TARFOX Abstracts
at AGU Special Sessions
Baltimore, MD, 5/29-30, 1997

A41C-07
"Airborne Measurements of Carbonaceous Aerosols During TARFOX"

T. Novakov, D. A. Hegg and P. V. Hobbs

In this paper we report results of aircraft measurements of mass concentrations of carbonaceous aerosols, total aerosol mass, and simultaneously determined light scattering and absorption coefficients on and offshore of the eastern coast of the United States. We describe the sampling and analytical methodology used to derive spatially resolved aerosol carbon concentrations, and discuss these in the context of other concurrently collected data. The carbon mass was, on average, 50% of the total aerosol mass. However, the carbon mass fraction increased with altitude, suggesting that ground-based measurements can significantly underestimate the importance of carbon species in the aerosol mass budget. The aerosol carbon mass was significantly correlated with aerosol light absorption, suggesting that the black and organic carbon components have common combustion sources. The high correlation between the total carbon mass and the aerosol light-scattering coefficient found in this study indicates an important role for carbonaceous species in aerosol light-scattering in polluted regions.