The Ascension Island boundary layer in the remote southeast Atlantic is often smoky
Abstract
Observations from June through October, 2016, from a surface-based ARM Mobile Facility deployment on Ascension Island (8°S, 14.5°W) indicate that refractory black carbon (rBC) is almost always present within the boundary layer. rBC mass concentrations, light absorption coefficients, and cloud condensation nuclei concentrations vary in concert and synoptically, peaking in August. Light absorption coefficients at three visible wavelengths as a function of rBC mass indirectly indicate the presence of other light-absorbing aerosols (e.g., brown carbon), most pronounced in June. The single-scattering-albedo increases systematically from August to October in both 2016 and 2017, with monthly-means of 0.78±0.02 (August), 0.81±0.03 (September) and 0.83±0.03 (October) at the green wavelength. Boundary-layer aerosol loadings are only loosely correlated with total aerosol optical depth, with smoke more likely to be present in the boundary layer earlier in the biomass-burning season, evolving to smoke predominantly present above the cloud layers in September-October, typically resting upon the cloud-top inversion. The time period with the campaign-maximum near-surface light absorption and column aerosol optical depth, on 13-16 August of 2016, is investigated further. Also, backtrajectories indicate more direct boundary layer transport westward from the African continent is central to explaining the elevated surface aerosol loadings.
- Authors:
-
[1];
[2];
[3];
[1];
[1];
[4];
- Univ. of Miami, Miami, FL (United States). Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences
- Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
- Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
- Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos NM USA
- Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States); Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States); Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); Univ. of Miami, FL (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES). Scientific User Facilities Division; National Aeronautic and Space Administration (NASA)-Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1433942
- Alternate Identifier(s):
- OSTI ID: 1455314; OSTI ID: 1466325; OSTI ID: 1542854; OSTI ID: 1593973
- Report Number(s):
- BNL-203504-2018-JAAM; PNNL-SA-131497; LA-UR-19-22760
Journal ID: ISSN 0094-8276
- Grant/Contract Number:
- SC0012704; SC0013720; AC05-76RL01830; AC02-06CH11357; 89233218CNA000001; SC0018272
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Geophysical Research Letters
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 45; Journal Issue: 9; Journal ID: ISSN 0094-8276
- Publisher:
- American Geophysical Union
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES; 47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION; absorbing aerosol; smoke; remote southeast Atlantic; DOE AMF1; Earth Sciences; aerosol, atmospheric radiation, absorbing aerosols, field measurements, Aerosol optical Depth, absorption angstrom exponent; 58 GEOSCIENCES
Citation Formats
Zuidema, Paquita, Sedlacek III, Arthur J., Flynn, Connor, Springston, Stephen, Delgadillo, Rodrigo, Zhang, Jianhao, Aiken, Allison C., Koontz, Annette, and Muradyan, Paytsar. The Ascension Island boundary layer in the remote southeast Atlantic is often smoky. United States: N. p., 2018.
Web. doi:10.1002/2017GL076926.
Zuidema, Paquita, Sedlacek III, Arthur J., Flynn, Connor, Springston, Stephen, Delgadillo, Rodrigo, Zhang, Jianhao, Aiken, Allison C., Koontz, Annette, & Muradyan, Paytsar. The Ascension Island boundary layer in the remote southeast Atlantic is often smoky. United States. https://doi.org/10.1002/2017GL076926
Zuidema, Paquita, Sedlacek III, Arthur J., Flynn, Connor, Springston, Stephen, Delgadillo, Rodrigo, Zhang, Jianhao, Aiken, Allison C., Koontz, Annette, and Muradyan, Paytsar. Sat .
"The Ascension Island boundary layer in the remote southeast Atlantic is often smoky". United States. https://doi.org/10.1002/2017GL076926. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1433942.
@article{osti_1433942,
title = {The Ascension Island boundary layer in the remote southeast Atlantic is often smoky},
author = {Zuidema, Paquita and Sedlacek III, Arthur J. and Flynn, Connor and Springston, Stephen and Delgadillo, Rodrigo and Zhang, Jianhao and Aiken, Allison C. and Koontz, Annette and Muradyan, Paytsar},
abstractNote = {Observations from June through October, 2016, from a surface-based ARM Mobile Facility deployment on Ascension Island (8°S, 14.5°W) indicate that refractory black carbon (rBC) is almost always present within the boundary layer. rBC mass concentrations, light absorption coefficients, and cloud condensation nuclei concentrations vary in concert and synoptically, peaking in August. Light absorption coefficients at three visible wavelengths as a function of rBC mass indirectly indicate the presence of other light-absorbing aerosols (e.g., brown carbon), most pronounced in June. The single-scattering-albedo increases systematically from August to October in both 2016 and 2017, with monthly-means of 0.78±0.02 (August), 0.81±0.03 (September) and 0.83±0.03 (October) at the green wavelength. Boundary-layer aerosol loadings are only loosely correlated with total aerosol optical depth, with smoke more likely to be present in the boundary layer earlier in the biomass-burning season, evolving to smoke predominantly present above the cloud layers in September-October, typically resting upon the cloud-top inversion. The time period with the campaign-maximum near-surface light absorption and column aerosol optical depth, on 13-16 August of 2016, is investigated further. Also, backtrajectories indicate more direct boundary layer transport westward from the African continent is central to explaining the elevated surface aerosol loadings.},
doi = {10.1002/2017GL076926},
journal = {Geophysical Research Letters},
number = 9,
volume = 45,
place = {United States},
year = {Sat Mar 31 00:00:00 EDT 2018},
month = {Sat Mar 31 00:00:00 EDT 2018}
}
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Figures / Tables:
Figure 1: 1 June - 31 October, 2016 time series of a) single-particle soot photometer (SP2)-derived refractory black carbon (rBC) mass concentrations. Monthly 10, 25, 50, 75, 90 percentiles are indicated, with a dotted line connecting monthly-mean values. b) Particle soot absorption photometer (PSAP) aerosol light absorption coefficients at threemore »
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