Smoke Impacts on Atmospheric Processing: An Optical Analysis of Broadband Offline and Online Instruments on Geographically Diverse Biofuels
NEVIL FRANCO, Abu Sayeed Md Shawon, Megan Mouton, Vaios Moschos, Marc Fiddler, Solomon Bililign, Manvendra Dubey, Katherine Benedict, Kyle Gorkowski,
Los Alamos National Laboratory Abstract Number: 255
Working Group: Instrumentation and Methods
AbstractTo enhance our understanding of biomass burning aerosol on climate, we analyzed the optical properties–absorption, extinction, and scattering–of vegetation from distinct geographical origins using wavelength-dependent instruments in both field and laboratory settings. This approach aims to shed light on the complex interactions between biomass burning and changes to the optical properties.
Controlled burns of sub-Saharan African biofuels were conducted at Los Alamos National Laboratory in collaboration with North Carolina A&T State University as part of the African Combustion Aerosol Collaborative Intercomparison Analysis (ACACIA) project. The online instruments were a mini-aethalometer (MA200), dual-spot aethalometer (AE33), cavity attenuated phase shift single-scattering albedo particle monitor (CAPS PMssa), and a photoacoustic spectrometer (PASS and PAX). Offline collection used a Particle-Into-Liquid Sampler for wavelength-dependent analysis using a Liquid Waveguide Capillary Cell (LWCC) and a thin-film Reflectometer (F10-RT). The F10-RT captures the transmitted and reflected spectra of the aerosols across a wide wavelength range (190 to 1100 nm).
For comparison to the lab experiments, field data were taken from prescribed fires of prairie tallgrass at the Konza Prairie Biological Station located near Manhattan, Kansas. A mini-aethalometer (MA200) was used to capture the optical properties of smoke plumes.
Taken together, this work establishes analysis techniques for examining changes in aerosol optical properties during future cloud cycling experiments.