Engineering topics

Hodshire, Anna L. (ORCID:0000000250993659)

Publications and source records attributed to Hodshire, Anna L. (ORCID:0000000250993659).

5 records

DOE OSTI2022

Aerosol size distribution changes in FIREX-AQ biomass burning plumes: the impact of plume concentration on coagulation and OA condensation/evaporation

Abstract. The evolution of organic aerosol (OA) and aerosol size distributions within smoke plumes is uncertain due to the variability in rates of coagulation and OA condensation/evaporation between different smoke plumes and at different locations within a single plume. We use aircraft data from the FIREX-AQ campaign to evaluate differences in evolving aerosol size distributions, OA, and oxygen to carbon ratios (O:C) between and within smoke plumes during the first several hours of aging as a function of smoke concentration. The observations show that the median particle diameter increases faster in smoke of a higher initial OA concentration (>1000 µg m−3), with diameter growth of over 100 nm in 8 h – despite generally having a net decrease in OA enhancement ratios – than smoke of a lower initial OA concentration (<100 µg m−3), which had net increases in OA. Observations of OA and O:C suggest that evaporation and/or secondary OA formation was greater in less concentrated smoke prior to the first measurement (5–57 min after emission). We simulate the size changes due to coagulation and dilution and adjust for OA condensation/evaporation based on the observed changes in OA. We found that coagulation explains the majority of the diameter growth, with OA evaporation/condensation having a relatively minor impact. We found that mixing between the core and edges of the plume generally occurred on timescales of hours, slow enough to maintain differences in aging between core and edge but too fast to ignore the role of mixing for most of our cases.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2021

Dilution impacts on smoke aging: evidence in Biomass Burning Observation Project (BBOP) data

Abstract. Biomass burning emits vapors and aerosols into the atmosphere that can rapidly evolve as smoke plumes travel downwind and dilute, affecting climate- and health-relevant properties of the smoke. To date, theory has been unable to explain observed variability in smoke evolution. Here, we use observational data from the Biomass Burning Observation Project (BBOP) field campaign and show that initial smoke organic aerosol mass concentrations can help predict changes in smoke aerosol aging markers, number concentration, and number mean diameter between 40–262 nm. Because initial field measurements of plumes are generally >10 min downwind, smaller plumes will have already undergone substantial dilution relative to larger plumes and have lower concentrations of smoke species at these observations closest to the fire. The extent to which dilution has occurred prior to the first observation is not a directly measurable quantity. We show that initial observed plume concentrations can serve as a rough indicator of the extent of dilution prior to the first measurement, which impacts photochemistry, aerosol evaporation, and coagulation. Cores of plumes have higher concentrations than edges. By segregating the observed plumes into cores and edges, we find evidence that particle aging, evaporation, and coagulation occurred before the first measurement. We further find that on the plume edges, the organic aerosol is more oxygenated, while a marker for primary biomass burning aerosol emissions has decreased in relative abundance compared to the plume cores. Finally, we attempt to decouple the roles of the initial concentrations and physical age since emission by performing multivariate linear regression of various aerosol properties (composition, size) on these two factors.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2020

The potential role of organics in new particle formation and initial growth in the remote tropical upper troposphere

Abstract. Global observations and model studies indicate that new particle formation (NPF) in the upper troposphere (UT) and subsequent particles supply 40 %–60 % of cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) in the lower troposphere, thus affecting the Earth's radiative budget. There are several plausible nucleation mechanisms and precursor species in this atmospheric region, which, in the absence of observational constraints, lead to uncertainties in modeled aerosols. In particular, the type of nucleation mechanism and concentrations of nucleation precursors, in part, determine the spatial distribution of new particles and resulting spatial distribution of CCN from this source. Although substantial advances in understanding NPF have been made in recent years, NPF processes in the UT in pristine marine regions are still poorly understood and are inadequately represented in global models. Here, we evaluate commonly used and state-of-the-art NPF schemes in a Lagrangian box model to assess which schemes and precursor concentrations best reproduce detailed in situ observations. Using measurements of aerosol size distributions (0.003 < Dp < 4.8 µm) in the remote marine troposphere between ∼0.18 and 13 km altitude obtained during the NASA Atmospheric Tomography (ATom) mission, we show that high concentrations of newly formed particles in the tropical UT over both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans are associated with outflow regions of deep convective clouds. We focus analysis on observations over the remote Pacific Ocean, which is a region less perturbed by continental emissions than the Atlantic. Comparing aerosol size distribution measurements over the remote Pacific with box model simulations for 32 cases shows that none of the NPF schemes most commonly used in global models, including binary nucleation of sulfuric acid and water (neutral and ion-assisted) and ternary involving sulfuric acid, water, and ammonia, are consistent with observations, regardless of precursor concentrations. Through sensitivity studies, we find that the nucleation scheme among those tested that is able to explain most consistently (21 of 32 cases) the observed size distributions is that of Riccobono et al. (2014), which involves both organic species and sulfuric acid. The method of Dunne et al. (2016), involving charged sulfuric acid–water–ammonia nucleation, when coupled with organic growth of the nucleated particles, was most consistent with the observations for 5 of 32 cases. Similarly, the neutral sulfuric acid–water–ammonia method of Napari (2002), when scaled with a tuning factor and with organic growth added, was most consistent for 6 of 32 cases. We find that to best reproduce both nucleation and growth rates, the mixing ratios of gas-phase organic precursors generally need to be at least twice that of SO2, a proxy for dimethyl sulfide (DMS). Unfortunately, we have no information on the nature of oxidized organic species that participated in NPF in this region. Global models rarely include organic-driven nucleation and growth pathways in UT conditions where globally significant NPF takes place, which may result in poor estimates of NPF and CCN abundance and contribute to uncertainties in aerosol–cloud–radiation effects. Furthermore, our results indicate that the organic aerosol precursor vapors may be important in the tropical UT above marine regions, a finding that should guide future observational efforts.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2020

Rapid evolution of aerosol particles and their optical properties downwind of wildfires in the western US

Abstract. During the first phase of the Biomass Burn Operational Project (BBOP) field campaign, conducted in the Pacific Northwest, the DOE G-1 aircraft was used to follow the time evolution of wildfire smoke from near the point of emission to locations 2–3.5 h downwind. In nine flights we made repeated transects of wildfire plumes at varying downwind distances and could thereby follow the plume's time evolution. On average there was little change in dilution-normalized aerosol mass concentration as a function of downwind distance. This consistency hides a dynamic system in which primary aerosol particles are evaporating and secondary ones condensing. Organic aerosol is oxidized as a result. On all transects more than 90 % of aerosol is organic. In freshly emitted smoke aerosol, NH4+ is approximately equivalent to NO3. After 2 h of daytime aging, NH4+ increased and is approximately equivalent to the sum of Cl, SO42, and NO3. Particle size increased with downwind distance, causing particles to be more efficient scatters. Averaged over nine flights, mass scattering efficiency (MSE) increased in ∼ 2 h by 56 % and doubled in one flight. Mechanisms for redistributing mass from small to large particles are discussed. Coagulation is effective at moving aerosol from the Aitken to accumulation modes but yields only a minor increase in MSE. As absorption remained nearly constant with age, the time evolution of single scatter albedo was controlled by age-dependent scattering. Near-fire aerosol had a single scatter albedo (SSA) of 0.8–0.9. After 1 to 2 h of aging SSAs were typically 0.9 and greater. Assuming global-average surface and atmospheric conditions, the observed age dependence in SSA would change the direct radiative effect of a wildfire plume from near zero near the fire to a cooling effect downwind.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2020

Revisiting particle dry deposition and its role in radiative effect estimates

Wet and dry deposition remove aerosols from the atmosphere, and these processes control aerosol lifetime and thus impact climate and air quality. Dry deposition is a significant source of aerosol uncertainty in global chemical transport and climate models. Dry deposition parameterizations in most global models were developed when few particle deposition measurements were available. However, new measurement techniques have enabled more size-resolved particle flux observations. We combined literature measurements with data that we collected over a grassland in Oklahoma and a pine forest in Colorado to develop a dry deposition parameterization. We find that relative to observations, previous parameterizations overestimated deposition of the accumulation and Aitken mode particles, and underestimated in the coarse mode. These systematic differences in observed and modeled accumulation mode particle deposition velocities are as large as an order of magnitude over terrestrial ecosystems. As accumulation mode particles form most of the cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) that influence the indirect radiative effect, this model-measurement discrepancy in dry deposition alters modeled CCN and radiative forcing. We present a revised observationally driven parameterization for regional and global aerosol models. Using this revised dry deposition scheme in the Goddard Earth Observing System (GEOS)-Chem chemical transport model, we find that global surface accumulation-mode number concentrations increase by 62% and enhance the global combined anthropogenic and natural aerosol indirect effect by −0.63 W m −2 . Our observationally constrained approach should reduce the uncertainty of particle dry deposition in global chemical transport models.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗