AAAR 37th Annual Conference October 14 - October 18, 2019 Oregon Convention Center Portland, Oregon, USA
Abstract View
Exploring the Spatiotemporal Variability of the Ground Level Ultrafine Particle Number Concentration in the Raleigh Area
Nicholas Meskhidze, Juan Jaimes-Correa, Markus Petters, Taylor Royalty, Brittany Phillips, ALYSSA ZIMMERMAN, Robert Reed, North Carolina State University
Abstract Number: 346 Working Group: Urban Aerosols
Abstract Ultrafine particles (UFP), aerosols with diameters less than 100 nm, are known for their impact on human health and the Earth’s energy balance. Relatively few studies have investigated sources and sinks, as well as, diurnal, weekly, and spatial variation of UFP number concentration in the urban and suburban environment of Raleigh, NC. The measurement campaigns have been carried out at the urban (Nov-Dec 2017) and suburban (Nov-Dec 2018) sites in Raleigh to characterize number size distribution and hygroscopicity of UFPs. The urban site was located at NC State University campus, at the intersection of two roads with heavy traffic, including light passenger cars, heavy-duty trucks, and university-owned diesel buses. The suburban site was located 15 km south from the urban site, at the Lake Wheeler Road Facility. The site is located over the flat grassy terrain and is surrounded by NCSU’s animal science, crop and soil science, biological and agricultural engineering research facilities, and animal and poultry waste management processing facility.
Our data analysis involving the time series of particle number size distribution, meteorological variables (i.e., pressure, temperature, RH, wind speed and direction, solar radiation, and precipitation, the gas-phase chemical (i.e., CO, SO2, NO, NO2, O3), and particle tracers (i.e., refractory black carbon, non-hygroscopic particles, condensation sink, PM2.5, and PM10) revealed two distinct sources of UFPs associated with vehicle emissions and broad background nucleation. The current presentation will discuss the spatiotemporal variability of UFP number size distribution and highlight the important role of local meteorology (and in particular the boundary layer dynamics) for determining the ambient air pollution levels in the Raleigh area.