Lake Champlain

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Lake Champlain the Adirondacks from Burlington
VT CAMNET
FASTNET Event Report 040203NENitrate
Winter PM Event over the Northeast and
Quebec Nitrate? Sulfate?
Contributed by the FASNET Community Correspondence
to R Poirot, R Husar
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Recent PM 2.5 Events in Burlington, VT on
2/19-20/04 3/1/04 (by FDMS TEOM which includes
Volatile PM missed by SES TEOMs)
Note Volatile Fine Mass of 15-25 ug/m3 on event
days
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VT FDMS TEOMs have generally shown good agreement
with FRM Mass (but not on 3/1/04 FRM day, when
TEOM gt FRM by about 10 ug/m3). One possible
interpretation could be loss of volatile Nitrate
from FRM filters.
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Burlington, VT AQI gt 100 was New England Max on
2/19 ( 3/1), although similar ( even higher) PM
2.5 was reported in Southern Quebec.
At LAcadie, Quebec (SE of Montreal), collocated
BAM and 30 deg SES TEOM showed BAM gt TEOM by
15-30 ug/m2 (data from Michel Bisson) Tom Dann
observed similar differences of 15-25 ug/m3 for
colo BAM SES TEOM in Ottawa on 2/19/03
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High Fine Mass in Gt. Lakes on 2/29 and then in
VT on 3/1
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Weather Research and Forecasting Model (WRF)
PM-2.5 NOx, 2/28-3/1/04
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Continuous Nitrate of 15 to 20 ug/m3 observed in
Toronto on 2/19 2/29 (data from Jeff Brook)
Similarly High Nitrate of 15 to 20 ug/m3 in
Chicago on 2/18/03 (data from Donna Kenski
Chris Price
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Extreme Haze observed by ASOS in BTV on 2/19 20
and 3/1/04 (these data are not RH-adjusted - from
STI CAPITA FASTNET) Note Similar
conditions all along Eastern US/Canada border.
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(No Transcript)
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Over the Upper Midwest, between Feb. 15-19, the
dew point temperature increased from 20 to 30
F Similarly, the temperature rose from 10 to
40 F. the over four days, causing a rapid taw
through out the region
Interestingly, the rise in aerosol Bext during
Feb 16-19 coincided with the rising temperatures
and humidity. Is there a causality?? Possible
nitrate release?
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Weather Research and Forecasting Model (WRF)
PM-2.5 NOx, 2/18-20/04
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Transport generally parallels US/Canada Border
for both events (Note low HY-SPLIT start heights
employed because Mx Ht was very low for both
events. Transport Plus Local Stagnation were
likely contributors)
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NRL NAAPS global forecast model patterns for Dust
SO4 (no NO3 modeled) are consistent with
surface Obs from RH-adjusted Bext. How much of
Northern event was SO4 or NO3? Did the dust
contribute too? What will STN, IMPROVE Canadian
filters show?
SOUTHLAND, Texas (AP) -- Thick, reddish-brown
dust swirled over parts of West Texas,
contributing to a series of traffic accidents
that killed two people and injured dozens of
others. As many as 30 vehicles crashed Thursday
(2/19) on U.S. Highway 84 between Southland and
Post, about 20 miles southeast of Lubbock, said
Cpl. John Gonzalez with the Department of Public
Safety.
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Real-time Surface Meteorology provided a rich met
context.Link to the Animation of the period Feb
19-21