Eastern pacific emitted aerosol cloud experiment

A coordinated field experiment, the Eastern Pacific Emitted Aerosol Cloud Experiment (E-PEACE) campaign, in which the effects of well-defined aerosol perturbations on marine stratocumulus clouds were probed via in situ aircraft and satellite observations. E-PEACE combined a targeted aircraft campaign off the coast of Monterey in July and August 2011 with embedded ship and satellite observations and modeling studies. The research vessel (R/V) Point Sur was applied to measure the aerosol below cloud and as a platform for well-characterized smoke emissions to produce a uniquely identifiable cloud signature. The Center for Interdisciplinary Remotely-Piloted Aircraft Studies (CIRPAS) Twin Otter aircraft was used with a full payload of instruments to measure particle and cloud droplet number, mass, and composition. The novel aspect of using E-PEACE observations for ACP studies is that the starting point can be constrained with the particle number, size, and composition of emitted particles, and predict their activation in cloud.