1. Ambient carbonaceous aerosol levels in Cyprus and the role of pollution transport from the Middle EastAliki Christodoulou, Iasonas Stavroulas, Mihalis Vrekoussis, Maximillien Desservettaz, Michael Pikridas, Elie Bimenyimana, Jonilda Kushta, Matic Ivančič, Martin Rigler, Philippe Goloub, 2023, izvirni znanstveni članek Opis: Abstract. The geographical origin and source apportionment of submicron carbonaceous aerosols (organic aerosols, OAs, and black carbon, BC) have been investigated here for the first time, deploying high time-resolution measurements at an urban background site of Nicosia, the capital
city of Cyprus, in the eastern Mediterranean. This study covers a half-year
period, encompassing both the cold and warm periods with continuous
observations of the physical and chemical properties of PM1 performed
with an Aerosol Chemical Speciation Monitor (ACSM), an aethalometer,
accompanied by a suite of various ancillary offline and online measurements. Carbonaceous aerosols were dominant during both seasons (cold and warm periods), with a contribution of 57 % and 48 % to PM1, respectively, and exhibited recurrent intense nighttime peaks (> 20–30 µg m−3) during the cold period, associated with local domestic heating. The findings of this study show that high concentrations of sulfate (close to 3 µg m−3) were continuously recorded, standing among the highest ever reported for Europe and originating from the Middle East region. Source apportionment of the OA and BC fractions was performed using the
positive matrix factorization (PMF) approach and the combination of two
models (aethalometer model and multilinear regression), respectively. Our
study revealed elevated hydrocarbon-like organic aerosol (HOA)
concentrations in Nicosia (among the highest reported for a European urban
background site), originating from a mixture of local and regional
fossil fuel combustion sources. Although air masses from the Middle East had
a low occurrence and were observed mostly during the cold period, they were
shown to strongly affect the mean concentrations levels of BC and OA in
Nicosia during both seasons. Overall, the present study brings to our
attention the need to further characterize primary and secondary
carbonaceous aerosols in the Middle East, an undersampled region
characterized by continuously increasing fossil fuel (oil and gas) emissions
and extreme environmental conditions, which can contribute to photochemical
ageing. Ključne besede: PM1, BC, source apportionment, Cyprus, long range transport Objavljeno v RUNG: 10.05.2024; Ogledov: 889; Prenosov: 6 Celotno besedilo (5,55 MB) Gradivo ima več datotek! Več... |
2. Morphology and mixing state of aged soot particles at a remote marine free troposphere site : implications for optical propertiesSwarup China, Barbara Scarnato, Robert C. Owen, Bo Zhang, MarianT. Ampadu, Sumit Kumar, Katja Džepina, Michael P. Dziobak, Paulo Fialho, Judith A. Perlinger, 2015, izvirni znanstveni članek Opis: The radiative properties of soot particles depend on their morphology and mixing state, but their evolution during transport is still elusive. Here we report observations from an electron microscopy analysis of individual particles transported in the free troposphere over long distances to the remote Pico Mountain Observatory in the Azores in the North Atlantic. Approximately 70% of the soot particles were highly compact and of those 26% were thinly coated. Discrete dipole approximation simulations indicate that this compaction results in an increase in soot single scattering albedo by a factor of <= 2.17. The top of the atmosphere direct radiative forcing is typically smaller for highly compact than mass-equivalent lacy soot. The forcing estimated using Mie theory is within 12% of the forcing estimated using the discrete dipole approximation for a high surface albedo, implying that Mie calculations may provide a reasonable approximation for compact soot above remote marine clouds. Ključne besede: atmospheric aerosol, soot, long-range transport, free troposphere, single scattering albedo Objavljeno v RUNG: 11.04.2021; Ogledov: 3011; Prenosov: 0 Gradivo ima več datotek! Več... |
3. Ice cloud formation potential by free tropospheric particles from long-range transport over the Northern Atlantic OceanSwarup China, Peter A. Alpert, Bo Zhang, Simeon K. Schum, Katja Džepina, Kendra Wright, R. Chris Owen, Paulo Fialho, Lynn R. Mazzoleni, Claudio Mazzoleni, 2017, izvirni znanstveni članek Opis: Long-range transported free tropospheric particles can play a significant role on heterogeneous ice nucleation. Using optical and electron microscopy we examine the physicochemical characteristics of ice nucleating particles (INPs). Particles were collected on substrates from the free troposphere at the remote Pico Mountain Observatory in the Azores Islands, after long-range transport and aging over the Atlantic Ocean. We investigate four specific events to study the ice formation potential by the collected particles with different ages and transport patterns. We use single-particle analysis, as well as bulk analysis to characterize particle populations. Both analyses show substantial differences in particle composition between samples from the four events; in addition, single-particle microscopy analysis indicates that most particles are coated
by organic material. The identified INPs contained mixtures of dust, aged sea salt and soot, and organic material acquired either at the source or during transport. The temperature and relative humidity (RH) at which ice formed, varied only by 5% between samples, despite differences in particle composition, sources, and transport patterns. We hypothesize that this small variation in the onset RH may be due to the coating material on the particles. This study underscores and motivates the need to further investigate how long-range transported and atmospherically aged free tropospheric particles impact ice cloud formation. Ključne besede: atmospheric aerosols, ice nucleating particles, long-range transport, optical microscopy, electron microscopy, Pico Mountain Observatory Objavljeno v RUNG: 11.04.2021; Ogledov: 3350; Prenosov: 135 Povezava na celotno besedilo Gradivo ima več datotek! Več... |