Grantee Research Project Results
2012 Progress Report: Characterization of Particulate Emissions from Ships from In Situ Measurements
EPA Grant Number: R834558Title: Characterization of Particulate Emissions from Ships from In Situ Measurements
Investigators: Cappa, Christopher D
Institution: University of California - Davis
EPA Project Officer: Chung, Serena
Project Period: April 1, 2010 through March 31, 2013 (Extended to March 31, 2014)
Project Period Covered by this Report: April 1, 2012 through March 31,2013
Project Amount: $249,999
RFA: Novel Approaches to Improving Air Pollution Emissions Information (2009) RFA Text | Recipients Lists
Research Category: Air Quality and Air Toxics , Air
Objective:
The objective(s) of this project are to make and use measurements of light absorption and extinction by particles, in conjunction with other particle measurements, during the CalNex 2010 field campaign to (1) quantitatively characterize particulate emissions from ocean going vessels in the regulated waters along the California coast; (2) characterize the variability in the mass absorption coefficient for black carbon particles in the atmosphere, and work towards understanding the origin of this variability; and (3) investigate variability in sources of black carbon in the near-shore marine boundary layer.Progress Summary:
Measurements of light absorption and extinction were made during May/June 2010 on board the R/V Atlantis as part of the CalNex 2010 field campaign. Measurements also were tagged on as part of the CARES 2010 field campaign directly following CalNex, as this was in the same location and provided a useful extension of the CalNex data set. The optical property data collected by the UCD group have been processed and final absorption and extinction data now are available (upon request for CalNex, to eventually be archived with NOAA; at http://www.arm.gov/campaigns/aaf2009carbonaerosol Exit for CARES). During the current project period we have:
- Published a manuscript in Science describing measurements of the extent to which the presence of “coatings” internally mixed with ambient black carbon (BC) particles leads to changes in light absorption by the BC (Cappa, et al., 2012). In theory, if BC is concentrically coated by non-absorbing material, the light absorption by the BC will increase. This “absorption enhancement” had been observed in laboratory studies, but never demonstrated clearly for ambient particles. Our study indicated that such enhancements for BC absorption were small, and further did not increase substantially as the particles aged in the atmosphere. This work has wide-ranging implications for understanding the magnitude of climate forcing by BC in the atmosphere.
- Published a technical comment in Science (Cappa, et al., 2013) in response to a comment by Jacobson. This reviewed comment provided further details associated with our original paper on the topic of absorption enhancements by BC in the atmosphere (Cappa, et al., 2012).
- Continued our analysis of BC emission factors (EFs) for the 75+ ocean going vessels that were encountered in the regulated waters off the coast of California during the CalNex study period (May/June 2010). BC EFs were determined from an additional instrument, the soot particle aerosol mass spectrometer, for comparison with results from previous project periods. This work provides information on black carbon EFs for ocean going vessels operating under new cleaner fuel requirements as well as understanding of differences in EFs derived from different measurement techniques.
- Revised our analysis of a case study of the influence of vessel speed on particulate matter and gas-phase emission factors from a vessel operating a medium speed diesel engine. This work is being revised and retargeted based on feedback received from reviewers. Our main finding was that for this vessel, a reduction in speed led to a significant decrease in the EFs for all particulate species measured, when considered in units of g-PM/kg-fuel consumed. In general, the particle size distribution shifted towards much smaller particles as ship speed decreased. For the gas phase species, the variation in the EFs with vessel speed is species specific, with CO and HCHO tending to decrease, SO2 remaining constant, and NOx increasing as ship speed increased. We have been working to place our case-study observations clearly in the context of literature observations so as to understand how different ship operating conditions influence emissions.
- Begun a comprehensive reanalysis of the black carbon measurements made by our collaborators at Environment Canada using a Single Particle Soot Photometer (SP2) during CalNex in support of the ship emissions work described above in (3).
- Published a paper in PNAS (Lack, et al., 2012) that complements the work described above in (1) by focusing on measurements of the absorption enhancement in an air mass that was dominated by particles from biomass burning. The observed absorption enhancement here is larger than that in (1), indicating that the source and nature of the BC-containing particles have an impact on whether coatings strongly influence light absorption by BC.
Future Activities:
Finalize the reanalysis of the black carbon concentration measurements. Complete the manuscript on the ship BC emissions and submit it for publication. Finish revisions to the manuscript on the vessel speed case-study and submit it for publication.Journal Articles on this Report : 6 Displayed | Download in RIS Format
Other project views: | All 19 publications | 10 publications in selected types | All 10 journal articles |
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Bates TS, Quinn PK, Frossard AA, Russell LM, Hakala J, Petaja T, Kulmala M, Covert DS, Cappa CD, Li S-M, Hayden KL, Nuaaman I, McLaren R, Massoli P, Canagaratna MR, Onasch TB, Sueper D, Worsnop DR, Keene WC. Measurements of ocean derived aerosol off the coast of California. Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres 2012;117(D21):D00V15 (13 pp.). |
R834558 (2011) R834558 (2012) R834558 (Final) |
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Cappa CD, Onasch TB, Massoli P, Worsnop DR, Bates TS, Cross ES, Davidovits P, Hakala J, Hayden KL, Jobson BT, Kolesar KR, Lack DA, Lerner BM, Li S-M, Mellon D, Nuaanman I, Olfert JS, Petaja T, Quinn PK, Song C, Subramanian R, Williams EJ, Zaveri RA. Radiative absorption enhancements due to the mixing state of atmospheric black carbon. Science 2012;337(6098):1078-1081. |
R834558 (2012) R834558 (Final) |
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Cappa CD, Onasch TB, Massoli P, Worsnop DR, Bates TS, Cross ES, Davidovits P, Hakala J, Hayden KL, Jobson BT, Kolesar KR, Lack DA, Lerner BM, Li S-M, Mellon D, Nuaaman I, Olfert JS, Petaja T, Quinn PK, Song C, Subramanian R, Williams EJ, Zaveri RA. Response to comment on "Radiative Absorption Enhancements Due to the Mixing State of Atmospheric Black Carbon." Science 2013;339(6118):393. |
R834558 (2012) R834558 (Final) |
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Lack DA, Cappa CD, Langridge J, Bahreini R, Buffaloe G, Brock C, Cerully K, Coffman D, Hayden K, Holloway J, Lerner B, Massoli P, Li S-M, McLaren R, Middlebrook AM, Moore R, Nenes A, Nuaaman I, Onasch TB, Peischl J, Perring A, Quinn PK, Ryerson T, Schwartz JP, Spackman R, Wofsy SC, Worsnop D, Xiang B, Williams E. Impact of fuel quality regulation and speed reductions on shipping emissions:implications for climate and air quality. Environmental Science & Technology 2011;45(20):9052-9060. |
R834558 (2010) R834558 (2011) R834558 (2012) R834558 (Final) |
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Lack DA, Richardson MS, Law D, Langridge JM, Cappa CD, McLaughlin RJ, Murphy DM. Aircraft instrument for comprehensive characterization of aerosol optical properties, Part 2:black and brown carbon absorption and absorption enhancement measured with photo-acoustic spectroscopy. Aerosol Science and Technology 2012;46(5):555-568. |
R834558 (2010) R834558 (2011) R834558 (2012) R834558 (Final) |
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Lack DA, Langridge JM, Bahreini R, Cappa CD, Middlebrook AM, Schwarz JP. Brown carbon and internal mixing in biomass burning particles. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 2012;109(37):14802-14807. |
R834558 (2012) R834558 (Final) |
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Relevant Websites:
http://saga.pmel.noaa.gov/Field/CalNex/http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/csd/calnex/
http://www.arm.gov/campaigns/aaf2009carbonaerosol
Progress and Final Reports:
Original AbstractThe perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Conclusions drawn by the principal investigators have not been reviewed by the Agency.