AAAR 33rd Annual Conference
October 20 - October 24, 2014
Rosen Shingle Creek
Orlando, Florida, USA
Abstract View
Atmospheric Monitoring in the Western Mediterranean in Summer 2013: Overview of Physic-chemical Properties and Variability
JORGE PEY, José Carlos Cerro, Stig Hellebust, H. Langley DeWitt, Brice Temime-Roussel, Miriam Elser, N. Pérez, Alexandre Sylvestre, Dalia Salameh, Grisa Mocnik, Andre Prévôt, Yanlin Zhang, Soenke Szidat, Nicolas Marchand, Aix-Marseille Université, CNRS, LCE FRE 3416
Abstract Number: 178 Working Group: Remote and Regional Atmospheric Aerosols
Abstract Despite vast efforts to reduce atmospheric aerosol concentrations, the Mediterranean atmosphere still contains high loadings of aerosols during the warm season, in part due to the poor knowledge about their sources. Mineral dust, sulfate and organic compounds are the most frequent chemical species. While the sources of mineral dust and sulfate are fairly well-characterized, the origin of the organic aerosol is unclear, although it has been found that the organic carbon is mostly from contemporary (non-fossil) sources.
As part of the Chemistry-Aerosol Mediterranean Experiment (ChArMEx), simultaneous field campaigns were conducted in the summer of 2013 in different Mediterranean observatories. Here we focus on Corsica-Ersa and Mallorca-Cap des Pinar supersites. A complete instrumentation set-up to measure the aerosol and gas-phase chemical and physical properties and concentrations in Mallorca was deployed: a HR-ToF-AMS; a PTR-ToF-MS; a SMPS to obtain particle number and size distribution of aerosols in the range 10-700 nm; a LAAPTOF to characterize in real time individual particles in terms of size and chemical composition; an Aethalometer AE31 to monitor the absorption coefficients of aerosols between 370 nm and 950 nm; two high-volume samplers for subsequent chemical determinations, including off-line 14C analysis, of the PM10 and PM1 fractions; a mobile van with air quality surveillance instruments (e.g., CO, SO2, NOx); and a meteorological tower.
During the campaign, Mallorca and Corsica were affected concurrently by common atmospheric events including Saharan dust outbreaks, episodes of new-particle formation and regional recirculation of air masses. In addition, specific characteristics were found to influence Mallorca and Corsica independently. In particular, more Saharan dust episodes and persistent accumulation processes were observed in Mallorca, while outflows from the Po valley were observed at times in Corsica. Thus, the general atmospheric characteristics of the western Mediterranean could be drawn, and the particularities of each region were also investigated.