Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics www.atmos-chem-phys.net 1680-7316 1680-7324 8 10 2008 10.5194/acp-8-2729-2008 http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/8/2729/2008/ http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/8/2729/2008/acp-8-2729-2008.html http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/8/2729/2008/acp-8-2729-2008.pdf 2729 2739 2008-05-22 Weekly patterns of aerosol in the United States D. M. Murphy daniel.m.murphy@noaa.gov S. L. Capps J. S. Daniel G. J. Frost W. H. White Earth System Research Laboratory, Chemical Sciences Division, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Boulder, CO 80305, USA Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37240, USA Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado Boulder, CO 80309, USA Crocker Nuclear Laboratory, University of California, Davis Davis, CA 95616, USA now at: School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332, USA Data from the Interagency Monitoring of Protected Visual Environments (IMPROVE) network of aerosol samplers and NOAA monitoring sites are examined for weekly cycles. At remote and rural sites, fine particle elemental carbon, crustal elements, and coarse particle mass had pronounced (up to 20%) weekly cycles with minima on Sunday or Monday. Fine particle organic carbon and mass had smaller amplitude cycles, also with Sunday or Monday minima. There was no statistically significant weekly cycle in fine particle sulfate despite a 5 to 15% weekly cycle in power plant SO₂ emissions. Although results for nitrate may be more susceptible to sampling artifacts, nitrate also showed a pronounced weekly cycle with an amplitude similar to elemental carbon. The only species found with a weekend maximum was Pb, probably from general aviation on weekends. Aerosol optical properties at NOAA monitoring sites were consistent with the IMPROVE chemical data, with significant weekly cycles in aerosol light absorption but not light scattering. These results support a large role of diesel emissions in elemental carbon aerosol over the entire United States and suggest that a large fraction of the airborne soil dust is anthropogenic. 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