1. |
- Yan, C., et al.
(författare)
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Size-dependent influence of NOx on the growth rates of organic aerosol particles
- 2020
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Ingår i: Science Advances. - : American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). - 2375-2548. ; 6:22
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Atmospheric new-particle formation (NPF) affects climate by contributing to a large fraction of the cloud condensation nuclei (CCN). Highly oxygenated organic molecules (HOMs) drive the early particle growth and therefore substantially influence the survival of newly formed particles to CCN. Nitrogen oxide (NOx) is known to suppress the NPF driven by HOMs, but the underlying mechanism remains largely unclear. Here, we examine the response of particle growth to the changes of HOM formation caused by NOx. We show that NOx suppresses particle growth in general, but the suppression is rather nonuniform and size dependent, which can be quantitatively explained by the shifted HOM volatility after adding NOx. By illustrating how NOx affects the early growth of new particles, a critical step of CCN formation, our results help provide a refined assessment of the potential climatic effects caused by the diverse changes of NOx level in forest regions around the globe.
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2. |
- Keskinen, H., et al.
(författare)
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Evolution of Nanoparticle Composition in CLOUD in Presence of Sulphuric Acid, Ammonia and Organics
- 2013
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Ingår i: NUCLEATION AND ATMOSPHERIC AEROSOLS. - : American Institute of Physics (AIP). - 9780735411524 ; , s. 291-294
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- In this study, we investigate the composition of nucleated nanoparticles formed from sulphuric acid, ammonia, amines, and oxidised organics in the CLOUD chamber experiments at CERN. The investigation is carried out via analysis of the particle hygroscopicity (size range of 15-63 nm), ethanol affinity (15-50nm), oxidation state (<50 nm), and ion composition (few nanometers). The organic volume fraction of particles increased with an increase in particle diameter in presence of the sulphuric acid, ammonia and organics. Vice versa, the sulphuric acid volume fraction decreased when the particle diameter increased. The results provide information on the size-dependent composition of nucleated aerosol particles.
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3. |
- Kim, J., et al.
(författare)
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Hygroscopicity of nanoparticles produced from homogeneous nucleation in the CLOUD experiments
- 2016
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Ingår i: Atmospheric Chemistry And Physics. - : Copernicus GmbH. - 1680-7316 .- 1680-7324. ; 16:1, s. 293-304
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Sulfuric acid, amines and oxidized organics have been found to be important compounds in the nucleation and initial growth of atmospheric particles. Because of the challenges involved in determining the chemical composition of objects with very small mass, however, the properties of the freshly nucleated particles and the detailed pathways of their formation processes are still not clear. In this study,we focus on a challenging size range, i.e., particles that have grown to diameters of 10 and 15 nm following nucleation, and measure their water uptake. Water uptake is useful information for indirectly obtaining chemical composition of aerosol particles. We use a nanometer-hygroscopicity tandem differential mobility analyzer (nano-HTDMA) at sub-saturated conditions (ca. 90% relative humidity at 293 K) to measure the hygroscopicity of particles during the seventh Cosmics Leaving OUtdoor Droplets (CLOUD7) campaign performed at CERN in 2012. In CLOUD7, the hygroscopicity of nucleated nanoparticles was measured in the presence of sulfuric acid, sulfuric acid-dimethylamine, and sulfuric acid-organics derived from alpha-pinene oxidation. The hygroscopicity parameter kappa decreased with increasing particle size, indicating decreasing acidity of particles. No clear effect of the sulfuric acid concentration on the hygroscopicity of 10 nm particles produced from sulfuric acid and dimethylamine was observed, whereas the hygroscopicity of 15 nm particles sharply decreased with decreasing sulfuric acid concentrations. In particular, when the concentration of sulfuric acid was 5.1 x 10(6) molecules cm(-3) in the gas phase, and the dimethylamine mixing ratio was 11.8 ppt, the measured kappa of 15 nm particles was 0.31 +/- 0.01: close to the value reported for dimethylaminium sulfate (DMAS) (kappa(DMAS) similar to 0.28). Furthermore, the difference in kappa between sulfuric acid and sulfuric acid-dimethylamine experiments increased with increasing particle size. The kappa values of particles in the presence of sulfuric acid and organics were much smaller than those of particles in the presence of sulfuric acid and dimethylamine. This suggests that the organics produced from alpha-pinene ozonolysis play a significant role in particle growth even at 10 nm sizes.
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4. |
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5. |
- Schrod, J., et al.
(författare)
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Long-term deposition and condensation ice-nucleating particle measurements from four stations across the globe
- 2020
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Ingår i: Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics. - : Copernicus GmbH. - 1680-7316 .- 1680-7324. ; 20:24, s. 15983-16006
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Ice particle activation and evolution have important atmospheric implications for cloud formation, initiation of precipitation and radiative interactions. The initial formation of atmospheric ice by heterogeneous ice nucleation requires the presence of a nucleating seed, an ice-nucleating particle (INP), to facilitate its first emergence. Unfortunately, only a few long-term measurements of INPs exist, and as a result, knowledge about geographic and seasonal variations of INP concentrations is sparse. Here we present data from nearly 2 years of INP measurements from four stations in different regions of the world: the Amazon (Brazil), the Caribbean (Martinique), central Europe (Germany) and the Arctic (Svalbard). The sites feature diverse geographical climates and ecosystems that are associated with dissimilar transport patterns, aerosol characteristics and levels of anthropogenic impact (ranging from near pristine to mostly rural). Interestingly, observed INP concentrations, which represent measurements in the deposition and condensation freezing modes, do not differ greatly from site to site but usually fall well within the same order of magnitude. Moreover, short-term variability overwhelms all long-term trends and/or seasonality in the INP concentration at all locations. An analysis of the frequency distributions of INP concentrations suggests that INPs tend to be well mixed and reflective of large-scale air mass movements. No universal physical or chemical parameter could be identified to be a causal link driving INP climatology, highlighting the complex nature of the ice nucleation process. Amazonian INP concentrations were mostly unaffected by the biomass burning season, even though aerosol concentrations increase by a factor of 10 from the wet to dry season. Caribbean INPs were positively correlated to parameters related to transported mineral dust, which is known to increase during the Northern Hemisphere summer. A wind sector analysis revealed the absence of an anthropogenic impact on average INP concentrations at the site in central Europe. Likewise, no Arctic haze influence was observed on INPs at the Arctic site, where low concentrations were generally measured. We consider the collected data to be a unique resource for the community that illustrates some of the challenges and knowledge gaps of the field in general, while specifically highlighting the need for more long-term observations of INPs worldwide.
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6. |
- Dusek, Ulrike, et al.
(författare)
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Enhanced organic mass fraction and decreased hygroscopicity of cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) during new particle formation events
- 2010
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Ingår i: Geophysical Research Letters. - 1944-8007. ; 37
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In a forested near-urban location in central Germany, the CCN efficiency of particles smaller than 100 nm decreases significantly during periods of new particle formation. This results in an increase of average activation diameters, ranging from 5 to 8% at supersaturations of 0.33% and 0.74%, respectively. At the same time, the organic mass fraction in the sub-100-nm size range increases from approximately 2/3 to 3/4. This provides evidence that secondary organic aerosol (SOA) components are involved in the growth of new particles to larger sizes, and that the reduced CCN efficiency of small particles is caused by the low hygroscopicity of the condensing material. The observed dependence of particle hygroscopicity (k) on chemical composition can be parameterized as a function of organic and inorganic mass fractions (forg, finorg) determined by aerosol mass spectrometry: k = korg forg + kinorg finorg. The obtained value of korg ~ 0.1 is characteristic for SOA, and kinorg ~ 0.7 is consistent with the observed mix of ammonium, sulfate and nitrate ions.
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7. |
- Lehtipalo, Katrianne, et al.
(författare)
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Multicomponent new particle formation from sulfuric acid, ammonia, and biogenic vapors
- 2018
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Ingår i: Science Advances. - : American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). - 2375-2548. ; 4:12
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A major fraction of atmospheric aerosol particles, which affect both air quality and climate, form from gaseous precursors in the atmosphere. Highly oxygenated organic molecules (HOMs), formed by oxidation of biogenic volatile organic compounds, are known to participate in particle formation and growth. However, it is not well understood how they interact with atmospheric pollutants, such as nitrogen oxides (NOx) and sulfur oxides (SOx) from fossil fuel combustion, as well as ammonia (NH3) from livestock and fertilizers. Here, we show how NOx suppresses particle formation, while HOMs, sulfuric acid, and NH3 have a synergistic enhancing effect on particle formation. We postulate a novel mechanism, involving HOMs, sulfuric acid, and ammonia, which is able to closely reproduce observations of particle formation and growth in daytime boreal forest and similar environments. The findings elucidate the complex interactions between biogenic and anthropogenic vapors in the atmospheric aerosol system.
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8. |
- Lehtipalo, Katrianne, et al.
(författare)
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The effect of acid-base clustering and ions on the growth of atmospheric nano-particles
- 2016
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Ingår i: Nature Communications. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2041-1723. ; 7
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The growth of freshly formed aerosol particles can be the bottleneck in their survival to cloud condensation nuclei. It is therefore crucial to understand how particles grow in the atmosphere. Insufficient experimental data has impeded a profound understanding of nano-particle growth under atmospheric conditions. Here we study nano-particle growth in the CLOUD (Cosmics Leaving OUtdoors Droplets) chamber, starting from the formation of molecular clusters. We present measured growth rates at sub-3 nm sizes with different atmospherically relevant concentrations of sulphuric acid, water, ammonia and dimethylamine. We find that atmospheric ions and small acid-base clusters, which are not generally accounted for in the measurement of sulphuric acid vapour, can participate in the growth process, leading to enhanced growth rates. The availability of compounds capable of stabilizing sulphuric acid clusters governs the magnitude of these effects and thus the exact growth mechanism. We bring these observations into a coherent framework and discuss their significance in the atmosphere.
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9. |
- Wagner, Robert, et al.
(författare)
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The role of ions in new particle formation in the CLOUD chamber
- 2017
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Ingår i: Atmospheric Chemistry And Physics. - : Copernicus GmbH. - 1680-7316 .- 1680-7324. ; 17:24, s. 15181-15197
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The formation of secondary particles in the atmosphere accounts for more than half of global cloud condensation nuclei. Experiments at the CERN CLOUD (Cosmics Leaving OUtdoor Droplets) chamber have underlined the importance of ions for new particle formation, but quantifying their effect in the atmosphere remains challenging. By using a novel instrument setup consisting of two nanoparticle counters, one of them equipped with an ion filter, we were able to further investigate the ion-related mechanisms of new particle formation. In autumn 2015, we carried out experiments at CLOUD on four systems of different chemical compositions involving monoterpenes, sulfuric acid, nitrogen oxides, and ammonia. We measured the influence of ions on the nucleation rates under precisely controlled and atmospherically relevant conditions. Our results indicate that ions enhance the nucleation process when the charge is necessary to stabilize newly formed clusters, i.e., in conditions in which neutral clusters are unstable. For charged clusters that were formed by ion-induced nucleation, we were able to measure, for the first time, their progressive neutralization due to recombination with oppositely charged ions. A large fraction of the clusters carried a charge at 1.5 nm diameter. However, depending on particle growth rates and ion concentrations, charged clusters were largely neutralized by ion-ion recombination before they grew to 2.5 nm. At this size, more than 90% of particles were neutral. In other words, particles may originate from ion-induced nucleation, although they are neutral upon detection at diameters larger than 2.5 nm. Observations at Hyytiala, Finland, showed lower ion concentrations and a lower contribution of ion-induced nucleation than measured at CLOUD under similar conditions. Although this can be partly explained by the observation that ion-induced fractions decrease towards lower ion concentrations, further investigations are needed to resolve the origin of the discrepancy.
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10. |
- Almeida, Joao, et al.
(författare)
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Molecular understanding of sulphuric acid-amine particle nucleation in the atmosphere
- 2013
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Ingår i: Nature. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0028-0836 .- 1476-4687. ; 502:7471, s. 359-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Nucleation of aerosol particles from trace atmospheric vapours is thought to provide up to half of global cloud condensation nuclei(1). Aerosols can cause a net cooling of climate by scattering sunlight and by leading to smaller but more numerous cloud droplets, which makes clouds brighter and extends their lifetimes(2). Atmospheric aerosols derived from human activities are thought to have compensated for a large fraction of the warming caused by greenhouse gases(2). However, despite its importance for climate, atmospheric nucleation is poorly understood. Recently, it has been shown that sulphuric acid and ammonia cannot explain particle formation rates observed in the lower atmosphere(3). It is thought that amines may enhance nucleation(4-16), but until now there has been no direct evidence for amine ternary nucleation under atmospheric conditions. Here we use the CLOUD (Cosmics Leaving OUtdoor Droplets) chamber at CERN and find that dimethylamine above three parts per trillion by volume can enhance particle formation rates more than 1,000-fold compared with ammonia, sufficient to account for the particle formation rates observed in the atmosphere. Molecular analysis of the clusters reveals that the faster nucleation is explained by a base-stabilization mechanism involving acid-amine pairs, which strongly decrease evaporation. The ion-induced contribution is generally small, reflecting the high stability of sulphuric acid-dimethylamine clusters and indicating that galactic cosmic rays exert only a small influence on their formation, except at low overall formation rates. Our experimental measurements are well reproduced by a dynamical model based on quantum chemical calculations of binding energies of molecular clusters, without any fitted parameters. These results show that, in regions of the atmosphere near amine sources, both amines and sulphur dioxide should be considered when assessing the impact of anthropogenic activities on particle formation.
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11. |
- Nie, Wei, et al.
(författare)
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NO at low concentration can enhance the formation of highly oxygenated biogenic molecules in the atmosphere
- 2023
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Ingår i: Nature Communications. - Malmö : IVL Svenska Miljöinstitutet AB. - 2041-1723. ; 14:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The interaction between nitrogen monoxide (NO) and organic peroxy radicals (RO2) greatly impacts the formation of highly oxygenated organic molecules (HOM), the key precursors of secondary organic aerosols. It has been thought that HOM production can be significantly suppressed by NO even at low concentrations. Here, we perform dedicated experiments focusing on HOM formation from monoterpenes at low NO concentrations (0 – 82 pptv). We demonstrate that such low NO can enhance HOM production by modulating the RO2 loss and favoring the formation of alkoxy radicals that can continue to autoxidize through isomerization.These insights suggest that HOM yields from typical boreal forest emissions can vary between 2.5%-6.5%, and HOM formation will not be completely inhibited even at high NO concentrations. Our findings challenge the notion that NO monotonically reduces HOM yields by extending the knowledge of RO2-NO interactions to the low-NO regime. This represents a major advance towards an accurate assessment of HOM budgets, especially in low-NO environments, which prevails in the preindustrial atmosphere, pristine areas, and the upper boundary layer.
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12. |
- Wang, Mingyi, et al.
(författare)
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Rapid growth of new atmospheric particles by nitric acid and ammonia condensation
- 2020
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Ingår i: Nature. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0028-0836 .- 1476-4687. ; 581:7807, s. 184-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A list of authors and their affiliations appears at the end of the paper New-particle formation is a major contributor to urban smog(1,2), but how it occurs in cities is often puzzling(3). If the growth rates of urban particles are similar to those found in cleaner environments (1-10 nanometres per hour), then existing understanding suggests that new urban particles should be rapidly scavenged by the high concentration of pre-existing particles. Here we show, through experiments performed under atmospheric conditions in the CLOUD chamber at CERN, that below about +5 degrees Celsius, nitric acid and ammonia vapours can condense onto freshly nucleated particles as small as a few nanometres in diameter. Moreover, when it is cold enough (below -15 degrees Celsius), nitric acid and ammonia can nucleate directly through an acid-base stabilization mechanism to form ammonium nitrate particles. Given that these vapours are often one thousand times more abundant than sulfuric acid, the resulting particle growth rates can be extremely high, reaching well above 100 nanometres per hour. However, these high growth rates require the gas-particle ammonium nitrate system to be out of equilibrium in order to sustain gas-phase supersaturations. In view of the strong temperature dependence that we measure for the gas-phase supersaturations, we expect such transient conditions to occur in inhomogeneous urban settings, especially in wintertime, driven by vertical mixing and by strong local sources such as traffic. Even though rapid growth from nitric acid and ammonia condensation may last for only a few minutes, it is nonetheless fast enough to shepherd freshly nucleated particles through the smallest size range where they are most vulnerable to scavenging loss, thus greatly increasing their survival probability. We also expect nitric acid and ammonia nucleation and rapid growth to be important in the relatively clean and cold upper free troposphere, where ammonia can be convected from the continental boundary layer and nitric acid is abundant from electrical storms(4,5).
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