AAAR 33rd Annual Conference
October 20 - October 24, 2014
Rosen Shingle Creek
Orlando, Florida, USA
Abstract View
Vertical Profiles of Aerosol Extinction Over the Southeastern US during the Summer
NICK WAGNER, Charles Brock, Timothy Gordon, Daniel Lack, Mathews Richardson, Daniel Law, André Welti, Ann M. Middlebrook, Jin Liao, John Holloway, Jeff Peischl, Ilana Pollack, Thomas Ryerson, Martin Graus, Carsten Warneke, NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory, Boulder, CO
Abstract Number: 143 Working Group: Air Quality and Climate in the Southeast US: Insights from Recent Measurement Campaigns
Abstract Recent studies have shown that during the summertime, aerosol loading in the southeastern United States measured in situ at surface is not enhanced as much as the AOD measured by satellites and AERONET. Regional modeling is able to reproduce the extinction at the surface, however not the AOD. An enhanced source of secondary organic aerosol above the surface layer has been proposed as a possible explanation for the discrepancy. During summer 2013, in situ measurements of aerosol extinction, hygroscopicity, and particle size distributions were collected from the NOAA WP-3 aircraft and the NASA DC-8 aircraft as part of the Southeast Atmosphere Study and SEAC4RS. We present an analysis of aerosol extinction profiles and compare these with ground-based measurements and previous studies. Measurements of aerosol composition and trace gases aboard the aircraft are used to determine if secondary organic aerosol production is enhanced above the surface.