Riikka Väänänen

BAECC: A Field Campaign to Elucidate the Impact of Biogenic Aerosols on Clouds and Climate

AbstractDuring Biogenic Aerosols—Effects on Clouds and Climate (BAECC), the U.S. Department of Energy’s Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Program deployed the Second ARM Mobile Facility (AMF2) to Hyytiala, Finland, for an 8-month intensive measurement campaign from February to September 2014. The primary research goal is to understand the role of biogenic aerosols in cloud formation. Hyytiala is host to the Station for Measuring Ecosystem–Atmosphere Relations II (SMEAR II), one of the world’s most comprehensive surface in situ observation sites in a boreal forest environment. The station has been measuring atmospheric aerosols, biogenic emissions, and an extensive suite of parameters relevant to atmosphere–biosphere interactions continuously since 1996. Combining vertical profiles from AMF2 with surface-based in situ SMEAR II observations allows the processes at the surface to be directly related to processes occurring throughout the entire tropospheric column. Together with the inclusion of extensi...

Features in air ions measured by an air ion spectrometer (AIS) at Dome C

An air ion spectrometer (AIS) was deployed for the first time at the Concordia station at Dome C (7506 S, 12323 E; 3220 m a.s.l.), Antarctica during the period 22 December 2010–16 November 2011 for measuring the number size distribution of air ions. In this work, we present results obtained from this air ion data set together with aerosol particle and meteorological data. The main processes that modify the number size distribution of air ions during the measurement period at this high-altitude site included new particle formation (NPF, observed on 85 days), wind-induced ion formation (observed on 36 days), and ion production and loss associated with cloud/fog formation (observed on 2 days). For the subset of days when none of these processes seemed to operate, the concentrations of cluster ions (0.9–1.9 nm) exhibited a clear seasonality, with high concentrations in the warm months and low concentrations in the cold. Compared to event-free days, days with NPF were observed with higher cluster ion concentrations. A number of NPF events were observed with restricted growth below 10 nm, which were termed as suppressed NPF. There was another distinct feature, namely a simultaneous presence of two or three separate NPF and subsequent growth events, which were named as multi-mode NPF events. Growth rates (GRs) were determined using two methods: the appearance time method and the mode fitting method. The former method seemed to have advantages in characterizing NPF events with a fast GR, whereas the latter method is more suitable when the GR was slow. The formation rate of 2 nm positive ions (J 2 ) was calculated for all the NPF events for which a GR in the 2–3 nm size range could be determined. On average, J 2 was about 0.014 cm −3 s−1. The ion production in relation to cloud/fog formation in the size range of 8–42 nm seemed to be a unique feature at Dome C, which has not been reported elsewhere. These ions may, however, either be multiply charged particles but detected as singly charged in the AIS, or be produced inside the instrument, due to the breakage of cloud condensation nuclei (CCN), possibly related to the instrumental behaviour under the extremely cold condition. For the wind-induced ion formation, our observations suggest that the ions originated more likely from atmospheric nucleation of vapours released from the snow than from mechanical charging of shattered snow flakes and ice crystals.

Analysis of particle size distribution changes between three measurement sites in Northern Scandinavia

Measured aerosol size distributions from three measurement stations and modeled air mass trajectory data were combined to study aerosol dynamics in the boreal forest zone in Northern Scandinavia. Three approaches were used: investigation of new particle formation events, analysis of air masses arriving from ocean to continent, and study of changes in the aerosol size distributions when air masses travel from one measurement site to another. The statistical analysis of air masses travelling either from the Atlantic Ocean to measurement sites or from one site to another showed that on average the condensational growth was present during the summer season, and it was not restricted only to the days when evident new particle formation was observed. The rate of this average apparent growth of particle diameter was 3-7 times smaller than the growth rate of nucleation mode particles during the new particle formation events.

Observations of biomass burning smoke from Russian wild fire episodes in Finland 2010

Forest and peat bog fires occur almost every summer in several parts of Russian boreal forests due to long rainless and heat periods at summertime. Particulate matter and different gases (CO, CO2, NOx, O3, SO2) in air can be transported thousands of kilometers away from the fire areas. Increased concentrations of the different parameters, like carbon monoxide and aerosol particles were observed on certain days in Southern Finland and even Finnish Lapland during Russian wild fire episodes in summer 2010. During these days the wind direction was from East or Southeast to Finland.

Long-term aerosol and trace gas measurements in Eastern Lapland, Finland: The impact of Kola air pollution to new particle formation

Sulfur emissions from the Kola Peninsula smelter industry have been decreasing over the past two decades. We investigated the effect of this to new particle formation at SMEAR I station in Eastern Lapland, Finland, using long-term measurements of trace gases and aerosol size distributions. We show that the number of events per year has decreased and can be linked with the decreasing sulfur emissions from Kola.