Articles | Volume 16, issue 17
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-3973-2023
© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-3973-2023
© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
01 Sep 2023
Research article |
| 01 Sep 2023
| 01 Sep 2023
Mapping the performance of a versatile water-based condensation particle counter (vWCPC) with numerical simulation and experimental study
Weixing Hao
Department of Chemical, Environmental and Materials Engineering,
University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL 33146, USA
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA 99352, USA
Susanne Hering
Aerosol Dynamics Inc., Berkeley, CA 94710, USA
Steven Spielman
Aerosol Dynamics Inc., Berkeley, CA 94710, USA
Beat Schmid
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA 99352, USA
Jason Tomlinson
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA 99352, USA
Department of Chemical, Environmental and Materials Engineering,
University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL 33146, USA
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Using measurements at a rural coastal site, we quantified aerosols in representative air masses and identified major source of organics in Houston area. Our results show cooking aerosol is likely overestimated by earlier studies. Additionally, diurnal variation of highly oxidized organics is mostly driven by air mass changes instead of photochemistry. This study highlights the impacts of emissions, atmospheric chemistry, and meteorology on aerosol properties in the coastal-rural environment.
Fan Mei, Qi Zhang, Damao Zhang, Jerome D. Fast, Gourihar Kulkarni, Mikhail S. Pekour, Christopher R. Niedek, Susanne Glienke, Israel Silber, Beat Schmid, Jason M. Tomlinson, Hardeep S. Mehta, Xena Mansoura, Zezhen Cheng, Gregory W. Vandergrift, Nurun Nahar Lata, Swarup China, and Zihua Zhu
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Aerosol property measurements recently collected on the ground and by a research aircraft in central Argentina during the Cloud, Aerosol, and Complex Terrain Interactions (CACTI) campaign exhibit large spatial and temporal variability. These measurements coupled with coincident meteorological information provide a valuable data set needed to evaluate and improve model predictions of aerosols in a traditionally data-sparse region of South America.
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Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 15671–15691, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-15671-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-15671-2023, 2023
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Damao Zhang, Andrew M. Vogelmann, Fan Yang, Edward Luke, Pavlos Kollias, Zhien Wang, Peng Wu, William I. Gustafson Jr., Fan Mei, Susanne Glienke, Jason Tomlinson, and Neel Desai
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 5827–5846, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-5827-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-5827-2023, 2023
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Cloud droplet number concentration can be retrieved from remote sensing measurements. Aircraft measurements are used to validate four ground-based retrievals of cloud droplet number concentration. We demonstrate that retrieved cloud droplet number concentrations align well with aircraft measurements for overcast clouds, but they may substantially differ for broken clouds. The ensemble of various retrievals can help quantify retrieval uncertainties and identify reliable retrieval scenarios.
Shuaiqi Tang, Adam C. Varble, Jerome D. Fast, Kai Zhang, Peng Wu, Xiquan Dong, Fan Mei, Mikhail Pekour, Joseph C. Hardin, and Po-Lun Ma
Geosci. Model Dev., 16, 6355–6376, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-6355-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-6355-2023, 2023
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To assess the ability of Earth system model (ESM) predictions, we developed a tool called ESMAC Diags to understand how aerosols, clouds, and aerosol–cloud interactions are represented in ESMs. This paper describes its version 2 functionality. We compared the model predictions with measurements taken by planes, ships, satellites, and ground instruments over four regions across the world. Results show that this new tool can help identify model problems and guide future development of ESMs.
Qian Xiao, Jiaoshi Zhang, Yang Wang, Luke D. Ziemba, Ewan Crosbie, Edward L. Winstead, Claire E. Robinson, Joshua P. DiGangi, Glenn S. Diskin, Jeffrey S. Reid, K. Sebastian Schmidt, Armin Sorooshian, Miguel Ricardo A. Hilario, Sarah Woods, Paul Lawson, Snorre A. Stamnes, and Jian Wang
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 9853–9871, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-9853-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-9853-2023, 2023
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Using recent airborne measurements, we show that the influences of anthropogenic emissions, transport, convective clouds, and meteorology lead to new particle formation (NPF) under a variety of conditions and at different altitudes in tropical marine environments. NPF is enhanced by fresh urban emissions in convective outflow but is suppressed in air masses influenced by aged urban emissions where reactive precursors are mostly consumed while particle surface area remains relatively high.
Patrick Weber, Oliver F. Bischof, Benedikt Fischer, Marcel Berg, Susanne Hering, Steven Spielman, Gregory Lewis, Andreas Petzold, and Ulrich Bundke
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 3505–3514, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-3505-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-3505-2023, 2023
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This study tests the new water condensation particle counter (MAGIC 210-LP) for deployment on passenger aircraft coordinated by the European research infrastructure IAGOS. We conducted a series of laboratory experiments for flight altitude conditions. We demonstrate that this water condensation particle counter model shows excellent agreement with a butanol-based instrument used in parallel and a Faraday cup electrometer as reference instrument at all tested pressure conditions.
Francesca Gallo, Janek Uin, Kevin J. Sanchez, Richard H. Moore, Jian Wang, Robert Wood, Fan Mei, Connor Flynn, Stephen Springston, Eduardo B. Azevedo, Chongai Kuang, and Allison C. Aiken
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 4221–4246, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-4221-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-4221-2023, 2023
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This study provides a summary statistic of multiday aerosol plume transport event influences on aerosol physical properties and the cloud condensation nuclei budget at the U.S. Department of Energy Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Facility in the eastern North Atlantic (ENA). An algorithm that integrates aerosol properties is developed and applied to identify multiday aerosol transport events. The influence of the aerosol plumes on aerosol populations at the ENA is successively assessed.
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Fan Mei, Mikhail S. Pekour, Darielle Dexheimer, Gijs de Boer, RaeAnn Cook, Jason Tomlinson, Beat Schmid, Lexie A. Goldberger, Rob Newsom, and Jerome D. Fast
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Geosci. Model Dev., 15, 4055–4076, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-4055-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-4055-2022, 2022
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We developed an Earth system model (ESM) diagnostics package to compare various types of aerosol properties simulated in ESMs with aircraft, ship, and surface measurements from six field campaigns across spatial scales. The diagnostics package is coded and organized to be flexible and modular for future extension to other field campaign datasets and adapted to higher-resolution model simulations. Future releases will include comprehensive cloud and aerosol–cloud interaction diagnostics.
Yun Lin, Jiwen Fan, Pengfei Li, Lai-yung Ruby Leung, Paul J. DeMott, Lexie Goldberger, Jennifer Comstock, Ying Liu, Jong-Hoon Jeong, and Jason Tomlinson
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 6749–6771, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-6749-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-6749-2022, 2022
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How sea spray aerosols may affect cloud and precipitation over the region by acting as ice-nucleating particles (INPs) is unknown. We explored the effects of INPs from marine aerosols on orographic cloud and precipitation for an atmospheric river event observed during the 2015 ACAPEX field campaign. The marine INPs enhance the formation of ice and snow, leading to less shallow warm clouds but more mixed-phase and deep clouds. This work suggests models need to consider the impacts of marine INPs.
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.
Jay M. Tomlin, Kevin A. Jankowski, Daniel P. Veghte, Swarup China, Peiwen Wang, Matthew Fraund, Johannes Weis, Guangjie Zheng, Yang Wang, Felipe Rivera-Adorno, Shira Raveh-Rubin, Daniel A. Knopf, Jian Wang, Mary K. Gilles, Ryan C. Moffet, and Alexander Laskin
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 18123–18146, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-18123-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-18123-2021, 2021
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Analysis of individual atmospheric particles shows that aerosol transported from North America during meteorological dry intrusion episodes may have a substantial impact on the mixing state and particle-type population over the mid-Atlantic, as organic contribution and particle-type diversity are significantly enhanced during these periods. These observations need to be considered in current atmospheric models.
Fan Mei, Steven Spielman, Susanne Hering, Jian Wang, Mikhail S. Pekour, Gregory Lewis, Beat Schmid, Jason Tomlinson, and Maynard Havlicek
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 7329–7340, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-7329-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-7329-2021, 2021
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This study focuses on understanding a versatile water-based condensation particle counter (vWCPC 3789) performance under various ambient pressure conditions (500–1000 hPa). A vWCPC has the advantage of avoiding health and safety concerns. However, its performance characterization under low pressure is rare but crucial for ensuring successful airborne deployment. This paper provides advanced knowledge of operating a vWCPC 3789 to capture the spatial variations of atmospheric aerosols.
Rebecca A. Wernis, Nathan M. Kreisberg, Robert J. Weber, Yutong Liang, John Jayne, Susanne Hering, and Allen H. Goldstein
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 6533–6550, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-6533-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-6533-2021, 2021
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cTAG is a new scientific instrument that measures concentrations of organic chemicals in the atmosphere. cTAG is the first instrument capable of measuring small, light chemicals as well as heavier chemicals and everything in between on a single detector, every hour. In this work we explain how cTAG works and some of the tests we performed to verify that it works properly and reliably. We also present measurements of alkanes that suggest they have three dominant sources in a Bay Area suburb.
Fan Mei, Jian Wang, Shan Zhou, Qi Zhang, Sonya Collier, and Jianzhong Xu
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 13019–13029, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-13019-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-13019-2021, 2021
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This work focuses on understanding aerosol's ability to act as cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) and its variations with organic oxidation level and volatility using measurements at a rural site. Aerosol properties were examined from four air mass sources. The results help improve the accurate representation of aerosol from different ambient aerosol emissions, transformation pathways, and atmospheric processes in a climate model.
Jiaoshi Zhang, Steven Spielman, Yang Wang, Guangjie Zheng, Xianda Gong, Susanne Hering, and Jian Wang
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 5625–5635, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-5625-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-5625-2021, 2021
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In this study, we present a newly developed instrument, the humidity-controlled fast integrated mobility spectrometer (HFIMS), for fast measurements of aerosol hygroscopic growth. The HFIMS can measure the distributions of particle hygroscopic growth factors at six diameters from 35 to 265 nm under five RH levels from 20 to 85 % within 25 min. The HFIMS significantly advances our capability of characterizing the hygroscopic growth of atmospheric aerosols over a wide range of relative humidities.
Weimeng Kong, Stavros Amanatidis, Huajun Mai, Changhyuk Kim, Benjamin C. Schulze, Yuanlong Huang, Gregory S. Lewis, Susanne V. Hering, John H. Seinfeld, and Richard C. Flagan
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 5429–5445, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-5429-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-5429-2021, 2021
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We present the design, modeling, and experimental characterization of the nano-scanning electrical mobility spectrometer (nSEMS), a recently developed instrument that probes particle physical properties in the 1.5–25 nm range. The nSEMS has proven to be extremely powerful in examining atmospheric nucleation and the subsequent growth of nanoparticles in the CERN CLOUD experiment, which provides a valuable asset to study atmospheric nanoparticles and to evaluate their impact on climate.
Yang Wang, Guangjie Zheng, Michael P. Jensen, Daniel A. Knopf, Alexander Laskin, Alyssa A. Matthews, David Mechem, Fan Mei, Ryan Moffet, Arthur J. Sedlacek, John E. Shilling, Stephen Springston, Amy Sullivan, Jason Tomlinson, Daniel Veghte, Rodney Weber, Robert Wood, Maria A. Zawadowicz, and Jian Wang
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 11079–11098, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-11079-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-11079-2021, 2021
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This paper reports the vertical profiles of trace gas and aerosol properties over the eastern North Atlantic, a region of persistent but diverse subtropical marine boundary layer (MBL) clouds. We examined the key processes that drive the cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) population and how it varies with season and synoptic conditions. This study helps improve the model representation of the aerosol processes in the remote MBL, reducing the simulated aerosol indirect effects.
Stavros Amanatidis, Yuanlong Huang, Buddhi Pushpawela, Benjamin C. Schulze, Christopher M. Kenseth, Ryan X. Ward, John H. Seinfeld, Susanne V. Hering, and Richard C. Flagan
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 4507–4516, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-4507-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-4507-2021, 2021
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We assess the performance of a highly portable mobility analyzer, the Spider DMA, in measuring ambient aerosol particle size distributions, with specific attention to its moderate sizing resolution (R=3). Long-term field testing showed excellent correlation with a conventional mobility analyzer (R=10) over the 17–500 nm range, suggesting that moderate resolution may be sufficient to obtain key properties of ambient size distributions, enabling smaller instruments and better counting statistics.
Maria A. Zawadowicz, Kaitlyn Suski, Jiumeng Liu, Mikhail Pekour, Jerome Fast, Fan Mei, Arthur J. Sedlacek, Stephen Springston, Yang Wang, Rahul A. Zaveri, Robert Wood, Jian Wang, and John E. Shilling
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 7983–8002, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-7983-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-7983-2021, 2021
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This paper describes the results of a recent field campaign in the eastern North Atlantic, where two mass spectrometers were deployed aboard a research aircraft to measure the chemistry of aerosols and trace gases. Very clean conditions were found, dominated by local sulfate-rich acidic aerosol and very aged organics. Evidence of
long-range transport of aerosols from the continents was also identified.
Anna L. Hodshire, Emily Ramnarine, Ali Akherati, Matthew L. Alvarado, Delphine K. Farmer, Shantanu H. Jathar, Sonia M. Kreidenweis, Chantelle R. Lonsdale, Timothy B. Onasch, Stephen R. Springston, Jian Wang, Yang Wang, Lawrence I. Kleinman, Arthur J. Sedlacek III, and Jeffrey R. Pierce
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 6839–6855, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-6839-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-6839-2021, 2021
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Biomass burning emits particles and vapors that can impact both health and climate. Here, we investigate the role of dilution in the evolution of aerosol size and composition in observed US wildfire smoke plumes. Centers of plumes dilute more slowly than edges. We see differences in concentrations and composition between the centers and edges both in the first measurement and in subsequent measurements. Our findings support the hypothesis that plume dilution influences smoke aging.
Miguel Ricardo A. Hilario, Ewan Crosbie, Michael Shook, Jeffrey S. Reid, Maria Obiminda L. Cambaliza, James Bernard B. Simpas, Luke Ziemba, Joshua P. DiGangi, Glenn S. Diskin, Phu Nguyen, F. Joseph Turk, Edward Winstead, Claire E. Robinson, Jian Wang, Jiaoshi Zhang, Yang Wang, Subin Yoon, James Flynn, Sergio L. Alvarez, Ali Behrangi, and Armin Sorooshian
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 3777–3802, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-3777-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-3777-2021, 2021
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This study characterizes long-range transport from major Asian pollution sources into the tropical northwest Pacific and the impact of scavenging on these air masses. We combined aircraft observations, HYSPLIT trajectories, reanalysis, and satellite retrievals to reveal distinct composition and size distribution profiles associated with specific emission sources and wet scavenging. The results of this work have implications for international policymaking related to climate and health.
Jessie M. Creamean, Gijs de Boer, Hagen Telg, Fan Mei, Darielle Dexheimer, Matthew D. Shupe, Amy Solomon, and Allison McComiskey
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 1737–1757, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-1737-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-1737-2021, 2021
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Arctic clouds play a role in modulating sea ice extent. Importantly, aerosols facilitate cloud formation, and thus it is crucial to understand the interactions between aerosols and clouds. Vertical measurements of aerosols and clouds are needed to tackle this issue. We present results from balloon-borne measurements of aerosols and clouds over the course of 2 years in northern Alaska. These data shed light onto the vertical distributions of aerosols relative to clouds spanning multiple seasons.
James F. Hurley, Nathan M. Kreisberg, Braden Stump, Chenyang Bi, Purushottam Kumar, Susanne V. Hering, Pat Keady, and Gabriel Isaacman-VanWertz
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 4911–4925, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-4911-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-4911-2020, 2020
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The chemical composition of aerosols has implications for human and ecosystem health. Current methods for determining chemical composition are expensive and require highly trained personnel. Our method is promising for moderate-cost, low-maintenance measurements of oxygen / carbon ratios, a key chemical parameter, and other elements may also be studied. In this work, we coupled two commonly used detectors to assess O / C ratios in a variety of compounds and mixtures within an acceptable error.
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Short summary
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.
Airborne aerosol instrumentation plays a crucial role in understanding the spatial distribution...
