Analysis of CCN activity of Arctic aerosol and Canadian biomass burning during summer 2008

• Published in: Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics
• Main Authors: T. L. Lathem, A. J. Beyersdorf, K. L. Thornhill, E. L. Winstead, M. J. Cubison, A. Hecobian, J. L. Jimenez, R. J. Weber, B. E. Anderson, A. Nenes
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Copernicus Publications 2013
• Subjects: Physics; QC1-999; Chemistry; QD1-999; Arctic
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-2735-2013; https://doaj.org/article/697ffd310e9349e69ece7da9d28b885d

The NASA DC-8 aircraft characterized the aerosol properties, chemical composition, and cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) concentrations of the summertime Arctic during the 2008 NASA Arctic Research of the Composition of the Troposphere from Aircraft and Satellites (ARCTAS) campaign. Air masses characteristic of fresh and aged biomass burning, boreal forest, Arctic background, and anthropogenic industrial pollution were sampled. Observations were spatially extensive (50–85° N and 40–130° W) and exhibit significant variability in aerosol and CCN concentrations. The chemical composition was dominated by highly oxidized organics (66–94% by volume), with a water-soluble mass fraction of more than 50%. The aerosol hygroscopicity parameter, κ, ranged between κ = 0.08–0.32 for all air mass types. Industrial pollution had the lowest κ of 0.08 ± 0.01, while the Arctic background had the highest and most variable κ of 0.32 ± 0.21, resulting from a lower and more variable organic fraction. Both fresh and aged (long-range transported) biomass burning air masses exhibited remarkably similar κ (0.18 ± 0.13), consistent with observed rapid chemical and physical aging of smoke emissions in the atmosphere, even in the vicinity of fresh fires. The organic hygroscopicity (κ org ) was parameterized by the volume fraction of water-soluble organic matter (ε WSOM ), with a κ = 0.12, such that κ org = 0.12ε WSOM . Assuming bulk (size-independent) composition and including the κ org parameterization enabled CCN predictions to within 30% accuracy for nearly all environments sampled. The only exception was for industrial pollution from Canadian oil sands exploration, where an external mixture and size-dependent composition was required. Aerosol mixing state assumptions (internal vs. external) in all other environments did not significantly affect CCN predictions; however, the external mixing assumption provided the best results, even though the available observations could not determine the true degree of external mixing and therefore may ...