The 2023 NOAA Atmospheric Emissions and Reactions Observed from Megacities to Marine Areas (AEROMMA) Project: Overview and Selected Preliminary Results

Patrick Veres, Andrew Rollins, Carsten Warneke, Rebecca Schwantes, Brian McDonald, ANN M. MIDDLEBROOK, The AEROMMA Team, NOAA Chemical Sciences Laboratory

     Abstract Number: 211
     Working Group: Coast to Coast Campaigns on Aerosols, Clouds, Chemistry, and Air Quality

Abstract
To improve our understanding of emissions and chemical reactions that affect climate and air quality, NOAA conducted the Atmospheric Emissions and Reactions Observed from Megacities to Marine Areas (AEROMMA) field campaign during the summer of 2023 to collect new observations from U. S. megacities and marine boundary layer regions. AEROMMA 2023 is a comprehensive study investigating marine and anthropogenic emissions that alter tropospheric composition using the NASA DC-8 aircraft and was part of the combined AGES+ (AEROMMA+CUPiDS, GOTHAAM, EPCAPE, STAQS and others) umbrella encompassing a multi-agency collaboration with other related field projects.

For the marine portion of AEROMMA, the DC-8 aircraft flew 4 flights over the ocean near the U. S. West Coast, focusing on marine biogenic sulfur species and marine cloud chemistry. Dimethyl sulfide emissions and loss processes were investigated to better understand the mechanisms involved in forming terminal products such as sulfur dioxide, methane sulfonic acid, and non-sea-salt sulfate. State-of-the-art measurements of hydroperoxymethyl thioformate, a recently discovered intermediate, were obtained to follow yields and fates of dimethyl sulfide. Additional aircraft maneuvers around clouds provided insight into the roles that the marine clouds can play in these processes.

For the urban portion, the aircraft was flown to investigate air quality and greenhouse gases in New York (4 flights), Chicago (5 flights), Toronto and Detroit (2 flights), the California Central Valley (2 flights), and Los Angeles (3 flights). The DC-8 aircraft played a key role as an in-situ observation platform in close coordination flying under remote sensing instruments aboard the NASA G-V and G-III aircraft and NASA’s TEMPO satellite. The flights were used to determine emissions as well as ozone and secondary aerosol formation. This presentation will give a brief overview of AEROMMA and present a sampling of science results related to aerosols, clouds, chemistry and air quality.