Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Climate Research Facility US Department of Energy

Two-Column Aerosol Project (TCAP): Winter Aerosol Effects on Cloud Formation

4 February 2013 - 28 February 2013

Lead Scientist: Daniel Cziczo

Observatory: amf, pvc

The formation of clouds is an essential element in understanding the Earth’s radiative budget. Liquid water clouds form when the relative humidity exceeds saturation and condensed-phase water nucleates on atmospheric particulate matter. The effect of aerosol properties such as size, morphology and composition on cloud droplet formation has been studied theoretically as well as in the laboratory and field. Almost without exception these studies have been limited to parallel measurements of aerosol properties and cloud formation or collection of material after the cloud has formed at which point nucleation information has been lost. Studies of this sort are adequate when a large fraction of the aerosol activates but correlations and resulting model parameterizations are much more uncertain at lower supersaturations and activated fractions.

The objective of this study was to determine the effect of aerosol properties on cloud droplet formation in situ and in real time. To accomplish this we combined a CCN chamber with a pumped counterflow virtual impactor (PCVI) to separate droplets formed as a function of saturation and temperature from the un-activated aerosol in our laboratory. The composition of the droplet-forming aerosol was then determined with an Aerosol Mass Spectrometer (AMS; Aerodyne Research, Inc., Billerica, MA) and/or a single particle mass spectrometer.

Timeline

  • Parent Campaign
  • Sibling Campaign

2025

Tai S, B Gaudet, S Feng, R Krishnamurthy, L Berg, and J Fast. 2025. "Characterizing model uncertainties in simulated coast-to-offshore wind over the northeast U.S. using multi-platform measurements from the TCAP field campaign." Renewable Energy, 239, 122022, 10.1016/j.renene.2024.122022.

2024

Gorkowski K, E Koo, S Jordan, J Reisner, K Benedict, and M Dubey. 2024. "Insights into Pyrocumulus aerosol composition: black carbon content and organic vapor condensation." Environmental Science: Atmospheres, , 10.1039/D3EA00130J.
Research Highlight

2021

Kassianov E, M Pekour, J Barnard, C Flynn, F Mei, and L Berg. 2021. "Estimation of Aerosol Columnar Size Distribution from Spectral Extinction Data in Coastal and Maritime Environment." Atmosphere, 12(11), 10.3390/atmos12111412.

2020

Li H and A May. 2020. "An Exploratory Approach Using Regression and Machine Learning in the Analysis of Mass Absorption Cross Section of Black Carbon Aerosols: Model Development and Evaluation." Atmosphere, 11(11), 10.3390/atmos11111185.

2018

Kassianov E, L Berg, M Pekour, J Barnard, D Chand, J Comstock, C Flynn, A Sedlacek, J Shilling, H Telg, J Tomlinson, A Zelenyuk, and J Fast. 2018. "A Closure Study of Total Scattering Using Airborne In Situ Measurements from the Winter Phase of TCAP." Atmosphere, 9(6), 228, 10.3390/atmos9060228.
Research Highlight

2016

Wang X, CL Heald, AJ Sedlacek, SS de Sa, ST Martin, ML Alexander, TB Watson, AC Aiken, SR Springston, and P Artaxo. 2016. "Deriving brown carbon from multiwavelength absorption measurements: method and application to AERONET and aethalometer observations." Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 16(19), 10.5194/acp-16-12733-2016.

Ortega I, LA Berg, RA Ferrare, JW Hair, CA Hostetler, and R Volkamer. 2016. "Elevated aerosol layers modify the O2–O2 absorption measured by ground-based MAX-DOAS." Journal of Quantitative Spectroscopy and Radiative Transfer, 176, 10.1016/j.jqsrt.2016.02.021.

Ortega I, S Coburn, LK Berg, K Lantz, J Michalsky, RA Ferrare, JW Hair, CA Hostetler, and R Volkamer. 2016. "The CU 2D-MAX-DOAS instrument - Part 2: Raman scattering probability measurements and retrieval of aerosol optical properties." Atmospheric Measurement Techniques Discussions, 9, 10.5194/amt-2015-385.

2015

Zelenyuk A, D Imre, J Wilson, Z Zhang, J Wang, and K Mueller. 2015. "Airborne Single Particle Mass Spectrometers (SPLAT II & miniSPLAT) and New Software for Data Visualization and Analysis in a Geo-Spatial Context." Journal of The American Society for Mass Spectrometry, 26(2), 10.1007/s13361-014-1043-4.

2014

Titos G, A Jefferson, PJ Sheridan, E Andrews, H Lyamani, L Alados-Arboledas, and JA Ogren. 2014. "Aerosol light-scattering enhancement due to water uptake during the TCAP campaign." Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 14(13), 10.5194/acp-14-7031-2014.


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Campaign Data Sets

IOP Participant Data Source Name Final Data
Daniel Cziczo Time of Flight Aerosol Mass Spectrometer Order Data

PVC Data Sources

Name Full Name Browse Data
ACSM Aerosol Chemical Speciation Monitor Browse Data
AERI Atmospheric Emitted Radiance Interferometer Browse Data
AERINF AERI Noise Filtered Browse Data
AETH Aethalometer Browse Data
AIP Aerosol Intensive Properties Browse Data
AOD-MFRSR Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) derived from MFRSR measurements Browse Data
AOS Aerosol Observing System Browse Data
AOSCCNAVG Aerosol Observing System (AOS): cloud condensation nuclei data, averaged Browse Data
AOSMET Meteorological Measurements associated with the Aerosol Observing System Browse Data
CAMSITE camera that monitors a site area Browse Data
CCN Cloud Condensation Nuclei Particle Counter Browse Data
CEIL Ceilometer Browse Data
CEILPBLHT Boundary-layer height data with CEIL Browse Data
CLAP Continuous Light Absorption Photometer Browse Data
CO-ANALYZER Carbon Monoxide Analyzer Browse Data
CPC Condensation Particle Counter Browse Data
CSPHOT Sunphotometer Browse Data
DL Doppler Lidar Browse Data
DLPROF-WIND Doppler Lidar Horizontal Wind Profiles Browse Data
DLPROF-WSTATS Doppler Lidar Wind Statistics Profiles Browse Data
ECMWFDIAG European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasts Diagnostic Analyses Browse Data
ECOR Eddy Correlation Flux Measurement System Browse Data
GNDRAD Ground Radiometers on Stand for Upwelling Radiation Browse Data
HTDMA Humidified Tandem Differential Mobility Analyzer Browse Data
INTERPSONDE Interpolated Sonde Browse Data
IRT Infrared Thermometer Browse Data
KASACR Ka-Band Scanning ARM Cloud Radar Browse Data
MET Surface Meteorological Instrumentation Browse Data
MFR Multifilter Radiometer Browse Data
MFRSR Multifilter Rotating Shadowband Radiometer Browse Data
MFRSRCLDOD Cloud Optical Properties from MFRSR Using Min Algorithm Browse Data
MICROBASE Continuous Baseline Microphysical Retrieval Browse Data
MPL Micropulse Lidar Browse Data
MPLCMASK Cloud mask from Micropulse Lidar Browse Data
MWR Microwave Radiometer Browse Data
MWR3C Microwave Radiometer, 3 Channel Browse Data
MWRHF Microwave Radiometer - High Frequency Browse Data
MWRP Microwave Radiometer Profiler Browse Data
MWRRET MWR Retrievals Browse Data
NEPHELOMETER Nephelometer Browse Data
NFOV Narrow Field of View Zenith Radiometer Browse Data
NOX Nitrogen Oxides Monitor Browse Data
OZONE Ozone Monitor Browse Data
PASS Photoacoustic Soot Spectrometer Browse Data
PBLHT Planetary Boundary Layer Height Browse Data
PSAP Particle Soot Absorption Photometer Browse Data
QCRAD Data Quality Assessment for ARM Radiation Data Browse Data
RWP Radar Wind Profiler Browse Data
SACRADVVAD SACR Advance Velocity Azimuth Display Browse Data
SACRCOR Scanning ARM Cloud Radar Corrections Browse Data
SASHE Shortwave Array Spectroradiometer-Hemispheric Browse Data
SASZE Shortwave Array Spectroradiometer-Zenith Browse Data
SEBS Surface Energy Balance System Browse Data
SKYRAD Sky Radiometers on Stand for Downwelling Radiation Browse Data
SMPS Scanning mobility particle sizer Browse Data
SO2 Sulfur Dioxide Monitor Browse Data
SODAR Mini Sound Detection and Ranging Browse Data
SONDE Balloon-Borne Sounding System Browse Data
SONDEADJUST Sonde Adjust Browse Data
SONDEGRID Gridded Sonde VAP Product Browse Data
TSI Total Sky Imager Browse Data
UHSAS Ultra-High Sensitivity Aerosol Spectrometer Browse Data
WACR W-Band (95 GHz) ARM Cloud Radar Browse Data
WACRARSCL W-band Cloud Radar Active Remote Sensing of Cloud Browse Data
WSACR W-band Scanning ARM Cloud Radar Browse Data