AAAR 33rd Annual Conference
October 20 - October 24, 2014
Rosen Shingle Creek
Orlando, Florida, USA
Abstract View
Long-Range Transport of Agricultural Smoke to Houston, TX during September 2013: Effects on Aerosol Optical Depths
ANDREAS BEYERSDORF, Sharon P. Burton, Gao Chen, Jack Lin, Robert Martin, Richard Moore, Athanasios Nenes, Kenneth Thornhill, Edward Winstead, Luke Ziemba, Bruce Anderson, NASA Langley Research Center
Abstract Number: 275 Working Group: Air Quality and Climate in the Southeast US: Insights from Recent Measurement Campaigns
Abstract The ability to predict ground-level aerosol loadings from satellite measurements is essential to guiding future air quality policy. This relationship is hindered by the presence of lofted layers detached from surface conditions. During the DISCOVER-AQ project in Houston, Texas (September 2013), lofted aerosol layers originating from agricultural fires in the Mississippi River Valley were measured by both in situ instrumentation and airborne High Spectral-Resolution LIDAR (HSRL). These elevated aerosols contributed up to 80% of the aerosol optical depths (AODs) and thus estimation of ground-level PM2.5 from AOD was not possible. These aerosol were considerably aged with higher single scattering albedos and water-uptake potential (f(RH)) than fresh agricultural fires measured during both the DISCOVER-AQ and SEAC4RS projects due to the formation of secondary aerosols. In addition to measurements during DISCOVER-AQ, historic long-term measurements of AOD (from AERONET) and PM2.5 (from ground-based monitoring sites) will be examined to determine the frequency of these long-range transport events.