AAAR 31st Annual Conference
October 8-12, 2012
Hyatt Regency Minneapolis
Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
Abstract View
Characterization of Black Carbon Containing Particles Measured by the Soot Particle Aerosol Mass Spectrometer on Board the R/V Atlantis during the 2010 CalNex Study
TIMOTHY ONASCH, Paola Massoli, Shao-Meng Li, Katherine Hayden, Christopher Cappa, Ibraheem Nuaanman, Donna Sueper, Douglas Worsnop, Aerodyne Research, Inc.
Abstract Number: 646 Working Group: Carbonaceous Aerosols in the Atmosphere
Abstract Black carbon (BC) containing particles formed in combustion processes are strong light-absorbers with climate forcing impacts and have a complex nature which makes their characterization (microphysical, chemical and optical) challenging. Detailed measurements of the mass, size, chemical composition, and optical properties of BC-containing particles were made as part of the CalNex 2010 study onboard the R/V Atlantis. The Atlantis was deployed to characterize inflowing and outflowing air masses along the California coast and to assess emissions from sources (e.g. ships) in coastal waters and urban ports.
We deployed a suite of particle instruments sampling behind a thermal denuder on a common inlet to investigate aerosol volatility and absorption enhancement due to BC particle coatings. Measurements obtained using an Aerodyne Soot Particle Aerosol Mass Spectrometer (SP-AMS) provided mass, size, and chemical composition of BC-containing particles. We present several cases of coastal pollution outflow events (morning and afternoon) as the R/V Atlantis often sampled air masses as they moved offshore from Santa Monica and Monterey Bays. We track changes in size, mass, volatility, and chemical composition of BC-containing particles as a function of atmospheric aging, with implications for their optical properties. We also characterized black carbon emissions from ship plumes encountered during the deployment.