The relationship between cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) concentration and light extinction of dried particles : indications of underlying aerosol processes and implications for satellite-based CCN estimates

• We examine the relationship between the number concentration of boundary-layer cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) and light extinction to investigate underlying aerosol processes and satellite-based CCN estimates. For a variety of airborne and ground-based observations not dominated by dust, regression identifies the CCN (cm(-3)) at 0.4 +/- 0.1% supersaturation with 10(0.3 alpha+1.3)sigma(0.75) where sigma (Mm(-1)) is the 500 nm extinction coefficient by dried particles and alpha is the Angstrom exponent. The deviation of 1 km horizontal average data from this approximation is typically within a factor of 2.0. partial derivative logCCN / partial derivative log sigma is less than unity because, among other explanations, growth processes generally make aerosols scatter more light without increasing their number. This, barring special meteorology-aerosol connections, associates a doubling of aerosol optical depth with less than a doubling of CCN, contrary to previous studies based on heavily averaged measurements or a satellite algorithm.

Ämnesord

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Geovetenskap och miljövetenskap (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Earth and Related Environmental Sciences (hsv//eng)

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