The Two-Column Aerosol Project (TCAP)

 

Authors

Carl M. Berkowitz — Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Larry Berg — Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Brian Cairns — Columbia University
Duli Chand — Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Elaine Chapman — Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Daniel James Cziczo — Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Barbara Ervens — NOAA/Coop. Instit. for Research in Environmental Studies
Richard A. Ferrare — NASA - Langley Research Center
Chris A. Hostetler — NASA Langley Research Center
Evgueni Kassianov — Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Michael D. Obland — NASA - Langley Research Center
Jerome D Fast — Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Connor J. Flynn — University of Oklahoma School of Meteorology
Philip Rasch — Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Jens Redemann — University of Oklahoma
Phil Russell — NASA - Ames Research Center
Beat Schmid — Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
John E Shilling — Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Rahul Zaveri — Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Alla Zelenyuk-Imre — Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Category

Field Campaigns

Description

The Two-Column Aerosol Project (TCAP) is designed to provide observations of the distribution, chemical properties, and optical properties of aerosol within and between two columns of air along the eastern seaboard of the Atlantic Ocean. These columns will be separated by several hundred kilometers and be sampled during summer and winter intensive operations periods (IOPs). These two IOPs, in addition to a 12-month set of continuous surface observations, will provide a rich data set with which to test the veracity of cloud and radiative transfer models. TCAP will make use of the ARM Mobile Facility (AMF), the Mobile Aerosol Observing System (MAOS), and the ARM Aerial Facility (AAF) during the IOPs, the first of which is scheduled for July 2012 and the second for February 2013. The NASA B-200 aircraft will also participate during July 2012 and will deploy the NASA Langley Research Center High Spectral Resolution Lidar (HSRL) and the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies Research Scanning Polarimeter (RSP). Scientific questions to be addressed by observations from TCAP include:

  1. How do the mixing states of primary and secondary aerosol differ between air masses adjacent to the coast relative to those found over the open ocean? How do changes in mixing state affect aerosol optical properties?
  2. What is the spectral dependence of the aerosol optical properties? ?
  3. How do aerosol chemical composition, mixing state, and optical properties vary seasonally ?
  4. How critical is the particle chemical composition and mixing state in determining the aerosol optical properties and CCN activity within and above the marine boundary layer?
  5. What is the relative importance of aerosol indirect effects in maritime boundary-layer clouds?
  6. Can regional- and global-scale atmospheric models accurately represent the aerosol optical properties, aerosol mixing state, and cloud-aerosol interactions and their seasonal variation near the eastern edge of North America?

The TCAP Science Team is looking forward to working with others in the ASR community and to this end will present a review of the science goals and discuss preliminary flight patterns, deployment schedules, and other logistical details that may be of interest to other investigators.