enhance the application of the Aerodyne high-resolution aerosol mass spectrometer (HR-AMS) in characterizing organic nitrogen (ON) species within aerosol particles and droplets. A thorough analysis was conducted on 75 ON standards that represent a diverse spectrum of ambient ON types. The results underscore the capacity of the HR-AMS in examining the concentration and chemistry of atmospheric ON compounds, thereby offering insights into their sources and environmental impacts.
Guanzhong Wang, Heinrich Ruser, Julian Schade, Johannes Passig, Thomas Adam, Günther Dollinger, and Ralf Zimmermann
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 299–313, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-299-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-299-2024, 2024
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This research aims to develop a novel warning system for the real-time monitoring of pollutants in the atmosphere. The system is capable of sampling and investigating airborne aerosol particles on-site, utilizing artificial intelligence to learn their chemical signatures and to classify them in real time. We applied single-particle mass spectrometry for analyzing the chemical composition of aerosol particles and suggest several supervised algorithms for highly reliable automatic classification.
Sohyeon Jeon, Michael J. Walker, Donna T. Sueper, Douglas A. Day, Anne V. Handschy, Jose L. Jimenez, and Brent J. Williams
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 6075–6095, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-6075-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-6075-2023, 2023
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A searchable database tool for the Aerosol Mass Spectrometer (AMS) and Aerosol Chemical Speciation Monitor (ACSM) mass spectral datasets was built to improve the efficiency of data analysis using Igor Pro. The tool incorporates the published mass spectra (MS) and sample information uploaded on the website. The tool allows users to compare their own mass spectrum with the reference MS in the database.
Jia Liu, Guangya Wang, Cancan Zhu, Donghui Zhou, and Lin Wang
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 4961–4974, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-4961-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-4961-2023, 2023
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Single-particle soot photometer (SP2) employs the core-shell model to represent coated BC particles, which introduces retrieval errors in the mixing state (Dp/Dc) of BC. We construct fractal models to represent thinly and thickly coated BC particles, and the retrieval errors of the mixing state are investigated from the numerical aspect. We find that errors in Dp/Dc are noteworthy, and the errors in Dp/Dc can further affect the evaluation accuracy of the radiative forcing of BC.
Lena Francesca Weissert, Geoff Steven Henshaw, David Edward Williams, Brandon Feenstra, Randy Lam, Ashley Collier-Oxandale, Vasileios Papapostolou, and Andrea Polidori
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 4709–4722, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-4709-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-4709-2023, 2023
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We apply a previously developed remote calibration framework to a network of particulate matter (PM) sensors deployed in Southern California. Our results show that a remote calibration can improve the accuracy of PM data, which was particularly visible for PM10. We highlight that sensor drift was mostly due to differences in particle composition than monitor operational factors. Thus, PM sensors may require frequent calibration if PM sources vary with different wind conditions or seasons.
Weixing Hao, Fan Mei, Susanne Hering, Steven Spielman, Beat Schmid, Jason Tomlinson, and Yang Wang
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 3973–3986, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-3973-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-3973-2023, 2023
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Airborne aerosol instrumentation plays a crucial role in understanding the spatial distribution of ambient aerosol particles. This study investigates a versatile water-based condensation particle counter through simulations and experiments. It provides valuable insights to improve versatile water-based condensation particle counter (vWCPC) aerosol measurement and operation for the community.
Christina N. Vasilakopoulou, Kalliopi Florou, Christos Kaltsonoudis, Iasonas Stavroulas, Nikolaos Mihalopoulos, and Spyros N. Pandis
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 2837–2850, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-2837-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-2837-2023, 2023
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The offline aerosol mass spectrometry technique is a useful tool for the source apportionment of organic aerosol in areas and periods during which an aerosol mass spectrometer is not available. In this work, an improved offline technique was developed and evaluated in an effort to capture most of the partially soluble and insoluble organic aerosol material, reducing the uncertainty of the corresponding source apportionment significantly.
Anton Rusanen, Kristo Hõrrak, Lauri R. Ahonen, Tuomo Nieminen, Pasi P. Aalto, Pasi Kolari, Markku Kulmala, Tuukka Petäjä, and Heikki Junninen
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 2781–2793, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-2781-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-2781-2023, 2023
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We present a framework for setting up SMEAR (Station for Measuring Ecosystem–Atmosphere Relations) type measurement station data flows. This framework, called SMEARcore, consists of modular open-source software components that can be chosen to suit various station configurations. The benefits of using this framework are automation of routine operations and real-time monitoring of measurement results.
Najin Kim, Hang Su, Nan Ma, Ulrich Pöschl, and Yafang Cheng
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 2771–2780, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-2771-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-2771-2023, 2023
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We propose a multiple-charging correction algorithm for a broad-supersaturation scanning cloud condensation nuclei (BS2-CCN) system which can obtain high time-resolution aerosol hygroscopicity and CCN activity. The correction algorithm aims at deriving the activation fraction's true value for each particle size. The meaningful differences between corrected and original κ values (single hygroscopicity parameter) emphasize the correction algorithm's importance for ambient aerosol measurement.
Daniel A. Jaffe, Colleen Miller, Katie Thompson, Brandon Finley, Manna Nelson, James Ouimette, and Elisabeth Andrews
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 1311–1322, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-1311-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-1311-2023, 2023
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PurpleAir sensors (PASs) are low-cost tools to measure fine particulate matter (PM) concentrations. However, the raw PAS data have significant biases, so the sensors must be corrected. We analyzed data from numerous sites and found that the standard correction to the PAS Purple Air data is accurate in urban pollution events and smoke events but leads to a 6-fold underestimate in the PM2.5 concentrations in dust events. We propose a new correction algorithm to address this problem.
Yilin Chen, Yuanjian Yang, and Meng Gao
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 1279–1294, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-1279-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-1279-2023, 2023
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The Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macao Greater Bay Area suffers from summertime air pollution events related to typhoons. The present study leverages machine learning to predict typhoon-associated air quality over the area. The model evaluation shows that the model performs excellently. Moreover, the change in meteorological drivers of air quality on typhoon days and non-typhoon days suggests that air pollution control strategies should have different focuses on typhoon days and non-typhoon days.
Yandong Tong, Lu Qi, Giulia Stefenelli, Dongyu Simon Wang, Francesco Canonaco, Urs Baltensperger, André Stephan Henry Prévôt, and Jay Gates Slowik
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 7265–7291, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-7265-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-7265-2022, 2022
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We present a method for positive matrix factorisation (PMF) analysis on a single dataset that includes measurements from both EESI-TOF and AMS in Zurich, Switzerland. For the first time, we resolved and quantified secondary organic aerosol (SOA) sources. Meanwhile, we also determined the retrieved EESI-TOF factor-dependent sensitivities. This method provides a framework for exploiting semi-quantitative, high-resolution instrumentation for quantitative source apportionment.
Zefeng Zhang, Hengnan Guo, Hanqing Kang, Jing Wang, Junlin An, Xingna Yu, Jingjing Lv, and Bin Zhu
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 7259–7264, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-7259-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-7259-2022, 2022
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In this study, we first analyze the relationship between the visibility, the extinction coefficient, and atmospheric compositions. Then we propose to use the harmonic average of visibility data as the average visibility, which can better reflect changes in atmospheric extinction coefficients and aerosol concentrations. It is recommended to use the harmonic average visibility in the studies of climate change, atmospheric radiation, air pollution, environmental health, etc.
Hyungwon John Park, Jeffrey S. Reid, Livia S. Freire, Christopher Jackson, and David H. Richter
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 7171–7194, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-7171-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-7171-2022, 2022
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We use numerical models to study field measurements of sea spray aerosol particles and conclude that both the atmospheric state and the methods of instrument sampling are causes for the variation in the production rate of aerosol particles: a critical metric to learn the aerosol's effect on processes like cloud physics and radiation. This work helps field observers improve their experimental design and interpretation of measurements because of turbulence in the atmosphere.
Christina Vasilakopoulou, Iasonas Stavroulas, Nikolaos Mihalopoulos, and Spyros N. Pandis
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 6419–6431, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-6419-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-6419-2022, 2022
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Offline aerosol mass spectrometer (AMS) measurements can provide valuable information about ambient organic aerosols when online AMS measurements are not available. In this study, we examine whether and how the low time resolution (usually 24 h) of the offline technique affects source apportionment results. We concluded that use of the daily averages resulted in estimated average contributions that were within 8 % of the total OA compared with the high-resolution analysis.
Priyanka deSouza, Ralph Kahn, Tehya Stockman, William Obermann, Ben Crawford, An Wang, James Crooks, Jing Li, and Patrick Kinney
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 6309–6328, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-6309-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-6309-2022, 2022
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How sensitive are the spatial and temporal trends of PM2.5 derived from a network of low-cost sensors to the calibration adjustment used? How transferable are calibration equations developed at a few co-location sites to an entire network of low-cost sensors? This paper attempts to answer this question and offers a series of suggestions on how to develop the most robust calibration function for different end uses. It uses measurements from the Love My Air network in Denver as a test case.
Sahil Bhandari, Zainab Arub, Gazala Habib, Joshua S. Apte, and Lea Hildebrandt Ruiz
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 6051–6074, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-6051-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-6051-2022, 2022
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We present a new method to conduct source apportionment resolved by time of day using the underlying approach of positive matrix factorization. We report results for four example time periods in two seasons (winter and monsoon 2017) in Delhi, India. Compared to the traditional approach, we extract a larger number of factors that represent the expected sources of primary organic aerosol. This method can capture diurnal time series patterns of sources at low computational cost.
Alireza Moallemi, Rob L. Modini, Tatyana Lapyonok, Anton Lopatin, David Fuertes, Oleg Dubovik, Philippe Giaccari, and Martin Gysel-Beer
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 5619–5642, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-5619-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-5619-2022, 2022
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Aerosol properties (size distributions, refractive indices) can be retrieved from in situ, angularly resolved light scattering measurements performed with polar nephelometers. We apply an established framework to assess the aerosol property retrieval potential for different instrument configurations, target applications, and assumed prior knowledge. We also demonstrate how a reductive greedy algorithm can be used to determine the optimal placements of the angular sensors in a polar nephelometer.
Marta Via, Gang Chen, Francesco Canonaco, Kaspar R. Daellenbach, Benjamin Chazeau, Hasna Chebaicheb, Jianhui Jiang, Hannes Keernik, Chunshui Lin, Nicolas Marchand, Cristina Marin, Colin O'Dowd, Jurgita Ovadnevaite, Jean-Eudes Petit, Michael Pikridas, Véronique Riffault, Jean Sciare, Jay G. Slowik, Leïla Simon, Jeni Vasilescu, Yunjiang Zhang, Olivier Favez, André S. H. Prévôt, Andrés Alastuey, and María Cruz Minguillón
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 5479–5495, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-5479-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-5479-2022, 2022
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This work presents the differences resulting from two techniques (rolling and seasonal) of the positive matrix factorisation model that can be run for organic aerosol source apportionment. The current state of the art suggests that the rolling technique is more accurate, but no proof of its effectiveness has been provided yet. This paper tackles this issue in the context of a synthetic dataset and a multi-site real-world comparison.
Sungwoo Kim, Brian M. Lerner, Donna T. Sueper, and Gabriel Isaacman-VanWertz
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 5061–5075, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-5061-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-5061-2022, 2022
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Atmospheric samples can be complex, and current analysis methods often require substantial human interaction and discard potentially important information. To improve analysis accuracy and computational cost of these large datasets, we developed an automated analysis algorithm that utilizes a factor analysis approach coupled with a decision tree. We demonstrate that this algorithm cataloged approximately 10 times more analytes compared to a manual analysis and in a quarter of the analysis time.
Olga Zografou, Maria Gini, Manousos I. Manousakas, Gang Chen, Athina C. Kalogridis, Evangelia Diapouli, Athina Pappa, and Konstantinos Eleftheriadis
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 4675–4692, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-4675-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-4675-2022, 2022
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A yearlong ToF-ACSM dataset was used to characterize ambient aerosols over a suburban Athenian site, and innovative software for source apportionment was implemented in order to distinguish the sources of the total non-refractory species of PM1. A comparison between the methodology of combined organic and inorganic PMF analysis and the conventional organic PMF took place.
Jeramy L. Dedrick, Georges Saliba, Abigail S. Williams, Lynn M. Russell, and Dan Lubin
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 4171–4194, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-4171-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-4171-2022, 2022
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A new method is presented to retrieve the sea spray aerosol size distribution by combining submicron size and nephelometer scattering based on Mie theory. Using available sea spray tracers, we find that this approach serves as a comparable substitute to supermicron size distribution measurements, which are limited in availability at marine sites. Application of this technique can expand sea spray observations and improve the characterization of marine aerosol impacts on clouds and climate.
Ivo Beck, Hélène Angot, Andrea Baccarini, Lubna Dada, Lauriane Quéléver, Tuija Jokinen, Tiia Laurila, Markus Lampimäki, Nicolas Bukowiecki, Matthew Boyer, Xianda Gong, Martin Gysel-Beer, Tuukka Petäjä, Jian Wang, and Julia Schmale
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 4195–4224, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-4195-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-4195-2022, 2022
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We present the pollution detection algorithm (PDA), a new method to identify local primary pollution in remote atmospheric aerosol and trace gas time series. The PDA identifies periods of contaminated data and relies only on the target dataset itself; i.e., it is independent of ancillary data such as meteorological variables. The parameters of all pollution identification steps are adjustable so that the PDA can be tuned to different locations and situations. It is available as open-access code.
Emily B. Franklin, Lindsay D. Yee, Bernard Aumont, Robert J. Weber, Paul Grigas, and Allen H. Goldstein
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 3779–3803, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-3779-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-3779-2022, 2022
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The composition of atmospheric aerosols are extremely complex, containing hundreds of thousands of estimated individual compounds. The majority of these compounds have never been catalogued in widely used databases, making them extremely difficult for atmospheric chemists to identify and analyze. In this work, we present Ch3MS-RF, a machine-learning-based model to enable characterization of complex mixtures and prediction of structure-specific properties of unidentifiable organic compounds.
Jiaoshi Zhang, Yang Wang, Steven Spielman, Susanne Hering, and Jian Wang
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 2579–2590, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-2579-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-2579-2022, 2022
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New nonparametric, regularized methods are developed to invert the growth factor probability density function (GF-PDF) from humidity-controlled fast integrated mobility spectrometer measurements. These algorithms are computationally efficient, require no prior assumptions of the GF-PDF distribution, and reduce the error in inverted GF-PDF. They can be applied to humidified tandem differential mobility analyzer data. Among all algorithms, Twomey’s method retrieves GF-PDF with the smallest error.
Douglas A. Day, Pedro Campuzano-Jost, Benjamin A. Nault, Brett B. Palm, Weiwei Hu, Hongyu Guo, Paul J. Wooldridge, Ronald C. Cohen, Kenneth S. Docherty, J. Alex Huffman, Suzane S. de Sá, Scot T. Martin, and Jose L. Jimenez
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 459–483, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-459-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-459-2022, 2022
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Particle-phase nitrates are an important component of atmospheric aerosols and chemistry. In this paper, we systematically explore the application of aerosol mass spectrometry (AMS) to quantify the organic and inorganic nitrate fractions of aerosols in the atmosphere. While AMS has been used for a decade to quantify nitrates, methods are not standardized. We make recommendations for a more universal approach based on this analysis of a large range of field and laboratory observations.
Markus D. Petters
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 7909–7928, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-7909-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-7909-2021, 2021
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Inverse methods infer physical properties from a measured instrument response. Measurement noise often interferes with the inversion. This work presents a general, domain-independent, accessible, and computationally efficient software implementation of a common class of statistical inversion methods. In addition, a new method to invert data from humidified tandem differential mobility analyzers is introduced. Results show that the approach is suitable for inversion of large-scale datasets.
Pak Lun Fung, Martha Arbayani Zaidan, Ola Surakhi, Sasu Tarkoma, Tuukka Petäjä, and Tareq Hussein
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 5535–5554, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-5535-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-5535-2021, 2021
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Aerosol size distribution measurements rely on a variety of techniques to classify the aerosol size and measure the size distribution. However, due to the instrumental insufficiency and inversion limitations, the raw dataset contains missing gaps or negative values, which hinder further analysis. With a merged particle size distribution in Jordan, this paper suggests a neural network method to estimate number concentrations at a particular size bin by the number concentration at other size bins.
Xiansheng Liu, Hadiatullah Hadiatullah, Xun Zhang, L. Drew Hill, Andrew H. A. White, Jürgen Schnelle-Kreis, Jan Bendl, Gert Jakobi, Brigitte Schloter-Hai, and Ralf Zimmermann
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 5139–5151, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-5139-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-5139-2021, 2021
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A monitoring campaign was conducted in Augsburg to determine a suitable noise reduction algorithm for the MA200 Aethalometer. Results showed that centred moving average (CMA) post-processing effectively removed spurious negative concentrations without major bias and reliably highlighted effects from local sources, effectively increasing spatio-temporal resolution in mobile measurements. Evaluation of each method on peak sample reduction and background correction further supports the reliability.
Jie Qiu, Wangshu Tan, Gang Zhao, Yingli Yu, and Chunsheng Zhao
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 4879–4891, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-4879-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-4879-2021, 2021
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Considering nephelometers' major problems of a nonideal Lambertian light source and angle truncation, a new correction method based on a machine learning model is proposed. Our method has the advantage of obtaining data with high accuracy while achieving self-correction, which means that researchers can get more accurate scattering coefficients without the need for additional observation data. This method provides a more precise estimation of the aerosol’s direct radiative forcing.
Amir Yazdani, Ann M. Dillner, and Satoshi Takahama
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 4805–4827, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-4805-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-4805-2021, 2021
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We propose a spectroscopic method for estimating several mixture-averaged molecular properties (carbon number and molecular weight) in particulate matter relevant for understanding its chemical origins. This estimation is enabled by calibration models built and tested using laboratory standards containing molecules with known structure, and can be applied to filter samples of PM2.5 currently collected in existing air pollution monitoring networks and field campaigns.
Aki Virkkula
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 3707–3719, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-3707-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-3707-2021, 2021
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The Aethalometer model is used widely for estimating the contributions of fossil fuel emissions and biomass burning to black carbon. The calculation is based on measured absorption Ångström exponents, which is ambiguous since it not only depends on the dominant absorber but also on the size and internal structure of the particles, core size, and shell thickness. The uncertainties of the fractions of absorption by eBC from fossil fuel and biomass burning are evaluated with a core–shell Mie model.
Weiqi Xu, Masayuki Takeuchi, Chun Chen, Yanmei Qiu, Conghui Xie, Wanyun Xu, Nan Ma, Douglas R. Worsnop, Nga Lee Ng, and Yele Sun
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 3693–3705, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-3693-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-3693-2021, 2021
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Here we developed a method for estimation of particulate organic nitrates (pON) from the measurements of a high-resolution aerosol mass spectrometer coupled with a thermodenuder based on the volatility differences between inorganic nitrate and pON. The results generally had improvements in reducing negative values due to the influences of a high concentration of inorganic nitrate and a constant ratio of NO+ to NO2+ of organic nitrates (RON).
Melinda K. Schueneman, Benjamin A. Nault, Pedro Campuzano-Jost, Duseong S. Jo, Douglas A. Day, Jason C. Schroder, Brett B. Palm, Alma Hodzic, Jack E. Dibb, and Jose L. Jimenez
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 2237–2260, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-2237-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-2237-2021, 2021
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This work focuses on two important properties of the aerosol, acidity, and sulfate composition, which is important for our understanding of aerosol health and environmental impacts. We explore different methods to understand the composition of the aerosol with measurements from a specific instrument and apply those methods to a large dataset. These measurements are confounded by other factors, making it challenging to predict aerosol sulfate composition; pH estimations, however, show promise.
Weilun Zhao, Wangshu Tan, Gang Zhao, Chuanyang Shen, Yingli Yu, and Chunsheng Zhao
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 1319–1331, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-1319-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-1319-2021, 2021
Chuanyang Shen, Gang Zhao, and Chunsheng Zhao
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 1293–1301, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-1293-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-1293-2021, 2021
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Aerosol hygroscopicity measured by the humidified tandem differential mobility analyzer (HTDMA) is affected by multiply charged particles from two aspects: (1) number contribution and (2) the weakening effect. An algorithm is proposed to do the multi-charge correction and applied to a field measurement. Results show that the difference between corrected and measured size-resolved κ can reach 0.05, highlighting that special attention needs to be paid to the multi-charge effect when using HTDMA.
Francesco Canonaco, Anna Tobler, Gang Chen, Yulia Sosedova, Jay Gates Slowik, Carlo Bozzetti, Kaspar Rudolf Daellenbach, Imad El Haddad, Monica Crippa, Ru-Jin Huang, Markus Furger, Urs Baltensperger, and André Stephan Henry Prévôt
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 923–943, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-923-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-923-2021, 2021
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Long-term ambient aerosol mass spectrometric data were analyzed with a statistical model (PMF) to obtain source contributions and fingerprints. The new aspects of this paper involve time-dependent source fingerprints by a rolling technique and the replacement of the full visual inspection of each run by a user-defined set of criteria to monitor the quality of each of these runs more efficiently. More reliable sources will finally provide better instruments for political mitigation strategies.
Kenji Miki and Shigeto Kawashima
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 685–693, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-685-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-685-2021, 2021
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Laser optics have long been used in pollen counting systems. To clarify the limitations and potential new applications of laser optics for automatic pollen counting and discrimination, we determined the light scattering patterns of various pollen types, tracked temporal changes in these distributions, and introduced a new theory for automatic pollen discrimination.
Yinchao Zhang, Su Chen, Siying Chen, He Chen, and Pan Guo
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 6675–6689, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-6675-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-6675-2020, 2020
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Air pollution has an important impact on human health, climatic patterns, and the ecological environment. The complexity of the nocturnal boundary layer (NBL), combined with its strong physio-chemical effect, induces worse polluted episodes. Therefore, we present a new approach named cluster analysis of gradient method (CA-GM) to overcome the multilayer structure and remove the fluctuation of NBL height using raw data resolution.
Tommy Chan, Runlong Cai, Lauri R. Ahonen, Yiliang Liu, Ying Zhou, Joonas Vanhanen, Lubna Dada, Yan Chao, Yongchun Liu, Lin Wang, Markku Kulmala, and Juha Kangasluoma
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 4885–4898, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-4885-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-4885-2020, 2020
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Using a particle size magnifier (PSM; Airmodus, Finland), we determined the particle size distribution using four inversion methods and compared each method to the others to establish their strengths and weaknesses. Furthermore, we provided a step-by-step procedure on how to invert measured data using the PSM. Finally, we provided recommendations, code and data related to the data inversion. This is an important paper, as no operating procedure exists regarding how to process measured PSM data.
Paolo Laj, Alessandro Bigi, Clémence Rose, Elisabeth Andrews, Cathrine Lund Myhre, Martine Collaud Coen, Yong Lin, Alfred Wiedensohler, Michael Schulz, John A. Ogren, Markus Fiebig, Jonas Gliß, Augustin Mortier, Marco Pandolfi, Tuukka Petäja, Sang-Woo Kim, Wenche Aas, Jean-Philippe Putaud, Olga Mayol-Bracero, Melita Keywood, Lorenzo Labrador, Pasi Aalto, Erik Ahlberg, Lucas Alados Arboledas, Andrés Alastuey, Marcos Andrade, Begoña Artíñano, Stina Ausmeel, Todor Arsov, Eija Asmi, John Backman, Urs Baltensperger, Susanne Bastian, Olaf Bath, Johan Paul Beukes, Benjamin T. Brem, Nicolas Bukowiecki, Sébastien Conil, Cedric Couret, Derek Day, Wan Dayantolis, Anna Degorska, Konstantinos Eleftheriadis, Prodromos Fetfatzis, Olivier Favez, Harald Flentje, Maria I. Gini, Asta Gregorič, Martin Gysel-Beer, A. Gannet Hallar, Jenny Hand, Andras Hoffer, Christoph Hueglin, Rakesh K. Hooda, Antti Hyvärinen, Ivo Kalapov, Nikos Kalivitis, Anne Kasper-Giebl, Jeong Eun Kim, Giorgos Kouvarakis, Irena Kranjc, Radovan Krejci, Markku Kulmala, Casper Labuschagne, Hae-Jung Lee, Heikki Lihavainen, Neng-Huei Lin, Gunter Löschau, Krista Luoma, Angela Marinoni, Sebastiao Martins Dos Santos, Frank Meinhardt, Maik Merkel, Jean-Marc Metzger, Nikolaos Mihalopoulos, Nhat Anh Nguyen, Jakub Ondracek, Noemi Pérez, Maria Rita Perrone, Jean-Eudes Petit, David Picard, Jean-Marc Pichon, Veronique Pont, Natalia Prats, Anthony Prenni, Fabienne Reisen, Salvatore Romano, Karine Sellegri, Sangeeta Sharma, Gerhard Schauer, Patrick Sheridan, James Patrick Sherman, Maik Schütze, Andreas Schwerin, Ralf Sohmer, Mar Sorribas, Martin Steinbacher, Junying Sun, Gloria Titos, Barbara Toczko, Thomas Tuch, Pierre Tulet, Peter Tunved, Ville Vakkari, Fernando Velarde, Patricio Velasquez, Paolo Villani, Sterios Vratolis, Sheng-Hsiang Wang, Kay Weinhold, Rolf Weller, Margarita Yela, Jesus Yus-Diez, Vladimir Zdimal, Paul Zieger, and Nadezda Zikova
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 4353–4392, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-4353-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-4353-2020, 2020
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The paper establishes the fiducial reference of the GAW aerosol network providing the fully characterized value chain to the provision of four climate-relevant aerosol properties from ground-based sites. Data from almost 90 stations worldwide are reported for a reference year, 2017, providing a unique and very robust view of the variability of these variables worldwide. Current gaps in the GAW network are analysed and requirements for the Global Climate Monitoring System are proposed.
Shengqiang Zhu, Lei Li, Shurong Wang, Mei Li, Yaxi Liu, Xiaohui Lu, Hong Chen, Lin Wang, Jianmin Chen, Zhen Zhou, Xin Yang, and Xiaofei Wang
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 4111–4121, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-4111-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-4111-2020, 2020
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Single-particle aerosol mass spectrometry (SPAMS) is widely used to detect chemical compositions and sizes of individual aerosol particles. However, it has a major issue: the mass accuracy of high-resolution SPAMS is relatively low. Here we developed an automatic linear calibration method to greatly improve the mass accuracy of SPAMS spectra so that the elemental compositions of organic peaks, such as Cx, CxHy, CxHyOz and CxHyNO peaks, can be directly identified just based on their m / z values.
William Wandji Nyamsi, Antti Lipponen, Arturo Sanchez-Lorenzo, Martin Wild, and Antti Arola
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 3061–3079, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-3061-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-3061-2020, 2020
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This paper proposes a novel and accurate method for estimating and reconstructing aerosol optical depth from sunshine duration measurements under cloud-free conditions at any place and time since the late 19th century. The method performs very well when compared to AErosol RObotic NETwork measurements and operates an efficient detection of signals from massive volcanic eruptions. Reconstructed long-term aerosol optical depths are in agreement with the dimming/brightening phenomenon.
Sascha Pfeifer, Thomas Müller, Andrew Freedman, and Alfred Wiedensohler
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 2161–2167, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-2161-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-2161-2020, 2020
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The effect of the baseline drift on the resulting extinction values of three CAPS PMex monitors with different wavelengths was analysed for an urban background station. A significant baseline drift was observed, which leads to characteristic measurement artefacts for particle extinction. Two alternative methods for recalculating the baseline are shown. With these methods the extinction artefacts are diminished and the effective scattering of the resulting extinction values is reduced.
Stuart K. Grange, Hanspeter Lötscher, Andrea Fischer, Lukas Emmenegger, and Christoph Hueglin
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 1867–1885, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-1867-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-1867-2020, 2020
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Black carbon (BC) is an important atmospheric pollutant and can be monitored by instruments called aethalometers. A pragmatic data processing technique called the
aethalometer modelcan be used to apportion aethalometer observations into traffic and woodburning components. We present an exploratory data analysis evaluating the aethalometer model and use the outputs for BC trend analysis across Switzerland. The aethalometer model's robustness and utility for such analyses is discussed.
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Short summary
Single-particle mass spectrometers (SPMSs) can determine the size and chemical composition of single particles in real time. We developed the first open-source SPMS toolkit to allow creative script-based data mining along with GUI-based visual data exploration and calibration all within a single programming environment. We believe that this software will be adopted by many in the SPMS community and improve the efficiency of knowledge discovery from these atmospherically critical data sets.
Single-particle mass spectrometers (SPMSs) can determine the size and chemical composition of...
