A meteorological overview of the ARCTAS 2008 mission

Fuelberg, Henry E.; Harrigan, D. L.; Sessions, W. R.

doi:10.5194/acp-10-817-2010

Cited by 100 publications

(116 citation statements)

References 60 publications

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“…In the middle and upper troposphere, spring of 2008 stands out with much larger CALIOP extinctions relative to the multiyear mean. These anomalously high aerosol extinctions were caused by smoke produced during wild and agricultural fires in Russia and Kazakhstan (e.g., Warneke et al, 2009;Fuelberg et al, 2010). July 2010 displays some of the largest summertime extinctions observed by CALIOP (Fig.…”

Section: Interannual Variabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Spatial and seasonal distribution of Arctic aerosols observed by the CALIOP satellite instrument (2006–2012)

et al. 2013

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We use retrievals of aerosol extinction from the Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP) onboard the CALIPSO satellite to examine the vertical, horizontal and temporal variability of tropospheric Arctic aerosols during the period 2006–2012. We develop an empirical method that takes into account the difference in sensitivity between daytime and nighttime retrievals over the Arctic. Comparisons of the retrieved aerosol extinction to in situ measurements at Barrow (Alaska) and Alert (Canada) show that CALIOP reproduces the observed seasonal cycle and magnitude of surface aerosols to within 25 %. In the free troposphere, we find that daytime CALIOP retrievals will only detect the strongest aerosol haze events, as demonstrated by a comparison to aircraft measurements obtained during NASA's ARCTAS mission during April 2008. This leads to a systematic underestimate of the column aerosol optical depth by a factor of 2–10. However, when the CALIOP sensitivity threshold is applied to aircraft observations, we find that CALIOP reproduces in situ observations to within 20% and captures the vertical profile of extinction over the Alaskan Arctic. Comparisons with the ground-based high spectral resolution lidar (HSRL) at Eureka, Canada, show that CALIOP and HSRL capture the evolution of the aerosol backscatter vertical distribution from winter to spring, but a quantitative comparison is inconclusive as the retrieved HSRL backscatter appears to overestimate in situ observations by a factor of 2 at all altitudes. In the High Arctic (>70° N) near the surface (<2 km), CALIOP aerosol extinctions reach a maximum in December–March (10–20 Mm⁻¹), followed by a sharp decline and a minimum in May–September (1–4 Mm⁻¹), thus providing the first pan-Arctic view of Arctic haze seasonality. The European and Asian Arctic sectors display the highest wintertime extinctions, while the Atlantic sector is the cleanest. Over the Low Arctic (60–70° N) near the surface, CALIOP extinctions reach a maximum over land in summer due to boreal forest fires. During summer, we find that smoke aerosols reach higher altitudes (up to 4 km) over eastern Siberia and North America than over northern Eurasia, where they remain mostly confined below 2 km. In the free troposphere, the extinction maximum over the Arctic occurs in March–April at 2–5 km altitude and April–May at 5–8 km. This is consistent with transport from the midlatitudes associated with the annual maximum in cyclonic activity and blocking patterns in the Northern Hemisphere. A strong gradient in aerosol extinction is observed between 60° N and 70° N in the summer. This is likely due to efficient stratocumulus wet scavenging at high latitudes combined with the poleward retreat of the polar front. Interannual variability in the middle and upper troposphere is associated with biomass burning events (high extinctions observed by CALIOP in spring 2008 and summer 2010) and volcanic eruptions (Kasatochi in August 2008 and Sarychev in June 2009). CALIOP displays below-a...

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Section: Interannual Variabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Spatial and seasonal distribution of Arctic aerosols observed by the CALIOP satellite instrument (2006–2012)

et al. 2013

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“…The counterclockwise winds around the displaced quasi-stationary polar low ( Fig. 7a, b; Fuelberg et al, 2010) provides one of two primary transport pathways off the Asian continent during our integration period (28 June-8 July 2008). The northern path toward the Arctic begins over the Chukotski Peninsula, located on the opposite side of the Bering Strait from Alaska.…”

Section: Meteorological Conditionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

An investigation of methods for injecting emissions from boreal wildfires using WRF-Chem during ARCTAS

et al. 2011

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One of the most important aspects of simulating wildfire plume transport is the height at which emissions are injected. WRF-Chem contains an integrated one-dimensional plume rise model to determine the appropriate injection layer. The plume rise model accounts for thermal buoyancy associated with fires and local atmospheric stability. This paper describes a case study of a 10 day period during the Spring phase of ARCTAS. It compares results from the plume model against those of two more traditional injection methods: Injecting within the planetary boundary layer, and in a layer 3-5 km above ground level. Fire locations are satellite derived from the GOES Wildfire Automated Biomass Burning Algorithm (WF ABBA) and the MODIS thermal hotspot detection. Two methods for preprocessing these fire data are compared: The prep chem sources method included with WRF-Chem, and the Naval Research Laboratory's Fire Locating and Monitoring of Burning Emissions (FLAMBE). Results from the simulations are compared with satellitederived products from the AIRS, MISR and CALIOP sensors.Correspondence to: H. E. Fuelberg (hfuelberg@fsu.edu) When FLAMBE provides input to the 1-D plume rise model, the resulting injection heights exhibit the best agreement with satellite-observed injection heights. The FLAMBE-derived heights are more realistic than those utilizing prep chem sources. Conversely, when the planetary boundary layer or the 3-5 km a.g.l. layer were filled with emissions, the resulting injection heights exhibit less agreement with observed plume heights. Results indicate that differences in injection heights produce different transport pathways. These differences are especially pronounced in area of strong vertical wind shear and when the integration period is long.

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“…Polluted midlatitude air was advected into the Alaskan Arctic and was sampled from 15 April through the remainder of the campaign Fuelberg et al, 2010). An analysis using chemical signatures and FLEXPART, a Lagrangian particle dispersion model, attributes most of the pollution to agricultural and forest fires in Kazakhstan and the Lake Baikal region of Siberia, respectively (Warneke et al, 2009).…”

Section: Depletion Of Bc Mass In the Ablmentioning

confidence: 99%

Aircraft observations of enhancement and depletion of black carbon mass in the springtime Arctic

et al. 2010

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Abstract. Understanding the processes controlling black carbon (BC) in the Arctic is crucial for evaluating the impact of anthropogenic and natural sources of BC on Arctic climate. Vertical profiles of BC mass loadings were observed from the surface to near 7-km altitude in April 2008 using a Single-Particle Soot Photometer (SP2) during flights on the NOAA WP-3D research aircraft from Fairbanks, Alaska. These measurements were conducted during the NOAAsponsored Aerosol, Radiation, and Cloud Processes affecting Arctic Climate (ARCPAC) project. In the free troposphere, the Arctic air mass was influenced by long-range transport from biomass-burning and anthropogenic source regions at lower latitudes especially during the latter part of the campaign. Average BC mass mixing ratios peaked at about 150 ng BC (kg dry air ) −1 near 5.5 km altitude in the aged Arctic air mass and 250 ng kg −1 at 4.5 km in biomassburning influenced air. BC mass loadings were enhanced by up to a factor of 5 in biomass-burning influenced air compared to the aged Arctic air mass. At the bottom of some of the profiles, positive vertical gradients in BC were observed over the sea-ice. The vertical profiles generally occurred in the vicinity of open leads in the sea-ice. In the aged ArcticCorrespondence to: J. R. Spackman (ryan.spackman@noaa.gov) air mass, BC mass loadings more than doubled with increasing altitude within the ABL and across the boundary layer transition while carbon monoxide (CO) remained constant. This is evidence for depletion of BC mass in the ABL. BC mass loadings were positively correlated with O 3 in ozone depletion events (ODEs) for all the observations in the ABL. Since bromine catalytically destroys ozone in the ABL after being released as molecular bromine in regions of new seaice formation at the surface, the BC-O 3 correlation suggests that BC particles were removed by a surface process such as dry deposition. We develop a box model to estimate the dry deposition flux of BC mass to the snow constrained by the vertical profiles of BC mass in the ABL. Open leads in the sea-ice may increase vertical mixing and entrainment of pollution from the free troposphere possibly enhancing the deposition of BC aerosol to the snow.

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A meteorological overview of the ARCTAS 2008 mission

Cited by 100 publications

References 60 publications

Spatial and seasonal distribution of Arctic aerosols observed by the CALIOP satellite instrument (2006–2012)

Spatial and seasonal distribution of Arctic aerosols observed by the CALIOP satellite instrument (2006–2012)

An investigation of methods for injecting emissions from boreal wildfires using WRF-Chem during ARCTAS

Aircraft observations of enhancement and depletion of black carbon mass in the springtime Arctic

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