Measurements of Volatile Organic Compounds (Including Dimethyl Sulfide), Aerosol Particles, and CCN in the Canadian Arctic: Preliminary Results from the Summer 2014 NETCARE Expedition Aboard the CCGS Amundsen

Abstract:

The Arctic in summer is a cloud condensation nucleus (CCN) limited environment, and the controls on aerosol number and composition, and thus cloud formation, are poorly understood. A better understanding of these controls and their consequences is required in order to understand the region’s changing climate. In order to advance that understanding, during Summer 2014 we deployed instrumentation aboard the CCGS Amundsen, the Canadian research icebreaker. We participated in Legs 1a and 1b of the cruise, affording us observations in locations as varied as the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Lancaster Sound, and the Nares Strait. We collected on-line measurements with high time resolution of particle number, size and CCN activity as well as mixing ratios of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) including dimethyl sulfide, which has been implicated as an important contributor to the CCN population in the Arctic. We also attempted to directly measure air-sea fluxes of dimethyl sulfide using a high resolution time of flight mass spectrometer (HR-ToF-CIMS, Aerodyne) sampling at 10 Hz. Here, we report preliminary results from those measurements.