Thermal analysis of aerosol size distributions provided size resolved volatility up to temperatures of 400°C during extensive flights over North America (NA) for the INTEX/ICARTT experiment in summer ...2004. Biomass burning and pollution plumes identified from trace gas measurements were evaluated for their aerosol physiochemical and optical signatures. Measurements of soluble ionic mass and refractory black carbon (BC) mass, inferred from light absorption, were combined with volatility to identify organic carbon at 400°C (VolatileOC) and the residual or refractory organic carbon, RefractoryOC. This approach characterized distinct constituent mass fractions present in biomass burning and pollution plumes every 5–10 min. Biomass burning, pollution and dust aerosol could be stratified by their combined spectral scattering and absorption properties. The “nonplume” regional aerosol exhibited properties dominated by pollution characteristics near the surface and biomass burning aloft. VolatileOC included most water‐soluble organic carbon. RefractoryOC dominated enhanced shortwave absorption in plumes from Alaskan and Canadian forest fires. The mass absorption efficiency of this RefractoryOC was about 0.63 m2 g−1 at 470 nm and 0.09 m2 g−1 at 530 nm. Concurrent measurements of the humidity dependence of scattering, γ, revealed the OC component to be only weakly hygroscopic resulting in a general decrease in γ with increasing OC mass fractions. Under ambient humidity conditions, the systematic relations between physiochemical properties and γ lead to a well‐constrained dependency on the absorption per unit dry mass for these plume types that may be used to challenge remotely sensed and modeled optical properties.
Airborne aerosol measurements in the central equatorial Pacific during PASE (Pacific Atmospheric Sulfur Experiment) revealed that cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) activated in marine boundary layer ...(MBL) clouds were strongly influenced by entrainment from the free troposphere (FT). About 65% entered at sizes effective as CCN in MBL clouds, while ~25% entered the MBL too small to activate but subsequently grew via gas to particle conversion. The remaining ~10% were inferred to be sea salt aerosol. FT aerosols at low carbon monoxide (CO) mixing ratios (< 63 ppbv) were mostly volatile at 360 °C with a number mode peak of around 30–40 nm dry diameter and tended to be associated with cloud outflow from distant (3000 km or more) deep convection. Higher CO concentrations were commonly associated with trajectories from South America and the Amazon region (ca. ~10 000 km away) and occurred in layers indicative of combustion sources (biomass burning season) partially scavenged by precipitation. These had number modes near 60–80 nm dry diameter with a large fraction of CCN.2 (those activated at 0.2% supersaturation and representative of MBL clouds) prior to entrainment into the MBL. Flight averaged concentrations of CCN.2 were similar for measurements near the surface, below the inversion and in the FT just above the inversion, confirming that subsidence and entrainment of FT aerosol strongly influenced MBL CCN.2. Concurrent flight-to-flight variations of CCN.2 at all altitudes below 3 km also imply MBL CCN.2 concentrations were in quasi-equilibrium with the FT over a 2–3 day timescale. The observed FT transport over thousands of kilometers indicates teleconnections between MBL CCN and cloud-scavenged sources of both natural and/or residual combustion origin. Nonetheless, in spite of its importance, this source of CCN number is not well represented in most current models and is generally not detectable by satellite because of the low aerosol scattering in such layers as a result of cloud scavenging. In addition, our measurements confirm nucleation in the MBL was not evident during PASE and argue against a localized linear relation in the MBL between dimethyl sulfide (DMS) and CCN suggested by the CLAW hypothesis. However, when the FT is not impacted by long-range transport, sulfate aerosol derived from DMS pumped aloft in the ITCZ (Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone) can provide a source of CCN to the boundary layer via FT teleconnections involving more complex non-linear processes.
Submicron aerosol physical and chemical properties in remote marine air were measured from aircraft over the Southeast Pacific during VOCALS-REx in 2008 and the North Pacific during IMPEX in 2006, ...and aboard a ship in the Equatorial Pacific in 2009. A High Resolution – Particle Time of Flight Aerosol Mass Spectrometer (HR-ToF-AMS) measured non-refractory submicron aerosol composition during all campaigns. Sulfate (SO4) and organics (Org), during VOCALS and the cruise show lower absolute values than those reported for previous "clean air" studies. In the marine boundary layer, average concentrations for SO4 were 0.52 μg m−3 for the VOCALS region and 0.85 μg m−3 for the equatorial region while average Org concentrations were 0.10 and 0.07 μg m−3, respectively. Campaign average Org/SO4 ratios were 0.19 (VOCALS) and 0.08 (equatorial Pacific). Black carbon (BC) measurements from a single particle soot photometer (SP2) and carbon monoxide (CO) concentrations over the Southeast Pacific provided sensitive indicators of pollution. CO and BC were used to identify the least polluted air, which had average concentrations of SO4 and Org of 0.14 and 0.01 μg m−3, respectively, with an average Org/SO4 of 0.08. Data from IMPEX was constrained to similar clean air criterion, and resulted in an average Org/SO4 ratio of 0.19. Under the cleanest MBL conditions during VOCALS, identified by CO below 61 ppbv, a robust linear relationship between Org and BC concentrations revealed that even at very low pollution levels, combustion sources dominated organic aerosol, suggesting little to no marine source of submicrometer Org to the atmosphere over the eastern South Pacific. This means marine organics cannot be identified by merely setting a standard for background conditions below which anthropogenic influence can be disregarded. Other methods must be used to exclude non-marine sources.
The work is dedicated to the discussion of four new types of large-area scintillation counters design intended for detection of EAS and the use in the guard systems of experimental physics setups ...with low-cost production. The solid counters based on scintillating polystyrene plates are produced by melting clear polystyrene granules with additives in a mirror mold. Other counters are based on lentil-like polystyrene scintillation granules which are a new kind of plastic scintillators produced at IHEP. WLS fibers and SiPM as a photo sensor are used for a light detection. The dimensions of the tested detectors were 500 × 500 and to 1000 × 1000 mm
2
, their measured light output was up to 180 ph.e.
Accurate measurements of natural aerosol emissions over the ocean are needed to estimate the anthropogenic impact on the environment. In this study, we measured sea spray aerosol (SSA) concentrations ...with diameters larger than 0.040 μm produced by open-ocean breaking waves over the SEP (southeastern Pacific). Robust statistics were established through repeated airborne flights over 1000 km along 20° S from the coastline of Chile to 85° W during VOCALS-REx (VAMOS Ocean-Cloud-Atmosphere-Land-Study Regional Experiment). Non-volatile SSA number concentrations were inferred using a thermally resolved technique constrained for clean conditions with an Ångström exponent below 0.5, black carbon mass concentration at values lower than 15 ng m−3 and organic aerosol concentration less than 0.02 μg m−3. We found that number concentrations of SSAs active as cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) for a supersaturation of 0.25% varied between 17 and 36 cm−3, but these did not increase with the increasing mean wind speed typically observed further offshore along 20° S. Concurrent increases in mean offshore precipitation rate in excess of about 1 mm d−1 indicate that scavenging of SSAs by precipitation exceeds increases in production at wind speeds above about 8 m s−1. This demonstrates the critical role of precipitation as a major sink of SSA over the remote ocean. Finally, we found that under clean conditions and for estimated stratus supersaturations between 0.20 and 0.43%, SSA represented about 20% of the total potential CCN along 20° S.
The history of air masses is often investigated using backward trajectories to gain knowledge about processes along the air parcel path as well as possible source regions. Here, we describe a refined ...approach that incorporates airborne gas, aerosol, and environmental data into back trajectories and show how this technique allows for simultaneous evaluation of air mass history and back trajectory reliability without the need to calculate trajectory errors. We use the HYbrid Single-Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory (HYSPLIT) model and add a simple semi-automated computing routine to facilitate high-frequency coverage of back trajectories initiated along free tropospheric (FT) flight tracks and profiles every 10 s. We integrate our in situ physiochemical data by color-coding each of these trajectories with its corresponding in situ tracer values measured at the back trajectory start points along the flight path. The unique color for each trajectory aids assessment of trajectory reliability through the visual clustering of air mass pathways of similar coloration. Moreover, marked changes in trajectories associated with marked changes evident in measured physiochemical or thermodynamic properties of an air mass add credence to trajectories. This is particularly true when these air mass properties are linked to trajectory features characteristic of recognized sources or processes. This visual clustering of air mass pathways is of particular value for large-scale 3-D flight tracks common to aircraft experiments where air mass features of interest are often spatially distributed and temporally separated. The cluster-visualization tool used here reveals that most FT back trajectories with pollution signatures measured in the central equatorial Pacific reach back to sources on the South American continent over 10 000 km away and 12 days back in time, e.g., the Amazonian basin. We also demonstrate the distinctions in air mass properties between these and trajectories that penetrate deep convection in the Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone. Additionally, for the first time we show consistency of modeled precipitation along back trajectories with scavenging signatures in the aerosol measured for these trajectories.
The concentrations of macrocomponents (Na, K, Mg, Ca, and P) and trace elements (Rb, Cs, Be, Sr, Ba, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Pb, Cd, Ag, Sn, Sb, Al, Ga, rare earth elements, Ti, Zr, Hf, Th, U, Nb, ...Ta, B, V, Cr, Ge, As, Mo, and W) were measured in 12 macrophyte species selected in the freshwater part of the Volga mouth area. Close correlations between the average specific contents were established: (a) most of the studied trace elements, which confirms the phenomenon of group concentration found earlier for heavy metals and chromium; (b) magnesium, calcium, and trace elements capable of their isomorphic substitution; (c) the typically biogenic elements potassium and phosphorus. A regular increase in the concentrations of trace elements and, to a lesser extent, of magnesium and calcium was found in the series “helophytes → large-leaved hydrophytes → variegate-leaved hydrophytes → small-leaved hydrophytes, including hydrophytes completely immersed in water,” which corresponds to an increase in the effective surface area of plants in the aquatic environment.
Abstract A high statistics data sample of the $$K^{+}\rightarrow \mu ^{+}\nu _{\mu }$$ K+→μ+νμ decay was accumulated by the OKA experiment in 2012. The missing mass analysis was performed to search ...for the decay channel $$K^{+}\rightarrow \mu ^{+}\nu _{H}$$ K+→μ+νH with a hypothetic stable heavy neutrino in the final state. The obtained missing mass spectrum does not show peaks that could be attributed to existence of stable heavy neutrinos in the mass range $$(270< m_{\nu _{H}} < 375)$$ (270<mνH<375) MeV$$/c^{2}$$ /c2 . As a result, upper limits on the branching ratio and on the value of the mixing element $$|U_{\mu H}|^{2}$$ |UμH|2 are obtained.
The VAMOS Ocean-Cloud-Atmosphere-Land Regional Experiment (VOCALS-REx) was conducted from 15 October to 15 November 2008 in the South East Pacific (SEP) region to investigate interactions between ...land, sea and atmosphere in this unique tropical eastern ocean environment and to improve the skill of global and regional models in representing the region. This study synthesises selected aircraft, ship and surface site observations from VOCALS-REx to statistically summarise and characterise the atmospheric composition and variability of the Marine Boundary Layer (MBL) and Free Troposphere (FT) along the 20° S parallel between 70° W and 85° W. Significant zonal gradients in mean MBL sub-micron aerosol particle size and composition, carbon monoxide, sulphur dioxide and ozone were seen over the campaign, with a generally more variable and polluted coastal environment and a less variable, more pristine remote maritime regime. Gradients in aerosol and trace gas concentrations were observed to be associated with strong gradients in cloud droplet number. The FT was often more polluted in terms of trace gases than the MBL in the mean; however increased variability in the FT composition suggests an episodic nature to elevated concentrations. This is consistent with a complex vertical interleaving of airmasses with diverse sources and hence pollutant concentrations as seen by generalised back trajectory analysis, which suggests contributions from both local and long-range sources. Furthermore, back trajectory analysis demonstrates that the observed zonal gradients both in the boundary layer and the free troposphere are characteristic of marked changes in airmass history with distance offshore – coastal boundary layer airmasses having been in recent contact with the local land surface and remote maritime airmasses having resided over ocean for in excess of ten days. Boundary layer composition to the east of 75° W was observed to be dominated by coastal emissions from sources to the west of the Andes, with evidence for diurnal pumping of the Andean boundary layer above the height of the marine capping inversion. Analysis of intra-campaign variability in atmospheric composition was not found to be significantly correlated with observed low-frequency variability in the large scale flow pattern; campaign-average interquartile ranges of CO, SO2 and O3 concentrations at all longitudes were observed to dominate over much smaller differences in median concentrations calculated between periods of different flow regimes. The campaign climatology presented here aims to provide a valuable dataset to inform model simulation and future process studies, particularly in the context of aerosol-cloud interaction and further evaluation of dynamical processes in the SEP region for conditions analogous to those during VOCALS-REx. To this end, our results are discussed in terms of coastal, transitional and remote spatial regimes in the MBL and FT and a gridded dataset are provided as a resource.
On the statistics of ~1.7 × 10
8
interactions of positively charged kaons on copper nuclei, coherent events of the
K
+
π
0
system production are selected. The cross sections for the Coulomb and ...coherent strong components and their interference in the region of the
K
*(892) meson are measured. The partial width for the decay
K
*(892) →
K
+
γ is determined. When studying the mass spectrum of the
K
+
π
0
system, an effect which can be interpreted as the interference of the chiral anomaly and the
K
*(892)
s
-channel amplitudes is found. This gives an estimate for the ratio of the observed amplitude of the chiral anomaly to the theoretical one:
A
exp
/
A
th
= 0.9 ± 0.24(stat.) ± 0.3(syst.).
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