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Opis: Abstract. The chemical and morphological properties of mineral dust aerosols emitted by wind erosion from arid and semi-arid regions influence climate, ocean, and land ecosystems; air quality; and multiple socio-economic sectors. However, there is an incomplete understanding of the emitted dust particle size distribution (PSD) in terms of its constituent minerals that typically result from the fragmentation of soil aggregates during wind erosion. The emitted dust PSD affects the duration of particle transport and thus each mineral's global distribution, along with its specific effect upon climate. This lack of understanding is largely due to the scarcity of relevant in situ measurements in dust sources. To advance our understanding of the physicochemical properties of the emitted dust PSD, we present insights into the elemental composition and morphology of individual dust particles collected during the FRontiers in dust minerAloGical coMposition and its Effects upoN climaTe (FRAGMENT) field campaign in the Moroccan Sahara in September 2019. We analyzed more than 300 000 freshly emitted individual particles by performing offline analysis in the laboratory using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) coupled with energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometry (EDX). Eight major particle-type classes were identified with clay minerals making up the majority of the analyzed particles both by number and mass, followed by quartz, whereas carbonates and feldspar contributed to a lesser extent. We provide an exhaustive analysis of the PSD and potential mixing state of different particle types, focusing largely on iron-rich (Fe oxide-hydroxides) and feldspar particles, which are key to the effects of dust upon radiation and clouds, respectively. Nearly pure or externally mixed Fe oxide-hydroxides are present mostly in diameters smaller than 2 µm, with the highest fraction below 1 µm at about 3.75 % abundance by mass. Fe oxide-hydroxides tend to be increasingly internally mixed with other minerals, especially clays, as particle size increases; i.e., the volume fraction of Fe oxide-hydroxides in aggregates decreases with particle size. Pure (externally mixed) feldspar represented 3.2 % of all the particles by mass, of which we estimated about a 10th to be K-feldspar. The externally mixed total feldspar and K-feldspar abundances are relatively invariant with particle size, in contrast to the increasing abundance of feldspar-like (internally mixed) aggregates with particle size with mass fractions ranging from 5 % to 18 %. We also found that overall the median aspect ratio is rather constant across particle size and mineral groups, although we obtain slightly higher aspect ratios for internally mixed particles. The detailed information on the composition of freshly emitted individual dust particles and quantitative analysis of their mixing state presented here can be used to constrain climate models including mineral species in their representation of the dust cycle.
Ključne besede: mineral dust, Moroccan Sahara, electron microscopy
Objavljeno v RUNG: 13.05.2024; Ogledov: 126; Prenosov: 3
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Ključne besede: aerosol absorption coefficient, equivalent black carbon, MAAP, polar photometer, multi-wavelength
Objavljeno v RUNG: 13.05.2024; Ogledov: 107; Prenosov: 1
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Opis: Abstract. Black carbon (BC) is recognized as the most important warming agent among atmospheric aerosol particles. The absorption efficiency of pure BC is rather well-known, nevertheless the mixing of BC with other aerosol particles can enhance the BC light absorption efficiency, thus directly affecting Earth's radiative balance. The effects on climate of the BC absorption enhancement due to the mixing with these aerosols are not yet well constrained because these effects depend on the availability of material for mixing with BC, thus creating regional variations. Here we present the mass absorption cross-section (MAC) and absorption enhancement of BC particles (Eabs), at different wavelengths (from 370 to 880 nm for online measurements and at 637 nm for offline measurements) measured at two sites in the western Mediterranean, namely Barcelona (BCN; urban background) and Montseny (MSY; regional background). The Eabs values ranged between 1.24 and 1.51 at the urban station, depending on the season and wavelength used as well as on the pure BC MAC used as a reference. The largest contribution to Eabs was due to the internal mixing of BC particles with other aerosol compounds, on average between a 91 % and a 100 % at 370 and 880 nm, respectively. Additionally, 14.5 % and 4.6 % of the total enhancement at the short ultraviolet (UV) wavelength (370 nm) was due to externally mixed brown carbon (BrC) particles during the cold and the warm period, respectively. On average, at the MSY station, a higher Eabs value was observed (1.83 at 637 nm) compared to BCN (1.37 at 637 nm), which was associated with the higher fraction of organic aerosols (OA) available for BC coating at the regional station, as denoted by the higher organic carbon to elemental carbon (OC:EC) ratio observed at MSY compared to BCN. At both BCN and MSY, Eabs showed an exponential increase with the amount of non-refractory (NR) material available for coating (RNR-PM). The Eabs at 637 nm at the MSY regional station reached values up to 3 during episodes with high RNR-PM, whereas in BCN, Eabs kept values lower than 2 due to the lower relative amount of coating materials measured at BCN compared to MSY. The main sources of OA influencing Eabs throughout the year were hydrocarbon OA (HOA) and cooking-related OA (COA), i.e. primary OA (POA) from traffic and cooking emissions, respectively, at both 370 and 880 nm. At the short UV wavelength (370 nm), a strong contribution to Eabs from biomass burning OA (BBOA) and less oxidized oxygenated OA (LO-OOA) sources was observed in the colder period. Moreover, we found an increase of Eabs with the ageing state of the particles, especially during the colder period. This increase of Eabs with particle ageing was associated with a larger relative amount of secondary OA (SOA) compared to POA. The availability of a long dataset at both stations from offline measurements enabled a decade-long trend analysis of Eabs at 637 nm, that showed statistically significant (s.s.) positive trends of Eabs during the warmer months at the MSY station. This s.s. positive trend in MSY mirrored the observed increase of the OC:EC ratio over time. Moreover, in BCN during the COVID-19 lockdown period in spring 2020 we observed a sharp increase of Eabs due to the observed sharp increase of the OC:EC ratio. Our results show similar values of Eabs to those found in the literature for similar background stations.
Ključne besede: black carbomn, coating, organic aerosol, light absorption
Objavljeno v RUNG: 10.05.2024; Ogledov: 109; Prenosov: 2
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Opis: The JATAC campaign in September 2021 and September 2022 on and above Cape Verde Islands resulted in a large in-situ and remote measurement dataset. Its main objective was the calibration and validation of the ESA satellite Aeolus ALADIN Lidar. The campaign also featured secondary scientific objectives related to climate change. Constraining remote sensing measurements with those provided by in-situ instrumentation is crucial for proper characterization and accurate description of the 3-D structure of the atmosphere.We present the results performed with an instrumented light aircraft (Advantic WT-10) set-up for in-situ aerosol measurements. Twenty-seven flights were conducted over the Atlantic Ocean at altitudes around and above 3000 m above sea level during intense dust transport events. Simultaneous measurements with PollyXT, and eVe ground-based lidars took place, determining the vertical profiles of aerosol optical properties, which were also used to plan the flights.The aerosol light extinction coefficient was obtained at three different wavelengths as a combination of the absorption coefficients determined using Continuous Light Absorption Photometers (CLAP) and the scattering coefficients measured with an Ecotech Aurora 4000 nephelometer, which also measured the backscatter fraction. The particle size distributions above 0.3 µm diameter were measured with two Grimm 11-D Optical Particle Size Spectrometers (OPSS). Moreover, CO2 concentration, temperature, aircraft GPS position and altitude, air and ground speed were also measured.We compare the in-situ aircraft measurements of the aerosol extinction coefficients with the AEOLUS lidar derived extinction coefficients, as well as with the ground-based eVe and PollyXT lidar extinction coefficients when measurements overlapped in space and time. The comparison was performed at the closest available wavelengths, with in-situ measurements inter/extrapolated to those of the lidar systems.In general we find an underestimation of the extinction coefficient obtained by lidars compared to the in-situ extinction coefficient. The slopes of regression lines of ground-based lidars, PollyXT and eVe, against the in-situ measurements are characterised by values ranging from 0.61 to 0.7 and R2 between 0.71 and 0.89. Comparison further suggests better agreement between Aeolus ALADIN lidar and the in-situ measurements. Relationship described by fitting the Aeolus to in-situ data is characterised by the slope value 0.76 and R2 of 0.8.The causes of better agreement of the in-situ measurements with the ALADIN lidar than with the surface based ones are being studied, with several reasons being considered: a) lower spatial and temporal resolution which homogenize the area of study in comparison with the very fine vertical variations of the aerosols, which can be detected with the surface-based measurements, impairing the comparison with highly vertically resolved ground-lidar measurements while not affecting averaged space-borne lidar; b) the effect of lower clouds/ Saharan air layers on the attenuation of the lidar signal.The presented results show the importance of the comparison of the remote with in-situ measurements for the support of the research on evolution, dynamics, and predictability of tropical weather systems and provide input into and verification of the climate models.
Ključne besede: LIDAR, Aeolus, ALADIN, in-situ measurements, aerosol absorption, aerosol extinction, airborne measurements
Objavljeno v RUNG: 18.03.2024; Ogledov: 397; Prenosov: 6
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Opis: The Pierre Auger Observatory, located in Malargüe, Argentina, is the largest facility for the detection of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays and has been operating successfully for nearly 20 years. For its second phase of operation, the Observatory is undergoing a major upgrade, called AugerPrime, to increase its sensitivity to the primary mass. As part of the upgrade, the Underground Muon Detector is being deployed in the low-energy extension of the Surface Detector. It consists of an array of 30 m^2 plastic scintillator muon counters buried 2.3m underground in the vicinity of the water-Cherenkov detectors. This will allow a direct measurement of the muonic component of air showers in the energy range 1016.5 eV to 1019 eV, contributing significantly to the discrimination of the primary mass and to the testing of hadronic interaction models. In this contribution, the deployment status and performance of the Underground Muon Detector are presented.
Ključne besede: surface detector, Pierre Auger Observatory, AugerPrime, underground muon detector
Objavljeno v RUNG: 22.01.2024; Ogledov: 503; Prenosov: 5
Celotno besedilo (15,44 MB)
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