The Atlantic Tradewind Ocean‐Atmosphere Mesoscale Campaign (ATOMIC) took place from 7 January to 11 July 2020 in the tropical North Atlantic between the east coast of Barbados and the Northwest Tropical Atlantic Station (NTAS) mooring. Measurements of aerosol chemical, microphysical, optical, and cloud‐nucleating properties were made during boreal winter onboard the NOAA RV Ronald H. Brown from 7 January to 13 February 2020. Observed aerosol properties indicate there were distinct periods when the aerosol was typical of clean marine conditions (particle number concentrations <400 cm −3 , light absorption levels <1 Mm −1 , and 222 Rn concentrations <500 mBq m −3 ) and when there were intrusions of dust mixed to varying degrees with biomass burning aerosol. In comparison to the long‐term dust record at the Barbados Atmospheric Chemistry Observatory, the fraction of samples collected during ATOMIC with dust concentrations greater than 20 μg m −3 exceeded all years of the Barbados January to February record with the exception of 1983. The degree of mixing of the dust with biomass burning aerosol was modulated by the location of the North Atlantic subtropical high. A high located to the west of Africa led to a more northerly transport route and more dust‐like (MDL) aerosol arriving at the ship. A location of the high further to the east over northern Africa led to a more southerly transport route and more biomass burning aerosol mixed with the dust. Properties for the marine, MDL, and mixed dust and biomass burning aerosol are presented.

The impact of ocean ecosystems on marine boundary layer aerosols and clouds has been the subject of much research but remains uncertain. Five experiments were recently conducted in the western North Atlantic to assess if the seasonally recurring phytoplankton bloom affects aerosol properties. These experiments include the second Western Atlantic Climate Study and four North Atlantic Aerosols and Marine Ecosystem Study cruises. Measurements of unheated and heated number size distributions, cloud condensation nucleus (CCN) concentrations, and aerosol composition were used to identify primary and secondary aerosol components that could be related to the state of the bloom. Only periods of clean marine air, as defined by radon, particle number concentrations, aerosol light absorption coefficient, and back trajectories, were included in the analysis. Nonvolatile material was found to be prevalent in the Aitken mode size range after heating to 230°, likely due to downward mixing from the free troposphere. CCN concentrations at 0.1% supersaturation were best correlated (r2 = 0.73) with accumulation mode nss SO4=. Sea spray aerosol was only correlated with CCN during November when bloom accumulation had not yet occurred and dimethylsulfide concentrations were at a minimum. The fraction of CCN attributable to sea spray aerosol was less than 20% during March, May/June, and September, indicating the limited contribution of sea spray aerosol to the CCN population of the western North Atlantic atmosphere. The strongest link between the plankton bloom and aerosol and cloud properties appears to be due to biogenic non‐sea salt SO4=.

Sea spray aerosols impact Earth’s radiation balance by directly scattering solar radiation. They also act as cloud condensation nuclei, thereby altering cloud properties including reflectivity, lifetime and extent. The influence of sea spray aerosol on cloud properties is thought to be particularly strong over remote ocean regions devoid of continental particles. Yet the contribution of sea spray aerosol to the population of cloud condensation nuclei in the marine boundary layer remains poorly understood. Here, using a lognormal-mode-fitting procedure, we isolate sea spray aerosols from measurements of particle size and abundance over the Pacific, Southern, Arctic and Atlantic oceans to determine the contribution of sea spray aerosol to the population of cloud condensation nuclei in the marine boundary layer. On a global basis, with the exception of the high southern latitudes, sea spray aerosol makes a contribution of less than 30% to the cloud condensation nuclei population for air that is supersaturated at 0.1 to 1.0%—the supersaturation range typical of marine boundary layer clouds. Instead, the cloud condensation nuclei population between 70° S and 80° N is composed primarily of non-sea-salt sulfate aerosols, due to large-scale meteorological features that result in entrainment of particles from the free troposphere.

A characterization of black carbon (BC) and other light-absorbing particles in snow is presented for three mountain valley sites in Idaho in early 2014 and for one site near Vernal, Utah, in early 2013 and 2014. The focus of the study was on constraining the magnitude and drivers of variations in particulate absorbers in midlatitude U.S. seasonal snow. Mass mixing ratios of BC in newly fallen snow were similar at all three Idaho sites, with a median of 4.7 +/- 4.2 ng BC per gram of snow. The median total light-absorbing particulate mixing ratios in new snow, expressed as an equivalent mixing ratio of BC, was 18 +/- 23 ng g(-1). At the Utah site, which is near sources of both fossil fuel and dust, the mixing ratios of BC varied from 7 to 45 ng g(-1) across seven new snowfall samples, and the BC-equivalent mixing ratios varied from 9 to 1500 ng g(-1). At all sites, dry deposition and in snow processes increase the mixing ratio of BC by up to an order of magnitude and increase the mixing ratio of all light-absorbing particulates by up to 2 orders of magnitude, highlighting the importance of capturing these processes for accurately representing snow albedo in climate models. Spatial variability at a range of scales is found to be considerably smaller than the temporal variations at a given site, with implications for the representativeness of field samples used in observation/model comparisons.

A light-weight, low-cost optical particle spectrometer for measurements of aerosol number concentrations and size distributions has been designed, constructed, and demonstrated. The spectrometer is suitable for use on small, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and in balloon sondes. The spectrometer uses a 405 nm diode laser to count and size individual particles in the size range 140-3000nm. A compact data system combines custom electronics with a single-board commercial computer. Power consumption is 7W at 9-15V. 3D printing technology was used in the construction of the instrument to reduce cost, manufacturing complexity, and weight. The resulting Printed Optical Particle Spectrometer (POPS) instrument weighs about 800 g with an approximate materials cost of 2500 USD. Several POPS units have been constructed, tested in the laboratory, and deployed on UAVs. Here we present an overview of the instrument design and construction, laboratory validation data, and field engineering data for POPS.

Dimethyl sulphide (DMS) is an important precursor of cloud condensation nuclei (CCN), particularly in the remote marine atmosphere. The SE Pacific is consistently covered with a persistent stratocumulus layer that increases the albedo over this large area. It is not certain whether the source of CCN to these clouds is natural and oceanic or anthropogenic and terrestrial. This unknown currently limits our ability to reliably model either the cloud behaviour or the oceanic heat budget of the region. In order to better constrain the marine source of CCN, it is necessary to have an improved understanding of the sea-air flux of DMS. Of the factors that govern the magnitude of this flux, the greatest unknown is the surface seawater DMS concentration. In the study area, there is a paucity of such data, although previous measurements suggest that the concentration can be substantially variable. In order to overcome such data scarcity, a number of climatologies and algorithms have been devised in the last decade to predict seawater DMS. Here we test some of these in the SE Pacific by comparing predictions with measurements of surface seawater made during the Vamos Ocean-Cloud-Atmosphere-Land Study Regional Experiment (VOCALS-REx) in October and November of 2008. We conclude that none of the existing algorithms reproduce local variability in seawater DMS in this region very well. From these findings, we recommend the best algorithm choice for the SE Pacific and suggest lines of investigation for future work.

Abstract. Dimethylsulfide (DMS) is biologically produced in the surface ocean and is the dominant natural source of sulfur to the atmosphere. Although DMS is an algal by-product, the ratio of DMS to chlorophyll (DMS:Chl) varies widely in the surface ocean. This is presumably because dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP), the major precursor of DMS, DMSP-lyases, which catalyze the conversion of DMSP to DMS, and Chl vary as well with taxonomic composition than with the physiological state of the algal assemblage. Here we use remote sensing of Chl and phytoplankton dominance from PHYSAT with in-situ measured DMS concentrations to assess on an unprecedented spatial scale the affect of species composition on the DMS:Chl ratio in the surface ocean. Meridional distributions at 22° W in the Atlantic, and 95° W and 110° W in the Pacific, showed the same marked drop in DMS:Chl ratios near the equator, down to few mmol g−1, yet the basins exhibited different species dominance signatures. Hence, our results suggest that species composition was of secondary importance in controlling DMS and DMS:Chl variations in equatorial upwellings as well as physiological shifts in algal DMS production since mixed layer growth conditions (i.e., nutrient stress, temperature and light) were relatively homogeneous over the eastern equatorial Pacific. In the Indian sector of the Southern Ocean, warm core eddies with contrasting PHYSAT signatures displayed similar DMS levels. However, DMS:Chl ratios in eddies dominated by Synechococcus (SYN) were about 50% lower than that found in eddies showing nanoeucayotes or Phaeocystis-like signatures. DMS:Chl ratios varied with latitude in SYN dominated regions with ratios at low latitudes (away from equatorial upwellings) about twice that found at high northern and southern latitudes. This is the sole piece of coherent observations which indicates that species composition and growth conditions affect the large-scale dynamics of the DMS:Chl ratio. Overall, it appears that the DMS:Chl ratio is not consistent within specific phytoplankton groups determined from space. So DMS concentrations can not be derived from water-leaving radiance spectra obtained simultaneously from ocean color sensor measurements of Chl concentrations and dominant phytoplankton functional types. To proceed with the global investigation and better discriminate between factors affecting DMS:Chl ratios in the surface ocean, we recommend the use of PHYSAT records with higher spatial resolution in conjunction with other satellite products (e.g. particulate backscattering coefficients and indices of phytoplankton physiology and bloom status).

We examine interactions between atoms continuously and coherently driven between the ground state and a Rydberg state, producing ``Rydberg-dressed atoms.'' Because of the large dipolar coupling between two Rydberg atoms, a small admixture of Rydberg character into a ground state can produce an atom with a dipole moment of a few debye, the appropriate size to observe interesting dipolar physics effects in cold atom systems. We have calculated the interaction energies for atoms that interact via the dipole-dipole interaction and find that because of blockade effects, the $R$ dependent two-atom interaction terms are limited in size and can be $R$ independent up until the dipolar energy is equal to the detuning. This produces $R$ dependent interactions different from the expected $1/{R}^{3}$ dipolar form that have no direct analogy in condensed-matter physics and could lead to interesting quantum phases in trapped Rydberg systems.

The air quality and climate forcing impacts of atmospheric aerosols in a metropolitan region depend on the amount, composition, and size of the aerosol transported into the region; the input and removal of aerosols and aerosol precursors within the region; and the subsequent chemical processing in the atmosphere. These factors were studied in the Houston‐Galveston‐Gulf of Mexico region, aboard the NOAA R/V Ronald H. Brown during the Texas Air Quality Study and Gulf of Mexico Atmospheric Composition and Climate Study (TexAQS/GoMACCS 2006). The aerosol measured in the Gulf of Mexico during onshore flow (low radon concentrations indicating no contact with land for several days) was highly impacted by Saharan dust and what appear to be ship emissions (acidic sulfate and nitrate). Mean (median) mass concentrations of the total submicrometer and supermicrometer aerosol were 6.5 (4.6) μg m−3 and 17.2 (8.7) μg m−3, respectively. These mass loadings of “background” aerosol are much higher than typically observed in the marine atmosphere and thus have a substantial impact on the radiative energy balance over the Gulf of Mexico and particulate matter (PM) loadings (air quality) in the Houston‐Galveston area. As this background aerosol moved onshore, local urban and industrial sources added an organic rich submicrometer component (66% particulate organic matter (POM), 20% sulfate, 14% elemental carbon) but no significant supermicrometer aerosol. The resulting aerosol had mean (median) mass concentrations of the total submicrometer and supermicrometer aerosol of 10.0 (9.1) μg m−3 and 16.8 (11.2) μg m−3, respectively. These air masses, with minimal processing of urban emissions contained the highest SO2/(SO2 + SO4=) ratios and the highest hydrocarbon‐like organic aerosol to total organic aerosol ratios (HOA/POM). In contrast, during periods of offshore flow, the aerosol was more processed and, therefore, much richer in oxygenated organic aerosol (OOA). Mean (median) mass concentrations of the total submicrometer and supermicrometer aerosol were 20.8 (18.6) μg m−3 and 7.4 (5.0) μg m−3, respectively. Sorting air masses based on their trajectories and time over land provides a means to examine the effects of transport and subsequent chemical processing. Understanding and parameterizing these processes is critical for the chemical transport modeling that forms the basis for air quality forecasts and radiative forcing calculations.

Daily ozone soundings taken from the R/V Ronald H. Brown from 7 July through 11 August 2004 as part of the Intercontinental Chemical Transport Experiment (INTEX) Ozonesonde Network Study (IONS) are used to investigate the vertical structure of ozone over the Gulf of Maine and to characterize variability in sources of tropospheric ozone: stratosphere, regional convection and lightning, advection, and local boundary layer pollution. These soundings were part of a network of twelve IONS (http://croc.gsfc.nasa.gov/intex/ions.html) stations that launched ozonesonde‐radiosonde packages over the United States and maritime Canada during the INTEX/International Consortium for Atmospheric Research on Transport and Transformation (ICARTT)/New England Air Quality Study (NEAQS) project from 1 July to 15 August 2004. Four of the IONS stations were in mid‐Atlantic and northeast United States; four were in southeastern Canada. Although the INTEX/ICARTT goal was to examine pollution influences under stable high‐pressure systems, northeastern North America (NENA) during IONS was dominated by weak frontal systems that mixed aged pollution and stratospheric ozone with ozone from more recent pollution and lightning. These sources are quantified to give tropospheric ozone budgets for individual soundings that are consistent with tracers and meteorological analyses. On average, for NENA stations in July‐August 2004, tropospheric ozone was composed of the following: 10–15% each local boundary layer and regional sources (the latter including that due to lightning‐derived NO) and 20–25% stratospheric ozone, with the balance (∼50%) a mixture of recently advected ozone and aged air of indeterminate origin.

Aerosol chemical, physical, and optical measurements were made aboard the NOAA R/V Ronald H. Brown off the coast of New England from July 12 through August 10, 2002, as part of the New England Air Quality Study (NEAQS). Measurements (generally 20 to 100 km from the coast) were made downwind of urban centers (New York City, Boston) and rural areas, and in air masses that had not been in contact with land for several days. On average during NEAQS, 75 ± 8% of the sub‐10 μm aerodynamic diameter dry aerosol mass sampled 18 m above the sea surface was in the sub‐1 μm fraction (size cut at 55% RH). The major submicrometer aerosol components were ammonium sulfate and particulate organic matter (POM, defined here as 1.6 times the mass concentration of organic carbon) comprising more than 92 ± 4% of the total mass. Under northwesterly flow with an average submicrometer total mass concentrations of 11 ± 4.5 μg m−3, POM was the dominant component (68 ± 8%) followed by (NH4)xHySO4 (23 ± 8%), inorganic oxidized material (IOM) (6 ± 4%), and EC (3 ± 1%). Under southwesterly flow with an average submicrometer total mass concentrations of 30 ± 11 μg m−3, (NH4)xHySO4 was the dominant component (54 ± 9%) followed by POM (41 ± 9%), IOM (3 ± 2%), and EC (2 ± 1%). Mie calculations using submicrometer nonrefractory (NR) POM and NR (NH4)xHySO4 + H2O size distributions to calculate submicrometer light scattering (σsp) at a wavelength of 550 nm suggest that POM was a dominant chemical component contributing to aerosol light scattering (haze) during NEAQS 2002, and contributed 60 ± 6 % and 57 ± 11 % to σsp at 55% RH during two pollution episodes off the New England Coast. These results are similar to those from the mid‐Atlantic states during TARFOX but contrary to the long‐term monitoring measurements over the continental northeast United States that show the New England haze is primarily a result of sulfate aerosol.

PURPOSE:To prospectively evaluate with magnetic resonance (MR) imaging the acute changes in the heel associated with extracorporeal shock wave therapy (ESWT).MATERIALS AND METHODS:Institutional clinical study review board approved the study, and informed consent was obtained. MR imaging was performed within 24 hours before and after ESWT on 18 feet of 12 patients (eight women and four men; age range, 33-63 years; average, 49.9 years) with chronic plantar fasciitis. ESWT was applied to the most painful point on the plantar surface of the heel, with a total of 1500 shocks at 18 kV. The MR imaging protocol consisted of sagittal and coronal T1- and T2-weighted images with and without fat saturation. The images were reviewed to assess the post-ESWT changes in soft-tissue and bone marrow edema, the thickness of the proximal plantar fascia, and the presence of a heel spur. Paired t test was used for the statistical analysis.RESULTS:Soft-tissue edema, which was present in 16 (89%) of 18 heels before ESWT, had increased in severity in 12 (75%) heels after ESWT. Calcaneus bone marrow edema at the insertion site was observed in eight heels before ESWT. After ESWT, the extant of bone marrow edema had increased in one heel and had newly developed in another heel. The heel spur seen in nine (50%) feet was not affected by ESWT. In 17 (94%) heels, the proximal plantar fascia was abnormally thick, with thickness not significantly changed with use of ESWT (P > .05).CONCLUSION:Increase in soft-tissue edema is the most common acute response associated with ESWT.

Aerosol chemical composition and number size distributions were measured aboard the R/V Ronald H. Brown during the Asian Pacific Regional Aerosol Characterization Experiment (ACE‐Asia) from 14 March to 20 April 2001. This manuscript focuses on the prefrontal and postfrontal air masses sampled aboard the ship in the Sea of Japan between 6 and 15 April 2001 to illustrate the different chemical sources/mixtures off the coast of Asia resulting from the contrasting meteorological transport patterns. The prefrontal air masses had a dominant accumulation mode composed of pollution and volcanic aerosols. The aerosol was predominately ammonium sulfate and organic carbon. Minor amounts of dust were present in the marine boundary layer (MBL) as a result of subsidence from a pronounced Taklimakan dust aerosol layer aloft. The sea salt in both the submicron and supermicron modes was highly depleted in chloride from reaction with sulfuric and nitric acid vapors. The passage of a large low‐pressure center, surrounded by a widespread distribution of airborne dust, on 10 April brought elevated concentrations of submicron and supermicron Gobi desert dust to the ship. The supermicron dust particles contained high concentrations of sulfate, nitrate, organic, and elemental carbon. The MBL aerosol properties and controlling processes described here provide data to evaluate and refine chemical transport models.