The Aerosol-Chase Project. A continental Lagrangian experiment.

Abstract: Determining how aerosol particle number size distributions evolve during long range transport and how aerosol sources contribute to the aerosol population is one of the greatest conundrums in aerosol science. Current monitoring of particle size distribution is done in fixed stations that provide limited information about the reasons why size distribution changes with time. In this project, the Lagrangian approach was applied to measure particle size distribution in an air mass while it was being transported. This was achieved by installing a Scanning Mobility Particle Sizer (SMPS) and a collection of sensors for temperature, humidity, ozone, CO2, NO2, PM10 and PM2.5 inside a car, measuring the conditions of the air mass for 6-7 hours during its transport in the atmosphere. The results of this pilot project, divided into three case studies, have proven the method to be effective for the application of the Lagrangian approach in continental measurements. This study aims at becoming the beginning of a new line of research.