Abstract
Abstract. Aircraft-based lidar measurements of atmospheric aerosol and ozone were conducted to study air pollution from the oil sands extraction industry in northern Alberta. Significant amounts of aerosol were observed in the polluted air within the surface boundary layer, up to heights of 1 to 1.6 km above ground. The ozone mixing ratio measured in the polluted boundary layer air directly above the oil sands industry was equal to or less than the background ozone mixing ratio. On one of the flights, the lidar measurements detected a layer of forest fire smoke above the surface boundary layer in which the ozone mixing ratio was substantially greater than the background. Measurements of the linear depolarization ratio in the aerosol backscatter were obtained with a ground-based lidar and this aided in the discrimination between the separate emission sources from industry and forest fires. The retrieval of ozone abundance from the lidar measurements required the development of a method to account for the interference from the substantial aerosol content within the polluted boundary layer.
Highlights
The oil sands mining and upgrading facilities in northern Alberta are a known source of air pollution (Simpson et al, 2010; Liggio et al, 2016)
A lidar instrument for measurements of atmospheric aerosol and ozone was developed for field deployment. It was installed on a Twin Otter aircraft for a flight campaign to study the impact of air pollution from the oil sands extraction industry in northern Alberta
A correction for the interference of aerosol was required for the retrieval of ozone concentration from the UV differential absorption lidar measurements in polluted air
Summary
The oil sands mining and upgrading facilities in northern Alberta are a known source of air pollution (Simpson et al, 2010; Liggio et al, 2016). This paper concerns the measurement technique and results of airborne lidar measurements of aerosol and ozone that were contributed to the JOSM field campaign during August 2013. Emissions from the oil sands facility stacks and mining operations include nitrogen oxides (NO and NO2), sulfur dioxide (SO2), sulfate (SO4), methane (CH4), carbon dioxide (CO2), carbon monoxide (CO), particulate matter, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and secondary organic aerosol (SOA) (Simpson et al, 2010; Davies, 2012; Howell et al, 2014; Liggio et al, 2016; Li et al, 2017; Baray et al, 2018). The measurement technique, analysis methods, results, and interpretation are described
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