Articles | Volume 14, issue 5
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 3707–3719, 2021
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-3707-2021
© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Special issue: Satellite and ground-based remote sensing of aerosol optical,...
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 3707–3719, 2021
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-3707-2021
© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article 21 May 2021
Research article | 21 May 2021
Modeled source apportionment of black carbon particles coated with a light-scattering shell
Aki Virkkula
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Hanna Lappalainen, Tuukka Petäjä, Timo Vihma, Jouni Räisänen, Alexander Baklanov, Sergey Chalov, Igor Esau, Ekaterina Ezhova, Matti Leppäranta, Dmitry Pozdnyakov, Jukka Pumpanen, Meinrat O. Andreae, Michael Arshinov, Eija Asmi, Jianhui Bai, Igor Bashmachnikov, Boris Belan, Federico Bianchi, Boris Biskaborn, Michael Boy, Jaana Bäck, Bin Cheng, Natalia Ye Chubarova, Jonathan Duplissy, Egor Dyukarev, Konstantinos Eleftheriadis, Martin Forsius, Martin Heimann, Sirkku Juhola, Vladimir Konovalov, Igor Konovalov, Pavel Konstantinov, Kajar Koster, Elena Lapsina, Anna Lintunen, Alexander Mahura, Risto Makkonen, Svetlana Malkhazova, Ivan Mammarella, Stefano Mammola, Stephany Mazon, Outi Meinander, Eugene Mikhailov, Victoria Miles, Stanislav Myslenko, Dimitry Orlov, Jean-Daniel Paris, Robertta Pirazzini, Olga Popovicheva, Jouni Pulliainen, Kimmo Rautiainen, Torsten Sachs, Vladimir Shevchenko, Andrey Skorokhod, Andreas Stohl, Elli Suhonen, Erik S. Thomson, Marina Tsidilina, Veli-Pekka Tynkkynen, Petteri Uotila, Aki Virkkula, Nadezhda Voropay, Tobias Wolf, Sayaka Yasunaka, Jiahua Zhang, Yubao Qui, Aijun Ding, Huadong Guo, Valery Bondur, Nikolay Kasimov, Sergey Zilitinkevich, Veli-Matti Kerminen, and Markku Kulmala
Atmos. Chem. Phys. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2021-341, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2021-341, 2021
Preprint under review for ACP
Short summary
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We summarize results during the last five years in the Northern Eurasian region, especially from Russia, and introduce recent observations on the air quality in the urban environments in China. Although the scientific knowledge in these regions has increased, there are still gaps in our understanding of large-scale climate-Earth surface interactions and feedbacks. This arises from limitations in research infrastructures and integrative data analyses, hindering a comprehensive system analysis.
Krista Luoma, Jarkko V. Niemi, Minna Aurela, Pak Lun Fung, Aku Helin, Tareq Hussein, Leena Kangas, Anu Kousa, Topi Rönkkö, Hilkka Timonen, Aki Virkkula, and Tuukka Petäjä
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 1173–1189, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-1173-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-1173-2021, 2021
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This study combined black carbon measurements from 15 Finnish sites that represented different environments (traffic, detached housing area, urban background, and regional background). The seasonal and diurnal variations in the black carbon concentration were associated with local emissions from traffic and residential wood burning. The study observed decreasing trends in the black carbon concentration and associated them with decreases in traffic emissions.
Eija Asmi, John Backman, Henri Servomaa, Aki Virkkula, Maria Gini, Kostas Eleftheriadis, Thomas Müller, Sho Ohata, Yutaka Kondo, and Antti Hyvärinen
Atmos. Meas. Tech. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2020-400, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2020-400, 2020
Revised manuscript accepted for AMT
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Absorbing aerosols are warming the Arctic and accurate measurements of their concentrations are crucial. We organized a summer field campaign in Arctic Pallas station, measuring absorbing aerosols with eight methods. The concentrations during the campaign were very low. Filter-based techniques were the most sensitive to detect the minuscule amounts of absorbing aerosols, showing a 20 % agreement between the instruments. Our results help to reduce uncertainties in Arctic absorption measurements.
Krista Luoma, Aki Virkkula, Pasi Aalto, Katrianne Lehtipalo, Tuukka Petäjä, and Markku Kulmala
Atmos. Meas. Tech. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2020-325, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2020-325, 2020
Revised manuscript accepted for AMT
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The study presents a comparison of three different absorption photometers that measured ambient aerosol particles at a boreal forest site. The study aims to better understand problems related to filter-based measurements. Results show how different correction algorithms, which are used to produce the data, affect the derived optical properties of aerosol particles.
Thomas Lachlan-Cope, David C. S. Beddows, Neil Brough, Anna E. Jones, Roy M. Harrison, Angelo Lupi, Young Jun Yoon, Aki Virkkula, and Manuel Dall'Osto
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 4461–4476, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-4461-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-4461-2020, 2020
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We present a statistical cluster analysis of the physical characteristics of particle size distributions collected at Halley (Antarctica) for the year 2015. Complex interactions between multiple ecosystems, coupled with different atmospheric circulation, result in very different aerosol size distributions populating the Southern Hemisphere.
Marja Hemmilä, Ulla Makkonen, Aki Virkkula, Georgia Panagiotopoulou, Juho Aalto, Markku Kulmala, Tuukka Petäjä, Hannele Hakola, and Heidi Hellén
Atmos. Chem. Phys. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2019-1157, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2019-1157, 2020
Publication in ACP not foreseen
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Amines are atmospheric bases, which can affect to nucleation of aerosols. Lately, a computational study showed that guanidine could be even more effective to stabilize sulphuric acid clusters. In this paper we used a a dynamic flow-through chamber with an online ion chromatograph MARGA coupled with a mass spectrometer (MARGA-MS). We studied amine and guanidine emission from a boreal forest floor in Finland, and find out, that the boreal forest floor is a source of amines and guanidine.
Yicheng Shen, Aki Virkkula, Aijun Ding, Krista Luoma, Helmi Keskinen, Pasi P. Aalto, Xuguang Chi, Ximeng Qi, Wei Nie, Xin Huang, Tuukka Petäjä, Markku Kulmala, and Veli-Matti Kerminen
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 15483–15502, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-15483-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-15483-2019, 2019
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Long-term cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) number concentration (NCCN) data are scarce; there are a lot more data on aerosol optical properties (AOPs). It is therefore valuable to derive parameterizations for estimating NCCN from AOP measurements. With the new parameterization NCCN can be estimated from backscatter fraction, scattering Ångström exponent, and total light-scattering coefficient. The NCCN–AOP relationships depend on the geometric mean diameter and the width of the size distribution.
Jonas Svensson, Johan Ström, and Aki Virkkula
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 12, 5913–5925, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-5913-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-5913-2019, 2019
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Collection of particles onto filters can be a valuable tool in several research disciplines. Here we experiment with quartz filters and their response to soot particles in an airborne and liquid state in order to better understand the sampling procedure. Soot particles in a liquid phase showed absorption of light nearly double that of airborne sampled particles.
Krista Luoma, Aki Virkkula, Pasi Aalto, Tuukka Petäjä, and Markku Kulmala
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 11363–11382, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-11363-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-11363-2019, 2019
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We present an over 10-year-long time series of aerosol optical properties (AOPs) measured at a rural boreal forest site. Knowledge of AOPs is needed in determining the direct effect of aerosol particles on climate. We observed decreasing trends in scattering and absorption and increasing trends in backscattering fraction and single-scattering albedo. Trends of single-scattering albedo and backscattering fraction increased the efficiency of aerosol particles to scatter radiation back into space.
Marja Hemmilä, Heidi Hellén, Aki Virkkula, Ulla Makkonen, Arnaud P. Praplan, Jenni Kontkanen, Lauri Ahonen, Markku Kulmala, and Hannele Hakola
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 6367–6380, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-6367-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-6367-2018, 2018
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We measured gas- and particle-phase amine and ammonia concentrations in a boreal forest site in 2015 with online ion chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry. We wanted to know how much and which kinds of amines there are, and how they behave and could affect nucleation. We observed seasonal and diurnal variations for different amines. Amines turned out to be a heterogeneous group of compounds. To our best knowledge, our amine measurements are the longest time series that has been made.
Yicheng Shen, Aki Virkkula, Aijun Ding, Jiaping Wang, Xuguang Chi, Wei Nie, Ximeng Qi, Xin Huang, Qiang Liu, Longfei Zheng, Zheng Xu, Tuukka Petäjä, Pasi P. Aalto, Congbin Fu, and Markku Kulmala
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 5265–5292, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-5265-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-5265-2018, 2018
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Aerosol optical properties (AOPs) were measured at SORPES, a regional background station in Nanjing, China from June 2013 to May 2015. The aerosol was highly scattering. The single-scattering albedo in Nanjing appears to be slightly higher than at several other sites. The data do not suggest any significant contribution to absorption by brown carbon. The sources of high values are mainly in eastern China. During pollution episodes, pollutant concentrations increased gradually but decreased fast.
Jonas Svensson, Johan Ström, Niku Kivekäs, Nathaniel B. Dkhar, Shresth Tayal, Ved P. Sharma, Arttu Jutila, John Backman, Aki Virkkula, Meri Ruppel, Antti Hyvärinen, Anna Kontu, Henna-Reetta Hannula, Matti Leppäranta, Rakesh K. Hooda, Atte Korhola, Eija Asmi, and Heikki Lihavainen
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 1403–1416, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-1403-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-1403-2018, 2018
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Receding glaciers in the Himalayas are of concern. Here we present measurements of light-absorbing impurities, known to contribute to the ongoing glacier decrease, in snow from Indian Himalayas and compare them to snow samples from the Finnish Arctic. The soot particles in the snow are shown to have lower light absorbing efficiency, possibly affecting their radiative forcing potential in the snow. Further, dust influences the snow in the Himalayas to a much greater extent than in Finland.
John Backman, Lauren Schmeisser, Aki Virkkula, John A. Ogren, Eija Asmi, Sandra Starkweather, Sangeeta Sharma, Konstantinos Eleftheriadis, Taneil Uttal, Anne Jefferson, Michael Bergin, Alexander Makshtas, Peter Tunved, and Markus Fiebig
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 10, 5039–5062, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-5039-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-5039-2017, 2017
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Light absorption by aerosol particles is of climatic importance. A widely used means to measure aerosol light absorption is a filter-based measurement technique. In remote areas, such as the Arctic, filter-based instruments operate close to their detection limit. The study presents how a lower detection limit can be achieved for one such instrument, the Aethalometer. Additionally, the Aethalometer is compared to similar instruments, thus improving measurement inter-comparability in the Arctic.
Xuemeng Chen, Aki Virkkula, Veli-Matti Kerminen, Hanna E. Manninen, Maurizio Busetto, Christian Lanconelli, Angelo Lupi, Vito Vitale, Massimo Del Guasta, Paolo Grigioni, Riikka Väänänen, Ella-Maria Duplissy, Tuukka Petäjä, and Markku Kulmala
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 13783–13800, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-13783-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-13783-2017, 2017
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An air ion spectrometer was deployed for characterizing air ions for the first time at the Concordia station at Dome C on the Antarctic Plateau. We observed different ion processes: new particle formation (NPF), wind-induced ion production, and ion formation related to cloud and/or fog formation. Insights into these phenomena are presented. Additionally, the analysis on the growth of NPF events showed a size dependency of growth rates (GRs), i.e. GRs increase with particle sizes.
Jiaping Wang, Aki Virkkula, Yuan Gao, Shuncheng Lee, Yicheng Shen, Xuguang Chi, Wei Nie, Qiang Liu, Zheng Xu, Xin Huang, Tao Wang, Long Cui, and Aijun Ding
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 2653–2671, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-2653-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-2653-2017, 2017
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Multi-year observations at a coastal station in Hong Kong reveals that aerosol optical properties showed clear temporal variations according to the dominant sources of aerosols. LPDM modeling and correlation analysis gave similar signals about the freshness of aerosols during different seasons. Fresh emissions of particles from nearby cities and ship exhausts affected light optical properties and particle size in summer and aged air mass in winter caused larger variability of light extinction.
J. I. Peltoniemi, M. Gritsevich, T. Hakala, P. Dagsson-Waldhauserová, Ó. Arnalds, K. Anttila, H.-R. Hannula, N. Kivekäs, H. Lihavainen, O. Meinander, J. Svensson, A. Virkkula, and G. de Leeuw
The Cryosphere, 9, 2323–2337, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-9-2323-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-9-2323-2015, 2015
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Light-absorbing impurities change the reflectance of snow in different ways. Some particles are heated by the Sun and they sink out of sight. During the process, snow may look darker than pure snow when observed by nadir, but at larger view zenith angles the snow may look as white as clean snow. Thus an observer on the ground may overestimate the albedo, while a satellite underestimates the albedo. Climate studies need to examine how the contaminants behave in snow, not only their total amounts.
X. M. Qi, A. J. Ding, W. Nie, T. Petäjä, V.-M. Kerminen, E. Herrmann, Y. N. Xie, L. F. Zheng, H. Manninen, P. Aalto, J. N. Sun, Z. N. Xu, X. G. Chi, X. Huang, M. Boy, A. Virkkula, X.-Q. Yang, C. B. Fu, and M. Kulmala
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 15, 12445–12464, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-12445-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-12445-2015, 2015
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We report 2 years of measurements of submicron particles at the SORPES station and provide a comprehensive understanding of main factors controlling temporal variation of the aerosol size distribution and NPF in eastern China. The number concentrations of total particles at Nanjing were comparable to other Chinese megacities but the frequency of NPF was much higher. Year-to-year differences of meteorological conditions could significantly influence the seasonal cycle of NPF and growth.
A. Virkkula, X. Chi, A. Ding, Y. Shen, W. Nie, X. Qi, L. Zheng, X. Huang, Y. Xie, J. Wang, T. Petäjä, and M. Kulmala
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 8, 4415–4427, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-4415-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-4415-2015, 2015
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Aerosol optical properties were measured with a seven-wavelength aethalometer and a three-wavelength nephelometer in Nanjing, China, in September 2013–January 2015. The aethalometer compensation parameter k depended on the backscatter fraction, measured with an independent method, the integrating nephelometer. The compensation parameter decreased with increasing single-scattering albedo.
J. Svensson, A. Virkkula, O. Meinander, N. Kivekäs, H.-R. Hannula, O. Järvinen, J. I. Peltoniemi, M. Gritsevich, A. Heikkilä, A. Kontu, A.-P. Hyvärinen, K. Neitola, D. Brus, P. Dagsson-Waldhauserova, K. Anttila, T. Hakala, H. Kaartinen, M. Vehkamäki, G. de Leeuw, and H. Lihavainen
The Cryosphere Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/tcd-9-1227-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/tcd-9-1227-2015, 2015
Revised manuscript not accepted
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Soot's (including black carbon and organics) negative effect on a natural snow pack is experimentally addressed in this paper through a series of experiments. Soot concentrations in the snow in the range of 200-200 000 ppb verify the negative effects on the albedo, the physical snow characteristics, as well as increasing the melt rate of the snow pack. Our experimental data generally agrees when compared with the Snow, Ice and Aerosol Radiation model.
J. Backman, A. Virkkula, V. Vakkari, J. P. Beukes, P. G. Van Zyl, M. Josipovic, S. Piketh, P. Tiitta, K. Chiloane, T. Petäjä, M. Kulmala, and L. Laakso
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 7, 4285–4298, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-7-4285-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-7-4285-2014, 2014
T. Müller, A. Virkkula, and J. A. Ogren
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 7, 4049–4070, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-7-4049-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-7-4049-2014, 2014
J. Kukkonen, J. Nikmo, M. Sofiev, K. Riikonen, T. Petäjä, A. Virkkula, J. Levula, S. Schobesberger, and D. M. Webber
Geosci. Model Dev., 7, 2663–2681, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-7-2663-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-7-2663-2014, 2014
O. Meinander, A. Kontu, A. Virkkula, A. Arola, L. Backman, P. Dagsson-Waldhauserová, O. Järvinen, T. Manninen, J. Svensson, G. de Leeuw, and M. Leppäranta
The Cryosphere, 8, 991–995, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-8-991-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-8-991-2014, 2014
A. Virkkula, J. Levula, T. Pohja, P. P. Aalto, P. Keronen, S. Schobesberger, C. B. Clements, L. Pirjola, A.-J. Kieloaho, L. Kulmala, H. Aaltonen, J. Patokoski, J. Pumpanen, J. Rinne, T. Ruuskanen, M. Pihlatie, H. E. Manninen, V. Aaltonen, H. Junninen, T. Petäjä, J. Backman, M. Dal Maso, T. Nieminen, T. Olsson, T. Grönholm, J. Aalto, T. H. Virtanen, M. Kajos, V.-M. Kerminen, D. M. Schultz, J. Kukkonen, M. Sofiev, G. De Leeuw, J. Bäck, P. Hari, and M. Kulmala
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 14, 4473–4502, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-4473-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-4473-2014, 2014
E.-M. Kyrö, R. Väänänen, V.-M. Kerminen, A. Virkkula, T. Petäjä, A. Asmi, M. Dal Maso, T. Nieminen, S. Juhola, A. Shcherbinin, I. Riipinen, K. Lehtipalo, P. Keronen, P. P. Aalto, P. Hari, and M. Kulmala
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 14, 4383–4396, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-4383-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-4383-2014, 2014
R. Väänänen, E.-M. Kyrö, T. Nieminen, N. Kivekäs, H. Junninen, A. Virkkula, M. Dal Maso, H. Lihavainen, Y. Viisanen, B. Svenningsson, T. Holst, A. Arneth, P. P. Aalto, M. Kulmala, and V.-M. Kerminen
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 13, 11887–11903, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-11887-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-11887-2013, 2013
E. Järvinen, A. Virkkula, T. Nieminen, P. P. Aalto, E. Asmi, C. Lanconelli, M. Busetto, A. Lupi, R. Schioppo, V. Vitale, M. Mazzola, T. Petäjä, V.-M. Kerminen, and M. Kulmala
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 13, 7473–7487, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-7473-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-7473-2013, 2013
E.-M. Kyrö, V.-M. Kerminen, A. Virkkula, M. Dal Maso, J. Parshintsev, J. Ruíz-Jimenez, L. Forsström, H. E. Manninen, M.-L. Riekkola, P. Heinonen, and M. Kulmala
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 13, 3527–3546, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-3527-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-3527-2013, 2013
M. Collaud Coen, E. Andrews, A. Asmi, U. Baltensperger, N. Bukowiecki, D. Day, M. Fiebig, A. M. Fjaeraa, H. Flentje, A. Hyvärinen, A. Jefferson, S. G. Jennings, G. Kouvarakis, H. Lihavainen, C. Lund Myhre, W. C. Malm, N. Mihapopoulos, J. V. Molenar, C. O'Dowd, J. A. Ogren, B. A. Schichtel, P. Sheridan, A. Virkkula, E. Weingartner, R. Weller, and P. Laj
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 13, 869–894, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-869-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-869-2013, 2013
T. Viskari, E. Asmi, A. Virkkula, P. Kolmonen, T. Petäjä, and H. Järvinen
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 12, 11781–11793, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-12-11781-2012, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-12-11781-2012, 2012
Hanna Lappalainen, Tuukka Petäjä, Timo Vihma, Jouni Räisänen, Alexander Baklanov, Sergey Chalov, Igor Esau, Ekaterina Ezhova, Matti Leppäranta, Dmitry Pozdnyakov, Jukka Pumpanen, Meinrat O. Andreae, Michael Arshinov, Eija Asmi, Jianhui Bai, Igor Bashmachnikov, Boris Belan, Federico Bianchi, Boris Biskaborn, Michael Boy, Jaana Bäck, Bin Cheng, Natalia Ye Chubarova, Jonathan Duplissy, Egor Dyukarev, Konstantinos Eleftheriadis, Martin Forsius, Martin Heimann, Sirkku Juhola, Vladimir Konovalov, Igor Konovalov, Pavel Konstantinov, Kajar Koster, Elena Lapsina, Anna Lintunen, Alexander Mahura, Risto Makkonen, Svetlana Malkhazova, Ivan Mammarella, Stefano Mammola, Stephany Mazon, Outi Meinander, Eugene Mikhailov, Victoria Miles, Stanislav Myslenko, Dimitry Orlov, Jean-Daniel Paris, Robertta Pirazzini, Olga Popovicheva, Jouni Pulliainen, Kimmo Rautiainen, Torsten Sachs, Vladimir Shevchenko, Andrey Skorokhod, Andreas Stohl, Elli Suhonen, Erik S. Thomson, Marina Tsidilina, Veli-Pekka Tynkkynen, Petteri Uotila, Aki Virkkula, Nadezhda Voropay, Tobias Wolf, Sayaka Yasunaka, Jiahua Zhang, Yubao Qui, Aijun Ding, Huadong Guo, Valery Bondur, Nikolay Kasimov, Sergey Zilitinkevich, Veli-Matti Kerminen, and Markku Kulmala
Atmos. Chem. Phys. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2021-341, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2021-341, 2021
Preprint under review for ACP
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We summarize results during the last five years in the Northern Eurasian region, especially from Russia, and introduce recent observations on the air quality in the urban environments in China. Although the scientific knowledge in these regions has increased, there are still gaps in our understanding of large-scale climate-Earth surface interactions and feedbacks. This arises from limitations in research infrastructures and integrative data analyses, hindering a comprehensive system analysis.
Krista Luoma, Jarkko V. Niemi, Minna Aurela, Pak Lun Fung, Aku Helin, Tareq Hussein, Leena Kangas, Anu Kousa, Topi Rönkkö, Hilkka Timonen, Aki Virkkula, and Tuukka Petäjä
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 1173–1189, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-1173-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-1173-2021, 2021
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This study combined black carbon measurements from 15 Finnish sites that represented different environments (traffic, detached housing area, urban background, and regional background). The seasonal and diurnal variations in the black carbon concentration were associated with local emissions from traffic and residential wood burning. The study observed decreasing trends in the black carbon concentration and associated them with decreases in traffic emissions.
Eija Asmi, John Backman, Henri Servomaa, Aki Virkkula, Maria Gini, Kostas Eleftheriadis, Thomas Müller, Sho Ohata, Yutaka Kondo, and Antti Hyvärinen
Atmos. Meas. Tech. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2020-400, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2020-400, 2020
Revised manuscript accepted for AMT
Short summary
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Absorbing aerosols are warming the Arctic and accurate measurements of their concentrations are crucial. We organized a summer field campaign in Arctic Pallas station, measuring absorbing aerosols with eight methods. The concentrations during the campaign were very low. Filter-based techniques were the most sensitive to detect the minuscule amounts of absorbing aerosols, showing a 20 % agreement between the instruments. Our results help to reduce uncertainties in Arctic absorption measurements.
Krista Luoma, Aki Virkkula, Pasi Aalto, Katrianne Lehtipalo, Tuukka Petäjä, and Markku Kulmala
Atmos. Meas. Tech. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2020-325, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2020-325, 2020
Revised manuscript accepted for AMT
Short summary
Short summary
The study presents a comparison of three different absorption photometers that measured ambient aerosol particles at a boreal forest site. The study aims to better understand problems related to filter-based measurements. Results show how different correction algorithms, which are used to produce the data, affect the derived optical properties of aerosol particles.
Thomas Lachlan-Cope, David C. S. Beddows, Neil Brough, Anna E. Jones, Roy M. Harrison, Angelo Lupi, Young Jun Yoon, Aki Virkkula, and Manuel Dall'Osto
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 4461–4476, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-4461-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-4461-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
We present a statistical cluster analysis of the physical characteristics of particle size distributions collected at Halley (Antarctica) for the year 2015. Complex interactions between multiple ecosystems, coupled with different atmospheric circulation, result in very different aerosol size distributions populating the Southern Hemisphere.
Marja Hemmilä, Ulla Makkonen, Aki Virkkula, Georgia Panagiotopoulou, Juho Aalto, Markku Kulmala, Tuukka Petäjä, Hannele Hakola, and Heidi Hellén
Atmos. Chem. Phys. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2019-1157, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2019-1157, 2020
Publication in ACP not foreseen
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Amines are atmospheric bases, which can affect to nucleation of aerosols. Lately, a computational study showed that guanidine could be even more effective to stabilize sulphuric acid clusters. In this paper we used a a dynamic flow-through chamber with an online ion chromatograph MARGA coupled with a mass spectrometer (MARGA-MS). We studied amine and guanidine emission from a boreal forest floor in Finland, and find out, that the boreal forest floor is a source of amines and guanidine.
Yicheng Shen, Aki Virkkula, Aijun Ding, Krista Luoma, Helmi Keskinen, Pasi P. Aalto, Xuguang Chi, Ximeng Qi, Wei Nie, Xin Huang, Tuukka Petäjä, Markku Kulmala, and Veli-Matti Kerminen
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 15483–15502, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-15483-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-15483-2019, 2019
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Long-term cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) number concentration (NCCN) data are scarce; there are a lot more data on aerosol optical properties (AOPs). It is therefore valuable to derive parameterizations for estimating NCCN from AOP measurements. With the new parameterization NCCN can be estimated from backscatter fraction, scattering Ångström exponent, and total light-scattering coefficient. The NCCN–AOP relationships depend on the geometric mean diameter and the width of the size distribution.
Jonas Svensson, Johan Ström, and Aki Virkkula
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 12, 5913–5925, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-5913-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-5913-2019, 2019
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Collection of particles onto filters can be a valuable tool in several research disciplines. Here we experiment with quartz filters and their response to soot particles in an airborne and liquid state in order to better understand the sampling procedure. Soot particles in a liquid phase showed absorption of light nearly double that of airborne sampled particles.
Krista Luoma, Aki Virkkula, Pasi Aalto, Tuukka Petäjä, and Markku Kulmala
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 11363–11382, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-11363-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-11363-2019, 2019
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We present an over 10-year-long time series of aerosol optical properties (AOPs) measured at a rural boreal forest site. Knowledge of AOPs is needed in determining the direct effect of aerosol particles on climate. We observed decreasing trends in scattering and absorption and increasing trends in backscattering fraction and single-scattering albedo. Trends of single-scattering albedo and backscattering fraction increased the efficiency of aerosol particles to scatter radiation back into space.
Marja Hemmilä, Heidi Hellén, Aki Virkkula, Ulla Makkonen, Arnaud P. Praplan, Jenni Kontkanen, Lauri Ahonen, Markku Kulmala, and Hannele Hakola
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 6367–6380, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-6367-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-6367-2018, 2018
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We measured gas- and particle-phase amine and ammonia concentrations in a boreal forest site in 2015 with online ion chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry. We wanted to know how much and which kinds of amines there are, and how they behave and could affect nucleation. We observed seasonal and diurnal variations for different amines. Amines turned out to be a heterogeneous group of compounds. To our best knowledge, our amine measurements are the longest time series that has been made.
Yicheng Shen, Aki Virkkula, Aijun Ding, Jiaping Wang, Xuguang Chi, Wei Nie, Ximeng Qi, Xin Huang, Qiang Liu, Longfei Zheng, Zheng Xu, Tuukka Petäjä, Pasi P. Aalto, Congbin Fu, and Markku Kulmala
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 5265–5292, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-5265-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-5265-2018, 2018
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Aerosol optical properties (AOPs) were measured at SORPES, a regional background station in Nanjing, China from June 2013 to May 2015. The aerosol was highly scattering. The single-scattering albedo in Nanjing appears to be slightly higher than at several other sites. The data do not suggest any significant contribution to absorption by brown carbon. The sources of high values are mainly in eastern China. During pollution episodes, pollutant concentrations increased gradually but decreased fast.
Jonas Svensson, Johan Ström, Niku Kivekäs, Nathaniel B. Dkhar, Shresth Tayal, Ved P. Sharma, Arttu Jutila, John Backman, Aki Virkkula, Meri Ruppel, Antti Hyvärinen, Anna Kontu, Henna-Reetta Hannula, Matti Leppäranta, Rakesh K. Hooda, Atte Korhola, Eija Asmi, and Heikki Lihavainen
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 1403–1416, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-1403-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-1403-2018, 2018
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Receding glaciers in the Himalayas are of concern. Here we present measurements of light-absorbing impurities, known to contribute to the ongoing glacier decrease, in snow from Indian Himalayas and compare them to snow samples from the Finnish Arctic. The soot particles in the snow are shown to have lower light absorbing efficiency, possibly affecting their radiative forcing potential in the snow. Further, dust influences the snow in the Himalayas to a much greater extent than in Finland.
John Backman, Lauren Schmeisser, Aki Virkkula, John A. Ogren, Eija Asmi, Sandra Starkweather, Sangeeta Sharma, Konstantinos Eleftheriadis, Taneil Uttal, Anne Jefferson, Michael Bergin, Alexander Makshtas, Peter Tunved, and Markus Fiebig
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 10, 5039–5062, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-5039-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-5039-2017, 2017
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Light absorption by aerosol particles is of climatic importance. A widely used means to measure aerosol light absorption is a filter-based measurement technique. In remote areas, such as the Arctic, filter-based instruments operate close to their detection limit. The study presents how a lower detection limit can be achieved for one such instrument, the Aethalometer. Additionally, the Aethalometer is compared to similar instruments, thus improving measurement inter-comparability in the Arctic.
Xuemeng Chen, Aki Virkkula, Veli-Matti Kerminen, Hanna E. Manninen, Maurizio Busetto, Christian Lanconelli, Angelo Lupi, Vito Vitale, Massimo Del Guasta, Paolo Grigioni, Riikka Väänänen, Ella-Maria Duplissy, Tuukka Petäjä, and Markku Kulmala
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 13783–13800, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-13783-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-13783-2017, 2017
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An air ion spectrometer was deployed for characterizing air ions for the first time at the Concordia station at Dome C on the Antarctic Plateau. We observed different ion processes: new particle formation (NPF), wind-induced ion production, and ion formation related to cloud and/or fog formation. Insights into these phenomena are presented. Additionally, the analysis on the growth of NPF events showed a size dependency of growth rates (GRs), i.e. GRs increase with particle sizes.
Jiaping Wang, Aki Virkkula, Yuan Gao, Shuncheng Lee, Yicheng Shen, Xuguang Chi, Wei Nie, Qiang Liu, Zheng Xu, Xin Huang, Tao Wang, Long Cui, and Aijun Ding
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 2653–2671, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-2653-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-2653-2017, 2017
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Multi-year observations at a coastal station in Hong Kong reveals that aerosol optical properties showed clear temporal variations according to the dominant sources of aerosols. LPDM modeling and correlation analysis gave similar signals about the freshness of aerosols during different seasons. Fresh emissions of particles from nearby cities and ship exhausts affected light optical properties and particle size in summer and aged air mass in winter caused larger variability of light extinction.
J. I. Peltoniemi, M. Gritsevich, T. Hakala, P. Dagsson-Waldhauserová, Ó. Arnalds, K. Anttila, H.-R. Hannula, N. Kivekäs, H. Lihavainen, O. Meinander, J. Svensson, A. Virkkula, and G. de Leeuw
The Cryosphere, 9, 2323–2337, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-9-2323-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-9-2323-2015, 2015
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Light-absorbing impurities change the reflectance of snow in different ways. Some particles are heated by the Sun and they sink out of sight. During the process, snow may look darker than pure snow when observed by nadir, but at larger view zenith angles the snow may look as white as clean snow. Thus an observer on the ground may overestimate the albedo, while a satellite underestimates the albedo. Climate studies need to examine how the contaminants behave in snow, not only their total amounts.
X. M. Qi, A. J. Ding, W. Nie, T. Petäjä, V.-M. Kerminen, E. Herrmann, Y. N. Xie, L. F. Zheng, H. Manninen, P. Aalto, J. N. Sun, Z. N. Xu, X. G. Chi, X. Huang, M. Boy, A. Virkkula, X.-Q. Yang, C. B. Fu, and M. Kulmala
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 15, 12445–12464, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-12445-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-12445-2015, 2015
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We report 2 years of measurements of submicron particles at the SORPES station and provide a comprehensive understanding of main factors controlling temporal variation of the aerosol size distribution and NPF in eastern China. The number concentrations of total particles at Nanjing were comparable to other Chinese megacities but the frequency of NPF was much higher. Year-to-year differences of meteorological conditions could significantly influence the seasonal cycle of NPF and growth.
A. Virkkula, X. Chi, A. Ding, Y. Shen, W. Nie, X. Qi, L. Zheng, X. Huang, Y. Xie, J. Wang, T. Petäjä, and M. Kulmala
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 8, 4415–4427, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-4415-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-4415-2015, 2015
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Aerosol optical properties were measured with a seven-wavelength aethalometer and a three-wavelength nephelometer in Nanjing, China, in September 2013–January 2015. The aethalometer compensation parameter k depended on the backscatter fraction, measured with an independent method, the integrating nephelometer. The compensation parameter decreased with increasing single-scattering albedo.
J. Svensson, A. Virkkula, O. Meinander, N. Kivekäs, H.-R. Hannula, O. Järvinen, J. I. Peltoniemi, M. Gritsevich, A. Heikkilä, A. Kontu, A.-P. Hyvärinen, K. Neitola, D. Brus, P. Dagsson-Waldhauserova, K. Anttila, T. Hakala, H. Kaartinen, M. Vehkamäki, G. de Leeuw, and H. Lihavainen
The Cryosphere Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/tcd-9-1227-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/tcd-9-1227-2015, 2015
Revised manuscript not accepted
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Soot's (including black carbon and organics) negative effect on a natural snow pack is experimentally addressed in this paper through a series of experiments. Soot concentrations in the snow in the range of 200-200 000 ppb verify the negative effects on the albedo, the physical snow characteristics, as well as increasing the melt rate of the snow pack. Our experimental data generally agrees when compared with the Snow, Ice and Aerosol Radiation model.
J. Backman, A. Virkkula, V. Vakkari, J. P. Beukes, P. G. Van Zyl, M. Josipovic, S. Piketh, P. Tiitta, K. Chiloane, T. Petäjä, M. Kulmala, and L. Laakso
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 7, 4285–4298, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-7-4285-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-7-4285-2014, 2014
T. Müller, A. Virkkula, and J. A. Ogren
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 7, 4049–4070, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-7-4049-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-7-4049-2014, 2014
J. Kukkonen, J. Nikmo, M. Sofiev, K. Riikonen, T. Petäjä, A. Virkkula, J. Levula, S. Schobesberger, and D. M. Webber
Geosci. Model Dev., 7, 2663–2681, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-7-2663-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-7-2663-2014, 2014
O. Meinander, A. Kontu, A. Virkkula, A. Arola, L. Backman, P. Dagsson-Waldhauserová, O. Järvinen, T. Manninen, J. Svensson, G. de Leeuw, and M. Leppäranta
The Cryosphere, 8, 991–995, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-8-991-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-8-991-2014, 2014
A. Virkkula, J. Levula, T. Pohja, P. P. Aalto, P. Keronen, S. Schobesberger, C. B. Clements, L. Pirjola, A.-J. Kieloaho, L. Kulmala, H. Aaltonen, J. Patokoski, J. Pumpanen, J. Rinne, T. Ruuskanen, M. Pihlatie, H. E. Manninen, V. Aaltonen, H. Junninen, T. Petäjä, J. Backman, M. Dal Maso, T. Nieminen, T. Olsson, T. Grönholm, J. Aalto, T. H. Virtanen, M. Kajos, V.-M. Kerminen, D. M. Schultz, J. Kukkonen, M. Sofiev, G. De Leeuw, J. Bäck, P. Hari, and M. Kulmala
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 14, 4473–4502, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-4473-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-4473-2014, 2014
E.-M. Kyrö, R. Väänänen, V.-M. Kerminen, A. Virkkula, T. Petäjä, A. Asmi, M. Dal Maso, T. Nieminen, S. Juhola, A. Shcherbinin, I. Riipinen, K. Lehtipalo, P. Keronen, P. P. Aalto, P. Hari, and M. Kulmala
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 14, 4383–4396, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-4383-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-4383-2014, 2014
R. Väänänen, E.-M. Kyrö, T. Nieminen, N. Kivekäs, H. Junninen, A. Virkkula, M. Dal Maso, H. Lihavainen, Y. Viisanen, B. Svenningsson, T. Holst, A. Arneth, P. P. Aalto, M. Kulmala, and V.-M. Kerminen
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 13, 11887–11903, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-11887-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-11887-2013, 2013
E. Järvinen, A. Virkkula, T. Nieminen, P. P. Aalto, E. Asmi, C. Lanconelli, M. Busetto, A. Lupi, R. Schioppo, V. Vitale, M. Mazzola, T. Petäjä, V.-M. Kerminen, and M. Kulmala
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 13, 7473–7487, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-7473-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-7473-2013, 2013
E.-M. Kyrö, V.-M. Kerminen, A. Virkkula, M. Dal Maso, J. Parshintsev, J. Ruíz-Jimenez, L. Forsström, H. E. Manninen, M.-L. Riekkola, P. Heinonen, and M. Kulmala
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 13, 3527–3546, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-3527-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-3527-2013, 2013
M. Collaud Coen, E. Andrews, A. Asmi, U. Baltensperger, N. Bukowiecki, D. Day, M. Fiebig, A. M. Fjaeraa, H. Flentje, A. Hyvärinen, A. Jefferson, S. G. Jennings, G. Kouvarakis, H. Lihavainen, C. Lund Myhre, W. C. Malm, N. Mihapopoulos, J. V. Molenar, C. O'Dowd, J. A. Ogren, B. A. Schichtel, P. Sheridan, A. Virkkula, E. Weingartner, R. Weller, and P. Laj
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 13, 869–894, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-869-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-869-2013, 2013
T. Viskari, E. Asmi, A. Virkkula, P. Kolmonen, T. Petäjä, and H. Järvinen
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 12, 11781–11793, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-12-11781-2012, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-12-11781-2012, 2012
Related subject area
Subject: Aerosols | Technique: In Situ Measurement | Topic: Data Processing and Information Retrieval
Analysis of mobile monitoring data from the microAeth® MA200 for measuring changes in black carbon on the roadside in Augsburg
New correction method for the scattering coefficient measurements of a three-wavelength nephelometer
Estimating mean molecular weight, carbon number, and OM∕OC with mid-infrared spectroscopy in organic particulate matter samples from a monitoring network
Estimation of particulate organic nitrates from thermodenuder–aerosol mass spectrometer measurements in the North China Plain
Aerosol pH indicator and organosulfate detectability from aerosol mass spectrometry measurements
Neural network modelling to estimate particle size distribution based on other particle sections and meteorological parameters
Determination of equivalent black carbon mass concentration from aerosol light absorption using variable mass absorption cross section
Effects of multi-charge on aerosol hygroscopicity measurement by a HTDMA
A new method for long-term source apportionment with time-dependent factor profiles and uncertainty assessment using SoFi Pro: application to 1 year of organic aerosol data
Estimation of pollen counts from light scattering intensity when sampling multiple pollen taxa – establishment of an automated multi-taxa pollen counting estimation system (AME system)
A novel lidar gradient cluster analysis method of nocturnal boundary layer detection during air pollution episodes
Assessment of particle size magnifier inversion methods to obtain the particle size distribution from atmospheric measurements
A global analysis of climate-relevant aerosol properties retrieved from the network of Global Atmosphere Watch (GAW) near-surface observatories
Development of an automatic linear calibration method for high-resolution single-particle mass spectrometry: improved chemical species identification for atmospheric aerosols
A hybrid method for reconstructing the historical evolution of aerosol optical depth from sunshine duration measurements
The influence of the baseline drift on the resulting extinction values of a cavity attenuated phase shift-based extinction monitor (CAPS PMex)
Evaluation of equivalent black carbon source apportionment using observations from Switzerland between 2008 and 2018
Analysis of functional groups in atmospheric aerosols by infrared spectroscopy: method development for probabilistic modeling of organic carbon and organic matter concentrations
Filling the gaps of in situ hourly PM2.5 concentration data with the aid of empirical orthogonal function analysis constrained by diurnal cycles
Gaussian process regression model for dynamically calibrating and surveilling a wireless low-cost particulate matter sensor network in Delhi
Methods for identifying aged ship plumes and estimating contribution to aerosol exposure downwind of shipping lanes
Automatic pollen recognition with the Rapid-E particle counter: the first-level procedure, experience and next steps
An open platform for Aerosol InfraRed Spectroscopy analysis – AIRSpec
Understanding atmospheric aerosol particles with improved particle identification and quantification by single-particle mass spectrometry
Multi-scale measurements of mesospheric aerosols and electrons during the MAXIDUSTY campaign
A new method of inferring the size, number density, and charge of mesospheric dust from its in situ collection by the DUSTY probe
Atmospheric particulate matter characterization by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy: a review of statistical calibration strategies for carbonaceous aerosol quantification in US measurement networks
Data inversion methods to determine sub-3 nm aerosol size distributions using the particle size magnifier
A novel method for calculating ambient aerosol liquid water content based on measurements of a humidified nephelometer system
Evaluation of linear regression techniques for atmospheric applications: the importance of appropriate weighting
Improved source apportionment of organic aerosols in complex urban air pollution using the multilinear engine (ME-2)
On Aethalometer measurement uncertainties and an instrument correction factor for the Arctic
Aethalometer multiple scattering correction Cref for mineral dust aerosols
Comparison of different Aethalometer correction schemes and a reference multi-wavelength absorption technique for ambient aerosol data
FATES: a flexible analysis toolkit for the exploration of single-particle mass spectrometer data
Retrievals of aerosol optical and microphysical properties from Imaging Polar Nephelometer scattering measurements
A technique for rapid source apportionment applied to ambient organic aerosol measurements from a thermal desorption aerosol gas chromatograph (TAG)
A new approach for retrieving the UV–vis optical properties of ambient aerosols
Sampling strategies and post-processing methods for increasing the time resolution of organic aerosol measurements requiring long sample-collection times
Analysis of functional groups in atmospheric aerosols by infrared spectroscopy: sparse methods for statistical selection of relevant absorption bands
An automated baseline correction protocol for infrared spectra of atmospheric aerosols collected on polytetrafluoroethylene (Teflon) filters
Notably improved inversion of differential mobility particle sizer data obtained under conditions of fluctuating particle number concentrations
Evaluation of hierarchical agglomerative cluster analysis methods for discrimination of primary biological aerosol
On the interpretation of the loading correction of the aethalometer
Finding candidate locations for aerosol pollution monitoring at street level using a data-driven methodology
Atmospheric extinction in solar tower plants: absorption and broadband correction for MOR measurements
Plume-based analysis of vehicle fleet air pollutant emissions and the contribution from high emitters
Statistical precision of the intensities retrieved from constrained fitting of overlapping peaks in high-resolution mass spectra
Differences in aerosol absorption Ångström exponents between correction algorithms for a particle soot absorption photometer measured on the South African Highveld
Simultaneous retrieval of effective refractive index and density from size distribution and light-scattering data: weakly absorbing aerosol
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.
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.
Pak Lun Fung, Martha Arbayani Zaidan, Ola Surakhi, Sasu Tarkoma, Tuukka Petäjä, and Tareq Hussein
Atmos. Meas. Tech. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2021-37, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2021-37, 2021
Revised manuscript accepted for AMT
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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, 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 model to estimate number concentrations at a particular size bin by the number concentration at other size bins.
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.
Charlotte Bürki, Matteo Reggente, Ann M. Dillner, Jenny L. Hand, Stephanie L. Shaw, and Satoshi Takahama
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 1517–1538, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-1517-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-1517-2020, 2020
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Infrared spectroscopy is a chemically informative method for particulate matter characterization. However, recent work has demonstrated that predictions depend heavily on the choice of calibration model parameters. We propose a means for managing parameter uncertainties by combining available data from laboratory standards, molecular databases, and collocated ambient measurements to provide useful characterization of atmospheric organic matter on a large scale.
Kaixu Bai, Ke Li, Jianping Guo, Yuanjian Yang, and Ni-Bin Chang
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 1213–1226, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-1213-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-1213-2020, 2020
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A novel gap-filling method called the diurnal-cycle-constrained empirical orthogonal function (DCCEOF) is proposed. Cross validation indicates that this method gives high accuracy in predicting missing values in daily PM2.5 time series by accounting for the local diurnal phases, especially by reconstructing daily extrema that cannot be accurately restored by other approaches. The DCCEOF method can be easily applied to other data sets because of its self-consistent capability.
Tongshu Zheng, Michael H. Bergin, Ronak Sutaria, Sachchida N. Tripathi, Robert Caldow, and David E. Carlson
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 12, 5161–5181, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-5161-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-5161-2019, 2019
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Here we present a simultaneous Gaussian process regression (GPR) and linear regression pipeline to calibrate and monitor dense wireless low-cost particulate matter sensor networks (WLPMSNs) on the fly by using all available reference monitors across an area. Our approach can achieve an overall 30 % prediction error at a 24 h scale, can differentiate malfunctioning nodes, and track drift. Our solution can substantially reduce manual labor for managing WLPMSNs and prolong their lifetimes.
Stina Ausmeel, Axel Eriksson, Erik Ahlberg, and Adam Kristensson
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 12, 4479–4493, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-4479-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-4479-2019, 2019
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We present a method for identifying individual exhaust plumes of air pollution emitted from shipping, by linking these to specific ships using identification information which all ships transmit. We also quantify the contribution of these plumes to local particle levels, which has relevance for health effects. Ships emit a lot of nanometre-sized particles, which proved to be a good indicator of plumes at a distance of about 10 km downwind of a shipping lane in the Baltic Sea.
Ingrida Šaulienė, Laura Šukienė, Gintautas Daunys, Gediminas Valiulis, Lukas Vaitkevičius, Predrag Matavulj, Sanja Brdar, Marko Panic, Branko Sikoparija, Bernard Clot, Benoît Crouzy, and Mikhail Sofiev
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 12, 3435–3452, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-3435-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-3435-2019, 2019
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The goal is to evaluate the capabilities of the new Rapid-E monitor and to construct a first-level pollen recognition algorithm. The output data were treated with ANN aiming at classification of the injected pollen. Algorithms based on scattering and fluorescence data alone fall short of acceptable quality. The combinations of these exceeded 80 % accuracy for 5 out of 11 pollen species. Constructing multistep algorithms with sequential discrimination of pollen can be a possible way forward.
Matteo Reggente, Rudolf Höhn, and Satoshi Takahama
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 12, 2313–2329, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-2313-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-2313-2019, 2019
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The infrared spectra of atmospheric particles are rich in chemical information but require sophisticated statistical methods to extract information on account of their complex absorption profiles. We present an open software suite which makes current algorithms used for analysis of such spectra available to the community, with a browser-based interface for general users and modular architecture that facilitates addition of new methods by developers.
Xiaoli Shen, Harald Saathoff, Wei Huang, Claudia Mohr, Ramakrishna Ramisetty, and Thomas Leisner
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 12, 2219–2240, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-2219-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-2219-2019, 2019
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Based on single-particle mass spectra from field measurements in the upper Rhine valley, we identified characteristic particle classes and estimated their mass contributions without the need of a reference instrument in the field. Our study provides a good example for quantitative interpretation of single-particle data. Together with the complimentary results from bulk measurements, we have shown how a better understanding of the mixing state of ambient aerosol particles can be achieved.
Tarjei Antonsen, Ove Havnes, and Andres Spicher
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 12, 2139–2153, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-2139-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-2139-2019, 2019
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This paper presents measurements of changes in mesospheric aerosol populations on different length scales, as detected by the DUSTY and MUDD probes on the MAXIDUSTY-1B rocket on 8 July 2016. Identical probes recorded very different currents, which we attribute to adverse flow effects. We find a general anti-correlation for charged aerosols and electrons, but not consistently on all length scales. We conclude that there is no simple relationship between aerosols and PMSE (radar echoes).
Ove Havnes, Tarjei Antonsen, Gerd Baumgarten, Thomas W. Hartquist, Alexander Biebricher, Åshild Fredriksen, Martin Friedrich, and Jonas Hedin
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 12, 1673–1683, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-1673-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-1673-2019, 2019
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We present a new method of analyzing data from rocket-borne aerosol detectors of the Faraday cup type (DUSTY). By using models for how aerosols are charged in the mesosphere and how they interact in a collision with the probes, fundamental parameters like aerosol radius, charge, and number density can be derived. The resolution can be down to ~ 10 cm, which is much lower than other available methods. The theory is furthermore used to analyze DUSTY data from the 2016 rocket campaign MAXIDUSTY.
Satoshi Takahama, Ann M. Dillner, Andrew T. Weakley, Matteo Reggente, Charlotte Bürki, Mária Lbadaoui-Darvas, Bruno Debus, Adele Kuzmiakova, and Anthony S. Wexler
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 12, 525–567, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-525-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-525-2019, 2019
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Mid-infrared spectra of particulate matter (PM) samples are complex but chemically informative and present an opportunity for cost-effective measurement of PM provided that quantitative calibration models can be built. We review an emerging strategy for building statistical calibration models using collocated measurements, interpreting the physical bases for such models and evaluating the suitability of existing calibration models to new samples.
Runlong Cai, Dongsen Yang, Lauri R. Ahonen, Linlin Shi, Frans Korhonen, Yan Ma, Jiming Hao, Tuukka Petäjä, Jun Zheng, Juha Kangasluoma, and Jingkun Jiang
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 4477–4491, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-4477-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-4477-2018, 2018
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We tested the performance of four inversion methods to recover sub-3 nm aerosol size distributions using the particle size magnifier (PSM). The PSM is widely used in new particle formation study; however, the inversion methods used in previous studies may report false particle concentrations. Due to the results, we suggest using the expectation–maximization algorithm to address the PSM inversion problem. We also gave practical suggestions on PSM operation based on the inversion analysis.
Ye Kuang, Chun Sheng Zhao, Gang Zhao, Jiang Chuan Tao, Wanyun Xu, Nan Ma, and Yu Xuan Bian
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 2967–2982, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-2967-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-2967-2018, 2018
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Aerosol water has become an important topic recently because of its implications for multiphase secondary aerosol formation during severe haze events in Asia. This is a timely paper on this topic; a novel method is proposed to calculate ambient aerosol liquid water contents based only on measurements of a three-wavelength humidified nephelometer system. The advantage of this method is that this technique can provide continuous measurements of the changing ambient conditions.
Cheng Wu and Jian Zhen Yu
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 1233–1250, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-1233-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-1233-2018, 2018
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A new data generation scheme that employs the Mersenne twister (MT) pseudorandom number generator is proposed to conduct benchmark tests on a variety of linear regression techniques. With an appropriate weighting, Deming regression (DR), weighted ODR (WODR), and York regression (YR) are recommended for atmospheric studies when both x and y data have measurement errors. An Igor-based program (Scatter Plot) is developed to facilitate the regression implementation.
Qiao Zhu, Xiao-Feng Huang, Li-Ming Cao, Lin-Tong Wei, Bin Zhang, Ling-Yan He, Miriam Elser, Francesco Canonaco, Jay G. Slowik, Carlo Bozzetti, Imad El-Haddad, and André S. H. Prévôt
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 1049–1060, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-1049-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-1049-2018, 2018
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Organic aerosol constitutes one of the major components of atmospheric particulate matter globally and is emitted from various sources. Therefore, identifying and quantifying the sources of organic aerosol accurately is a key task in the field. In this study, we applied a rather novel procedure for an improved source apportionment method (ME-2) to resolve the
less meaningful or mixed factorsproblems for organic aerosol using the traditional method (PMF).
John Backman, Lauren Schmeisser, Aki Virkkula, John A. Ogren, Eija Asmi, Sandra Starkweather, Sangeeta Sharma, Konstantinos Eleftheriadis, Taneil Uttal, Anne Jefferson, Michael Bergin, Alexander Makshtas, Peter Tunved, and Markus Fiebig
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 10, 5039–5062, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-5039-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-5039-2017, 2017
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Light absorption by aerosol particles is of climatic importance. A widely used means to measure aerosol light absorption is a filter-based measurement technique. In remote areas, such as the Arctic, filter-based instruments operate close to their detection limit. The study presents how a lower detection limit can be achieved for one such instrument, the Aethalometer. Additionally, the Aethalometer is compared to similar instruments, thus improving measurement inter-comparability in the Arctic.
Claudia Di Biagio, Paola Formenti, Mathieu Cazaunau, Edouard Pangui, Nicolas Marchand, and Jean-François Doussin
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 10, 2923–2939, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-2923-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-2923-2017, 2017
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Mineral dust is one of the most abundant aerosol species at the global scale and an accurate estimation of its absorption at solar wavelengths is crucial to assess its impact on climate. In this work we provide an estimate of the Aethalometer multiple scattering correction for mineral dust aerosols at 450 and 660 nm. Our results suggest that the use of an optimized correction factor can lead to up to 11 % higher absorption coefficient and to 3 % higher single scattering albedo for mineral dust.
Jorge Saturno, Christopher Pöhlker, Dario Massabò, Joel Brito, Samara Carbone, Yafang Cheng, Xuguang Chi, Florian Ditas, Isabella Hrabě de Angelis, Daniel Morán-Zuloaga, Mira L. Pöhlker, Luciana V. Rizzo, David Walter, Qiaoqiao Wang, Paulo Artaxo, Paolo Prati, and Meinrat O. Andreae
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 10, 2837–2850, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-2837-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-2837-2017, 2017
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Different Aethalometer correction schemes were compared to a multi-wavelength absorption reference measurement. One of the correction schemes was found to artificially increase the short-wavelength absorption coefficients. It was found that accounting for aerosol scattering properties in the correction is crucial to retrieve the proper absorption Ångström exponent (AAE). We found that the raw AAE of uncompensated Aethalometer attenuation significantly correlates with a measured reference AAE.
Camille M. Sultana, Gavin C. Cornwell, Paul Rodriguez, and Kimberly A. Prather
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 10, 1323–1334, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-1323-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-1323-2017, 2017
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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.
W. Reed Espinosa, Lorraine A. Remer, Oleg Dubovik, Luke Ziemba, Andreas Beyersdorf, Daniel Orozco, Gregory Schuster, Tatyana Lapyonok, David Fuertes, and J. Vanderlei Martins
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 10, 811–824, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-811-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-811-2017, 2017
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Aerosols, and their interaction with clouds, play a key role in the climate of our planet but many of their properties are poorly understood. We present a new method for estimating the size, shape and optical constants of atmospheric particles from light-scattering measurements made both in the laboratory and aboard an aircraft. This method is shown to have sufficient accuracy to potentially reduce existing uncertainties, particularly in airborne measurements.
Yaping Zhang, Brent J. Williams, Allen H. Goldstein, Kenneth S. Docherty, and Jose L. Jimenez
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 9, 5637–5653, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-5637-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-5637-2016, 2016
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The binning method provides an alternate way to process GC–MS data in a very fast manner. It only takes a very small portion of time (days versus years) compared to the traditional GC–MS data analysis method (peak identification and integration). Furthermore, the binning method can also be applied to any data set from a measurement (mass spectrometry, spectroscopy, etc.) with additional separations (volatility, polarity, size, etc.).
Nir Bluvshtein, J. Michel Flores, Lior Segev, and Yinon Rudich
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 9, 3477–3490, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-3477-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-3477-2016, 2016
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Understanding spectrally dependent optical properties of aerosols is needed to quantify the effective radiative forcing due to aerosol–radiation interactions. We describe a new approach to retrieve extensive and intensive optical properties of the aerosol population over 300 to 650 nm wavelength. This new approach was validated with retrieval simulations, laboratory and continuous ambient aerosols measurements. Results showed low errors and good agreement with expected values.
Rob L. Modini and Satoshi Takahama
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 9, 3337–3354, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-3337-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-3337-2016, 2016
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Aerosol measurement techniques with high detection limits often result in poorly time-resolved measurements. We investigated sampling strategies and post-processing methods for constructing hourly resolved aerosol concentration time series from samples collected for 4 to 8 h. We show that this is an effective way to increase measurement time resolution, and that under realistic experimental conditions, simple methods can perform as well as more sophisticated methods.
Satoshi Takahama, Giulia Ruggeri, and Ann M. Dillner
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 9, 3429–3454, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-3429-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-3429-2016, 2016
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We introduce the application of statistical algorithms that allow us to associate various dimensions of aerosol composition to vibrational modes measured by infrared absorption spectroscopy. We demonstrate their use on four organic functional groups for which absorption bands are known and extend the application to interpret bands associated with ambient organic carbon and elemental carbon quantified by an independent measurement technique that is widely used in aerosol monitoring networks.
Adele Kuzmiakova, Ann M. Dillner, and Satoshi Takahama
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 9, 2615–2631, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-2615-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-2615-2016, 2016
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We describe a new method for removing Teflon substrate interference from ambient aerosol infrared spectra such that functional group quantification and spectral clustering (for source classification) can be applied. We demonstrate that this technique produces similar results to a more labor-intensive method used in many field campaigns over the past several years, but is simpler and better constrained by physical criteria that we impose, leading to the possibility of widespread adoption.
Bjarke Mølgaard, Jarno Vanhatalo, Pasi P. Aalto, Nønne L. Prisle, and Kaarle Hämeri
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 9, 741–751, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-741-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-741-2016, 2016
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We have improved the reliability of submicron aerosol particle size distributions measured in urban locations. This improvement was obtained by processing the data in a new way and avoiding a problematic assumption of a stationary aerosol during each size distribution measurement.
I. Crawford, S. Ruske, D. O. Topping, and M. W. Gallagher
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 8, 4979–4991, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-4979-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-4979-2015, 2015
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HCA analysis methods were evaluated for the purpose of identifying primary biological aerosol sampled with a WIBS. The ward linkage with z-score normalisation could discriminate between five test particles with 98% accuracy. We applied these methods to a previously studied ambient data set, where both methods produced similar results with some minor differences in cluster partitioning. Finally we compared to previous approaches and found our new method offered improved quantification of PBA.
A. Virkkula, X. Chi, A. Ding, Y. Shen, W. Nie, X. Qi, L. Zheng, X. Huang, Y. Xie, J. Wang, T. Petäjä, and M. Kulmala
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 8, 4415–4427, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-4415-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-4415-2015, 2015
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Aerosol optical properties were measured with a seven-wavelength aethalometer and a three-wavelength nephelometer in Nanjing, China, in September 2013–January 2015. The aethalometer compensation parameter k depended on the backscatter fraction, measured with an independent method, the integrating nephelometer. The compensation parameter decreased with increasing single-scattering albedo.
V. Moosavi, G. Aschwanden, and E. Velasco
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 8, 3563–3575, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-3563-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-3563-2015, 2015
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Complexity of urban environments makes the problem of locating air quality monitoring stations at ground level challenging.
In this work a data-driven methodology is proposed where using Self Organizing Maps along with several urban parameters and few direct measurements of aerosols at the street level, the concentration of those aerosols in a larger area is estimated. Finally, via clustering of areas with similar urban patterns, the potential locations of monitoring stations are identified.
N. Hanrieder, S. Wilbert, R. Pitz-Paal, C. Emde, J. Gasteiger, B. Mayer, and J. Polo
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 8, 3467–3480, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-3467-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-3467-2015, 2015
J. M. Wang, C.-H. Jeong, N. Zimmerman, R. M. Healy, D. K. Wang, F. Ke, and G. J. Evans
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 8, 3263–3275, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-3263-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-3263-2015, 2015
M. J. Cubison and J. L. Jimenez
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 8, 2333–2345, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-2333-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-2333-2015, 2015
J. Backman, A. Virkkula, V. Vakkari, J. P. Beukes, P. G. Van Zyl, M. Josipovic, S. Piketh, P. Tiitta, K. Chiloane, T. Petäjä, M. Kulmala, and L. Laakso
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 7, 4285–4298, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-7-4285-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-7-4285-2014, 2014
E. Kassianov, J. Barnard, M. Pekour, L. K. Berg, J. Shilling, C. Flynn, F. Mei, and A. Jefferson
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 7, 3247–3261, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-7-3247-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-7-3247-2014, 2014
Cited articles
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Short summary
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.
The Aethalometer model is used widely for estimating the contributions of fossil fuel emissions...
