ASIA-AQ Flight Campaign Reveals Impacts of Transboundary Aerosol Transport in Southeast Asia

FRANCESCA GALLO, Gangwoong Lee, Meehye Lee, Taehyoung Lee, Carolyn Jordan, Sayantee Roy, Michael Shook, Elizabeth Wiggins, Edward Winstead, Luke Ziemba, Richard Moore, NASA Langley

     Abstract Number: 383
     Working Group: Aerosols, Clouds and Climate

Abstract
The recent NASA Airborne and Satellite Investigation of Air Quality (ASIA-AQ) flight campaign combined multiple observing platforms (aircrafts, satellites, and surface sensor network) to study the atmospheric composition of four metropolitan areas across Southeast Asia including Philippines, South Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand. The two-month effort spanned February-March, 2024, and targeted wintertime peaks in pollution levels to advance the understanding of air quality over Asia and inform satellite observations and model predictions. Multiple science flights were conducted using the NASA DC-8 to provide comprehensive in situ data of atmospheric aerosol properties, chemical constituents, and meteorological parameters. In this study, we integrate observational datasets of aerosol properties collected during ASIA-AQ to capture the occurrence of transboundary aerosol transport and assess their impact on particle microphysics, formation mechanisms, and boundary layer processes over the Yellow Sea region. Competing influences of transboundary-transported aerosol versus regional aerosol emissions are also evaluated to provide key constrains necessary for understanding dominant emission sources and contributions on air quality in Southeast Asia.