AAAR 34th Annual Conference
October 12 - October 16, 2015
Hyatt Regency
Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
Abstract View
A Global Overview of Fluorescent Biological Particles Using UVAPS and WIBS
J. Alex Huffman, Ulrich Poeschl, Niall Robinson, Ian Crawford, Martin Gallagher, Hang Su, David Healy, David O'Connor, John Sodeau, Miia Hiltunin, Tuukka Petäjä, Markku Kulmala, Carolyn J. Schumacher, Paulo Artaxo, Meinrat O Andreae, KYLE PIERCE, University of Denver, CO
Abstract Number: 689 Working Group: Bioaerosols
Abstract Biogenic bioaerosols are relevant for the public health and may play an important role in the understanding of the climate system, but their atmospheric abundance, properties, and sources are not well understood. Systematic global measurements of airborne bioaerosols have been relatively sporadic, however, contributing significant uncertainty to our understanding of their properties and effects. The recent development of instruments capable of detecting biological aerosols in real-time have enabled detailed ambient observations.
The ultraviolet aerodynamic particle size (UV-APS) and wideband integrated bioaerosol sensor (WIBS) were deployed at a variety of measurement sites on five continents over the last decade to observe trends in fluorescent biological aerosol particles (FBAP) in a host of different environments. Most studies showed exhibited average peaks at ~3 micro-meter in size and diurnally in the early morning, with an average mass concentration on the order of 1 microgram m-3. This continuity suggests that the number concentration of bioparticles over vegetated regions may be dominated by fungal spores or agglomerated bacteria within a relatively narrow size range. An overview of global measurements and trends will be shown.