| 1. |
- Yan, C., et al.
(author)
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Size-dependent influence of NOx on the growth rates of organic aerosol particles
- 2020
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In: Science Advances. - : American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). - 2375-2548. ; 6:22
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)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.
(author)
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Evolution of Nanoparticle Composition in CLOUD in Presence of Sulphuric Acid, Ammonia and Organics
- 2013
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In: NUCLEATION AND ATMOSPHERIC AEROSOLS. - : American Institute of Physics (AIP). - 9780735411524 ; , s. 291-294
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)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. |
- Ahlm, Lars, et al.
(author)
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Modeling the thermodynamics and kinetics of sulfuric acid-dimethylamine-water nanoparticle growth in the CLOUD chamber
- 2016
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In: Aerosol Science and Technology. - : Informa UK Limited. - 0278-6826 .- 1521-7388. ; 50:10, s. 1017-1032
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Dimethylamine (DMA) has a stabilizing effect on sulfuric acid (SA) clusters, and the SA and DMA molecules and clusters likely play important roles in both aerosol particle formation and growth in the atmosphere. We use the monodisperse particle growth model for acid-base chemistry in nanoparticle growth (MABNAG) together with direct and indirect observations from the CLOUD4 and CLOUD7 experiments in the cosmics leaving outdoor droplets (CLOUD) chamber at CERN to investigate the size and composition evolution of freshly formed particles consisting of SA, DMA, and water as they grow to 20nm in dry diameter. Hygroscopic growth factors are measured using a nano-hygroscopicity tandem differential mobility analyzer (nano-HTDMA), which combined with simulations of particle water uptake using the thermodynamic extended-aerosol inorganics model (E-AIM) constrain the chemical composition. MABNAG predicts a particle-phase ratio between DMA and SA molecules of 1.1-1.3 for a 2nm particle and DMA gas-phase mixing ratios between 3.5 and 80 pptv. These ratios agree well with observations by an atmospheric-pressure interface time-of-flight (APi-TOF) mass spectrometer. Simulations with MABNAG, direct observations of the composition of clusters <2nm, and indirect observations of the particle composition indicate that the acidity of the nucleated particles decreases as they grow from approximate to 1 to 20nm. However, MABNAG predicts less acidic particles than suggested by the indirect estimates at 10nm diameter using the nano-HTDMA measurements, and less acidic particles than observed by a thermal desorption chemical ionization mass spectrometer (TDCIMS) at 10-30nm. Possible explanations for these discrepancies are discussed.
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| 4. |
- Lehtipalo, Katrianne, et al.
(author)
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Multicomponent new particle formation from sulfuric acid, ammonia, and biogenic vapors
- 2018
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In: Science Advances. - : American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). - 2375-2548. ; 4:12
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)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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| 5. |
- Almeida, Joao, et al.
(author)
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Molecular understanding of sulphuric acid-amine particle nucleation in the atmosphere
- 2013
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In: Nature. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0028-0836 .- 1476-4687. ; 502:7471, s. 359-
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)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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| 6. |
- Lehtipalo, Katrianne, et al.
(author)
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The effect of acid-base clustering and ions on the growth of atmospheric nano-particles
- 2016
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In: Nature Communications. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2041-1723. ; 7
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)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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| 7. |
- Wagner, Robert, et al.
(author)
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The role of ions in new particle formation in the CLOUD chamber
- 2017
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In: Atmospheric Chemistry And Physics. - : Copernicus GmbH. - 1680-7316 .- 1680-7324. ; 17:24, s. 15181-15197
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)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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