scholarly journals Atmospheric ice nucleators active ≥ −12 °C can be quantified on PM<sub>10</sub> filters

2012 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 321-327 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. Conen ◽  
S. Henne ◽  
C. E. Morris ◽  
C. Alewell
Keyword(s):  
Swiss Alps ◽  
Saharan Dust ◽  
Research Station ◽  
Air Masses ◽  
Ice Nucleators ◽  
Immersion Freezing ◽  
Air Sample ◽  
Alpine Research ◽  
Filter Area ◽  
Pm10 Mass

Abstract. Small number concentrations render it difficult to quantify ice nucleators (IN) in the atmosphere active at warm temperatures. A useful new method for IN measurement based around filter collections is proposed. It makes use of quartz filters used in 24 h PM10 monitoring (720 m3 air sample). Small subsamples (1.8 mm diameter) from the effective filter area and from the clean fringe (blank) are subjected to immersion freezing tests. We applied the method to eight filters from the High Alpine Research Station Jungfraujoch (3580 m above sea level) in the Swiss Alps. All filters carried IN active at −7 °C and below. Number concentrations of IN active at −8, −10, and −12 °C were on average 3.3, 10.7, and 17.2 m−3, respectively. Several-fold larger numbers of IN active at ≥ −12 °C per unit mass of PM10 were found in air masses influenced by Swiss and southern German atmospheric boundary layer air, compared to a Saharan dust event. In combination with data on PM10 mass, the method may be used to re-construct time series of IN number concentrations.

scholarly journals Atmospheric ice nucleators active ≥−12°C may be quantified on PM<sub>10</sub> filters

2011 ◽  
Vol 4 (6) ◽  
pp. 6845-6860
Author(s):  
F. Conen ◽  
S. Henne ◽  
C. E. Morris ◽  
C. Alewell
Keyword(s):  
Atmospheric Transport ◽  
Swiss Alps ◽  
Saharan Dust ◽  
Filter Method ◽  
Research Station ◽  
Air Masses ◽  
Ice Nucleators ◽  
Immersion Freezing ◽  
Alpine Research ◽  
Filter Area

Abstract. Small number concentrations render it difficult to quantify ice nucleators (IN) active at warm temperatures. An improved filter method is proposed. It makes use of quartz filters which had been used in 24 h PM10 monitoring (720 m3 air sample). Small subsamples (1.8 mm diameter) from the effective filter area and from the clean fringe (blank) are subjected to immersion freezing tests. We applied the method to eight filters from the High Alpine Research Station Jungfraujoch (3580 m a.s.l.) in the Swiss Alps. All filters carried IN active at −7 °C and below. Number concentrations of IN active at −8, −10, and −12 °C were on average 3.3, 10.7, and 17.2 m−3, respectively. Severalfold larger numbers of IN active at ≥−12 °C per unit mass of PM10 were found in air masses influenced by Swiss and Southern German atmospheric boundary layer air, compared to a Saharan dust event. In combination with data on PM10 mass and atmospheric transport simulations, the method may be used to re-construct time series of IN number concentrations.

scholarly journals Ice nuclei properties within a Saharan dust event at the Jungfraujoch in the Swiss Alps

2011 ◽  
Vol 11 (10) ◽  
pp. 4725-4738 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Chou ◽  
O. Stetzer ◽  
E. Weingartner ◽  
Z. Jurányi ◽  
Z. A. Kanji ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Correlation Factor ◽  
Number Concentration ◽  
Swiss Alps ◽  
Saharan Dust ◽  
Research Station ◽  
Dust Event ◽  
Ice Nuclei ◽  
Carbon Mass ◽  
Dust Events ◽  
Alpine Research

Abstract. The new portable ice nucleation chamber (PINC) developed by the Institute for Atmospheric and Climate Sciences of ETH Zurich was operated during two measurement campaigns at the high alpine research station Jungfraujoch situated at 3580 m a.s.l, in March and June 2009. During this time of the year, a high probability of Saharan dust events (SDE) at the Jungfraujoch has been observed. We used an impactor with a cutoff size of 1 μm aerodynamic diameter and operated the system at −31 °C and relative humidities of 127 % and 91 % with respect to ice and water, respectively. Investigation of the ambient number concentration of ice nuclei (IN) in the deposition nucleation mode and during a SDE in the free troposphere is reported. The results discussed in this paper are the first continuous IN measurements over a period of several days at the Jungfraujoch. The average IN concentration found during the campaign in March was 8 particles per liter whereas during the campaign in June, the average number concentration was higher up to 14 particles per liter. Two SDEs were detected on 15 and 16 June 2009. Our measurements show that the SDEs had IN number concentration up to several hundreds per liter. We found the best correlation between the number concentration of the larger particle fraction measured by an optical particle counter and the IN number concentration during a Saharan dust event. This correlation factor is higher for particles larger than 0.5 μm meaning that a higher concentration of larger particles induced higher IN number concentration. No correlation could be found between the black carbon mass concentration and the variations in IN number concentration.

scholarly journals Technical Note: Quantification of interferences of wet chemical HONO LOPAP measurements under simulated polar conditions

2008 ◽  
Vol 8 (22) ◽  
pp. 6813-6822 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Kleffmann ◽  
P. Wiesen
Keyword(s):  
Technical Note ◽  
Swiss Alps ◽  
Pollution Level ◽  
Research Station ◽  
Polar Regions ◽  
Alpine Research ◽  
Absorption Photometer ◽  
Present Pilot Study ◽  
Good Agreement

Abstract. In the present pilot study, an optimized LOPAP instrument (LOng Path Absorption Photometer) for the detection of nitrous acid (HONO) in the atmosphere (DL 0.2 pptV) was tested at the high alpine research station Jungfraujoch at 3580 m altitude in the Swiss Alps under conditions comparable to polar regions. HONO concentrations in the range <0.5–50 pptV with an average of 7.5 pptV were observed at the Jungfraujoch. The diurnal profiles obtained exhibited clear maxima at noon and minima with very low concentration during the night supporting the proposed photochemical production of HONO. In good agreement with recent measurements at the South Pole, it was demonstrated, that interferences of chemical HONO instruments can significantly influence the measurements and lead to considerable overestimations, especially for low pollution level. Accordingly, the active correction of interferences is of paramount importance for the determination of reliable HONO data.

scholarly journals Size resolved mass concentration and elemental composition of atmospheric aerosols over the eastern Mediterranean area

2003 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 2547-2573 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Smolik ◽  
V. Ždimal ◽  
J. Schwarz ◽  
M. Lazaridis ◽  
V. Havránek ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Forest Fires ◽  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
Saharan Dust ◽  
Eastern Coast ◽  
The Black Sea ◽  
Western Coast ◽  
Gravimetric Analysis ◽  
Air Masses ◽  
Pm10 Mass ◽  
Mass Concentrations

Abstract. A Berner low pressure impactor was used to collect size-segregated aerosol samples at Finokalia, located on the north-eastern coast of Crete, Greece during July 2000 and January 2001. Several samples were also collected during the summer campaign aboard the research vessel "AEGAIEO" in the Aegean Sea. Gravimetric analysis and inversion techniques yielded daily PM1 and PM10 mass concentrations. Further, the samples were analysed by PIXE giving elemental size distributions of Al, Si, K, Ca, Ti, Mn, Fe, Sr, S, Cl, Ni, V, Cu, Cr, Zn, and Pb. The crustal elements and sea-salt had a unimodal supermicron size distribution. Sulphur was found predominantly in submicron fractions. K, V, and Ni exhibited bimodal distribution with a submicron mode produced by forest fires and oil combustion. The anthropogenic elements had broad and not well-defined distributions. The time series for PM1 and PM10 mass and elemental concentrations showed both daily and seasonal variation. Higher mass concentrations were observed during two incursions of Saharan dust. Higher concentrations of S, Cu, Zn, and Pb were encountered in samples collected in air masses arriving from northern Greece or the western coast of Turkey. Higher concentrations of chlorine were found in samples with air masses either originating above the Atlantic Ocean and arriving at Finokalia via western Europe or recirculating over the western coast of the Black Sea.

The Anthropogenic Impact on Snow Chemistry at Colle Gnifetti, Swiss Alps

1988 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
pp. 183-187 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Wagenbach ◽  
K.O. Münnich ◽  
U. Schotterer ◽  
H. Oeschger
Keyword(s):  
Chemical Analysis ◽  
Ice Core ◽  
Ice Cores ◽  
Summer Precipitation ◽  
Snow Accumulation ◽  
Swiss Alps ◽  
Saharan Dust ◽  
Water Conductivity ◽  
Air Masses ◽  
Melt Water

By chemical analysis of the upper 40 m of a 124 m ice core from a high-altitude Alpine glacier (Colle Gnifetti, Swiss Alps; 4450 m a.s.l.), records of mineral dust, pH, melt-water conductivity, nitrate and sulfate are obtained. The characteristics of the drilling site are discussed, as derived from glacio-meteorological and chemical analysis. As a consequence of high snow-erosion rates (usually during the winter months), annual snow accumulation is dominated by summer precipitation. Clean-air conditions prevail even during summer; however, they are frequently interrupted by polluted air masses or by air masses which are heavily loaded with desert dust.Absolutely dated reference horizons for Saharan dust, together with the position of the broad nuclear-weapon tritium peak, provide the time-scale for the following statements:(1) Since at least the turn of the century the background melt-water conductivity has been rising steadily, as has the mean snow acidity. The trend of increasing background conductivity at Colle Gnifetti (1.9μS/cm around the beginning of this century, and at present 3.4 μS/cm) is found to be comparable with the records of mean melt-water conductivity reported from ice cores from the Canadian High Arctic.(2) Sulfate and nitrate concentrations are higher by a factor of 4–5 than they were at the beginning of the century. This is to be compared with the two- to three-fold rise in the concentrations in south Greenland during about the same time span.

scholarly journals The Anthropogenic Impact on Snow Chemistry at Colle Gnifetti, Swiss Alps

1988 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
pp. 183-187 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Wagenbach ◽  
K.O. Münnich ◽  
U. Schotterer ◽  
H. Oeschger
Keyword(s):  
Chemical Analysis ◽  
Ice Core ◽  
Ice Cores ◽  
Summer Precipitation ◽  
Snow Accumulation ◽  
Swiss Alps ◽  
Saharan Dust ◽  
Water Conductivity ◽  
Air Masses ◽  
Melt Water

By chemical analysis of the upper 40 m of a 124 m ice core from a high-altitude Alpine glacier (Colle Gnifetti, Swiss Alps; 4450 m a.s.l.), records of mineral dust, pH, melt-water conductivity, nitrate and sulfate are obtained. The characteristics of the drilling site are discussed, as derived from glacio-meteorological and chemical analysis. As a consequence of high snow-erosion rates (usually during the winter months), annual snow accumulation is dominated by summer precipitation. Clean-air conditions prevail even during summer; however, they are frequently interrupted by polluted air masses or by air masses which are heavily loaded with desert dust. Absolutely dated reference horizons for Saharan dust, together with the position of the broad nuclear-weapon tritium peak, provide the time-scale for the following statements: (1) Since at least the turn of the century the background melt-water conductivity has been rising steadily, as has the mean snow acidity. The trend of increasing background conductivity at Colle Gnifetti (1.9μS/cm around the beginning of this century, and at present 3.4 μS/cm) is found to be comparable with the records of mean melt-water conductivity reported from ice cores from the Canadian High Arctic. (2) Sulfate and nitrate concentrations are higher by a factor of 4–5 than they were at the beginning of the century. This is to be compared with the two- to three-fold rise in the concentrations in south Greenland during about the same time span.

scholarly journals Hygroscopicity of the submicrometer aerosol at the high-alpine site Jungfraujoch, 3580 m a.s.l., Switzerland

2008 ◽  
Vol 8 (18) ◽  
pp. 5715-5729 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Sjogren ◽  
M. Gysel ◽  
E. Weingartner ◽  
M. R. Alfarra ◽  
J. Duplissy ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Growth Factors ◽  
Particle Diameter ◽  
Phase Changes ◽  
Saharan Dust ◽  
Research Station ◽  
Hygroscopic Growth ◽  
Frequency Distributions ◽  
Dust Events ◽  
Alpine Research ◽  
Air Mass Types

Abstract. Data from measurements of hygroscopic growth of submicrometer aerosol with a hygroscopicity tandem differential mobility analyzer (HTDMA) during four campaigns at the high alpine research station Jungfraujoch, Switzerland, are presented. The campaigns took place during the years 2000, 2002, 2004 and 2005, each lasting approximately one month. Hygroscopic growth factors (GF, i.e. the relative change in particle diameter from dry diameter, D0, to diameter measured at higher relative humidity, RH) are presented for three distinct air mass types, namely for: 1) free tropospheric winter conditions, 2) planetary boundary layer influenced air masses (during a summer period) and 3) Saharan dust events (SDE). The GF values at 85% RH (D0=100 nm) were 1.40±0.11 and 1.29±0.08 for the first two situations while for SDE a bimodal GF distribution was often found. No phase changes were observed when the RH was varied between 10–90%, and the continuous water uptake could be well described with a single-parameter empirical model. The frequency distributions of the average hygroscopic growth factors and the width of the retrieved growth factor distributions (indicating whether the aerosol is internally or externally mixed) are presented, which can be used for modeling purposes. Measurements of size resolved chemical composition were performed with an aerosol mass spectrometer in parallel to the GF measurements. This made it possible to estimate the apparent ensemble mean GF of the organics (GForg) using inverse ZSR (Zdanovskii-Stokes-Robinson) modeling. GForg was found to be ~1.20 at aw=0.85, which is at the upper end of previous laboratory and field data though still in agreement with the highly aged and oxidized nature of the Jungfraujoch aerosol.

scholarly journals Size resolved mass concentration and elemental composition of atmospheric aerosols over the Eastern Mediterranean area

2003 ◽  
Vol 3 (6) ◽  
pp. 2207-2216 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Smolík ◽  
V. Ždímal ◽  
J. Schwarz ◽  
M. Lazaridis ◽  
V. Havárnek ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Forest Fires ◽  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
Saharan Dust ◽  
Eastern Coast ◽  
The Black Sea ◽  
Western Coast ◽  
Gravimetric Analysis ◽  
Air Masses ◽  
Pm10 Mass ◽  
Mass Concentrations

Abstract. A Berner low pressure impactor was used to collect size-segregated aerosol samples at Finokalia, located on the north-eastern coast of Crete, Greece during July 2000 and January 2001. Several samples were also collected during the summer campaign aboard the research vessel "AEGAIEO" in the Aegean Sea. Gravimetric analysis and inversion techniques yielded daily PM1 and PM10 mass concentrations. The samples were also analysed by PIXE giving the elemental size distributions of Al, Si, K, Ca, Ti, Mn, Fe, Sr, S, Cl, Ni, V, Cu, Cr, Zn, and Pb. The crustal elements and sea-salt had a unimodal supermicron size distribution. Sulphur was found predominantly in submicron fractions. K, V, and Ni exhibited a bimodal distribution with a submicron mode produced by forest fires and oil combustion. The anthropogenic elements had broad and not well-defined distributions. The time series for PM1 and PM10 mass and elemental concentrations showed both daily and seasonal variation. Higher mass concentrations were observed during two incursions of Saharan dust, whilst higher concentrations of S, Cu, Zn, and Pb were encountered in samples collected in air masses arriving from northern Greece or the western coast of Turkey. Elevated concentrations of chlorine were found in samples with air masses either originating above the Atlantic Ocean and arriving at Finokalia via western Europe or recirculating over the western coast of the Black Sea.

scholarly journals n-Aldehydes (C<sub>6</sub>–C<sub>10</sub>) in snow samples collected at the high alpine research station Jungfraujoch during CLACE 5

2009 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 8071-8099 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Sieg ◽  
E. Starokozhev ◽  
E. Fries ◽  
S. Sala ◽  
W. Püttmann
Keyword(s):  
Solid Phase ◽  
Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry ◽  
Research Station ◽  
Air Masses ◽  
The North ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Dynamic Extraction ◽  
Alpine Research ◽  
Aerosol Characterization ◽  
Snow Samples

Abstract. Samples of freshly fallen snow were collected at the high alpine research station Jungfraujoch, Switzerland, during the Cloud and Aerosol Characterization Experiments (CLACE) 5 in February and March 2006. Sampling was carried out on the Sphinx platform. Headspace-solid-phase-dynamic extraction (HS-SPDE) combined with gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) was used to quantify C6–C10 n-aldehydes in the snow samples. The most abundant n-aldehyde was n-hexanal (median concentration 1.324 μg L−1) followed by n-nonanal, n-decanal, n-octanal and n-heptanal (median concentrations 1.239, 0.863, 0.460, and 0.304 μg L−1, respectively). A wide range of concentrations was found among individual snow samples, even for samples taken at the same time. Higher median concentrations of all n-aldehydes were observed when air masses reached Jungfraujoch from the north-northwest in comparison to air masses arriving from the southeast-southwest. Results suggest that the n-aldehydes detected most likely are of direct and indirect biogenic origin, and that they entered the snow through the particle phase.

scholarly journals Chemical composition of free tropospheric aerosol for PM1 and coarse mode at the high alpine site Jungfraujoch

2008 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 407-423 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Cozic ◽  
B. Verheggen ◽  
E. Weingartner ◽  
J. Crosier ◽  
K. N. Bower ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Chemical Composition ◽  
Monitoring Program ◽  
Saharan Dust ◽  
Research Station ◽  
Aerosol Mass ◽  
Coarse Mode ◽  
Tropospheric Aerosol ◽  
Dust Events ◽  
Alpine Research ◽  
Mass Concentrations

Abstract. The chemical composition of submicron (fine mode) and supermicron (coarse mode) aerosol particles has been investigated at the Jungfraujoch high alpine research station (3580 m a.s.l., Switzerland) as part of the GAW aerosol monitoring program since 1999. A clear seasonality was observed for all major components throughout the period with low concentrations in winter (predominantly free tropospheric aerosol) and higher concentrations in summer (enhanced vertical transport of boundary layer pollutants). In addition, mass closure was attempted during intensive campaigns in March 2004, February–March 2005 and August 2005. Ionic, carbonaceous and non-refractory components of the aerosol were quantified as well as the PM1 and coarse mode total aerosol mass concentrations. A relatively low conversion factor of 1.8 for organic carbon (OC) to particulate organic matter (OM) was found in winter (February–March 2005). Organics, sulfate, ammonium, and nitrate were the major components of the fine aerosol fraction that were identified, while calcium and nitrate were the only two measured components contributing to the coarse mode. The aerosol mass concentrations for fine and coarse mode aerosol measured during the intensive campaigns were not typical of the long-term seasonality due largely to dynamical differences. Average fine and coarse mode concentrations during the intensive field campaigns were 1.7 μg m−3 and 2.4 μg m−3 in winter and 2.5 μg m−3 and 2.0 μg m−3 in summer, respectively. The mass balance of aerosols showed higher contributions of calcium and nitrate in the coarse mode during Saharan dust events (SDE) than without SDE.

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