scholarly journals On the annual variability of Antarctic aerosol size distributions at Halley research station

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Lachlan-Cope ◽  
David Beddows ◽  
Neil Brough ◽  
Anna E. Jones ◽  
Roy M. Harrison ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Particle Number ◽  
Climate Models ◽  
Sea Salt ◽  
Research Station ◽  
Size Distributions ◽  
Dimethyl Sulphide ◽  
Particle Size Distributions ◽  
Antarctic Region ◽  
Sea Salt Aerosol ◽  
Data Coverage

Abstract. The Southern Ocean and Antarctic region currently best represent one of the few places left on our planet with conditions similar to the preindustrial age. Currently, climate models have low ability to simulate conditions forming the aerosol baseline; a major uncertainty comes from the lack of understanding of aerosol size distributions and their dynamics. Contrasting studies stress that primary sea-salt aerosol can contribute significantly to the aerosol population, challenging the concept of climate biogenic regulation by new particle formation (NPF) from dimethyl sulphide marine emissions. We present a statistical cluster analysis of the physical characteristics of particle size distributions (PSD) collected at Halley (Antarctica) for the year 2015 (89 % data coverage). By applying the Hartigan-Wong k-Means method we find 8 clusters describing the entire aerosol population. Three clusters show pristine average low particle number concentrations (

scholarly journals On the annual variability of Antarctic aerosol size distributions at Halley Research Station

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (7) ◽  
pp. 4461-4476 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Lachlan-Cope ◽  
David C. S. Beddows ◽  
Neil Brough ◽  
Anna E. Jones ◽  
Roy M. Harrison ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Particle Number ◽  
Particle Formation ◽  
Sea Salt ◽  
Sea Spray ◽  
Substantial Part ◽  
Research Station ◽  
Size Distributions ◽  
Blowing Snow ◽  
New Particle Formation ◽  
The Antarctic

Abstract. The Southern Ocean and Antarctic region currently best represent one of the few places left on our planet with conditions similar to the preindustrial age. Currently, climate models have a low ability to simulate conditions forming the aerosol baseline; a major uncertainty comes from the lack of understanding of aerosol size distributions and their dynamics. Contrasting studies stress that primary sea salt aerosol can contribute significantly to the aerosol population, challenging the concept of climate biogenic regulation by new particle formation (NPF) from dimethyl sulfide marine emissions. We present a statistical cluster analysis of the physical characteristics of particle size distributions (PSDs) collected at Halley (Antarctica) for the year 2015 (89 % data coverage; 6–209 nm size range; daily size resolution). By applying the Hartigan–Wong k-mean method we find eight clusters describing the entire aerosol population. Three clusters show pristine average low particle number concentrations (< 121–179 cm−3) with three main modes (30, 75–95 and 135–160 nm) and represent 57 % of the annual PSD (up to 89 %–100 % during winter and 34 %–65 % during summer based on monthly averages). Nucleation and Aitken mode PSD clusters dominate summer months (September–January, 59 %–90 %), whereas a clear bimodal distribution (43 and 134 nm, respectively; Hoppel minimum at mode 75 nm) is seen only during the December–April period (6 %–21 %). Major findings of the current work include: (1) NPF and growth events originate from both the sea ice marginal zone and the Antarctic plateau, strongly suggesting multiple vertical origins, including the marine boundary layer and free troposphere; (2) very low particle number concentrations are detected for a substantial part of the year (57 %), including summer (34 %–65 %), suggesting that the strong annual aerosol concentration cycle is driven by a short temporal interval of strong NPF events; (3) a unique pristine aerosol cluster is seen with a bimodal size distribution (75 and 160 nm, respectively), strongly associated with high wind speed and possibly associated with blowing snow and sea spray sea salt, dominating the winter aerosol population (34 %–54 %). A brief comparison with two other stations (Dome C – Concordia – and King Sejong Station) during the year 2015 (240 d overlap) shows that the dynamics of aerosol number concentrations and distributions are more complex than the simple sulfate–sea-spray binary combination, and it is likely that an array of additional chemical components and processes drive the aerosol population. A conceptual illustration is proposed indicating the various atmospheric processes related to the Antarctic aerosols, with particular emphasis on the origin of new particle formation and growth.

scholarly journals Physical and chemical properties of the regional mixed layer of Mexico's Megapolis – Part 2: Evaluation of measured and modeled trace gases and particle size distributions

2012 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 9813-9856
Author(s):  
C. Ochoa ◽  
D. Baumgardner ◽  
M. Grutter ◽  
J. Allan ◽  
J. Fast ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Particle Size ◽  
Mixed Layer ◽  
Climate Models ◽  
Transport Model ◽  
Trace Gases ◽  
Research Station ◽  
Size Distributions ◽  
Particle Size Distributions ◽  
Accumulation Mode ◽  
Mountain Site

Abstract. This study extends the work of Baumgardner et al. (2009) in which measurements of trace gases and particles, at a remote, high altitude mountain site, 60 km from Mexico City were analyzed with respect to the origin of the air masses. In the current evaluation, the temperature, water vapor, ozone (O3), carbon monoxide (CO), acyl peroxy nitrate (APN) and particle size distributions (PSDs) of the mass concentrations of sulfate, nitrate, ammonium and organic mass (OM) were simulated with the WRF-Chem chemical transport model and compared with the measurements at the mountain site. The model predictions of the diurnal trends of the gases were well correlated with the measurements before the regional mixed layer (RML) reached the measurement site but underestimated the concentration after that time. The differences are caused by an over rapid growth of the boundary layer by the model and too much dilution. There also is more O3 being actually produced by photochemical production downwind of the emission sources than predicted by the model. The measured and modeled PSDs compare very well with respect to their general shape and diameter of the peak concentrations. The spectra are lognormal with most of the mass in the accumulation mode and the geometric diameter centered at 200±20 nm, showing little observed or predicted change with respect to the time when the RML is above the Altzomoni research station. Only the total mass changed with time and air mass origin. The invariability of average diameter of the accumulation mode suggests that there is very little growth of the particles by condensation or coagulation past about six hours of aging downwind of the major sources of anthropogenic emissions in Mexico's Megapolis. This could greatly simplify parameterization in climate models although it is not known at this time if this invariance can be extended to other megacity regions.

scholarly journals Improving the simulation of global aerosol with size-segregated anthropogenic number emissions

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Filippo Xausa ◽  
Pauli Paasonen ◽  
Risto Makkonen ◽  
Mikhail Arshinov ◽  
Aijun Ding ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Particle Number ◽  
Climate Models ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Dominant Role ◽  
Particle Diameter ◽  
Radiation Budget ◽  
Size Distributions ◽  
Anthropogenic Aerosol ◽  
Accumulation Mode ◽  
Climate Interactions

Abstract. Climate models are important tools that are used for generating climate change projections, in which aerosol-climate interactions are one of the main sources of uncertainties. In order to quantify aerosol-radiation and aerosol-cloud interactions, detailed input of anthropogenic aerosol number emissions is necessary. However, the anthropogenic aerosol number emissions are usually converted from the corresponding mass emissions in precompiled emission inventories through a very simplistic method depending uniquely on chemical composition, particle size and density, which are defined for a few very wide main source sectors. In this work, the anthropogenic particle number emissions converted from the AeroCom mass in the ECHAM-HAM climate model were replaced with the recently-formulated number emissions from the Greenhouse Gas and Air Pollution Interactions and Synergies (GAINS)-model, where the emission number size distributions vary, for example, with respect to the fuel and technology. A special attention in our analysis was put on accumulation mode particles (particle diameter dp > 100 nm) because of (i) their capability of acting as cloud condensation nuclei (CCN), thus forming cloud droplets and affecting Earth's radiation budget, and (ii) their dominant role in forming the coagulation sink and thus limiting the concentration of sub-100 nanometers particles. In addition, the estimates of anthropogenic CCN formation, and thus the forcing from aerosol-climate interactions are expected to be affected. Analysis of global particle number concentrations and size distributions reveal that GAINS implementation increases CCN concentration compared with AeroCom, with regional enhancement factors reaching values as high as 10. A comparison between modeled and observed concentrations shows that the increase in number concentration for accumulation mode particle agrees well with measurements, but it leads to a consistent underestimation of both nucleation mode and Aitken mode (dp > 100 nm) particle number concentrations. This suggests that revisions are needed in the new particle formation and growth schemes currently applied in global modeling frameworks.

scholarly journals Size-resolved particle number emissions in Beijing determined from measured particle size distributions

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (19) ◽  
pp. 11329-11348 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jenni Kontkanen ◽  
Chenjuan Deng ◽  
Yueyun Fu ◽  
Lubna Dada ◽  
Ying Zhou ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Particle Size ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Particle Number ◽  
Aerosol Particles ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
Integrated Assessment Model ◽  
Assessment Model ◽  
Size Distributions ◽  
Particle Size Distributions ◽  
Measured Particle

Abstract. The climate and air quality effects of aerosol particles depend on the number and size of the particles. In urban environments, a large fraction of aerosol particles originates from anthropogenic emissions. To evaluate the effects of different pollution sources on air quality, knowledge of size distributions of particle number emissions is needed. Here we introduce a novel method for determining size-resolved particle number emissions, based on measured particle size distributions. We apply our method to data measured in Beijing, China, to determine the number size distribution of emitted particles in a diameter range from 2 to 1000 nm. The observed particle number emissions are dominated by emissions of particles smaller than 30 nm. Our results suggest that traffic is the major source of particle number emissions with the highest emissions observed for particles around 10 nm during rush hours. At sizes below 6 nm, clustering of atmospheric vapors contributes to calculated emissions. The comparison between our calculated emissions and those estimated with an integrated assessment model GAINS (Greenhouse Gas and Air Pollution Interactions and Synergies) shows that our method yields clearly higher particle emissions at sizes below 60 nm, but at sizes above that the two methods agree well. Overall, our method is proven to be a useful tool for gaining new knowledge of the size distributions of particle number emissions in urban environments and for validating emission inventories and models. In the future, the method will be developed by modeling the transport of particles from different sources to obtain more accurate estimates of particle number emissions.

scholarly journals Modelling sea salt aerosol and its direct and indirect effects on climate

2007 ◽  
Vol 7 (5) ◽  
pp. 14939-14987 ◽  
Author(s):  
X. Ma ◽  
K. von Salzen ◽  
J. Li
Keyword(s):  
Radiative Forcing ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Global Climate Model ◽  
Sea Salt ◽  
Size Distributions ◽  
Size Dependent ◽  
Sea Salt Aerosol ◽  
Direct Forcing ◽  
Log Normal

Abstract. A size-dependent sea salt aerosol parameterization was developed based on the piecewise log-normal approximation (PLA) for aerosol size distributions. Results of this parameterization from simulations with a global climate model produce good agreement with observations at the surface and for vertically-integrated volume size distributions. The global and annual mean of the sea salt burden is 10.1 mg m−2. The direct radiative forcing is calculated to be −1.52 and −0.60 W m−2 for clear sky and all sky, respectively. The first indirect radiative forcing is about twice as large as the direct forcing for all-sky (−1.34 W m−2). The results also show that the total indirect forcing of sea salt is −2.9 W m−2 if climatic feedbacks are taken into account. The sensitivity of the forcings to changes in the burdens and sizes of sea salt particles was also investigated based on additional simulations with a different sea salt source function.

scholarly journals Particle number concentrations and size distribution in a polluted megacity: The Delhi Aerosol Supersite study

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shahzad Gani ◽  
Sahil Bhandari ◽  
Kanan Patel ◽  
Sarah Seraj ◽  
Prashant Soni ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Particulate Matter ◽  
Ultrafine Particles ◽  
Particle Number ◽  
Fine Particulate Matter ◽  
Size Distributions ◽  
Particle Size Distributions ◽  
Time Resolved ◽  
Fine Particulate ◽  
National Capital ◽  
Order Of Magnitude

Abstract. The Indian national capital, Delhi, routinely experiences some of the world's highest urban particulate matter concentrations. While fine particulate matter (PM2.5) mass concentrations in Delhi are at least an order of magnitude higher than in many western cities, the particle number (PN) concentrations are not similarly elevated. Here we report on 1.25 years of highly time resolved particle size distributions (PSD) data in the size range of 12–560 nm. We observed that the large number of accumulation mode particles – that constitute most of the PM2.5 mass – also contributed substantially to the PN concentrations. The ultrafine particles (UFP, Dp 

scholarly journals A statistical analysis of North East Atlantic (submicron) aerosol size distributions

2011 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 21677-21711 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Dall'Osto ◽  
C. Monahan ◽  
R. Greaney ◽  
D. C. S. Beddows ◽  
R. M. Harrison ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Number Concentration ◽  
Open Ocean ◽  
Research Station ◽  
Marine Biota ◽  
Size Distributions ◽  
East Atlantic ◽  
Air Masses ◽  
North East ◽  
Data Coverage ◽  
Aitken Mode

Abstract. The Global Atmospheric Watch research station at Mace Head (Ireland) offers the possibility to sample some of the cleanest air masses being imported into Europe as well as some of the most polluted being exported out of Europe. We present a statistical Cluster~analysis of the physical characteristics of aerosol size distributions in air ranging from the cleanest to the most polluted for the year 2008. Data coverage achieved was 75 % throughout the year. By applying the Hartigan-Wong k-Means method, 12 Clusters were identified as systematically occurring and these 12 Clusters could be further combined into 4 categories with similar characteristics, namely: coastal nucleation category (occurring 21.3 % of the time), open ocean nucleation category (occurring 32.6 % of the time), background clean marine category (occurring 26.1 % of the time) and anthropogenic category (occurring 20 % of the time) aerosol size distributions. The coastal nucleation category is characterised by a clear and dominant nucleation mode at sizes less that 10 nm while the open ocean nucleation category is characterised by a dominant Aitken mode between 15 nm and 50 nm. The background clean marine characteristic is a clear bimodality in the size distribution, although it should be noted that either the Aitken mode or the Accumulation mode may dominate the number concentration. By contrast, the continentally-influenced size distributions are generally more mono-modal, albeit with traces of bi-modality. The open ocean category occurs more often during May, June and July, corresponding with the N. E. Atlantic high biological period. Combined with the relatively high percentage frequency of occurrence (32.6 %), this suggests that the marine biota is an important source of new aerosol particles in N. E. Atlantic Air.

scholarly journals Particle formation at a continental background site: comparison of modelresults with observations

2002 ◽  
Vol 2 (6) ◽  
pp. 2413-2448
Author(s):  
U. Uhrner ◽  
W. Birmili ◽  
F. Stratmann ◽  
M. Wilck ◽  
I. J. Ackermann ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Particle Size ◽  
Sulphuric Acid ◽  
Particle Number ◽  
Particle Formation ◽  
Rural Site ◽  
Size Distributions ◽  
Correction Factors ◽  
Convective Conditions ◽  
Particle Size Distributions ◽  
Measured Particle

Abstract. At Hohenpeissenberg (47°48'N, 11°07'E, 988 m asl), a rural site 200-300 m higher than the surrounding terrain, sulphuric acid concentrations, particle size distributions, and other trace gas concentrations were measured over a two and a half year period. Measured particle number concentrations and inferred particle surface area-concentrations were compared with box-model simulations based on a multimodal lognormal aerosol module that included a binary sulphuric acid water nucleation scheme. The calculated nucleation rates were corrected with a factor to match measured particle number concentrations. These corrections varied over a range of 10-3 - 1017. The correction factors were close to 1 for the measurements made in the winter, which represented stable thermal stratification and low wind conditions. In contrast, the correction factors were the largest for measurements made under strong convective conditions. Our comparison of measured and simulated particle size distributions suggest a distant particle-formation process under convective conditions near the interface of the mixed layer and the entrainment zone, followed by downward transport and particle growth. For stable stratification and low winds, our comparisons suggest that particles formed close to the measurement site.

Distributions of Micro- and Nano-Sized Particles Under Decaying Turbulence in a Chamber

2003 ◽  
Author(s):  
Z. Charlie Zheng ◽  
N. Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Particle Number ◽  
Particle Number Density ◽  
Particle Sizes ◽  
Size Distributions ◽  
Number Density ◽  
Particle Size Distributions ◽  
Integral Scales ◽  
Decaying Turbulence ◽  
Collision Kernels ◽  
Rectangular Chamber

Distributions of particles from micro- to nano-sizes in a rectangular chamber are investigated under the influence of an impulsively-started, decaying turbulence generated by a jet. The unsteady, compressible flowfield is simulated using a k-ε model and the related turbulence scales are analyzed. Stokes numbers, based on the turbulence microscales and integral scales, are used as the selection criteria for turbulence collision kernels. Population balance models are then used to calculate the particle size distributions. Histories of particle number density at several locations in the chamber have been compared with different initial particle sizes under different jet speeds. Lower coagulation rates have been shown to relate with lower jet speeds.

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