Monitoring Cloud Water Chemistry (including Organics) at Whiteface Mountain

Whiteface Mountain (WFM) in the Northern Upstate New York has an important history in cloud water chemistry observations. Most of the chemistry that been studied has focused on inorganic ions, with respect to large scale deposition in the Adirondack Mountains, and throughout the country. Clouds and aerosols are tied together and play important roles in climate and atmospheric chemistry, but significant uncertainty remains about aerosol-cloud interactions. Aerosols play an important role in the formation of clouds, by acting as condensation nuclei. Clouds, in turn, play an important role in the removal of aerosols by wet deposition. Clouds can also play important roles in the composition of aerosols, allowing for aqueous phase chemistry to occur, thereby changing the aerosol upon evaporation. While the inorganic chemistry of clouds and aerosols is relatively well understood, the chemistry of organic constituents, which makes up a majority of both aerosol and cloud water mass loadings in the modern day, is much more complex and requires further study.

This poster is a summary of work that has been done in the summer of 2018 to utilize and expand upon a system to monitor cloud water composition at WFM. Our work continues the longterm measurement of inorganic ions, along with measurements of total dissolved organic carbon, which began in 2009. In addition, routine measurement of organic acids have been added, as these chemical constituents make up a large percentage of any single type of organic molecule found in cloud water. A filtration system was installed to remove microbes in the cloud water that could potentially change the chemical composition over time. Tests of the system and preliminary results from the cloud water collected during 2018 are highlighted.