Summary and First Results from Atmospheric Emissions and Reactions Observed from Megacities to Marine Areas (AEROMMA 2023)

Recent research reveals major gaps in our understanding of both urban and marine chemistry. In urban atmospheres, volatile chemical products (VCPs = coatings, adhesives, inks, personal care products, cleaning agents, etc.) are emerging as a major source of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) [McDonald et al., 2018]. Field measurements in New York City revealed that fragranced consumer products and other VCPs account for over half of the anthropogenic VOC emissions, and enhance formation of ground-level ozone during a heatwave event [Coggon et al., 2020]. In addition, starting summer 2023 NASA’s TEMPO satellite collects hourly air quality data from a geostationary orbit over the United States.

To improve our understanding of emissions and chemical reactions that affect climate and air quality, the NOAA Chemical Sciences Laboratory has conducted the Atmospheric Emissions and Reactions Observed from Megacities to Marine Areas (AEROMMA) field campaign in summer 2023 to collect new observations from megacities to marine environments. AEROMMA2023 is a comprehensive study investigating anthropogenic and marine emissions that alter tropospheric composition using the NASA DC-8 aircraft together with various ground sites and a multi-agency collaboration with other projects under the combined AGES+ umbrella in summer 2023.

For AEROMMA, the DC-8 aircraft was flown as the in-situ observation platform in close coordination with the NASA G-V and G-III aircraft as the remote sensing platforms and under NASA’s TEMPO satellite to investigate air quality and greenhouse gases in New York (4 flights), Chicago (5 flights), Toronto (2 flights), the Central Valley (2 flights), and Los Angeles (3 flights). The flights were used to determine emissions, ozone formation, and VOC oxidation. This presentation will give an overview of AEROMMA and present first science results.