Atmospheric sub-3 nm particles at high altitudes

Mirme, Sander; Mirme, A.; Minikin, Andreas; Petzold, A.; Hõrrak, Urmas; Kerminen, Veli‐Matti; Kulmala, Markku

doi:10.5194/acp-10-437-2010

Cited by 99 publications

(83 citation statements)

References 56 publications

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“…The systematic measurements performed within the EUCAARI project support the earlier observations on the contribution of ions to total particle formation in the boreal forest (Laakso et al, 2007b;Kulmala et al, 2007;Gagne et al, 2008;Manninen et al, 2009a) and in other environments (e.g. Mirme et al, 2010;Boulon et al, 2010a, b). The results infer that ion-induced nucleation has a minor contribution to particle formation in the boundary layer in most environments.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 58%

EUCAARI ion spectrometer measurements at 12 European sites – analysis of new particle formation events

et al. 2010

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Abstract. We present comprehensive results on continuous atmospheric cluster and particle measurements in the size range ∼1-42 nm within the European Integrated project on Aerosol Cloud Climate and Air Quality interactions (EU-CAARI) project. We focused on characterizing the spatial and temporal variation of new particle formation events and Correspondence to: H. E. Manninen (hanna.manninen@helsinki.fi) relevant particle formation parameters across Europe. Different types of air ion and cluster mobility spectrometers were deployed at 12 field sites across Europe from March 2008 to May 2009. The measurements were conducted in a wide variety of environments, including coastal and continental locations as well as sites at different altitudes (both in the boundary layer and the free troposphere). New particle formation events were detected at all of the 12 field sites during the year-long measurement period. From the data, Published by Copernicus Publications on behalf of the European Geosciences Union. 7908H. E. Manninen et al.: EUCAARI ion spectrometer measurements nucleation and growth rates of newly formed particles were determined for each environment. In a case of parallel ion and neutral cluster measurements, we could also estimate the relative contribution of ion-induced and neutral nucleation to the total particle formation. The formation rates of charged particles at 2 nm accounted for 1-30% of the corresponding total particle formation rates. As a significant new result, we found out that the total particle formation rate varied much more between the different sites than the formation rate of charged particles. This work presents, so far, the most comprehensive effort to experimentally characterize nucleation and growth of atmospheric molecular clusters and nanoparticles at ground-based observation sites on a continental scale.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 58%

EUCAARI ion spectrometer measurements at 12 European sites – analysis of new particle formation events

et al. 2010

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“…The fraction of ion-mediated nucleation is hence higher than at other sites because of the lower neutral nucleation detected at this high altitude site. This finding is conflictual with the results from Mirme et al (2010) who found no sign of an enhance role of ion-induced nucleation toward the tropopause. It is worth mentioning that our J 2 calculation is a higher limit, since 3 nm particles concentrations detected with the SMPS technique were measured to be lower than the 3 nm particles detected from the NAIS.…”

Section: Charged and Neutral Particle Formation Rates And The Role Ofcontrasting

confidence: 57%

New particle formation and ultrafine charged aerosol climatology at a high altitude site in the Alps (Jungfraujoch, 3580 m a.s.l., Switzerland)

et al. 2010

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Atmospheric Chemistry and PhysicsNew particle formation and ultrafine charged aerosol climatology at a high altitude site in the Alps (Jungfraujoch, 3580 m a.s.l., Switzerland) Abstract. We investigate the formation and growth of charged aerosols clusters at Jungfraujoch, in the Swiss Alps (3580 m a.s.l.), the highest altitude site of the European EU-CAARI project intensive campaign. Charged particles and clusters (0.5 − 1.8 nm) were measured from April 2008 to April 2009 and allowed the detection of nucleation events in this very specific environment (presence of free tropospheric air and clouds). We found that the naturally charged aerosol concentrations, which are dominated by the cluster size class, shows a strong diurnal pattern likely linked to valley breezes transporting surface layer ion precursors, presumably radon. Cosmic rays were found not to be the major ion source at the measurement site. However, at night, when air masses are more representative of free tropospheric conditions, we found that the cluster concentrations are still high. The charged aerosol size distribution and concentration are strongly influenced by the presence of clouds at the station. Clouds should be taken into account when deriving high altitude nucleation statistics. New particle formation occurs on average 17.5% of the measurement period and shows a weak seasonality with a minimum of frequency during winter, but this seasonality is enhanced when the data set is screened forCorrespondence to: J. Boulon (j.boulon@opgc.univ-bpclermont.fr) periods when the atmospheric station is out of clouds. The role of ions in the nucleation process was investigated and we found that the ion-mediated nucleation explains 22.3% of the particle formation. The NPF events frequency is correlated with UV radiation but not with calculated H 2 SO 4 concentrations, suggesting that other compounds such as organic vapors are involved in the nucleation and subsequently growth process. In fact, NPF events frequency also surprisingly increases with the condensational sink (CS), suggesting that at Jungfraujoch, the presence of condensing vapours probably coupled with high CS are driving the occurrence of NPF events. A strong link to the air mass path was also pointed out and events were observed to be frequently occurring in Eastern European air masses, which present the highest condensational sink. In these air masses, pre-existing cluster concentrations are more than three time larger than in other air masses during event days, and no new clusters formation is observed, contrarily to what is happening in other air mass types.

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“…Some of the results from these flights have already been reported for example by Mirme et al (2010). The French ATR-42 has been equipped with state-of-the-art aerosol and cloud instrumentation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

New particle formation events measured on board the ATR-42 aircraft during the EUCAARI campaign

Crumeyrolle¹,

Manninen

Sellegri³

et al. 2010

Atmos. Chem. Phys.

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Abstract. Aerosol properties were studied during an intensive airborne measurement campaign that took place at Rotterdam in Netherlands in May 2008 within the framework of the European Aerosol Cloud Climate and Air Quality Interactions project (EUCAARI). The objective of this study is to illustrate seven events of new particle formation (NPF) observed with two Condensation Particle Counters (CPCs) operated on board the ATR-42 research aircraft in airsectors around Rotterdam, and to provide information on the spatial extent of the new particle formation phenomenon based on 1-s resolution measurements of ultra-fine particle (in the size range 3-10 nm diameter, denoted N 3−10 hereafter) concentrations. The results show that particle production occurred under the influence of different air mass origins, at different day times and over the North Sea as well as over the continent. The number concentration of freshly nucleated particles (N 3−10 ) varied between 5000 and 100 000 cm −3 within the boundary layer (BL). Furthermore the vertical extension for all nucleation events observed on the ATR-42 never exceeded the upper limit of the BL. The horizontal extent of N 3−10 could not be delimited due to inflexible flight plans which could not be modified to accommodate real-time results. However, the NPF events were observed over geographically large areas; typically the horizontal extension was about 100 km and larger.

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Atmospheric sub-3 nm particles at high altitudes

Cited by 99 publications

References 56 publications

EUCAARI ion spectrometer measurements at 12 European sites – analysis of new particle formation events

EUCAARI ion spectrometer measurements at 12 European sites – analysis of new particle formation events

New particle formation and ultrafine charged aerosol climatology at a high altitude site in the Alps (Jungfraujoch, 3580 m a.s.l., Switzerland)

New particle formation events measured on board the ATR-42 aircraft during the EUCAARI campaign

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