Transport and transformation of trace species in

deep convective clouds: results of the ACRIDICON

tracer experiment

Hans Schlager1, Yu Ren1, Robert Baumann1, Michael Lichtenstern1,

Daniel Fütterer1, Helmut Ziereis1, Ramon Campos Braga2

1DLR-Institut of Atmospheric Physics, Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany2INPE-National Institute for Space Research, São José dos Campos, Brazil

Int. ACRIDICON-CHUVA Workshop, Ilha Bela, Feb. 28- March 3, 2016

Objectives of Tracer Experiment

• To study vertical air mass transport

associated with deep convection

using ambient (CO) and

artificial tracer (perfluorocarbons)

• To characterize the type and degree

of pollution in the air masses where

convection occurs

• To quantify redistribution of trace

species and their transformations by

clouds

• to study new particle formation in

convective outflow

• To determine LNOx emissions

Measurements used in this analysis

Species Technique Accuracy /DL Remark Operator

CO Fluorescence 5% / 2 ppb Ambient tracer

Schlager,

PMCH Tube samplingTDS-GC-MS

3% / 1 ppq Artificial tracer

Schlager, Ren

NO CL 5% / 5 ppt LNOx tracer Ziereis

NOy Au-converter + CL

10% / 15 ppt NOy ~ NOx +HNO3 + PAN

Ziereis

CN total CPC 15% / 10 cm-3 Fütterer

CN n-v CPC + thermo-denuder

15% / 10 cm-3 Fütterer

Perfluorocarbon

tracer

Properties:

non-toxic

non-reactive

no interaction with aerosol or cloud particles

very low atmospheric background concentration

(~ 5 ppq)

Measurement technique with very low detection limit

available (1 ppq = 10-15)

http://www.esf.edu/for/lautz/Images/TracerRelease.jpg

(Ren et al. AMT, 2015)

PFCs available

PFC Mm Struktur & Name Siedetemp. Hintergrund

C4F8 200 u

PCB

-6°C ?

C6F12 300 u

o-PDCB p-PDCB PCH PMCP

45°C /

48°C /

60°C

0,3 - 2,7 fmol

/mol

?

4,3 - 8,4 fmol

/mol

C7F14 350 u

PMCH

76°C 3,6 - 7,0 fmol

/mol

C8F16 400 uo-PDCH m-PDCH p-PDCH PECH

(cis/trans Isomere unterscheidbar!)

102°C /

102°C

1,3 - 34 fmol

/mol

?

C9F18 450 u

i-PPCH PTCH

130°C /

128°C

0,7 fmol

/mol

0,17 fmol

/mol

Dichte: 1,5 - 2 kg/l

Straume, A. et al., Perfluorocarbon Background Concentrations in Europe. Atm. Env. 32, 4109-4122 (1998)

sowie persönl. Kommunikation Dietz, R., BNL, 2008

6,6

AC16

Thermo Desorption GC/MS SystemAdsorption tube

sampler

PERTRAS rack

on board HALO

- Preconditioning

- Standards

- Blancs

- Desorption

- control

Desorption of

PFC from tubes

and concentration

on cold finger

Gas chromatograph

(Al2O3-PLOT-S column)Triple-MS

ACRIDICON Tracer Experiment AC16

Overview

-63.0 -62.5 -62.0 -61.5 -61.0 -60.5 -60.0 -59.5 -59.0 -58.5 -58.0

-4.5

-4.0

-3.5

-3.0

-2.5

Latitu

de

Longitude

0

4

8

12

16

20

25

30

10-15

mol/mol

release

(10 UTC)4.5 - 5 km,

background ?

(17 UTC)0.6 & 1.3 km

(15 UTC)

0.9 &

1.8 km

(20 UTC)

12 km

(19 UTC)Out of cloud

Profile (17:30)

Anvil

Transects

(18:00)

Manaus

Cb

15 UTC: TracerSampling BL

9:45-10:50 UTC: Tracerrelease Manaus (9 kg)

from Park Hotel

ACRIDICON Tracer Experiment AC16

17 UTC: Approachthundercloud

18 – 18:40 UTC: Samplinganvil

19 – 19:30 UTC: Sampling Downstream of anvil

ACRIDICON Tracer Experiment AC16

20 UTC: SamplingTracer in BL

ACRIDICON Tracer Experiment AC16

Top row: ECMWF 0.15°x0.15°, 1-hourlyBottom row: GDAS 1°x1°, 3-hourly„R“ = place of PMCH release (9:45 – 10:50)

ECMWF

GDAS

11-13 UTC

13

Top row: ECMWF 0.15°x0.15°, 1-hourlyBottom row: GDAS 1°x1°, 3-hourly„R“ = place of PMCH release (9:45 – 10:50)

ECMWF

GDAS

13-15 UTC

14

14.00 15.00 16.00 17.00 18.00 19.00 20.00 21.00

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

PM

CH

/ 1

0-1

5 m

ol/m

ol

UTC / hours

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

Altitu

de /

km

ACRIDICON flight AC16 /25 Sep 2014: PMCH

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

0 10 20 30 40

Altitude at

begin

end

of sampling

PMCH / 10-15

mol/mol

AL

titu

de

/ k

m

15

BG samplesBG samples

BG

Measurements of CO in the anvil and downstream

Tracer correlation analysis

CO – PMCH Correlation

CO – PMCH Correlation NOy – PMCH Correlation

PMCH /ppq

CN (n-v) – PMCH Correlation

PMCH /ppq PMCH /ppq

CN (n-v) – PMCH Correlation CN (total) – PMCH Correlation

Conclusions & next steps

• The PFC tracer experiment during AC16 worked!

• First tracer correlations analysis looks promising

• More detailed PMCH background analysis will provide addition

tracer plume data for AC16

• We will extent this kind of analysis to further ACRIDICON flights

using the ambient tracer CO

• We seek collaboration with modellers (3-D cloud resolving model)