TRACER-OZONE

TRACER-Tethersonde

1 July 2021 - 31 July 2022

Lead Scientist: Paul Walter

Observatory: AMF (ARM Mobile Facility 1) - HOU

The ARM Tracking Aerosol Convection Interactions ExpeRiment (TRACER) set for Houston Apr 2021 – Apr 2022 will investigate convective cloud life cycles and aerosol-convection interactions through a comprehensive data collection. TRACER-TetherSonde, a sub campaign of TRACER, will allow for a more extensive evaluation of the boundary layer and free troposphere conditions as well as provide vertical context for the ground-based measurements at AMF1 and TRACER-MAP. By flying electrochemical concentration cell ozonesondes on the tethersonde during the TRACER-TetherSonde campaign with four times daily ascent/descent profiles, we will be able to monitor the development of the boundary layer over Galveston Bay and the degree to which pollution from Houston accumulates over this site under off-shore flow conditions. Analysis of VOC samples from resin tubes, deployed on the same tethersonde, when paired with in situ gas, aerosol, and boundary layer height measurements, will provide insights into air mass age and source regions (local versus remote via long-range transport). As with the TRACER-Sonde program, data from both pre-dawn and daytime flights can be leveraged to examine both the well-mixed assumption and the initialization conditions prior to convection. Comparison with free-release balloon flights from LaPorte, Texas on the east side of the Bay will give us the upwind (source) profiles concurrently for two of the tethersonde flight times (1200 and 1800 GMT). These data will permit us to 1) determine the vertical and temporal variability of pollution above Galveston Bay in pre- and post-storm scenarios in terms of exchange between the lower and upper atmosphere and 2) identify potential influences of convective transport using ozone as a tracer of pollution to compliment meteorological measurements.