- Director's Message
- Table of Contents
- Strategic Goals: Science, Facilities & Technology
- 1. Exploring atmospheric, Earth system, and solar processes, variability, and change
- 2. Investigating the interaction of the atmosphere, the broader Earth system, and human society
- 3. Improving prediction of weather, climate, and other atmospheric phenomena
- 4. Developing community models
- 5. Enabling innovative field experiments and measurement campaigns
- 6. Developing new instrumentation
- Research Catalog
Chris Cantrell
General Information
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ACD & TIIMES
Senior Scientist
UTLS - DC3
Contact Information:
PO Box 3000, Boulder, CO 80307-3000
Office: FL0-3534
Tel: 303-497-1479
Email: cantrell@ucar.edu
Windows to the Universe Home Page
POP Group Home Page - Vita
Research Focus FY08:
Inlet configuration for HOx instrumentation on the NASA DC-8 during ARCTAS (2008). The top inlet is for peroxy radicals, and the bottom one is for OH and sulfuric acid. The small stainless tubes provide air inlets that are used to generate ions that are exposed to the sampled air. High resolution figure
The DC3 Field Experiment will characterize the effect of midlatitude, continental convection on the transport and transformation of ozone and its precursors. Along with measurements of hydrogen oxide radicals, their precursors, and nitrogen oxides in both the inflow and outflow regions of deep convection, measurements of cloud microphysical properties, storm kinematics, and lightning discharges will be conducted.
High resolution figure
The fast photochemical processes taking place in the troposphere are central to understanding the removal of trace gases. One important pathway is the reaction of free radicals with hydrocarbons, sulfur- and nitrogen-containing compounds, carbon monoxide and other species. Our research focuses on the development, improvement and deployment of mass spectrometric-based instrumentation for measurement of hydroxyl (OH), hydroperoxy (HO2) and organic peroxy radicals (RO2) (and other species), and interpretation of the data from those deployments.
Background Information:
- HOx Free Radical research and the Photochemical Oxidants and Products (POP) Group
- Photochemical Oxidation and Products (POP) ACD summary
- Laboratory Studies of HO2 Chemistry (Kinetics Group)
The instrumentation and software went through a major redevelopment after being accepted to fly on the NASA DC8 for the Arctic Research of the Composition of the Troposphere from Aircraft and Satellites (ARCTAS) field campaigns in the spring & summer of 2008. Work is also underway to develop a smaller, lighter, and autonomous instrument for future flights on the NCAR-NSF Gulfstream V aircraft (GV, aka HIAPER) aircraft before the Upper Troposphere-Lower Stratosphere (UTLS), Deep Convective Clouds & Chemistry Experiment (DC3) Field experiment planned for 2011.
The Deep Convective Clouds & Chemistry Experiment (DC3 - dee-cee three) study is designed to improve understanding of the role of deep convection in modifying the composition of upper troposphere and lower stratosphere. The PI team consists of Mary Barth (MMM/ACD), Chris Cantrell (ACD), Bill Brune (Pennsylvania State), and Steve Rutledge (Colorado State) who, along with a scientific steering committee composed of university and national laboratory scientists, are leading the planning of a community-wide comprehensive study that will utilize ground-based radars, mesonets, fully configured aircraft platforms and satellite data to address several important scientific questions. A workshop took place in August 2008 and the development of the Scientific and Experimental Overview documents are well underway.
Field Programs FY08:
Chris Cantrell and Becky Anderson of the National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colo., assess an instrument’s operation on NASA's DC-8 aircraft during preparations for the ARCTAS field campaign. Credit: NASA
High resolution figure
Arctic Research of the Composition of the Troposphere from Aircraft and Satellites (ARCTAS)
Spring Deployment: Fairbanks, Alaska, Tulle, Greenland,
Summer Deployment: Cold Lake, Alberta & Palmdale, California
The Arctic Research of the Composition of the Troposphere from Aircraft and Satellites (ARCTAS) field campaign is poised to help scientists identify how air pollution contributes to climate changes in the Arctic. During the spring deployment, which took place in April in Fairbanks, Alaska, scientists gathered information about the effects of Arctic haze, stratosphere-troposphere exchange, and sunrise photochemistry (chemical reactions that occur when sunlight returns to the Arctic in spring). The summer deployments for the DC-8 in July & July utlized two sites, Cold Lake, Alberta and Fairbanks in their invetigation on how emissions from northern wildfires affect the Arctic's atmosphere. In additional, the NOAA P-3B was in Yellowknife during part of the summer deployment.
- ARCTAS: Measuring the Arctic’s Haze and Smoke: NCAR
- NASA Launches Airborne Study of Arctic Atmosphere, Air Pollution: NASA
- ARCTAS: NASA
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The Arctic is undergoing significant environmental changes related to global climate change. NASA is extensively studying the role of air pollution in this climate-sensitive region as part of the ARCTAS field campaign, the largest airborne experiment ever to do so. Credit: NASA
Comparison Study
September 2008, NCAR
Professor Yoshizumi Kajii of Tokyo Metropolitan University and his students brought their HO2/RO2 instrumentation to compare with the ARS PeRCIMS instrument. These comparisons were conducted in the FL0 laboratory and included calibrator exchanges and side-by-side measurements of ambient air.
Community Service FY08:
- Associate Editor: Journal of Geophysical Research - Atmospheres
- Langley Atmospheric Composition Review, NASA Langley
- NASA Atmospheric Composition Laboratory Studies Proposal Panel, NASA Headquarters
Scientific Talks FY08:
- Behavior of Peroxy Radicals as measured on the C-130 during MIRAGE (Boulder, CO, June 2008)
- Role of Tropospheric Photochemistry in the Earth System (Boulder, CO, October 2007)
Publications FY08:
Cantrell, C., 2008: Technical Note: Review of methods for linear least-squares fitting of data and application to atmospheric chemistry problems. Atmos. Chem. Phys., 8, 5477-5487.1
Shon, Z. H., S. Madronich, S.-K. Song, F. M. Flocke, D. J. Knapp, R. S. Anderson, R. E. Shetter, C. A. Cantrell, S. R. Hall, 2008: Characteristics of the NO-NO2-O3 system in different chemical regimes during the MIRAGE-Mex field campaign. Atmos. Chem. Phys. Discuss., 8, 2275-2309.4