Atmospheric particles in the marine atmosphere.

ABSTRACT.

Enhanced concentrations of particles in the atmosphere have been linked to many environmental/health issues. For example, elevated particle concentrations are responsible for climate modification, visibility degradation, and negative health impacts. Deposition of atmospheric particles is also a pathway for transport of pollutants to sensitive ecosystems. Although extensively studied, many questions remain regarding how these particles form and are transported within the atmosphere and how they are removed from the atmosphere. In particular processes of particle formation and removal in the remote marine atmosphere are poorly understood, and the role of biological activities in producing elevated concentrations of particles (and precursor gases) are still subject to large uncertainties. This project seeks to improve our understanding of particle dynamics in the marine atmosphere using both experimental and modeling approaches. The overall objective of the research is to understand, model, and predict the rates of exchange of reactive gases between the atmosphere and ocean; and to observe particle formation mechanisms hypothesized to be important to the coastal atmosphere.

This project is conducted under: ASEPS project (ASEPS - Air Sea Exchange Process Studies) which is co-ordinated by Dr. Lise-Lotte Geernaert, Department of Wind Energy and Atmospheric Physics, Risoe National Laboratory, Denmark

  • Click here to visit: Dr. Lise-Lotte Geernaert at Risoe.

  • Here are some images from the field campaign in May 1997:
    A second field campaign is scheduled for August 1998

  • A 'view' of the ASEPS study participants

  • The experiment was conducted on the Swedish island of Ostergarnsholm in the western Baltic. Each morning the researchers travelled to the island on this boat!

  • This is a view of the research location

  • The scaffold and tower on which the measurements were taken

  • The instruments I operated in 1997 were:
  • an aerodynamic particle sizer (particle radius:0.5-30 microns)
  • two impactors:
  • a MOUDI from MSP corporation :
  • this is what it looks like
  • here are the plates and coated aluminium foils
  • and a 3-stage DRUM from UCDavis
  • this is what the unit looked like once we installed it on the scaffold!