AAAR 36th Annual Conference October 16 - October 20, 2017 Raleigh Convention Center Raleigh, North Carolina, USA
Abstract View
A Community Effort for Furthering Cloud Chemistry Studies
MARY BARTH, Annmarie Carlton, Sara Lance, Kerri Pratt, Jeffrey Collett, Delphine Farmer, James Schwab, Barbara Ervens, V. Faye McNeill, Hartmut Herrmann, Mauro Morichetti, National Center for Atmospheric Research
Abstract Number: 377 Working Group: There Must be Something in the Water: Cloud, Fog and Aerosol Aqueous Chemistry for Aerosol Production
Abstract Clouds cover 60% of the Earth’s surface at a given time and are the primary means by which constituents from the polluted boundary layer are lofted to the free troposphere. Clouds are also aqueous-phase chemical reactors, scavenging soluble gas-phase precursors and supporting oxidation reactions that contribute to increased aerosol mass when the cloud drops evaporate. However, atmospheric chemistry observations (field campaigns and satellite retrievals) typically avoid clouds resulting in a lack of knowledge of cloud chemistry impacts on tropospheric composition. To alleviate this lack of knowledge, we have begun an effort in connection with the Whiteface Mountain Observatory in New York to sample a suite of chemical compounds in cloud water and to evaluate and compare the state of knowledge of current gas-aqueous chemistry 0-dimensional models.
This talk will present outcomes from a workshop held at Whiteface Mountain. A cloud event occurred on the 17-18 September 2016, beginning just a few hours after the workshop completed. Cloud water was collected and frozen into 12-15 vials. These cloud water samples, along with blanks and rinse water samples, were distributed to several groups for chemical analysis of the cloud water. Preliminary results from this analysis will be presented. In concert with the observations, 0-d and 3-d regional scale cloud chemistry model intercomparisons are being pursued. The 3-d model simulations are focused on providing the meteorological and chemical composition context to the cloud water event, while the 0-d model intercomparison is evaluating the capabilities of these models to predict aqueous phase chemistry via comparisons with observations, where available.