International Consortium for Atmospheric Research on Transport and Transformation (ICARTT): North America to Europe—Overview of the 2004 summer field study

Abstract

[1] In the summer of 2004 several separate field programs intensively studied the photochemical, heterogeneous chemical and radiative environment of the troposphere over North America, the North Atlantic Ocean, and western Europe. Previous studies have indicated that the transport of continental emissions, particularly from North America, influences the concentrations of trace species in the troposphere over the North Atlantic and Europe. An international team of scientists, representing over 100 laboratories, collaborated under the International Consortium for Atmospheric Research on Transport and Transformation (ICARTT) umbrella to coordinate the separate field programs in order to maximize the resulting advances in our understanding of regional air quality, the transport, chemical transformation and removal of aerosols, ozone, and their precursors during intercontinental transport, and the radiation balance of the troposphere. Participants utilized nine aircraft, one research vessel, several ground-based sites in North America and the Azores, a network of aerosol-ozone lidars in Europe, satellites, balloon borne sondes, and routine commercial aircraft measurements. In this special section, the results from a major fraction of those platforms are presented. This overview is aimed at providing operational and logistical information for those platforms, summarizing the principal findings and conclusions that have been drawn from the results, and directing readers to specific papers for further details.

Biogenic emission measurement and inventories determination of biogenic emissions in the eastern United States and Texas and comparison with biogenic emission inventories

“…[6] Airborne measurements of biogenic VOCs were conducted in the framework of four different summertime campaigns: the Southern Oxidants Study 1999 (SOS99) in June and July of 1999 in the southeast United States [Brock et al, 2002], the Texas Air Quality Study in August and September 2000 (TexAQS2000) [Ryerson et al, 2003] and the Texas Air Quality Study in September andOctober of 2006 (TexAQS2006) [Parrish et al, 2009] also in Texas, and the ICARTT2004 study in July and August of 2004 in the northeast United States [Fehsenfeld et al, 2006]. Isoprene was measured during all four campaigns, the sum of the monoterpenes during ICARTT2004 and TexAQS2006.…”

An evaluation of real‐time air quality forecasts and their urban emissions over eastern Texas during the summer of 2006 Second Texas Air Quality Study field study

“…Only references to measurement techniques for the species considered in this work are provided here. One-second O 3 , CO and NO y measurements were made with the same NOAA WP-3 instrumentation as that of the ICARTT/NEAQS-2004 experiment [Fehsenfeld et al, 2006]. Ethylene is measured at 10-s resolution with the photoacoustic laser spectroscopy technique described by Kuster et al [2005].…”

Reactive chlorine in the marine boundary layer in the outflow of polluted continental air: A model study

“…Very recently, reported average Cl atom concentrations of 2.2À5.6 Â 10 4 cm À3 for Appledore Island, 10 km off the coast of Maine, during the CHAiOS (Chemistry of Halogens at the Isles of Shoals) field campaign (July/August 2004), which was part of the larger campaign International Consortium for Research on Transport and Transformation (ICARTT) [ Fehsenfeld et al, 2006]. They estimated that Cl reactions increase the reactivity of VOCs by 16 -30% (depending on source region) over that due to OH alone.…”