Investigating Vertical Profiles of Aerosols with ARM's Unmanned Aerial Systems and Tethered Balloon Systems

FAN MEI, Qi Zhang, Mikhail Pekour, Christopher Niedek, Israel Silber, Damao Zhang, Darielle Dexheimer, Beat Schmid, Jason Tomlinson, Susanne Glienke, Gourihar Kulkarni, Hardeep Mehta, Swarup China, Zezhen Cheng, Nurun Nahar Lata, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

     Abstract Number: 17
     Working Group: Aerosol Processes and Properties in Changing Environments in the Anthropocene

Abstract
This study presents multiple deployments leveraging a mid-size Unmanned Aerial System (UAS, ArcticShark) and the Tethered Balloon System (TBS), to probe aerosol properties and boundary structures during multiple deployments between 2022 and 2023. Focusing on aerosols, we integrate the spatiotemporal data from in situ measurements and remote-sensing technology to offer valuable comparisons and reveal the consistency and complementarity of these methodologies. Additionally, we obtained unique chemical composition profiles using advanced offline chemical analysis techniques for the aerosol samples collected at the SGP site during March, June, and August 2023. By studying seasonal variations in aerosol properties, we correlated them with the potential influential sources. In addition, the aerosol optical profiles and CCN profiles were derived. This research has significant implications for advancing our knowledge of the vertical gradient of atmospheric aerosols, enhancing air quality monitoring strategies, and informing aerosol transport models.