AAAR 33rd Annual Conference
October 20 - October 24, 2014
Rosen Shingle Creek
Orlando, Florida, USA
Abstract View
Source Attribution of Aerosol Size Distributions and Model Evaluation Using Whistler Mountain Measurements and GEOS-Chem-TOMAS Simulations
STEPHEN D'ANDREA, Jessica Ng, Michael Wheeler, Annie-Marie Macdonald, Richard Leaitch, Jeffrey Pierce, John Kodros, Colorado State University
Abstract Number: 561 Working Group: Remote and Regional Atmospheric Aerosols
Abstract Remote and free tropospheric aerosols represent a large fraction of the climatic influence of aerosols; however, aerosol in these regions is less characterized than those polluted boundary layers. We evaluate aerosol size distributions predicted by the GEOS-Chem-TOMAS global chemical transport model with online aerosol microphysics using measurements from the peak of Whistler Mountain, BC, Canada (2182 m.a.s.l.). We evaluate the model to predictions of aerosol number, size and composition during periods of free tropospheric and boundary-layer influence. Additionally, we perform GEOS-Chem-TOMAS simulations without Asian anthropogenic emissions and without biomass burning emissions to quantify the contribution of these sources to aerosols at Whistler (through comparison with simulations with these emissions on). The combination of measurements and modeling gives us insight into the sources and processes that shape the aerosol at Whistler.