HR: 1340h
AN: A33A-0861    [Abstracts]
TI: Atmospheric Characterization at a Rural Coastal Site in the UAE from August to September 2004
AU: * Reid, E A
EM: reidb@nrlmry.navy.mil
AF: Naval Research Laboratory, 7 Grace Hopper Ave., Stop 2, Monterey, CA 93943 United States
AU: Reid, J S
A33A-0861 AF: Naval Research Laboratory, 7 Grace Hopper Ave., Stop 2, Monterey, CA 93943 United States
AU: Markowicz, K
A33A-0861 AF: Institute of Geophysics, Warsaw University, Pasteura 7, Warsaw, 02093 Poland
AU: Ross, K E
A33A-0861 AF: Climatology Research Group, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2050 South Africa
AU: Mandoos, A A
A33A-0861 AF: Department Of Water Resources Studies, Office of the President , Abu Dhabi, 4815 United Arab Emirates
AU: Mangoosh, A A
A33A-0861 AF: Department Of Water Resources Studies, Office of the President , Abu Dhabi, 4815 United Arab Emirates
AB: The combination of surrounding desert regions and extensive oil processing and manufacturing facilities has made the Arabian Gulf's air one of the most chemically complicated in the world. Humidity, high temperatures, long-range transport of dust and aerosols over dry desert regions, and the Arabian Gulf regions development and growth have combined to create the current atmospheric environment. We present preliminary weather, pollution, and aerosol data for a rural coastal site in the United Arab Emirates. The United Arab Emirates generously hosted our research efforts, allowing us to install NRL's Mobile Atmosphere, Aerosol and Radiation Characterization Observatory (MAARCO), at a remote coastal site in Al Taweela, Abu Dhabi. This coastal location provided excellent opportunities to explore a region where rapid change from ocean to land conditions occurs, and to characterize air masses carried onshore by the sea breezes, uncontaminated by transport over local land sources. In this paper we present an overview of the findings at the MAARCO container, including surface measurements of wind, humidity, aerosol particle characteristics (size, scattering, composition, bulk and continuous mass) and sulfur dioxide and ozone. We also show correlations with expected and modeled air mass movements, and data from MPLNET lidar, AERONET sun photometers, radiosondes, direct and diffuse radiometers, and over-flights by research aircraft at Al Taweela that allow us to better characterize the atmospheric above the MAARCO site. Daily sea breeze and land breeze transitions brought changing airmasses, with aerosol particles displaying a varying mix of dust and anthropogenic pollution. For example, the period of August 29^th to September 1^st demonstrated a classic Arabian Gulf pollution event blowing onshore in UAE. Conversely, September 12^th represented a massive dust event transported from the Tigris Euphrates valley. Over the two months of the UAE2 study there were highly variable combinations of pollution and dust. Much of the aerosol appeared to be concentrated in the lower two to three kilometers of the atmosphere, often appearing to show layering in lidar and over-flight data, though the atmosphere was hazy up to the capping inversion at five to six kilometers elevation.
DE: 0305 Aerosols and particles (0345, 4801, 4906)
DE: 0345 Pollution: urban and regional (0305, 0478, 4251)
DE: 0365 Troposphere: composition and chemistry
DE: 3311 Clouds and aerosols
SC: Atmospheric Sciences [A]
MN: Fall Meeting 2005