NOAA Science Seminar Series

NOAA in Alaska and the Arctic seminar series 2021 as part of the public-access NOAA Science Seminar Series. The series is endorsed by the NOAA Arctic Executive Committee and sponsored by the NOAA NCEI Regional Climate Services Director, Alaska Region. 

Title: Long term trends in aerosol chemical and optical properties measured at the Barrow Atmospheric Baseline Observatory northeast of Utqiaġvik

Presenters: Trish Quinn¹, NOAA PMEL; patricia.k.quinn@noaa.gov; Allison Moon²,
Lucia Upchurch^3,1, Derek Coffman¹, Jim Johnson^3,1, Tim Bates^3,1, and Betsy Andrews^4,5

¹NOAA PMEL
²University of Washington, Department of Atmospheric Sciences
³University of Washington, CICOES
⁴Univeristy of Colorado, CIRES
⁵NOAA GML

Sponsor: NOAA NCEI and NOS Seminar Series

Seminar Contacts: Hernan.Garcia@noaa.gov and Tracy.Gill@noaa.gov 

Abstract: Measurements of aerosol chemical composition at the Barrow Atmospheric Baseline Observatory northeast of Utqiaġvik, Alaska have been conducted since 1997 to assess the impacts of the transport of pollutants from lower latitudes on Arctic atmospheric chemistry and climate. These measurements have been conducted alongside NOAA GML’s observations of aerosol optical properties. Here we report on trends in Arctic haze aerosols in terms of composition, optical properties, and transport pathways. Between 1998 and 2013, haze season submicron non-sea salt sulfate and nitrate decreased by 2 and 1% per year, respectively. Supermicron nitrate decreased by 3% per year. Between 1998 and 2020, haze season submicron aerosol light scattering decreased by 1.6% per year and total scattering (particles less than 10 microns in diameter) decreased by 1.1% per year. Aerosol light absorption has also decreased during the haze season. Based on trajectories calculated with HYSPLIT, these decreasing trends appear to be due, at least in part, to a decrease in transport from the European sector to the Arctic. Summertime trends will also be discussed.

Bio: Trish Quinn (patricia.k.quinn@noaa.gov) is the Atmospheric Chemistry Group (ACG) Lead at NOAA PMEL. The Atmospheric Chemistry Group has been making shipboard measurements of aerosol chemical, microphysical, optical, and cloud-nucleating properties for over 30 years. The resulting global ocean database can be found at https://saga.pmel.noaa.gov/data/. ACG has also made long-term measurements of aerosol composition at NOAA’s northern hemisphere monitoring sites including Barrow. These data can be found at
https://saga.pmel.noaa.gov/data/stations/

Slides: Slides available after the seminar by contacting the presenter(s) directly.

Recording: Seminars recorded for later viewing in mp4 format

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{Trish Quinn, NOAA PMEL}