Organic and elemental carbon measurements during ACE-Asia suggest a longer atmospheric lifetime for elemental carbon.
During the ACE-Asia intensive field campaign (March 14-April 20, 2001), PM1.0 organic (OC) and elemental carbon (EC) concentrations were measured onboard the NOAA R/V Ronald H. Brown over the Northwest Pacific Ocean using a semi-continuous automated carbon analyzer downstream of a carbon-impregnated filter denuder. This OC and EC measurement achieved a mean time resolution of about 200 min over the Pacific Ocean, substantially lower than that achieved previously (24 h). The semi-continuous measurements, in which the adsorption artifact was substantially reduced using the denuder, showed good agreement with integrated artifact-corrected measurements made without a denuder. Mean particulate OC and EC concentrations were 0.21 and 0.09, 0.70 and 0.29, 1.00 and 0.27, and 2.43 and 0.66 microg of C m(-3) over the background Pacific Ocean, Asian-influenced Pacific Ocean, offshore of Japan, and Sea of Japan, respectively. On April 11, 90-min average OC and EC concentrations peaked at 4.0 and 1.3 microg of C m(-3), respectively, offshore of Korea over the Sea of Japan. The OC/EC ratio of 3.7 over the Sea of Japan and offshore of Japan was substantially higher than that of 2.5 over the Asian-influenced Pacific Ocean, even though backward air mass trajectories put the "Asian-influenced Pacific Ocean" sample downwind. The OC/EC ratio decreased with increasing time since the air mass encountered the source regions of China, Japan, and Korea. This suggests a longer atmospheric residence time for EC than for OC.
Lim
H J
HJ
Department of Environmental Sciences ENSR, Rutgers University, P.O. Box 231, 14 College Farm Road, New Brunswick, New Jersey 08901-8551, USA.
Turpin
B J
BJ
Russell
L M
LM
Bates
T S
TS
D000336:Aerosols; D000392:Air Movements; D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*; D001208:Asia; D002244:Carbon / Q000032:analysis*; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D010316:Particle Size; D013997:Time Factors
D000336:Aerosols; D000393:Air Pollutants; D002244:Carbon