Proposed network of Pacific Rim BC observations for the IMPAACT Experiment

The Investigation of Multi-scale Processes Affecting Atmospheric Chemistry Transport (IMPAACT) is a proposed multi-pronged study to look at atmospheric chemistry in the Arctic and Pacific regions. The experiment will include an airborne component, likely in the year 2021, and a ground-based component that could begin sooner. Black carbon (BC) aerosol is a key climate forcing agent with some of the largest uncertainties with respect to transport, sources and deposition. So for this reason we propose a collaborative Pacific Rim network of observations focused on BC and other key tracers, especially CO, as part of IMPAACT. The observations along with high resolution chemical transport modeling will allow us to substantially improve our understanding of sources, transport, chemical processing and deposition in the Pacific and Arctic regions. Because BC has many definitions and an ambiguous chemical definition, it is essential that observations in this network be made with a consistent and comparable set of measurement techniques. For this work, we are interested to collaborate with other investigators to establish multiple sites around the Pacific Rim using comparable instrumentation and include one or two master sites where multiple techniques could be inter-compared. In this presentation we will describe key goals for this work, some thoughts on where stations could be located and the type of instrumentation that would be used.