Sources and evolution of cloud-active aerosol in California's Sierra Nevada Mountains

To assess the sources of cloud-active aerosol and their influence on the hydrological cycle in California, the CalWater Experiment took place in winter 2011 in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. During this experiment, we coupled the capabilities of demonstrated miniaturized instrumentation - cloud condensation nuclei (CCN), water condensation nuclei (WCN) and microchip capillary electrophoresis (MCE) - to provide direct chemical measurements of cloud active aerosols. Ion concentrations of CCN droplets attribute the anthropogenic, marine and secondary organic contributions to cloud-active aerosols. Detailed spectra from an Aerosol-Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometer provide additional information on the sources of aerosol. Storm fronts and changes in atmospheric boundary layer brought aerosol and anions associated with Central Valley pollution to the field site with CCN concentrations reaching several thousand cm^-3. Hygroscopicity parameters indicate aging of the organic fraction during aerosol transport from the Central Valley to the mountains. Otherwise, CCN concentrations were low when high pressure systems prevented boundary layer development and intrusion of the Central Valley pollution to the site. MCE results show that nitrates and sulfates comprise most of the fraction of the aerosol anion mass (PM1). During the passage of storm fronts, which transported pollution from the Central Valley upslope, nitrate concentrations peaked at several μ g m^-3. Low supersaturation CCN concentrations coincide with increases in aerosol nitrate, which suggests that nitrate has a role in cloud formation of giant CCN and, furthermore, in precipitation processes in the Sierra Nevada. CCN spectra show large variations depending on the aerosol sources and sometimes exhibit bi-modal distributions with minima at 0.3% Sc -- similar to the so-called 'Hoppel minima' associated to number size distributions. During these bi-modal events, sulfate also increases supporting the addition of these anions during cloud processing. Chloride was also an important component following precipitation events indicating contributions of marine sources.