Aerosols have a profound impact on cloud microphysics through their ability to serve as ice nucleating particles (INPs). As a result, cloud radiative properties and precipitation processes can be modulated by such aerosolcloud interactions. However, one of the largest uncertainties associated with atmospheric processes is the indirect effect of aerosols on clouds. The need for more advanced observations of INPs in the atmospheric vertical profile is apparent, yet most ice nucleation measurements are conducted on the ground or during infrequent and intensive airborne field campaigns. Here, we describe a novel measurement platform that is less expensive and smaller (< 5 kg) when compared to traditional aircraft and tethered balloon platforms and that can be used for evaluating two modes of ice nucleation (i.e., immersion and deposition). HOVERCAT (Honing On VERtical Cloud and Aerosol properTies) flew during a pilot study in Colorado, USA, up to 2.6 km above mean sea level (1.1 km above ground level) and consists of an aerosol module that includes an optical particle counter for size distributions (0.38-17 mu m in diameter) and a new sampler that collects up to 10 filter samples for offline ice nucleation and aerosol analyses on a launched balloon platform. During the May 2017 test flight, total particle concentrations were highest closest to the ground (up to 50 cm(-3) at < 50m above ground level) and up to 2 in 102 particles were ice nucleation active in the immersion mode (at 23 degrees C). The warmest temperature immersion and deposition mode INPs (observed up to -6 and -40.4 degrees C, respectively) were observed closest to the ground, but overall INP concentrations did not exhibit an inverse correlation with increasing altitude. HOVERCAT is a prototype that can be further modified for other airborne platforms, including tethered balloon and unmanned aircraft systems. The versatility of HOVERCAT affords future opportunities to profile the atmospheric column for more comprehensive evaluations of aerosol-cloud interactions. Based on our test flight experiences, we provide a set of recommendations for future deployments of similar measurement systems and platforms.
Wells, K. C.; Millet, D. B.; Bousserez, N.; Henze, D. K.; Griffis, T. J.; Chaliyakunnel, S.; Dlugokencky, E. J.; Saikawa, E.; Xiang, G.; Prinn, R. G.; O'Doherty, S.; Young, D.; Weiss, R. F.; Dutton, G. S.; Elkins, J. W.; Krummel, P. B.; Langenfelds, R.; Steele, L. P.;
Published Date:
2018
Source:
Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 18(2), 735-756.
Description:
We present top-down constraints on global monthly N2O emissions for 2011 from a multi-inversion approach and an ensemble of surface observations. The inversions employ the GEOS-Chem adjoint and an array of aggregation strategies to test how well curr...
Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres, 123(15), 7950-7973.
Description:
In this study, we analyze a set of agroclimatological indices across West Africa and assess their projected changes for the future. We apply the regional climate model CCLM (COnsortium for Small-scale MOdelling in CLimate Mode) with a high spatial re...
Kenagy, H. S.; Sparks, T. L.; Ebben, C. J.; Wooldrige, P. J.; Lopez-Hilfiker, F. D.; Lee, B. H.; Thornton, J. A.; McDuffie, E. E.; Fibiger, D. L.; Brown, S. S.; Montzka, D. D.; Weinheimer, A. J.; Schroder, J. C.; Campuzano-Jost, P.; Day, D. A.; Jimenez, J. L.; Dibb, J. E.; Campos, T.; Shah, V.; Jaegle, L.; Cohen, R. C.;
Published Date:
2018
Source:
Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres, 123(17), 9813-9827.
Description:
Although urban NOx lifetimes have been examined extensively during summertime conditions, wintertime NOx chemistry has been comparatively less studied. We use measurements of NOx and its oxidation products from the aircraft-based WINTER (Wintertime I...
Jarvinen, E.; Ignatius, K.; Nichman, L.; Kristensen, T. B.; Fuchs, C.; Hoyle, C. R.; Hoppel, N.; Corbin, J. C.; Craven, J.; Duplissy, J.; Ehrhart, S.; El Haddad, I.; Frege, C.; Gordon, H.; Jokinen, T.; Kallinger, P.; Kirkby, J.; Kiselev, A.; Naumann, K. H.; Petaja, T.; Pinterich, T.; Prevot, A. S. H.; Saathoff, H.; Schiebel, T.; Sengupta, K.; Simon, M.; Slowik, J. G.; Trostl, J.; Virtanen, A.; Vochezer, P.; Vogt, S.; Wagner, A. C.; Wagner, R.; Williamson, C.; Winkler, P. M.; Yan, C.; Baltensperger, U.; Donahue, N. M.; Flagan, R. C.; Gallagher, M.; Hansel, A.; Kulmala, M.; Stratmann, F.; Worsnop, D. R.; Mohler, O.; Leisner, T.; Schnaiter, M.;
Published Date:
2016
Source:
Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 16(7), 4423-4438.
Description:
Under certain conditions, secondary organic aerosol (SOA) particles can exist in the atmosphere in an amorphous solid or semi-solid state. To determine their relevance to processes such as ice nucleation or chemistry occurring within particles requir...
Butler, R.; Palmer, P. I.; Feng, L.; Andrews, S. J.; Atlas, E. L.; Carpenter, L. J.; Donets, V.; Harris, N. R. P.; Montzka, S. A.; Pan, L. L.; Salawitch, R. J.; Schauffler, S. M.;
Published Date:
2018
Source:
Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 18(17), 13135-13153.
Description:
We use the GEOS-Chem global 3-D atmospheric chemistry transport model to interpret atmospheric observations of bromoform (CHBr3) and dibromomethane (CH2Br2) collected during the CAST and CONTRAST aircraft measurement campaigns over the western Pacifi...
Fried, A.; Barth, M. C.; Bela, M.; Weibring, P.; Richter, D.; Walega, J.; Li, Y.; Pickering, K.; Apel, E.; Hornbrook, R.; Hills, A.; Riemer, D. D.; Blake, N.; Blake, D. R.; Schroeder, J. R.; Luo, Z. J.; Crawford, J. H.; Olson, J.; Rutledge, S.; Betten, D.; Biggerstaff, M. I.; Diskin, G. S.; Sachse, G.; Campos, T.; Flocke, F.; Weinheimer, A.; Cantrell, C.; Pollack, I.; Peischl, J.; Froyd, K.; Wisthaler, A.; Mikoviny, T.; Woods, S.;
Published Date:
2016
Source:
Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres, 121(12), 7430-7460.
Description:
We have developed semi-independent methods for determining CH2O scavenging efficiencies (SEs) during strong midlatitude convection over the western, south-central Great Plains, and southeastern regions of the United States during the 2012 Deep Convec...
Janssens-Maenhout, G.; Crippa, M.; Guizzardi, D.; Dentener, F.; Muntean, M.; Pouliot, G.; Keating, T.; Zhang, Q.; Kurokawa, J.; Wankmuller, R.; van der Gon, H. D.; Kuenen, J. J. P.; Klimont, Z.; Frost, G.; Darras, S.; Koffi, B.; Li, M.;
Published Date:
2015
Source:
Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 15(19), 11411-11432.
Description:
The mandate of the Task Force Hemispheric Transport of Air Pollution (TF HTAP) under the Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution (CLRTAP) is to improve the scientific understanding of the intercontinental air pollution transport, to quan...
Brown, S. S.; Dube, W. P.; Tham, Y. J.; Zha, Q. Z.; Xue, L. K.; Poon, S.; Wang, Z.; Blake, D. R.; Tsui, W.; Parrish, D. D.; Wang, T.;
Published Date:
2016
Source:
Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres, 121(5), 2457-2475.
Description:
Nighttime reactions of nitrogen oxides influence ozone, volatile organic compounds, and aerosol and are thus important to the understanding of regional air quality. Despite large emissions and rapid recent growth of nitrogen oxide concentrations, the...
Kim, J.; Johnson, L. E.; Cifelli, R.; Choi, J.; Chandrasekar, V.;
Published Date:
2018
Source:
Water, 10(7), 21.
Description:
Soil moisture retention (SMR) capacity plays a key role in estimating the direct runoff when a multi-pulse storm event occurs. It is very important to know how much SMR will be recovered during the intervals of no rain of a multi-pulse storm. This st...
Fairall, C. W.; Matrosov, S. Y.; Williams, C. R.; Walsh, E. J.;
Published Date:
2018
Source:
Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology, 35(3), 593-608.
Description:
The NOAA W-band radar was deployed on a P-3 aircraft during a study of storm fronts off the U.S. West Coast in 2015 in the second CalWater (CalWater-2) field program. This paper presents an analysis of measured equivalent radar reflectivity factor Z(...
A 4-year record of aerosol size and hygroscopic growth factor distributions measured at the Department of Energy's Southern Great Plains (SGP) site in Oklahoma, U.S. were used to estimate supersaturation (S)-dependent cloud condensation nuclei concen...
Mahoney, K.; Swales, D.; Mueller, M. J.; Alexander, M.; Hughes, M.; Malloy, K.;
Published Date:
2018
Source:
Journal of Climate, 31(16), 6281-6297.
Description:
Atmospheric rivers (ARs) are well-known producers of precipitation along the U.S. West Coast. Depending on their intensity, orientation, and location of landfall, some ARs penetrate inland and cause heavy rainfall and flooding hundreds of miles from ...
Dimdore-Miles, O. B.; Palmer, P. I.; Bruhwiler, L. P.;
Published Date:
2018
Source:
Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 18(24), 17895-17907.
Description:
We consider the utility of the annual inter-polar difference (IPD) as a metric for changes in Arctic emissions of methane (CH4). The IPD has been previously defined as the difference between weighted annual means of CH4 mole fraction data collected a...
Sea surface temperature anomalies (SSTA) in portions of the extratropics are known to recur from one winter to the next without persisting through the intervening summer. Previous studies identified only a limited number of midlatitude regions where ...
Richardson, K.; Asmutis-Silvia, R.; Drinkwin, J.; Gilardi, K. V. K.; Giskes, I.; Jones, G.; O'Brien, K.; Pragnell-Raasch, H.; Ludwig, L.; Antonelis, K.; Barco, S.; Henry, A.; Knowlton, A.; Landry, S.; Mattila, D.; MacDonald, K.; Moore, M.; Morgan, J.; Robbins, J.; van der Hoop, J.; Hogan, E.;
Published Date:
2019
Source:
Marine Pollution Bulletin, 138, 222-229.
Description:
Abandoned, lost or discarded fishing gear (ALDFG) comprises a significant amount of global marine debris, with diverse impacts to marine environments, wildlife, and the fishing industry. Building evidence on ALDFG is critical to holistically understa...
Smith, M.; Stammerjohn, S.; Persson, O.; Rainville, L.; Liu, G. Q.; Perrie, W.; Robertson, R.; Jackson, J.; Thomson, J.;
Published Date:
2018
Source:
Journal of Geophysical Research-Oceans, 123(5), 3164-3185.
Description:
High-resolution measurements of the air-ice-ocean system during an October 2015 event in the Beaufort Sea demonstrate how stored ocean heat can be released to temporarily reverse seasonal ice advance. Strong on-ice winds over a vast fetch caused mixi...
Chakraborty, A.; Ervens, B.; Gupta, T.; Tripathi, S. N.;
Published Date:
2016
Source:
Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres, 121(8), 4317-4332.
Description:
Size-resolved fog water samples were collected in two consecutive winters at Kanpur, a heavily polluted urban area of India. Samples were analyzed by an aerosol mass spectrometer after drying and directly in other instruments. Residues of fine fog dr...
Kim, P. S.; Jacob, D. J.; Fisher, J. A.; Travis, K.; Yu, K.; Zhu, L.; Yantosca, R. M.; Sulprizio, M. P.; Jimenez, J. L.; Campuzano-Jost, P.; Froyd, K. D.; Liao, J.; Hair, J. W.; Fenn, M. A.; Butler, C. F.; Wagner, N. L.; Gordon, T. D.; Welti, A.; Wennberg, P. O.; Crounse, J. D.; St. Clair, J. M.; Teng, A. P.; Millet, D. B.; Schwarz, J. P.; Markovic, M. Z.; Perring, A. E.;
Heiblum, R. H.; Altaratz, O.; Koren, I.; Feingold, G.; Kostinski, A. B.; Khain, A. P.; Ovchinnikov, M.; Fredj, E.; Dagan, G.; Pinto, L.; Yaish, R.; Chen, Q.;
Published Date:
2016
Source:
Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres, 121(11), 6336-6355.
Description:
We study the evolution of warm convective cloud fields using large eddy simulations of continental and trade cumulus. Individual clouds are tracked a posteriori from formation to dissipation using a 3-D cloud-tracking algorithm, and results are prese...
Earth's radiation budget is affected by new particle formation (NPF) and the growth of these nanometre-scale particles to larger sizes where they can directly scatter light or act as cloud condensation nuclei (CCN). Large uncertainties remain in the ...
Creamean, J. M.; Cross, J. N.; Pickart, R.; McRaven, L.; Lin, P.; Pacini, A.; Hanlon, R.; Schmale, D. G.; Ceniceros, J.; Aydell, T.; Colombi, N.; Bolger, E.; DeMott, P. J.;
Published Date:
2019
Source:
Geophysical Research Letters, 46(14), 8572-8581.
Description:
Abstract As Arctic temperatures rise at twice the global rate, sea ice is diminishing more quickly than models can predict. Processes that dictate Arctic cloud formation and impacts on the atmospheric energy budget are poorly understood, yet crucial ...
Ice crystal numbers can exceed the numbers of ice-nucleating particles (INPs) observed in mixed-phase clouds (MPCs) by several orders of magnitude, also at temperatures that are colder than −8 ∘C. This disparity provides circumstantial evidence...