Air Force F-16 Aircraft Engine Aerosol Emissions Under Cruise Altitude Conditions

Selected results from the June 1997 Third Subsonic Assessment Near-Field Interactions Flight (SNIF-III) Experiment are documented. The primary objectives of the SNIF-III experiment were to determine the partitioning and abundance of sulfur species and to examine the formation and growth of aerosol particles in the exhaust of F-16 aircraft as a function of atmospheric and aircraft operating conditions and fuel sulfur concentration. This information is, in turn, being used to address questions regarding the fate of aircraft fuel sulfur impurities and to evaluate the potential of their oxidation products to perturb aerosol concentrations and surface areas in the upper troposphere. SNIF-III included participation of the Vermont and New Jersey Air National Guard F-16's as source aircraft and the Wallops Flight Facility T-39 Sabreliner as the sampling platform. F-16's were chosen as a source aircraft because they are powered by the modern F-100 Series 220 engine which is projected to be representative of future commercial aircraft engine technology. The T-39 instrument suite included sensors for measuring volatile and non-volatile condensation nuclei (CN), aerosol size distributions over the range from 0.1 to 3.0 (micro)m, 3-D winds, temperature, dewpoint, carbon dioxide (CO2), sulfur dioxide (SO2), sulfuric acid (H2SO4), and nitric acid (HNO3).