Ion-induced sulfuric acid–ammonia nucleation drives particle formation in coastal Antarctica

Jokinen, Tuija; Sipilä, Mikko; Kontkanen, Jenni; Vakkari, Ville; Tisler, Priit; Duplissy, Ella‐Maria; Junninen, Heikki; Kangasluoma, Juha; Manninen, Hanna E.; Petäj̈ä, Tuukka; Kulmala, Markku; Worsnop, Douglas R.; Kirkby, J.; Virkkula, Aki; Kerminen, Veli‐Matti

doi:10.1126/sciadv.aat9744

Cited by 124 publications

(178 citation statements)

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“…For the ammonia‐ternary nucleation, the contribution of ion nucleation is small at temperatures between 208 and 248 K when ammonia is present at several pptv or higher, but the presence of ions significantly enhances J for higher temperatures independent of ammonia levels (Kürten et al, ). Ion nucleation of sulfuric acid and ammonia was recently suggested to drive NPF in the coastal Antarctica (Jokinen et al, ).…”

Section: Nucleation and Growth Mechanisms: New Results From Laboratormentioning

confidence: 99%

New Particle Formation in the Atmosphere: From Molecular Clusters to Global Climate

et al. 2019

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New particle formation (NPF) represents the first step in the complex processes leading to formation of cloud condensation nuclei. Newly formed nanoparticles affect human health, air quality, weather, and climate. This review provides a brief history, synthesizes recent significant progresses, and outlines the challenges and future directions for research relevant to NPF. New developments include the emergence of state‐of‐the‐art instruments that measure prenucleation clusters and newly nucleated nanoparticles down to about 1 nm; systematic laboratory studies of multicomponent nucleation systems, including collaborative experiments conducted in the Cosmics Leaving Outdoor Droplets chamber at CERN; observations of NPF in different types of forests, extremely polluted urban locations, coastal sites, polar regions, and high‐elevation sites; and improved nucleation theories and parameterizations to account for NPF in atmospheric models. The challenges include the lack of understanding of the fundamental chemical mechanisms responsible for aerosol nucleation and growth under diverse environments, the effects of SO2 and NOx on NPF, and the contribution of anthropogenic organic compounds to NPF. It is also critical to develop instruments that can detect chemical composition of particles from 3 to 20 nm and improve parameterizations to represent NPF over a wide range of atmospheric conditions of chemical precursor, temperature, and humidity.

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Section: Nucleation and Growth Mechanisms: New Results From Laboratormentioning

confidence: 99%

New Particle Formation in the Atmosphere: From Molecular Clusters to Global Climate

et al. 2019

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“…The measurements reported here were made at the British Antarctic Survey's Halley VI station (75 • 36 S, 26 • 11 W), located in coastal Antarctica, on the floating Brunt Ice Shelf ∼ 20 km from the coast of the Weddell Sea. A variety of measurements were made from the Clean Air Sector Laboratory (CASLab), which is located about 1 km south-east of the station (Jones et al, 2008).…”

Section: Locationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Both instruments sampled from the CASLab's central, isokinetic, aerosol stack (200 mm inside diameter -i.d. -stainless steel; see Jones et al (2008) for details).…”

Section: Smps and Cpcmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

et al. 2020

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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 illustra-Published by Copernicus Publications on behalf of the European Geosciences Union. 4462T. Lachlan-Cope et al.: Annual variability of Antarctic aerosol size distributions tion is proposed indicating the various atmospheric processes related to the Antarctic aerosols, with particular emphasis on the origin of new particle formation and growth.

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“…For example, diatoms, picoplankton (i.e., Synechococcus and Prochlorococcus) and most nanoeucaryotes are known to be DMS(P)-poor species. Conversely, Phaeocystis and dinoflagellates have a high cellular DMSP content and many of them possess a DMSP cleavage enzyme that can convert DMSP into gaseous DMS (Keller et al, 1989;Stefels et al, 2007;Park et al, 2014b). The conversion of cellular DMSP into DMS is controlled by not only the concentration of DMSP but also, more importantly, by the DMSP cleavage enzyme.…”

Section: Biological Characteristics Surrounding the Observation Sitementioning

confidence: 99%

New particle formation events observed at the King Sejong Station, Antarctic Peninsula – Part 2: Link with the oceanic biological activities

et al. 2019

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Marine biota is an important source of atmospheric aerosol particles in the remote marine atmosphere. However, the relationship between new particle formation and marine biota is poorly quantified. Long-term observations (from 2009 to 2016) of the physical properties of atmospheric aerosol particles measured at the Antarctic Peninsula (King Sejong Station; 62.2 • S, 58.8 • W) and satellitederived estimates of the biological characteristics were analyzed to identify the link between new particle formation and marine biota. New particle formation events in the Antarctic atmosphere showed distinct seasonal variations, with the highest values occurring when the air mass originated from the ocean domain during the productive austral summer (December, January and February). Interestingly, new particle formation events were more frequent in the air masses that originated from the Bellingshausen Sea than in those that originated from the Weddell Sea. The monthly mean number concentration of nanoparticles (2.5-10 nm in diameter) was > 2-fold higher when the air masses passed over the Bellingshausen Sea than the Weddell Sea, whereas the biomass of phytoplankton in the Weddell Sea was more than ∼ 70 % higher than that of the Bellingshausen Sea during the austral summer period. Dimethyl sulfide (DMS) is of marine origin and its oxidative products are known to be one of the major components in the formation of new particles. Both satellitederived estimates of the biological characteristics (dimethylsulfoniopropionate, DMSP; precursor of DMS) and phyto-plankton taxonomic composition and in situ methanesulfonic acid (84 daily measurements during the summer period in 2013 and 2014) analysis revealed that DMS(P)-rich phytoplankton were more dominant in the Bellingshausen Sea than in the Weddell Sea. Furthermore, the number concentration of nanoparticles was positively correlated with the biomass of phytoplankton during the period when DMS(P)-rich phytoplankton predominate. These results indicate that oceanic DMS emissions could play a key role in the formation of new particles; moreover, the taxonomic composition of phytoplankton could affect the formation of new particles in the Antarctic Ocean.

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Ion-induced sulfuric acid–ammonia nucleation drives particle formation in coastal Antarctica

Abstract: Antarctica is producing atmospheric aerosol of its own from trace gases emitted by the coastal flora and fauna.

Cited by 124 publications

References 40 publications

New Particle Formation in the Atmosphere: From Molecular Clusters to Global Climate

New Particle Formation in the Atmosphere: From Molecular Clusters to Global Climate

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

New particle formation events observed at the King Sejong Station, Antarctic Peninsula – Part 2: Link with the oceanic biological activities

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