| 1. |
- Kulmala, M., et al.
(author)
-
General overview: European Integrated project on Aerosol Cloud Climate and Air Quality interactions (EUCAARI) - integrating aerosol research from nano to global scales
- 2011
-
In: Atmospheric Chemistry And Physics. - : Copernicus GmbH. - 1680-7316 .- 1680-7324. ; 11:24, s. 13061-13143
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In this paper we describe and summarize the main achievements of the European Aerosol Cloud Climate and Air Quality Interactions project (EUCAARI). EUCAARI started on 1 January 2007 and ended on 31 December 2010 leaving a rich legacy including: (a) a comprehensive database with a year of observations of the physical, chemical and optical properties of aerosol particles over Europe, (b) comprehensive aerosol measurements in four developing countries, (c) a database of airborne measurements of aerosols and clouds over Europe during May 2008, (d) comprehensive modeling tools to study aerosol processes fron nano to global scale and their effects on climate and air quality. In addition a new Pan-European aerosol emissions inventory was developed and evaluated, a new cluster spectrometer was built and tested in the field and several new aerosol parameterizations and computations modules for chemical transport and global climate models were developed and evaluated. These achievements and related studies have substantially improved our understanding and reduced the uncertainties of aerosol radiative forcing and air quality-climate interactions. The EUCAARI results can be utilized in European and global environmental policy to assess the aerosol impacts and the corresponding abatement strategies.
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| 2. |
- Asmi, A., et al.
(author)
-
Aerosol decadal trends - Part 2: In-situ aerosol particle number concentrations at GAW and ACTRIS stations
- 2013
-
In: Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics. - : Copernicus GmbH. - 1680-7324. ; 13:2, s. 895-916
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We have analysed the trends of total aerosol particle number concentrations (N) measured at long-term measurement stations involved either in the Global Atmosphere Watch (GAW) and/or EU infrastructure project ACTRIS. The sites are located in Europe, North America, Antarctica, and on Pacific Ocean islands. The majority of the sites showed clear decreasing trends both in the full-length time series, and in the intra-site comparison period of 2001-2010, especially during the winter months. Several potential driving processes for the observed trends were studied, and even though there are some similarities between N trends and air temperature changes, the most likely cause of many northern hemisphere trends was found to be decreases in the anthropogenic emissions of primary particles, SO2 or some co-emitted species. We could not find a consistent agreement between the trends of N and particle optical properties in the few stations with long time series of all of these properties. The trends of N and the proxies for cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) were generally consistent in the few European stations where the measurements were available. This work provides a useful comparison analysis for modelling studies of trends in aerosol number concentrations.
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| 3. |
- Beddows, D. C. S., et al.
(author)
-
Variations in tropospheric submicron particle size distributions across the European continent 2008-2009
- 2014
-
In: Atmospheric Chemistry And Physics. - : Copernicus GmbH. - 1680-7316 .- 1680-7324. ; 14:8, s. 4327-4348
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Cluster analysis of particle number size distributions from background sites across Europe is presented. This generated a total of nine clusters of particle size distributions which could be further combined into two main groups, namely: a south-to-north category (four clusters) and a west-to-east category (five clusters). The first group was identified as most frequently being detected inside and around northern Germany and neighbouring countries, showing clear evidence of local afternoon nucleation and growth events that could be linked to movement of air masses from south to north arriving ultimately at the Arctic contributing to Arctic haze. The second group of particle size spectra proved to have narrower size distributions and collectively showed a dependence of modal diameter upon the longitude of the site (west to east) at which they were most frequently detected. These clusters indicated regional nucleation (at the coastal sites) growing to larger modes further inland. The apparent growth rate of the modal diameter was around 0.6-0.9 nm h(-1). Four specific air mass back-trajectories were successively taken as case studies to examine in real time the evolution of aerosol size distributions across Europe. While aerosol growth processes can be observed as aerosol traverses Europe, the processes are often obscured by the addition of aerosol by emissions en route. This study revealed that some of the 24 stations exhibit more complex behaviour than others, especially when impacted by local sources or a variety of different air masses. Overall, the aerosol size distribution clustering analysis greatly simplifies the complex data set and allows a description of aerosol aging processes, which reflects the longer-term average development of particle number size distributions as air masses advect across Europe.
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| 4. |
- Lappalainen, H. K., et al.
(author)
-
Overview: Recent advances in the understanding of the northern Eurasian environments and of the urban air quality in China - a Pan-Eurasian Experiment (PEEX) programme perspective
- 2022
-
In: Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics. - : Copernicus GmbH. - 1680-7316 .- 1680-7324. ; 22:7, s. 4413-4469
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The Pan-Eurasian Experiment (PEEX) Science Plan, released in 2015, addressed a need for a holistic system understanding and outlined the most urgent research needs for the rapidly changing Arctic-boreal region. Air quality in China, together with the long-range transport of atmospheric pollutants, was also indicated as one of the most crucial topics of the research agenda. These two geographical regions, the northern Eurasian Arctic-boreal region and China, especially the megacities in China, were identified as a "PEEX region". It is also important to recognize that the PEEX geographical region is an area where science-based policy actions would have significant impacts on the global climate. This paper summarizes results obtained during the last 5 years in the northern Eurasian region, together with recent observations of the air quality in the urban environments in China, in the context of the PEEX programme. The main regions of interest are the Russian Arctic, northern Eurasian boreal forests (Siberia) and peatlands, and the megacities in China. We frame our analysis against research themes introduced in the PEEX Science Plan in 2015. We summarize recent progress towards an enhanced holistic understanding of the land-atmosphere-ocean systems feedbacks. We conclude that although the scientific knowledge in these regions has increased, the new results are in many cases insufficient, and there are still gaps in our understanding of large-scale climate-Earth surface interactions and feedbacks. This arises from limitations in research infrastructures, especially the lack of coordinated, continuous and comprehensive in situ observations of the study region as well as integrative data analyses, hindering a comprehensive system analysis. The fast-changing environment and ecosystem changes driven by climate change, socio-economic activities like the China Silk Road Initiative, and the global trends like urbanization further complicate such analyses. We recognize new topics with an increasing importance in the near future, especially "the enhancing biological sequestration capacity of greenhouse gases into forests and soils to mitigate climate change" and the "socio-economic development to tackle air quality issues".
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| 5. |
- Mann, G. W., et al.
(author)
-
Intercomparison and evaluation of global aerosol microphysical properties among AeroCom models of a range of complexity
- 2014
-
In: Atmospheric Chemistry And Physics. - : Copernicus GmbH. - 1680-7316 .- 1680-7324. ; 14:9, s. 4679-4713
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Many of the next generation of global climate models will include aerosol schemes which explicitly simulate the microphysical processes that determine the particle size distribution. These models enable aerosol optical properties and cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) concentrations to be determined by fundamental aerosol processes, which should lead to a more physically based simulation of aerosol direct and indirect radiative forcings. This study examines the global variation in particle size distribution simulated by 12 global aerosol microphysics models to quantify model diversity and to identify any common biases against observations. Evaluation against size distribution measurements from a new European network of aerosol supersites shows that the mean model agrees quite well with the observations at many sites on the annual mean, but there are some seasonal biases common to many sites. In particular, at many of these European sites, the accumulation mode number concentration is biased low during winter and Aitken mode concentrations tend to be overestimated in winter and underestimated in summer. At high northern latitudes, the models strongly underpredict Aitken and accumulation particle concentrations compared to the measurements, consistent with previous studies that have highlighted the poor performance of global aerosol models in the Arctic. In the marine boundary layer, the models capture the observed meridional variation in the size distribution, which is dominated by the Aitken mode at high latitudes, with an increasing concentration of accumulation particles with decreasing latitude. Considering vertical profiles, the models reproduce the observed peak in total particle concentrations in the upper troposphere due to new particle formation, although modelled peak concentrations tend to be biased high over Europe. Overall, the multimodel-mean data set simulates the global variation of the particle size distribution with a good degree of skill, suggesting that most of the individual global aerosol microphysics models are performing well, although the large model diversity indicates that some models are in poor agreement with the observations. Further work is required to better constrain size-resolved primary and secondary particle number sources, and an improved understanding of nucleation and growth (e. g. the role of nitrate and secondary organics) will improve the fidelity of simulated particle size distributions.
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| 6. |
- Manninen, H. E., et al.
(author)
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EUCAARI ion spectrometer measurements at 12 European sites - analysis of new particle formation events
- 2010
-
In: Atmospheric Chemistry And Physics. - : Copernicus GmbH. - 1680-7316 .- 1680-7324. ; 10:16, s. 7907-7927
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We present comprehensive results on continuous atmospheric cluster and particle measurements in the size range similar to 1-42 nm within the European Integrated project on Aerosol Cloud Climate and Air Quality interactions (EUCAARI) project. We focused on characterizing the spatial and temporal variation of new particle formation events and 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, 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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| 7. |
- Wiedensohler, A., et al.
(author)
-
Mobility particle size spectrometers: harmonization of technical standards and data structure to facilitate high quality long-term observations of atmospheric particle number size distributions
- 2012
-
In: Atmospheric Measurement Techniques. - : Copernicus GmbH. - 1867-1381 .- 1867-8548. ; 5:3, s. 657-685
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Mobility particle size spectrometers often referred to as DMPS (Differential Mobility Particle Sizers) or SMPS (Scanning Mobility Particle Sizers) have found a wide range of applications in atmospheric aerosol research. However, comparability of measurements conducted world-wide is hampered by lack of generally accepted technical standards and guidelines with respect to the instrumental set-up, measurement mode, data evaluation as well as quality control. Technical standards were developed for a minimum requirement of mobility size spectrometry to perform long-term atmospheric aerosol measurements. Technical recommendations include continuous monitoring of flow rates, temperature, pressure, and relative humidity for the sheath and sample air in the differential mobility analyzer. We compared commercial and custom-made inversion routines to calculate the particle number size distributions from the measured electrical mobility distribution. All inversion routines are comparable within few per cent uncertainty for a given set of raw data. Furthermore, this work summarizes the results from several instrument intercomparison workshops conducted within the European infrastructure project EUSAAR (European Supersites for Atmospheric Aerosol Research) and ACTRIS (Aerosols, Clouds, and Trace gases Research InfraStructure Network) to determine present uncertainties especially of custom-built mobility particle size spectrometers. Under controlled laboratory conditions, the particle number size distributions from 20 to 200 nm determined by mobility particle size spectrometers of different design are within an uncertainty range of around +/- 10% after correcting internal particle losses, while below and above this size range the discrepancies increased. For particles larger than 200 nm, the uncertainty range increased to 30%, which could not be explained. The network reference mobility spectrometers with identical design agreed within +/- 4% in the peak particle number concentration when all settings were done carefully. The consistency of these reference instruments to the total particle number concentration was demonstrated to be less than 5%. Additionally, a new data structure for particle number size distributions was introduced to store and disseminate the data at EMEP (European Monitoring and Evaluation Program). This structure contains three levels: raw data, processed data, and final particle size distributions. Importantly, we recommend reporting raw measurements including all relevant instrument parameters as well as a complete documentation on all data transformation and correction steps. These technical and data structure standards aim to enhance the quality of long-term size distribution measurements, their comparability between different networks and sites, and their transparency and traceability back to raw data.
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| 8. |
- Adamaki, A. K., et al.
(author)
-
Breaking the barriers to interdisciplinarity: Contributions from the Environmental Research Infrastructures
- 2022
-
Conference paper (other academic/artistic)abstract
- As science and technology evolve, interdisciplinary targets are anything but static, introducing additional levels of complexity and challenging further the initiatives to break the barriers to interdisciplinary research. For over a decade the community of the Environmental Research Infrastructures, forming the ENVRI cluster, has been building strong foundations to overcome these challenges and benefit the environmental sciences. One of the overarching goals of the ENVRI cluster is to provide more FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable) data and services which will be open to everyone who wishes to get access to environmental observations, from scientists and research communities of scientifically diverse clusters to curious citizens, data scientists and policy makers.Starting with domain-specific use cases we further explore potential cross-domain cases, e.g. in the form of environmental science stories crossing disciplinary boundaries. A set of Jupyter Notebooks developed by the contributing Research Infrastructures (and accessible from a hub of services called the ENVRI-Hub) are promising tools to demonstrate and validate the capabilities of service provision among ENVRIs and across Science Clusters, and act as examples of what a user can achieve through the ENVRI-Hub. In one of the examples we investigate, a user-friendly well-structured Jupyter Notebook that makes use of research infrastructures’ application programming interfaces (APIs) jointly plots in a map the geographical locations of several Marine and Atmospheric stations (where the stations in this example are defined as measurement points actively collecting data). The FAIR principles provide a firm foundation defining the layer that supports the ENVRI-Hub structure and the preliminary results are promising. Considering that the APIs can become discoverable via a common ENVRI catalogue, the ENVRI-Hub aims to make full use of the machine-actionability of such a catalogue in the future to facilitate this kind of use case execution in the Hub itself.Acknowledgement: ENVRI-FAIR has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 824068. This work is only possible with the collaboration of the ENVRI-FAIR partners and thanks to the joint efforts of the whole ENVRI team.
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| 9. |
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| 10. |
- Asmi, A., et al.
(author)
-
Number size distributions and seasonality of submicron particles in = rope 2008-2009
- 2011
-
In: Atmospheric Chemistry And Physics. - : Copernicus GmbH. - 1680-7316 .- 1680-7324. ; 11:11, s. 5505-5538
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Two years of harmonized aerosol number size distribution data from 24 = ropean field monitoring sites have been analysed. The results give a = mprehensive overview of the European near surface aerosol particle = mber concentrations and number size distributions between 30 and 500 = of dry particle diameter. Spatial and temporal distribution of = rosols in the particle sizes most important for climate applications = e presented. We also analyse the annual, weekly and diurnal cycles of = e aerosol number concentrations, provide log-normal fitting parameters = r median number size distributions, and give guidance notes for data = ers. Emphasis is placed on the usability of results within the aerosol = delling community.
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| 11. |
- Paramonov, M., et al.
(author)
-
A synthesis of cloud condensation nuclei counter (CCNC) measurements within the EUCAARI network
- 2015
-
In: Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics. - : Copernicus GmbH. - 1680-7324. ; 15:21, s. 12211-12229
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Cloud condensation nuclei counter (CCNC) measurements performed at 14 locations around the world within the European Integrated project on Aerosol Cloud Climate and Air Quality interactions (EUCAARI) framework have been analysed and discussed with respect to the cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) activation and hygroscopic properties of the atmospheric aerosol. The annual mean ratio of activated cloud condensation nuclei (N-CCN) to the total number concentration of particles (N-CN), known as the activated fraction A, shows a similar functional dependence on supersaturation S at many locations - exceptions to this being certain marine locations, a free troposphere site and background sites in south-west Germany and northern Finland. The use of total number concentration of particles above 50 and 100 nm diameter when calculating the activated fractions (A(50) and A(100), respectively) renders a much more stable dependence of A on S; A(50) and A(100) also reveal the effect of the size distribution on CCN activation. With respect to chemical composition, it was found that the hygroscopicity of aerosol particles as a function of size differs among locations. The hygroscopicity parameter kappa decreased with an increasing size at a continental site in south-west Germany and fluctuated without any particular size dependence across the observed size range in the remote tropical North Atlantic and rural central Hungary. At all other locations kappa increased with size. In fact, in Hyytiala, Vavihill, Jungfraujoch and Pallas the difference in hygroscopicity between Aitken and accumulation mode aerosol was statistically significant at the 5% significance level. In a boreal environment the assumption of a size-independent kappa can lead to a potentially substantial overestimation of N-CCN at S levels above 0.6 %. The same is true for other locations where kappa was found to increase with size. While detailed information about aerosol hygroscopicity can significantly improve the prediction of N-CCN, total aerosol number concentration and aerosol size distribution remain more important parameters. The seasonal and diurnal patterns of CCN activation and hygroscopic properties vary among three long-term locations, highlighting the spatial and temporal variability of potential aerosol-cloud interactions in various environments.
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| 12. |
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| 13. |
- Paasonen, P., et al.
(author)
-
On the roles of sulphuric acid and low-volatility organic vapours in the initial steps of atmospheric new particle formation
- 2010
-
In: Atmospheric Chemistry And Physics. - : Copernicus GmbH. - 1680-7316 .- 1680-7324. ; 10:22, s. 11223-11242
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Sulphuric acid and organic vapours have been identified as the key components in the ubiquitous secondary new particle formation in the atmosphere. In order to assess their relative contribution and spatial variability, we analysed altogether 36 new particle formation events observed at four European measurement sites during EUCAARI campaigns in 2007-2009. We tested models of several different nucleation mechanisms coupling the formation rate of neutral particles (J) with the concentration of sulphuric acid ([H2SO4]) or low-volatility organic vapours ([org]) condensing on sub-4 nm particles, or with a combination of both concentrations. Furthermore, we determined the related nucleation coefficients connecting the neutral nucleation rate J with the vapour concentrations in each mechanism. The main goal of the study was to identify the mechanism of new particle formation and subsequent growth that minimizes the difference between the modelled and measured nucleation rates. At three out of four measurement sites - Hyytiala (Finland), Melpitz (Germany) and San Pietro Capofiume (Italy) - the nucleation rate was closely connected to squared sulphuric acid concentration, whereas in Hohenpeissenberg (Germany) the low-volatility organic vapours were observed to be dominant. However, the nucleation rate at the sulphuric acid dominant sites could not be described with sulphuric acid concentration and a single value of the nucleation coefficient, as K in J=K [H2SO4](2), but the median coefficients for different sites varied over an order of magnitude. This inter-site variation was substantially smaller when the heteromolecular homogenous nucleation between H2SO4 and organic vapours was assumed to take place in addition to homogenous nucleation of H2SO4 alone, i.e., J=K-SA1[H2SO4](2)+K-SA2[H2SO4][org]. By adding in this equation a term describing homomolecular organic vapour nucleation, K-s3[org](2), equally good results were achieved. In general, our results suggest that organic vapours do play a role, not only in the condensational growth of the particles, but also in the nucleation process, with a site-specific degree.
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| 14. |
- Petzold, A., et al.
(author)
-
Advancing the FAIRness and Openness of Earth system science in Europe
- 2021
-
Conference paper (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Focused environmental research projects and continuously operating research infrastructures (RIs) designed for monitoring all subdomains of the Earth system contribute to global observing systems and serve as crucial information sources for environmental scientists in their quest for understanding and interpreting the complex Earth System and contribute to global observing systems. The EU funded ENVRI-FAIR project [1] builds on the Environmental Research Infrastructure (ENVRI) community that includes principal European producers and providers of environmental research data and services.ENVRI-FAIR targets the development and implementation of both technical frameworks and policy solutions that make subdomain boundaries irrelevant for environmental scientists and prepare Earth system science for the new Open Science paradigm. Cross-discipline harmonization and standardization activities, together with the implementation of joint data management and access structures at the RI level, facilitate the strategic coordination of observation systems required for truly interdisciplinary science. ENVRI-FAIR will ultimately create the open access ENVRI-Hub delivering environmental data and services provided by the contributing environmental RIs.The architecture and functionalities of the ENVRI-Hub are driven by the applications, use cases and user needs, and will be based on three main pillars: (1) the ENVRI Knowledge Base as the human interface to the ENVRI ecosystem; (2) the ENVRI Catalogue as the machine-actionable interface to the ENVRI ecosystem; and (3) subdomain and cross-domain use cases as demonstrators for the capabilities of service provision among ENVRIs and across Science Clusters. The architecture is designed in anticipation of interoperation with the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) and is intended to act as a key platform for users and developers planning to include ENVRI services in their workflows.The ENVRI community objectives of sharing FAIRness experience, technologies and training as well as research products and services will be realized by means of the ENVRI-Hub. The architecture, design features, technology developments and associated policies will highlight this example of how ENVRI-FAIR is promoting FAIRness, openness and multidisciplinarity of an entire scientific area by joint developments and implementation efforts.Acknowledgment: ENVRI-FAIR has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 824068.[1] Petzold, A., Asmi, A., Vermeulen, A., Pappalardo, G., Bailo, D., Schaap, D., Glaves, H. M., Bundke, U., and Zhao, Z.: ENVRI-FAIR - Interoperable environmental FAIR data and services for society, innovation and research, 15th IEEE International Conference on eScience 2019, 1-4, doi: http://doi.org/10.1109/eScience.2019.00038, 2019.
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| 15. |
- Knote, C., et al.
(author)
-
Towards an online-coupled chemistry-climate model: evaluation of trace gases and aerosols in COSMO-ART
- 2011
-
In: Geoscientific Model Development. - : Copernicus GmbH. - 1991-959X .- 1991-9603. ; 4:4, s. 1077-1102
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The online-coupled, regional chemistry transport model COSMO-ART is evaluated for periods in all seasons against several measurement datasets to assess its ability to represent gaseous pollutants and ambient aerosol characteristics over the European domain. Measurements used in the comparison include long-term station observations, satellite and ground-based remote sensing products, and complex datasets of aerosol chemical composition and number size distribution from recent field campaigns. This is the first time these comprehensive measurements of aerosol characteristics in Europe are used to evaluate a regional chemistry transport model. We show a detailed analysis of the simulated size-resolved chemical composition under different meteorological conditions. Mean, variability and spatial distribution of the concentrations of O-3 and NOx are well reproduced. SO2 is found to be overestimated, simulated PM2.5 and PM10 levels are on average underestimated, as is AOD. We find indications of an overestimation of shipping emissions. Time evolution of aerosol chemical composition is captured, although some biases are found in relative composition. Nitrate aerosol components are on average overestimated, and sulfates underestimated. The accuracy of simulated organics depends strongly on season and location. While strongly underestimated during summer, organic mass is comparable in spring and autumn. We see indications for an overestimated fractional contribution of primary organic matter in urban areas and an underestimation of SOA at many locations. Aerosol number concentrations compare well with measurements for larger size ranges, but overestimations of particle number concentration with factors of 2-5 are found for particles smaller than 50 nm. Size distribution characteristics are often close to measurements, but show discrepancies at polluted sites. Suggestions for further improvement of the modeling system consist of the inclusion of a revised secondary organic aerosols scheme, aqueous-phase chemistry and improved aerosol boundary conditions. Our work sets the basis for subsequent studies of aerosol characteristics and climate impacts with COSMO-ART, and highlights areas where improvements are necessary for current regional modeling systems in general.
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| 16. |
- Kyro, E. -M, et al.
(author)
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Trends in new particle formation in eastern Lapland, Finland : effect of decreasing sulfur emissions from Kola Peninsula
- 2014
-
In: Atmospheric Chemistry And Physics. - : Copernicus GmbH. - 1680-7316 .- 1680-7324. ; 14:9, s. 4383-4396
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The smelter industry in Kola Peninsula is the largest source of anthropogenic SO2 in the Arctic part of Europe and one of the largest within the Arctic domain. Due to socio-economic changes in Russia, the emissions have been decreasing especially since the late 1990s resulting in decreased SO2 concentrations close to Kola in eastern Lapland, Finland. At the same time, the frequency of new particle formation days has been decreasing distinctively at SMEAR I station in eastern Lapland, especially during spring and autumn. We show that sulfur species, namely sulfur dioxide and sulfuric acid, have an important role in both new particle formation and subsequent growth and that the decrease in new particle formation days is a result of the reduction of sulfur emissions originating from Kola Peninsula. In addition to sulfur species, there are many other quantities, such as formation rate of aerosol particles, condensation sink and nucleation mode particle number concentration, which are related to the number of observed new particle formation (NPF) days and need to be addressed when linking sulfur emissions and NPF. We show that while most of these quantities exhibit statistically significant trends, the reduction in Kola sulfur emissions is the most obvious reason for the rapid decline in NPF days. Sulfuric acid explains approximately 20-50% of the aerosol condensational growth observed at SMEAR I, and there is a large seasonal variation with highest values obtained during spring and autumn. We found that (i) particles form earlier after sunrise during late winter and early spring due to high concentrations of SO2 and H2SO4; (ii) several events occurred during the absence of light, and they were connected to higher than average concentrations of SO2; and (iii) high SO2 concentrations could advance the onset of nucleation by several hours. Moreover, air masses coming over Kola Peninsula seemed to favour new particle formation.
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| 17. |
- Hakkinen, S. A. K., et al.
(author)
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Semi-empirical parameterization of size-dependent atmospheric nanoparticle growth in continental environments
- 2013
-
In: Atmospheric Chemistry And Physics. - : Copernicus GmbH. - 1680-7316 .- 1680-7324. ; 13:15, s. 7665-7682
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The capability to accurately yet efficiently represent atmospheric nanoparticle growth by biogenic and anthropogenic secondary organics is a challenge for current atmospheric large-scale models. It is, however, crucial to predict nanoparticle growth accurately in order to reliably estimate the atmospheric cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) concentrations. In this work we introduce a simple semi-empirical parameterization for sub-20 nm particle growth that distributes secondary organics to the nanoparticles according to their size and is therefore able to reproduce particle growth observed in the atmosphere. The parameterization includes particle growth by sulfuric acid, secondary organics from monoterpene oxidation (SORG(MT)) and an additional condensable vapor of non-monoterpene organics (background). The performance of the proposed parameterization was investigated using ambient data on particle growth rates in three diameter ranges (1.5-3 nm, 3-7 nm and 7-20 nm). The growth rate data were acquired from particle / air ion number size distribution measurements at six continental sites over Europe. The longest time series of 7 yr (2003-2009) was obtained from a boreal forest site in Hyytiala, Finland, while about one year of data (2008-2009) was used for the other stations. The extensive ambient measurements made it possible to test how well the parameterization captures the seasonal cycle observed in sub-20 nm particle growth and to determine the weighing factors for distributing the SORG(MT) for different sized particles as well as the background mass flux (concentration). Besides the monoterpene oxidation products, background organics with a concentration comparable to SORGMT, around 6x10(7) cm(-3) (consistent with an additional global SOA yield of 100 Tg yr(-1)) was needed to reproduce the observed nanoparticle growth. Simulations with global models suggest that the background could be linked to secondary biogenic organics that are formed in the presence of anthropogenic pollution.
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| 18. |
- Kerminen, V-M, et al.
(author)
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Cloud condensation nuclei production associated with atmospheric nucleation : a synthesis based on existing literature and new results
- 2012
-
In: Atmospheric Chemistry And Physics. - : Copernicus GmbH. - 1680-7316 .- 1680-7324. ; 12:24, s. 12037-12059
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This paper synthesizes the available scientific information connecting atmospheric nucleation with subsequent cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) formation. We review both observations and model studies related to this topic, and discuss the potential climatic implications. We conclude that CCN production associated with atmospheric nucleation is both frequent and widespread phenomenon in many types of continental boundary layers, and probably also over a large fraction of the free troposphere. The contribution of nucleation to the global CCN budget spans a relatively large uncertainty range, which, together with our poor understanding of aerosol-cloud interactions, results in major uncertainties in the radiative forcing by atmospheric aerosols. In order to better quantify the role of atmospheric nucleation in CCN formation and Earth System behavior, more information is needed on (i) the factors controlling atmospheric CCN production and (ii) the properties of both primary and secondary CCN and their interconnections. In future investigations, more emphasis should be put on combining field measurements with regional and large-scale model studies.
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| 19. |
- Kulmala, M., et al.
(author)
-
Introduction: European Integrated Project on Aerosol Cloud Climate and Air Quality interactions (EUCAARI) : integrating aerosol research from nano to global scales
- 2009
-
In: Atmospheric Chemistry And Physics. - : Copernicus GmbH. - 1680-7316 .- 1680-7324. ; 9, s. 2825-2841
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The European Aerosol Cloud Climate and Air Quality Interactions project EUCAARI is an EU Research Framework 6 integrated project focusing on understanding the interactions of climate and air pollution. EUCAARI works in an integrative and multidisciplinary way from nano-to global scale. EUCAARI brings together several leading European research groups, state-of-the-art infrastructure and some key scientists from third countries to investigate the role of aerosol on climate and air quality. Altogether 48 partners from 25 countries are participating in EUCAARI. During the first 16 months EUCAARI has built operational systems, e. g. established pan-European measurement network for Lagrangian studies and four stations in developing countries. Also an improved understanding of nanoscale processes (like nucleation) has been implemented in global models. Here we present the research methods, organisation, operations and first results of EUCAARI.
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| 20. |
- Laj, Paolo, et al.
(author)
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A global analysis of climate-relevant aerosol properties retrieved from the network of Global Atmosphere Watch (GAW) near-surface observatories
- 2020
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In: Atmospheric Measurement Techniques. - : Copernicus GmbH. - 1867-1381 .- 1867-8548. ; 13:8, s. 4353-4392
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Aerosol particles are essential constituents of the Earth's atmosphere, impacting the earth radiation balance directly by scattering and absorbing solar radiation, and indirectly by acting as cloud condensation nuclei. In contrast to most greenhouse gases, aerosol particles have short atmospheric residence times, resulting in a highly heterogeneous distribution in space and time. There is a clear need to document this variability at regional scale through observations involving, in particular, the in situ near-surface segment of the atmospheric observation system. This paper will provide the widest effort so far to document variability of climate-relevant in situ aerosol properties (namely wavelength dependent particle light scattering and absorption coefficients, particle number concentration and particle number size distribution) from all sites connected to the Global Atmosphere Watch network. High-quality data from almost 90 stations worldwide have been collected and controlled for quality and are reported for a reference year in 2017, providing a very extended and robust view of the variability of these variables worldwide. The range of variability observed worldwide for light scattering and absorption coefficients, single-scattering albedo, and particle number concentration are presented together with preliminary information on their long-term trends and comparison with model simulation for the different stations. The scope of the present paper is also to provide the necessary suite of information, including data provision procedures, quality control and analysis, data policy, and usage of the ground-based aerosol measurement network. It delivers to users of the World Data Centre on Aerosol, the required confidence in data products in the form of a fully characterized value chain, including uncertainty estimation and requirements for contributing to the global climate monitoring system.
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| 21. |
- Lappalainen, Hanna K., et al.
(author)
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Pan-Eurasian Experiment (PEEX) : towards a holistic understanding of the feedbacks and interactions in the land-atmosphere-ocean-society continuum in the northern Eurasian region
- 2016
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In: Atmospheric Chemistry And Physics. - : Copernicus GmbH. - 1680-7316 .- 1680-7324. ; 16:22, s. 14421-14461
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The northern Eurasian regions and Arctic Ocean will very likely undergo substantial changes during the next decades. The Arctic-boreal natural environments play a crucial role in the global climate via albedo change, carbon sources and sinks as well as atmospheric aerosol production from biogenic volatile organic compounds. Furthermore, it is expected that global trade activities, demographic movement, and use of natural resources will be increasing in the Arctic regions. There is a need for a novel research approach, which not only identifies and tackles the relevant multi-disciplinary research questions, but also is able to make a holistic system analysis of the expected feedbacks. In this paper, we introduce the research agenda of the Pan-Eurasian Experiment (PEEX), a multi-scale, multi-disciplinary and international program started in 2012 (https://www.atm.helsinki.fi/peex/). PEEX sets a research approach by which large-scale research topics are investigated from a system perspective and which aims to fill the key gaps in our understanding of the feedbacks and interactions between the land-atmosphereaquatic-society continuum in the northern Eurasian region. We introduce here the state of the art for the key topics in the PEEX research agenda and present the future prospects of the research, which we see relevant in this context.
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| 22. |
- Makkonen, R., et al.
(author)
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BVOC-aerosol-climate interactions in the global aerosol-climate model ECHAM5.5-HAM2
- 2012
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In: Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics. - : Copernicus GmbH. - 1680-7324. ; 12:21, s. 10077-10096
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The biosphere emits volatile organic compounds (BVOCs) which, after oxidation in the atmosphere, can partition on the existing aerosol population or even form new particles. The large quantities emitted provide means for a large potential impact on both aerosol direct and indirect effects. Biogenic responses to atmospheric temperature change can establish feedbacks even in rather short timescales. However, due to the complexity of organic aerosol partitioning, even the sign of these feedbacks is of large uncertainty. We use the global aerosol-climate model ECHAM5.5-HAM2 to explore the effect of BVOC emissions on new particle formation, clouds and climate. Two BVOC emission models, MEGAN2 and LPJ-GUESS, are used. MEGAN2 shows a 25% increase while LPJ-GUESS shows a slight decrease in global BVOC emission between years 2000 and 2100. The change of shortwave cloud forcing from year 1750 to 2000 ranges from -1.4 to -1.8 W m(-2) with 5 different nucleation mechanisms. We show that the change in shortwave cloud forcing from the year 2000 to 2100 ranges from 1.0 to 1.5 W m(-2). Although increasing future BVOC emissions provide 3-5% additional CCN, the effect on the cloud albedo change is modest. Due to simulated decreases in future cloud cover, the increased CCN concentrations from BVOCs can not provide significant additional cooling in the future.
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| 23. |
- Backman, John, et al.
(author)
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On Aethalometer measurement uncertainties and an instrument correction factor for the Arctic
- 2017
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In: Atmospheric Measurement Techniques. - : Copernicus GmbH. - 1867-1381 .- 1867-8548. ; 10:12, s. 5039-5062
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Several types of filter-based instruments are used to estimate aerosol light absorption coefficients. Two significant results are presented based on Aethalometer measurements at six Arctic stations from 2012 to 2014. First, an alternative method of post-processing the Aethalometer data is presented, which reduces measurement noise and lowers the detection limit of the instrument more effectively than box-car averaging. The biggest benefit of this approach can be achieved if instrument drift is minimised. Moreover, by using an attenuation threshold criterion for data post-processing, the relative uncertainty from the electronic noise of the instrument is kept constant. This approach results in a time series with a variable collection time (Delta t) but with a constant relative uncertainty with regard to electronic noise in the instrument. An additional advantage of this method is that the detection limit of the instrument will be lowered at small aerosol concentrations at the expense of temporal resolution, whereas there is little to no loss in temporal resolution at high aerosol concentrations (>2.1-6.7Mm(-1) as measured by the Aethalometers). At high aerosol concentrations, minimising the detection limit of the instrument is less critical. Additionally, utilising co-located filter-based absorption photometers, a correction factor is presented for the Arctic that can be used in Aethalometer corrections available in literature. The correction factor of 3.45 was calculated for low-elevation Arctic stations. This correction factor harmonises Aethalometer attenuation coefficients with light absorption coefficients as measured by the co-located light absorption photometers. Using one correction factor for Arctic Aethalometers has the advantage that measurements between stations become more inter-comparable.
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| 24. |
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| 25. |
- Makkonen, R., et al.
(author)
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Air pollution control and decreasing new particle formation lead to strong climate warming
- 2012
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In: Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics. - : Copernicus GmbH. - 1680-7324. ; 12:3, s. 1515-1524
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The number concentration of cloud droplets determines several climatically relevant cloud properties. A major cause for the high uncertainty in the indirect aerosol forcing is the availability of cloud condensation nuclei (CCN), which in turn is highly sensitive to atmospheric new particle formation. Here we present the effect of new particle formation on anthropogenic aerosol forcing in present-day (year 2000) and future (year 2100) conditions. The present-day total aerosol forcing is increased from -1.0 W m(-2) to -1.6 W m(-2) when nucleation is introduced into the model. Nucleation doubles the change in aerosol forcing between years 2000 and 2100, from +0.6 W m(-2) to +1.4 W m(-2). Two climate feedbacks are studied, resulting in additional negative forcings of -0.1 W m(-2) (+10% DMS emissions in year 2100) and -0.5 W m(-2) (+50% BVOC emissions in year 2100). With the total aerosol forcing diminishing in response to air pollution control measures taking effect, warming from increased greenhouse gas concentrations can potentially increase at a very rapid rate.
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