Overview of the 2010 Carbonaceous Aerosols and Radiative Effects Study (CARES)

R. A. Zaveri1, W. J. Shaw1, D. J. Cziczo2, B. Schmid1, R. A. Ferrare3, M. L. Alexander4, M. Alexandrov5, R. J. Alvarez6, W. P. Arnott7, D. B. Atkinson8, S. Baidar9, R. M. Banta6, J. C. Barnard1, J. Beranek1, L. K. Berg1, F. Brechtel10, W. A. Brewer6, J. F. Cahill11, B. Cairns12, C. D. Cappa13, D. Chand1, S. China14, J. M. Comstock1, M. K. Dubey15, R. C. Easter1, M. H. Erickson16, J. D. Fast1, C. Floerchinger17, B. A. Flowers15, E. Fortner18, J. S. Gaffney19, M. K. Gilles20, K. Gorkowski14, W. I. Gustafson1, M. Gyawali7, J. Hair3, R. M. Hardesty6, J. W. Harworth8, S. Herndon18, N. Hiranuma1, C. Hostetler3, J. M. Hubbe1, J. T. Jayne18, H. Jeong21, B. T. Jobson16, E. I. Kassianov1, L. I. Kleinman22, C. Kluzek1, B. Knighton17, K. R. Kolesar13, C. Kuang22, A. Kubátová21, A. O. Langford6, A. Laskin4, N. Laulainen1, R. D. Marchbanks6, C. Mazzoleni14, F. Mei22, R. C. Moffet23, D. Nelson1, M. D. Obland3, H. Oetjen9, T. B. Onasch18, I. Ortega9, M. Ottaviani24, M. Pekour1, K. A. Prather11, J. G. Radney8, R. R. Rogers3, S. P. Sandberg6, A. Sedlacek22, C. J. Senff6, G. Senum22, A. Setyan25, J. E. Shilling1, M. Shrivastava1, C. Song1, S. R. Springston22, R. Subramanian26, K. Suski11, J. Tomlinson1, R. Volkamer9, H. W. Wallace16, J. Wang22, A. M. Weickmann6, D. R. Worsnop18, X.-Y. Yu1, A. Zelenyuk27, and Q. Zhang25
1Atmospheric Sciences & Global Change Division, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, USA
2Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
3NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA, USA
4Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, USA
5Department of Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
6Chemical Sciences Division, NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory, Boulder, CO, USA
7University of Nevada, Reno, NV, USA
8Portland State University, Portland, OR, USA
9Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Colorado at Boulder, CO, USA
10Brechtel Manufacturing, Inc, Hayward, CA, USA
11University of California, San Diego, CA, USA
12NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, New York, NY, USA
13Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California, Davis, CA, USA
14Atmospheric Science Program, Michigan Technological University, Houghton, MI, USA
15Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM, USA
16Washington State University, Pullman, WA, USA
17Montana State University, Bozeman, MT, USA
18Aerodyne Research, Inc., Billerica, MA, USA
19University of Arkansas, Little Rock, AR, USA
20Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA
21University of North Dakota, ND, USA
22Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY, USA
23University of the Pacific, Stockton, CA, USA
24NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellow, NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, New York, NY, USA
25Department of Environmental Toxicology, University of California, Davis, CA, USA
26Droplet Measurements Technologies, Boulder, CO, USA
27Chemical and Materials Sciences Division, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, USA

  Abstract. Substantial uncertainties still exist in the scientific understanding of the possible interactions between urban and natural (biogenic) emissions in the production and transformation of atmospheric aerosol and the resulting impact on climate change. The US Department of Energy (DOE) Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) program's Carbonaceous Aerosol and Radiative Effects Study (CARES) carried out in June 2010 in Central Valley, California, was a comprehensive effort designed to improve this understanding. The primary objective of the field study was to investigate the evolution of secondary organic and black carbon aerosols and their climate-related properties in the Sacramento urban plume as it was routinely transported into the forested Sierra Nevada foothills area. Urban aerosols and trace gases experienced significant physical and chemical transformations as they mixed with the reactive biogenic hydrocarbons emitted from the forest. Two heavily-instrumented ground sites – one within the Sacramento urban area and another about 40 km to the northeast in the foothills area – were set up to characterize the evolution of meteorological variables, trace gases, aerosol precursors, aerosol size, composition, and climate-related properties in freshly polluted and "aged" urban air. On selected days, the DOE G-1 aircraft was deployed to make similar measurements upwind and across the evolving Sacramento plume in the morning and again in the afternoon. The NASA B-200 aircraft, carrying remote sensing instruments, was also deployed to characterize the vertical and horizontal distribution of aerosols and aerosol optical properties within and around the plume. This overview provides: (a) the scientific background and motivation for the study, (b) the operational and logistical information pertinent to the execution of the study, (c) an overview of key observations and initial findings from the aircraft and ground-based sampling platforms, and (d) a roadmap of planned data analyses and focused modeling efforts that will facilitate the integration of new knowledge into improved representations of key aerosol processes and properties in climate models.

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Citation: Zaveri, R. A., Shaw, W. J., Cziczo, D. J., Schmid, B., Ferrare, R. A., Alexander, M. L., Alexandrov, M., Alvarez, R. J., Arnott, W. P., Atkinson, D. B., Baidar, S., Banta, R. M., Barnard, J. C., Beranek, J., Berg, L. K., Brechtel, F., Brewer, W. A., Cahill, J. F., Cairns, B., Cappa, C. D., Chand, D., China, S., Comstock, J. M., Dubey, M. K., Easter, R. C., Erickson, M. H., Fast, J. D., Floerchinger, C., Flowers, B. A., Fortner, E., Gaffney, J. S., Gilles, M. K., Gorkowski, K., Gustafson, W. I., Gyawali, M., Hair, J., Hardesty, R. M., Harworth, J. W., Herndon, S., Hiranuma, N., Hostetler, C., Hubbe, J. M., Jayne, J. T., Jeong, H., Jobson, B. T., Kassianov, E. I., Kleinman, L. I., Kluzek, C., Knighton, B., Kolesar, K. R., Kuang, C., Kubátová, A., Langford, A. O., Laskin, A., Laulainen, N., Marchbanks, R. D., Mazzoleni, C., Mei, F., Moffet, R. C., Nelson, D., Obland, M. D., Oetjen, H., Onasch, T. B., Ortega, I., Ottaviani, M., Pekour, M., Prather, K. A., Radney, J. G., Rogers, R. R., Sandberg, S. P., Sedlacek, A., Senff, C. J., Senum, G., Setyan, A., Shilling, J. E., Shrivastava, M., Song, C., Springston, S. R., Subramanian, R., Suski, K., Tomlinson, J., Volkamer, R., Wallace, H. W., Wang, J., Weickmann, A. M., Worsnop, D. R., Yu, X.-Y., Zelenyuk, A., and Zhang, Q.: Overview of the 2010 Carbonaceous Aerosols and Radiative Effects Study (CARES), Atmos. Chem. Phys., 12, 7647-7687, doi:10.5194/acp-12-7647-2012, 2012.   Bibtex   EndNote   Reference Manager    XML