Researchers have developed a groundbreaking approach that combines advanced aerial sampling and cutting-edge chemical analysis to shed new light on the properties of aerosols in hard-to-reach areas of the atmosphere. This innovative technique promises to significantly improve our understanding of the complex interplay between aerosols, clouds, and climate.
Closing the Atmospheric Data Divide
The deep interconnection between radiation and cloud interactions is a well-known theme of the climate. Aerosol particles, which are present in this atmosphere at all spatial scale plays fundamental roles in these interactions. But sampling from the atmospheric boundary layer and lower free troposphere has been sparse insulting a near-complete ignorance of how anthropogenic changes have altered Earth’s energy balance.
A multi-institutional team has tackled this challenge by developing an innovative combination of in-situ sampling and measurements using uncrewed aerial systems (UASs), and a state-of-the-art three-dimensional chemical imaging technique, time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry. Together, these powers combine to enable researchers to grab both data and samples from the real-world air that will be studied through detailed laboratory analysis — opening up new avenues for science discovery.
It can give large-eddy simulations of aerosol effects on clouds and the radiation budget a big boost by providing a much more realistic vertical profile of aerosol microphysical properties than was previously possible when they only had advanced chemical information. These improvements are key to developing atmospheric models needed to understand the effects of aerosols on climate.
The intricacies of aerosols unravelled
Using state-of-the-art UAS technologies and advanced measurement techniques, the project team takes a novel approach to generate spatial data on aerosol microphysical and optical properties within the vicinity of the Department of Energy (DOE) Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) user facility Southern Great Plains (SGP) atmospheric observatory in Oklahoma.
The key to this breakthrough is the application of new chemical analysis methods developed at EMSL (which like ARM, is a Department of Energy Office of Science user facility). These sophisticated methods, such as three-dimensional molecular imaging via secondary ion mass spectrometry and the nanogram-level chemical component analysis of atmospheric aerosols provide new insights into both properties and structural information of the atmospheric aerosol.
Through the integration of ARM’s aerial observations with EMSL’s next-generation chemical analysis, they developed a new tool to provide mechanistic insights into the many difficult and subtle ways in which aerosols influence the Earth climate system. This so-called holistic approach can bridge the gap between observational data and process-level simulation, leading to improved models and fomenting a better trust on future predictions of the effect of aerosols in radiation, clouds and climate in general.
Conclusion
This pioneering method by the multi-institutional team is a difference maker in our understanding of atmospheric aerosols. This demonstrates how, through the integration of state-of-the-art aerial sampling and chemical analysis methods, researchers gain access to novel studies of aerosols in the otherwise very difficult-to-reach parts of the atmosphere with essential information improving our ability to simulate atmospheric patterns. This new paradigm in atmospheric research provides a foundation on which to address more than 30 years of difficult challenges to our understanding of the interplay between aerosols, clouds and climate, with consequences for decisions that could help us prepare for the future change in climate.
