scholarly journals Aerosol hygroscopicity and cloud condensation nuclei activity during the AC<sup>3</sup>Exp campaign: implications for cloud condensation nuclei parameterization

2014 ◽  
Vol 14 (24) ◽  
pp. 13423-13437 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. Zhang ◽  
Y. Li ◽  
Z. Li ◽  
L. Sun ◽  
R. Li ◽  
...  

Abstract. Aerosol hygroscopicity and cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) activity under background conditions and during pollution events are investigated during the Aerosol-CCN-Cloud Closure Experiment (AC3Exp) campaign conducted at Xianghe, China in summer 2013. A gradual increase in size-resolved activation ratio (AR) with particle diameter (Dp) suggests that aerosol particles have different hygroscopicities. During pollution events, the activation diameter (Da) measured at low supersaturation (SS) was significantly increased compared to background conditions. An increase was not observed when SS was > 0.4%. The hygroscopicity parameter (κ) was ~ 0.31–0.38 for particles in accumulation mode under background conditions. This range in magnitude of κ was ~ 20%, higher than κ derived under polluted conditions. For particles in nucleation or Aitken mode, κ ranged from 0.20–0.34 for background and polluted cases. Larger particles were on average more hygroscopic than smaller particles. The situation was more complex for heavy pollution particles because of the diversity in particle composition and mixing state. A non-parallel observation CCN closure test showed that uncertainties in CCN number concentration estimates ranged from 30–40%, which are associated with changes in particle composition as well as measurement uncertainties associated with bulk and size-resolved CCN methods. A case study showed that bulk CCN activation ratios increased as total condensation nuclei (CN) number concentrations (NCN) increased on background days. The background case also showed that bulk AR correlated well with the hygroscopicity parameter calculated from chemical volume fractions. On the contrary, bulk AR decreased with increasing total NCN during pollution events, but was closely related to the fraction of the total organic mass signal at m/z 44 (f44), which is usually associated with the particle's organic oxidation level. Our study highlights the importance of chemical composition in determining particle activation properties and underlines the significance of long-term observations of CCN under different atmospheric environments, especially regions with heavy pollution.

2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (23) ◽  
pp. 11839-11851 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. Friedman ◽  
A. Zelenyuk ◽  
J. Beranek ◽  
G. Kulkarni ◽  
M. Pekour ◽  
...  

Abstract. Measurements of cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) concentrations, single particle composition and size distributions at a high-elevation research site from March 2011 are presented. The temporal evolution of detailed single particle composition is compared with changes in CCN activation on four days, two of which include new particle formation and growth events. Sulfate-containing particles dominated the single particle composition by number; biomass burning particles, sea salt particles, and particles containing organic components were also present. CCN activation largely followed the behavior of the sulfate-containing particle types; biomass burning particle types also likely contained hygroscopic material that impacted CCN activation. Newly formed particles also may contribute to CCN activation at higher supersaturation conditions. Derived aerosol hygroscopicity parameters from the size distribution and CCN concentration measurements are within the range of previous reports of remote continental kappa values.


2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (7) ◽  
pp. 18277-18306 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. Friedman ◽  
A. Zelenyuk ◽  
J. Beránek ◽  
G. Kulkarni ◽  
M. Pekour ◽  
...  

Abstract. Measurements of cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) concentrations, single particle composition and size distributions at a high-elevation research site from March 2011 are presented. The temporal evolution of detailed single particle composition is compared with changes in CCN activation on four days, two of which include new particle formation and growth events. Sulfate-containing particles dominated the single particle composition by number; biomass burning particles, sea salt particles, and particles containing organic components also were present. CCN activation largely followed the behavior of the sulfate-containing particle types; biomass burning particle types also likely contained hygroscopic material that impacted CCN activation. Newly formed particles also may contribute to CCN activation at higher supersaturation conditions. Derived aerosol hygroscopicity parameters from the size distribution and CCN concentration measurements are within the range of previous reports of remote continental kappa values.


2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia Burkart ◽  
Megan D. Willis ◽  
Heiko Bozem ◽  
Jennie L. Thomas ◽  
Kathy Law ◽  
...  

Abstract. The Arctic is extremely sensitive to climate change. Shrinking sea ice extent increases the area covered by open ocean during Arctic summer, which impacts the surface albedo and aerosol and cloud properties among many things. In this context extensive aerosol measurements (aerosol composition, particle number and size, cloud condensation nuclei, and trace gases) were made during 11 flights of the NETCARE July, 2014 airborne campaign conducted from Resolute Bay, Nunavut (74N, 94W). Flights routinely included vertical profiles from about 60 to 3000 m a.g.l. as well as several low-level horizontal transects over open ocean, fast ice, melt ponds, and polynyas. Here we discuss the vertical distribution of ultrafine particles (UFP, particle diameter, dp: 5–20 nm), size distributions of larger particles (dp: 20 nm to 1 μm), and cloud condensation nuclei (CCN, supersaturation = 0.6 %) in relation to meteorological conditions and underlying surfaces. UFPs were observed predominantly within the boundary layer, where concentrations were often several hundreds to a few thousand particles per cubic centimeter. Occasionally, particle concentrations below 10 cm−3 were found. The highest UFP concentrations were observed above open ocean and at the top of low-level clouds, whereas numbers over ice-covered regions were substantially lower. Overall, UFP formation events were frequent in a clean boundary layer with a low condensation sink. In a few cases this ultrafine mode extended to sizes larger than 40 nm, suggesting that these UFP can grow into a size range where they can impact clouds and therefore climate.


2003 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 949-982 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Pradeep Kumar ◽  
K. Broekhuizen ◽  
J. P. D. Abbatt

Abstract. The ability of sub-micron-sized organic acid particles to act as cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) has been examined at room temperature using a newly constructed continuous-flow, thermal-gradient diffusion chamber (TGDC). The organic acids studied were: oxalic, malonic, glutaric, oleic and stearic. The CCN properties of the highly soluble acids – oxalic, malonic and glutaric – match very closely Kohler theory predictions which assume full dissolution of the dry particle and a surface tension of the growing droplet equal to that of water. In particular, for supersaturations between 0.3 and 0.6, agreement between the dry particle diameter which gives 50% activation and that calculated from Kohler theory is to within 3 nm on average. In the course of the experiments, considerable instability of glutaric acid particles was observed as a function of time and there is evidence that they fragment to some degree to smaller particles. Stearic acid and oleic acid, which are both highly insoluble in water, did not activate at supersaturations of 0.6% with dry diameters up to 140 nm. Finally, to validate the performance of the TGDC, we present results for the activation of ammonium sulfate particles that demonstrate good agreement with Kohler theory if solution non-ideality is considered. Our findings support earlier studies in the literature that showed highly soluble organics to be CCN active but insoluble species to be largely inactive.


2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (10) ◽  
pp. 5911-5922 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hing Cho Cheung ◽  
Charles Chung-Kuang Chou ◽  
Celine Siu Lan Lee ◽  
Wei-Chen Kuo ◽  
Shuenn-Chin Chang

Abstract. The chemical composition of fine particulate matter (PM2.5), the size distribution and number concentration of aerosol particles (NCN), and the number concentration of cloud condensation nuclei (NCCN) were measured at the northern tip of Taiwan during an intensive observation experiment from April 2017 to March 2018. The parameters of aerosol hygroscopicity (i.e., activation ratio, activation diameter and kappa of CCN) were retrieved from the measurements. Significant variations were found in the hygroscopicity of aerosols (kappa – κ – of 0.18–0.56, for water vapor supersaturation – SS – of 0.12 %–0.80 %), which were subject to various pollution sources, including aged air pollutants originating in eastern and northern China and transported by the Asian continental outflows and fresh particles emitted from local sources and distributed by land–sea breeze circulations as well as produced by processes of new particle formation (NPF). Cluster analysis was applied to the back trajectories of air masses to investigate their respective source regions. The results showed that aerosols associated with Asian continental outflows were characterized by lower NCN and NCCN values and by higher kappa values of CCN, whereas higher NCN and NCCN values with lower kappa values of CCN were observed in the aerosols associated with local air masses. Besides, it was revealed that the kappa value of CCN exhibited a decrease during the early stage of an event of new particle formation, which turned to an increasing trend over the later period. The distinct features in the hygroscopicity of aerosols were found to be consistent with the characteristics in the chemical composition of PM2.5. This study has depicted a clear seasonal characteristic of hygroscopicity and CCN activity under the influence of a complex mixture of pollutants from different regional and/or local pollution sources. Nevertheless, the mixing state and chemical composition of the aerosols critically influence the aerosol hygroscopicity, and further investigations are necessary to elucidate the atmospheric processing involved in the CCN activation in coastal areas.


2004 ◽  
Vol 4 (8) ◽  
pp. 2119-2143 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Rissler ◽  
E. Swietlicki ◽  
J. Zhou ◽  
G. Roberts ◽  
M. O. Andreae ◽  
...  

Abstract. Sub-micrometer atmospheric aerosol particles were studied in the Amazon region, 125 km northeast of Manaus, Brazil (-1°55.2'S, 59°28.1'W). The measurements were performed during the wet-to-dry transition period, 4-28 July 2001 as part of the LBA (Large-Scale Biosphere Atmosphere Experiment in Amazonia) CLAIRE-2001 (Cooperative LBA Airborne Regional Experiment) experiment. The number size distribution was measured with two parallel differential mobility analyzers, the hygroscopic growth at 90% RH with a Hygroscopic Tandem Mobility Analyzer (H-TDMA) and the concentrations of cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) with a cloud condensation nuclei counter. A model was developed that uses the H-TDMA data to predict the number of soluble molecules or ions in the individual particles and the corresponding minimum particle diameter for activation into a cloud droplet at a certain supersaturation. Integrating the number size distribution above this diameter, CCN concentrations were predicted with a time resolution of 10 min and compared to the measured concentrations. During the study period, three different air masses were identified and compared: clean background, air influenced by aged biomass burning, and moderately polluted air from recent local biomass burning. For the clean period 2001, similar number size distributions and hygroscopic behavior were observed as during the wet season at the same site in 1998, with mostly internally mixed particles of low diameter growth factor (~1.3 taken from dry to 90% RH). During the periods influenced by biomass burning the hygroscopic growth changed slightly, but the largest difference was seen in the number size distribution. The CCN model was found to be successful in predicting the measured CCN concentrations, typically within 25%. A sensitivity study showed relatively small dependence on the assumption of which model salt that was used to predict CCN concentrations from H-TDMA data. One strength of using H-TDMA data to predict CCN concentrations is that the model can also take into account soluble organic compounds, insofar as they go into solution at 90% RH. Another advantage is the higher time resolution compared to using size-resolved chemical composition data.


2011 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 19683-19727 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. H. Kim ◽  
S. S. Yum ◽  
S. Shim ◽  
S.-C. Yoon ◽  
J. G. Hudson ◽  
...  

Abstract. Aerosol size distribution, total concentration (i.e., condensation nuclei (CN) concentration, NCN), cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) concentration (NCCN), hygroscopicity at ~90 % relative humidity (RH) were measured at a background monitoring site at Gosan, Jeju Island, south of the Korea Peninsula in August 2006, April to May 2007 and August to October 2008. Similar measurement took place in August 2009 at another background site (Baengnyeongdo Comprehensive Monitoring Observatory, BCMO) on the island of Baengnyeongdo, off the west coast of the Korean Peninsula. Both islands were found to be influenced by continental sources regardless of season and year. Average values for all of the measured NCCN at 0.2, 0.6 and 1.0 % supersaturations (S), NCN, and geometric mean diameter (Dg) from both islands were in the range of 1043–3051 cm−3, 2076–4360 cm−3, 2713–4694 cm−3, 3890–5117 cm−3 and 81–98 nm, respectively. Although the differences in Dg and NCN were small between Gosan and BCMO, NCCN at various S was much higher at the latter, which is closer to China. Most of the aerosols were internally mixed and no notable differences in hygroscopicity were found between the days of strong pollution influence and the non-pollution days for both islands. During the 2008 and 2009 campaigns, critical supersaturation for cloud nucleation (Sc) for selected particle sizes was measured. Particles of 100 nm diameters had mean Sc of 0.19 ± 0.02 % during 2008 and those of 81 and 110 nm diameters had mean Sc of 0.26 ± 0.07 % and 0.17 ± 0.04 %, respectively, during 2009. Hygroscopicity parameters estimated from the measured Sc were mostly higher than the ones from the measured hygroscopic growth at ~90 % RH. For the 2008 campaign, NCCN at 0.2, 0.6 and 1.0 % S were predicted based on the measured dry particle size distribution and various ways of representing aerosol hygroscopicity. The best closure was obtained when temporally varying and size-resolved hygroscopicity information from HTDMA was used, for which the average relative deviations from the measured values were 19 % for 1.0 % S and 28 % for 0.2 % S. Prescribing a constant hygroscopicity parameter suggested in literature (κ = 0.3) for all sizes and time resulted in the average relative deviations, 25–40 %. When constant hygroscopicity was assumed, the relative deviation tended to increase with decreasing NCCN, which was accompanied by increase of sub-100 nm fraction. These results suggest that hygroscopicity information for aerosols of diameters smaller than 100 nm is crucial for more accurate prediction of NCCN.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pauli Paasonen ◽  
Maija Peltola ◽  
Jenni Kontkanen ◽  
Heikki Junninen ◽  
Veli-Matti Kerminen ◽  
...  

Abstract. Growth of aerosol particles to sizes at which they can act as cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) is a crucial factor in estimating the current and future impacts of aerosol cloud climate interactions. Growth rates are typically determined for particles with diameters (dP) smaller than 40 nm immediately after a regional new particle formation (NPF) event. These growth rates are often taken as representatives for the particle growth until CCN sizes (dP > 50–100 nm). In modelling frameworks, the concentration of the condensable vapours causing the growth is typically calculated with steady state assumptions, where the condensation sink is the only loss term for the vapours. Additionally, the growth to CCN sizes is represented with the condensation of extremely low-volatile vapours and gas-particle partitioning of semi-volatile vapours. Here, we use a novel automatic method to determine growth rates (GR) from below 10 nm to hundreds of nanometres from a 20-years long particle size distribution data set in Boreal forest. With this method, we are able to detect growth rates also at other times than immediately after a NPF event. We show that the GR increases with an increasing oxidation rate of monoterpenes, which is closely coupled with the ambient temperature. Based on our analysis, the oxidation reactions of monoterpenes with ozone, hydroxyl radical and nitrate radical all are capable of producing vapours that contribute to the particle growth in the studied size ranges. We find that GR increases with particle diameter, resulting in up to three-fold GRs for particles with dP ~ 100 nm in comparison to those with dP ~ 10 nm. We use a single particle model to show that this increase in GR can be explained with aerosol-phase reactions, in which semi-volatile vapours form non-volatile dimers. Finally, our analysis reveals that the GR of particles with dP 


2014 ◽  
Vol 14 (18) ◽  
pp. 10267-10282 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. W. Meng ◽  
M. C. Yeung ◽  
Y. J. Li ◽  
B. Y. L. Lee ◽  
C. K. Chan

Abstract. The cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) properties of atmospheric aerosols were measured on 1–30 May 2011 at the HKUST (Hong Kong University of Science and Technology) Supersite, a coastal site in Hong Kong. Size-resolved CCN activation curves, the ratio of number concentration of CCN (NCCN) to aerosol concentration (NCN) as a function of particle size, were obtained at supersaturation (SS) = 0.15, 0.35, 0.50, and 0.70% using a DMT (Droplet Measurement Technologies) CCN counter (CCNc) and a TSI scanning mobility particle sizer (SMPS). The mean bulk size-integrated NCCN ranged from ~500 cm−3 at SS = 0.15% to ~2100 cm−3 at SS = 0.70%, and the mean bulk NCCN / NCN ratio ranged from 0.16 at SS = 0.15% to 0.65 at SS = 0.70%. The average critical mobility diameters (D50) at SS = 0.15, 0.35, 0.50, and 0.70% were 116, 67, 56, and 46 nm, respectively. The corresponding average hygroscopic parameters (κCCN) were 0.39, 0.36, 0.31, and 0.28. The decrease in κCCN can be attributed to the increase in organic to inorganic volume ratio as particle size decreases, as measured by an Aerodyne high resolution time-of-flight aerosol mass spectrometer (HR-ToF-AMS). The κCCN correlates reasonably well with κAMS_SR based on size-resolved AMS measurements: κAMS_SR = κorg × forg + κinorg × finorg, where forg and finorg are the organic and inorganic volume fractions, respectively, κorg = 0.1 and κinorg = 0.6, with a R2 of 0.51. In closure analysis, NCCN was estimated by integrating the measured size-resolved NCN for particles larger than D50 derived from κ assuming internal mixing state. Estimates using κAMS_SR show that the measured and predicted NCCN were generally within 10% of each other at all four SS. The deviation increased to 26% when κAMS was calculated from bulk PM1 AMS measurements of particles because PM1 was dominated by particles of 200 to 500 nm in diameter, which had a larger inorganic fraction than those of D50 (particle diameter < 200 nm). A constant κ = 0.33 (the average value of κAMS_SR over the course of campaign) was found to give an NCCN prediction within 12% of the actual measured values. We also compared NCCN estimates based on the measured average D50 and the average size-resolved CCN activation ratio to examine the relative importance of hygroscopicity and mixing state. NCCN appears to be relatively more sensitive to the mixing state and hygroscopicity at a high SS = 0.70% and a low SS = 0.15%, respectively.


2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (24) ◽  
pp. 15545-15567 ◽  
Author(s):  
Franz Friebel ◽  
Prem Lobo ◽  
David Neubauer ◽  
Ulrike Lohmann ◽  
Saskia Drossaart van Dusseldorp ◽  
...  

Abstract. The largest contributors to the uncertainty in assessing the anthropogenic contribution in radiative forcing are the direct and indirect effects of aerosol particles on the Earth's radiative budget. Soot particles are of special interest since their properties can change significantly due to aging processes once they are emitted into the atmosphere. Probably the largest obstacle for the investigation of these processes in the laboratory is the long atmospheric lifetime of 1 week, requiring tailored experiments that cover this time span. This work presents results on the ability of two types of soot, obtained using a miniCAST soot generator, to act as cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) after exposure to atmospherically relevant levels of ozone (O3) and humidity. Aging times of up to 12 h were achieved by successful application of the continuous-flow stirred tank reactor (CSTR) concept while allowing for size selection of particles prior to the aging step. Particles of 100 nm diameter and rich in organic carbon (OC) that were initially CCN inactive showed significant CCN activity at supersaturations (SS) down to 0.3 % after 10 h of exposure to 200 ppb of O3. While this process was not affected by different levels of relative humidity in the range of 5 %–75 %, a high sensitivity towards the ambient/reaction temperature was observed. Soot particles with a lower OC content required an approximately 4-fold longer aging duration to show CCN activity at the same SS. Prior to the slow change in the CCN activity, a rapid increase in the particle diameter was detected which occurred within several minutes. This study highlights the applicability of the CSTR approach for the simulation of atmospheric aging processes, as aging durations beyond 12 h can be achieved in comparably small aerosol chamber volumes (<3 m3). Implementation of our measurement results in a global aerosol-climate model, ECHAM6.3-HAM2.3, showed a statistically significant increase in the regional and global CCN burden and cloud droplet number concentration.


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