Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences

Science Rendezvous > Posters
The presenter is listed in italics. All poster presentations are the property of their respective authors. Please contact the authors for permission to use images, information, or ideas.

Particulate emissions from commercial shipping: Chemical, physical, and optical properties

Daniel A. Lack,1,2 James J. Corbett,3 Timothy Onasch,4 Brian Lerner,1,2 Paola Massoli,1,2 Patricia K. Quinn,5 Timothy S. Bates,5 David S. Covert,6 Derek Coffman,5 Berko Sierau,6,7 Scott Herndon,4 James Allan,8 Tahllee Baynard,1,2,9 Edward Lovejoy,1 A.

1Chemical Sciences Division, Earth System Research Laboratory, NOAA, Boulder, Colorado, USA. 2Also at Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, USA. 3College of Marine and Earth Studies, U

Commercial shipping operations contribute combustion emissions across local, regional and global scales, burn low quality fuels and are subject to some of the most relaxed emission regulations. This is significant when one considers that commercial shipping is thought to contribute 15% of global anthropogenic NOX and ~ 10% of global anthropogenic SOX. Aerosol emissions from shipping are known to have effects on cloud formation and health yet the uncertainty associated with these emissions is large. In fact, most emission factors for aerosol emissions are calculated from indirect measurements.
Here we present a database of emission factors for most of the relevant climate and health related parameters from over 200 unique commercial shipping vessels. Data were collected in the Gulf of Mexico and Houston area during the 2006 GoMACCS field campaign on-board the NOAA research vessel Ronald H Brown.
Measurements presented include emission factors for black carbon (BC), organic aerosol (OA), sulfate (SO4), particle number (CN) and total aerosol (as the sum of BC, OA and SO4). Of the vessels encountered, a diverse array of vessels types were sampled, including tug boats, bulk carriers, cargo carriers and passenger ships. It was found that tug boats emit more than double the amount of BC than other vessels, while vessels at dock were found to emit as much aerosol as similar vessels underway; both of these results have significance for air quality in ports. The results presented extend the range of directly measured aerosol emission factors for commercial shipping vessels well beyond existing measurements. These results will find immediate application in improving the certainty of emissions of aerosols from shipping.