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Atmos. Chem. Phys. Discuss., 11, 14903-14932, 2011
www.atmos-chem-phys-discuss.net/11/14903/2011/ doi:10.5194/acpd-11-14903-2011 © Author(s) 2011. This work is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. |
Fast sulfur dioxide measurements correlated with cloud concentration nuclei spectra in the marine boundary layer
1Department of Chemistry, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, USA
2Desert Research Institute, Nevada System of Higher Education, Reno, NV, USA
Abstract. During the Rain in (shallow) Cumulus over the Ocean (RICO) project simultaneous measurements of high rate sulfur dioxide (SO2) measurements and cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) spectra were made for the first time. During research flight 14 (14 January 2005) the convective boundary layer was impacted by precipitation and ship plumes in midday but not in the late afternoon. Accumulation mode aerosols (0.14 to 0.2 μm diameter) were a factor of two greater in the latter period while CCN were 30 % to 65 % greater for aerosols that activate at supersaturations >0.1 %. Linear correlations of SO2 and CCN were found for SO2 concentrations ranging from 20 to 600 parts-per-trillion (pptv). The greatest sensitivities were for SO2 and CCN that activate at supersaturations >0.1 % for both clean and polluted air. In a region affected by a cold pool event SO2 was only linearly correlated with CCN at >0.2 % S.
Citation: Thornton, D. C., Bandy, A. R., and Hudson, J. G.: Fast sulfur dioxide measurements correlated with cloud concentration nuclei spectra in the marine boundary layer, Atmos. Chem. Phys. Discuss., 11, 14903-14932, doi:10.5194/acpd-11-14903-2011, 2011.