Evaluation of In-Situ Aerosol Composition and Optical Properties Measurements from the 2023 AEROMMA Airborne Field Mission to Validate and Improve Satellite Data Products

HAN N. HUYNH, Adam Ahern, Ming Lyu, Charles Brock, Xiaoli Shen, Justin Jacquot, Daniel Cziczo, Alison Piasecki, Ann M. Middlebrook, Caroline Womack, Georgia Michailoudi, Joshua P. Schwarz, Daniel Murphy, CU-CIRES/NOAA CSL

     Abstract Number: 350
     Working Group: Coast to Coast Campaigns on Aerosols, Clouds, Chemistry, and Air Quality

Abstract
One of the primary objectives of the Atmospheric Emissions and Reactions Observed from Megacities to Marine Areas (AEROMMA) 2023 field mission was to measure aerosol and trace gas properties to help evaluate and improve the satellite products of the Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring of pollution (TEMPO) instrument. There was a comprehensive suite of instruments on the NASA DC-8 aircraft, including measurements of aerosol size distribution (3 nm–50 um), aerosol chemical composition (from both single particle and aerosol mass spectrometers), and aerosol optical measurements over the ultraviolet and visible wavelengths. The DC-8 aircraft also performed multiple vertical profiles that provided important points of comparison between the in-situ and remote sensing measurements, such as direct comparison of column-integrated aerosol optical depth (AOD) and aerosol layer height between the in-situ and satellite-derived values.

We will give an overview of the aerosol instruments onboard the aircraft and our progress in combining the in-situ aerosol microphysical, chemical, and optical measurements for a complete aerosol vertical profile. In addition to the satellite and ground-based remote sensing measurements (e.g., Aerosol Robotic Network, AERONET), there was a NASA G-V aircraft with a down-looking, high-spectral-resolution lidar (HSRL), in patterns in the vicinity of New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles. These active remote sensing measurements at ambient RH conditions will be compared to the extinction calculations at ambient RH derived from our dry, in-situ aerosol measurements on the DC-8. The HSRL data are also used to derive aerosol types (e.g., smoke, dust, urban pollution, sea salt, and mixtures). The AEROMMA in-situ composition and size distribution data will provide direct validation of the accuracy of and underlying assumptions of aerosol retrievals from the HSRL as well as from TEMPO and AERONET.