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.[1] Humic-like substances (HULIS) constitute a significant fraction of aerosol particles in different environments. Studies of the role of HULIS in hygroscopic growth and cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) activity of aerosol particles are scarce, and results differ significantly. In this work the hygroscopic growth and CCN activity of water extracts (WE) and HULIS extracted from particulate matter (PM) collected at a polluted urban site (Copenhagen, Denmark), a rural site (Melpitz, Germany) and the remote site Storm Peak Laboratory (Colorado, USA) were investigated. Measurements of inorganic ions, elemental carbon, organic carbon and water soluble organic carbon (WSOC) within the PM confirmed that the sources of aerosol particles most likely differed for the three samples. The hygroscopic properties of the filtered WE were characterized by hygroscopicity parameters for subsaturated conditions (k GF ) of 0.25, 0.41 and 0.22, and for supersaturated conditions k CCN were 0.23, 0.29 and 0.22 respectively for the urban, rural and remote WE samples. The measured hygroscopic growth and CCN activity were almost identical for the three HULIS samples and could be well represented by k GF = 0.07 and k CCN = 0.08-0.10 respectively. Small amounts of inorganic ions were present in the HULIS samples so the actual values for pure HULIS are expected to be slightly lower (k GF * = 0.04-0.06 and k CCN * = 0.07-0.08). The HULIS samples are thus less hygroscopic compared to most previous studies. To aid direct comparison of hygroscopic properties of HULIS from different studies, we recommend that the fraction of inorganic species in the HULIS samples always is measured and reported.Citation: Kristensen, T. B., et al. (2012), Hygroscopic growth and CCN activity of HULIS from different environments,

[1] A combined field and laboratory study was conducted to improve our understanding of the chemical and hygroscopic properties of organic compounds in aerosols sampled in the background continental atmosphere. PM 2.5 (particles with aerodynamic diameters smaller than 2.5 mm) aerosols were collected from 24 June to 28 July 2010 at Storm Peak Laboratory (SPL) in the Park Range of northwestern Colorado. New particle formation (NPF) was frequent at SPL during this campaign, and the samples were not influenced by regional dust storms. Filter samples were analyzed for organic carbon (OC) and elemental carbon (EC), water soluble OC (WSOC), major inorganic ions, and detailed organic speciation. WSOC was isolated from inorganic ions using solid phase absorbents. Hygroscopic growth factors (GFs) and cloud condensation nucleus (CCN) activity of the WSOC were measured in the laboratory. Organic compounds compose the majority (average of 64% with a standard deviation (SD) of 9%) of the mass of measured species and WSOC accounted for an average of 89% (with a SD of 21%) of OC mass. Daily samples were composited according to back trajectories. On average, organic acids, sugars, and sugar alcohols accounted for 12.5 AE 6.2% (average AE SD) of WSOC. Based on the composition of these compounds and that of high molecular weight compounds identified using ultra high resolution mass spectrometry, the organic mass to OC ratio of the WSOC is estimated to be 2.04. The average hygroscopic GFs at RH = 80% (GF 80 ) were 1.10 AE 0.03 for particles derived from isolated WSOC and 1.27 AE 0.03 for particles derived from the total water-soluble material (WSM). CCN activity followed a similar pattern. The critical diameters at a super-saturation of 0.35% were 0.072 AE 0.009 and 0.094 AE 0.006 mm for particles derived from WSM and isolated WSOC, respectively. These GF results compare favorably with estimates from thermodynamic models, which explicitly relate the water activity (RH) to concentration for the total soluble material identified in this study.

Time-evolving partitioning effects on surface tension and bulk water activity cancel out in Köhler predictions of CCN activation of mixed NAFA–NaCl particles.

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