The North Atlantic Marine Boundary Layer Experiment (NAMBLEX). Overview of the Campaign Held at Mace Head, Ireland, in Summer 2002
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Atmos. Chem. Phys., 6, 2241–2272, 2006 www.atmos-chem-phys.net/6/2241/2006/ Atmospheric © Author(s) 2006. This work is licensed Chemistry under a Creative Commons License. and Physics The North Atlantic Marine Boundary Layer Experiment (NAMBLEX). Overview of the campaign held at Mace Head, Ireland, in summer 2002 D. E. Heard1, K. A. Read1, J. Methven2, S. Al-Haider1, W. J. Bloss1, G. P. Johnson1, M. J. Pilling1, P. W. Seakins1, S. C. Smith1, R. Sommariva1,*, J. C. Stanton1, T. J. Still1, T. Ingham1, B. Brooks3, G. De Leeuw13, A. V. Jackson3, J. B. McQuaid3, R. Morgan3, M. H. Smith3, L. J. Carpenter4, N. Carslaw4, J. Hamilton4, J. R Hopkins4, J. D. Lee4, A. C. Lewis4, R. M. Purvis14, D. J. Wevill4, N. Brough5, T. Green5, G. Mills5, S. A. Penkett5, J. M. C. Plane5, A. Saiz-Lopez5, D. Worton5, P. S. Monks6, Z. Fleming6,**, A. R. Rickard6,1, M. R. Alfarra7,***, J. D. Allan7, K. Bower7, H. Coe7, M. Cubison7, M. Flynn7, G. McFiggans7, M. Gallagher7, E. G. Norton7, C. D. O’Dowd12, J. Shillito7, D. Topping7, G. Vaughan7, P. Williams7, M. Bitter8, S. M. Ball8, R. L. Jones8, I. M. Povey8, S. O’Doherty9, P. G. Simmonds9, A. Allen10, R. P. Kinnersley10, D. C. S. Beddows10, M. Dall’Osto10, R. M. Harrison10, R. J. Donovan11, M. R. Heal11, S. G. Jennings12, C. Noone12, and G. Spain12 1School of Chemistry, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT, UK 2Department of Meteorology, University of Reading, Whiteknights, P.O. Box 217, Reading, Berkshire, RG6 6AH, UK 3School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT, UK 4Department of Chemistry, University of York, Heslington, York, YO10 5DD, UK 5School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich, Norfolk, NR4 7TJ, UK 6Department of Chemistry, University of Leicester, Leicester, LE1 7RH, UK 7School of Earth, Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences (SEAES), University of Manchester, Manchester, M60 1QD, UK 8University Chemical Laboratory, Cambridge University, Cambridge, UK 9School of Chemistry, University of Bristol, Cantock’s Close, Bristol BS8 1TH, UK 10School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, Univ. Birmingham, Dept. of Physics, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK 11School of Chemistry, University of Edinburgh, West Mains Rd, Edinburgh EH9 3JJ, UK 12National University of Ireland, Galway, University Road, Galway, Ireland 13TNO, P.O. Box 96864, 2509 JG, The Hague, The Netherlands 14Facility for Airborne Atmospheric Measurement (FAAM), Cranfield University, Cranfield, MK43 0AL, UK *now at: Aeronomy Laboratory, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Boulder, CO, USA **now at: Depart. Environmental Science and Technology, Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, Prince Consort Road, South Kensington, London, SW7 2AZ, UK ***now at: Paul Scherrer Institute, Villigen, Switzerland Received: 16 August 2005 – Published in Atmos. Chem. Phys. Discuss.: 24 November 2005 Revised: 1 March 2006 – Accepted: 30 March 2006 – Published: 21 June 2006 Abstract. The North Atlantic Marine Boundary Layer Ex- the marine boundary layer to date. This overview paper periment (NAMBLEX), involving over 50 scientists from describes the aims of the NAMBLEX project in the con- 12 institutions, took place at Mace Head, Ireland (53.32◦ N, text of previous field campaigns in the Marine Boundary 9.90◦ W), between 23 July and 4 September 2002. A wide Layer (MBL), the overall layout of the site, a summary of range of state-of-the-art instrumentation enabled detailed the instrumentation deployed, the temporal coverage of the measurements of the boundary layer structure and atmo- measurement data, and the numerical models used to in- spheric composition in the gas and aerosol phase to be made, terpret the field data. Measurements of some trace species providing one of the most comprehensive in situ studies of were made for the first time during the campaign, which was characterised by predominantly clean air of marine ori- Correspondence to: D. E. Heard gin, but more polluted air with higher levels of NOx origi- ([email protected]) nating from continental regions was also experienced. This Published by Copernicus GmbH on behalf of the European Geosciences Union. 2242 D. E. Heard et al.: Overview of NAMBLEX paper provides a summary of the meteorological measure- has important implications for climate and human health. ments and Planetary Boundary Layer (PBL) structure mea- Any change in the oxidizing capacity of the atmosphere has surements, presents time series of some of the longer-lived many consequences for the long-term stability of the Earth’s trace species (O3, CO, H2, DMS, CH4, NMHC, NOx, NOy, climate. PAN) and summarises measurements of other species that are The MBL has been the venue for a large number of field described in more detail in other papers within this special campaigns, largely as it represents a location where pristinely issue, namely oxygenated VOCs, HCHO, peroxides, organo- clean air can be sampled that has had little or no perturbation halogenated species, a range of shorter lived halogen species due to anthropogenic activity, and the chemistry of the “nat- (I2, OIO, IO, BrO), NO3 radicals, photolysis frequencies, the ural” atmosphere can be interrogated. A summary of some free radicals OH, HO2 and (HO2+6RO2), as well as a sum- of these campaigns can be found in Brasseur et al. (1999, mary of the aerosol measurements. NAMBLEX was sup- 2002), Heard and Pilling (2003), and Holton et al. (2003). In ported by measurements made in the vicinity of Mace Head addition Heard and Pilling (2003) provide a detailed list of a using the NERC Dornier-228 aircraft. Using ECMWF wind- sub-set of field campaigns in the MBL that have included OH fields, calculations were made of the air-mass trajectories and HO2 measurements, together of course with a wide range arriving at Mace Head during NAMBLEX, and were anal- of supporting measurements. The majority of observations ysed together with both meteorological and trace-gas mea- have been made using ground-based instrumentation located surements. In this paper a chemical climatology for the dura- at coastal sites, but measurements using instrumented ships tion of the campaign is presented to interpret the distribution or aircraft flying in the MBL above the open ocean in remote of air-mass origins and emission sources, and to provide a areas provide in situ measurements of atmospheric compo- convenient framework of air-mass classification that is used sition over a wider region. Recently, instruments on satel- by other papers in this issue for the interpretation of observed lites combined with new retrieval methods have enabled the variability in levels of trace gases and aerosols. composition of the global troposphere to be determined from space for a limited number of species, for example for CO, O3, NO2, HCHO, SO2, BrO, CH4 and some aerosol param- eters, albeit averages over large footprints rather than point 1 Introduction and background to NAMBLEX measurements. Networks of instrumented ground-based sites in the re- The hydroxyl radical (OH), formed from the photolysis of mote MBL have been established by the World Meteoro- ozone at wavelengths below 340 nm in the presence of water logical Organisation Global Atmospheric Watch programme, vapour, initiates the oxidation of almost all trace gases re- the NOAA Climate Monitoring and Diagnostics Laboratory, leased into the marine boundary layer. Peroxy radicals (HO2 and the Atmospheric Lifetime Experiment/Advanced Global + RO2) produced by this oxidation chemistry are responsi- Atmospheric Gases Experiment (ALE/AGAGE). These sur- ble for ozone production or ozone destruction, depending face measurements have revealed distinctive seasonal and upon the level of nitrogen oxides co-present. The oxidiz- latitudinal patterns, as well as long-term trends, for several ing capacity of the troposphere is a combination of the above species, for example, CO, CO2, CH4,N2O, O3, hydrocar- processes and others involving halogen and nitrate radicals. bons, halogenated VOCs, aerosols and radiation. The cho- NOx (NO+NO2) plays a crucial role in the free-radical oxida- sen sites offer the best opportunity to sample air which is tion chemistry associated with OH and HO2 radicals, halo- free from anthropogenic emissions, and in addition to the gen radical species (e.g. IO, BrO) and NO3. NOx is emit- long-term monitoring programmes, short intensive field cam- ted directly into the atmosphere from various sources, both paigns have been hosted by these sites using significant ad- natural and anthropogenic, and is also formed in the atmo- ditional instrumentation to measure a large number of trace sphere from the decomposition of other oxidised nitrogen gas, aerosols and radiative parameters, to enable a detailed compounds such as peroxy acetyl nitrate (PAN) and other investigation of the underlying chemistry. Examples include organic nitrates. The source of NOx in the remote MBL is the Southern Ocean Atmospheric Photochemistry Experi- uncertain, one possibility being long-range transport of pol- ments (SOAPEX) at Cape Grim (Monks et al., 1998; Som- lution, emissions from shipping, emissions from the ocean, mariva et al., 2004), the Eastern Atlantic Summer/Spring or injection from the free troposphere either directly or in Experiments (EASE)(Carslaw et al., 2002, 1999a) and the the form of reservoir compounds, many of which are asso- New Particle Formation and Fate in the Coastal Environment ciated with pollution. Increasing evidence suggests that the (PARFORCE) campaign (O’Dowd et al., 2002b, 2004) at oxidizing capacity has been perturbed in recent years due to Mace Head. However, even at remote sites, the background anthropogenic activity through emission of methane, carbon chemistry is perturbed, with calculated air mass back tra- monoxide, non-methane hydrocarbons (NMHCs) and NOx. jectories showing encounters with sources of anthropogenic These perturbations may be causing changes in the natu- emission several days prior to arrival. During long-range ral atmospheric composition, for instance increasing tropo- transport to the site oxidation of primary emissions into a va- spheric concentrations of the greenhouse gas ozone, which riety of secondary species, for example, oxygenated VOCs, Atmos.