Aircraft emissions, plume chemistry, and alternative fuels: results from the APEX, AAFEX, and MDW-2009 campaigns

We describe observations of aircraft emissions from the APEX, JETS-APEX2, APEX3, MDW-2009 and AAFEX campaigns. Direct emissions of HOx precursors are important for understanding exhaust plume chemistry due to their role in determining HOx concentrations. Nitrous acid (HONO) and formaldehyde are crucial HOx precursors and thus drivers of plume chemistry. At idle power, aircraft engine exhaust is unique among fossil fuel combustion sources due to the speciation of both NOx and VOCs. The impacts of emissions of HOx precursors on plume chemistry at low power are demonstrated with empirical observations of rapid NO to NO2 conversion, indicative of rapid HOx chemistry. The impacts of alternative fuels (derived from biomass, coal, and natural gas) on emissions of NOx, CO, and speciated VOCs are discussed.