An improved criterion for new particle formation in diverse atmospheric environments

By C. Kuang, I. Riipinen, S. Sihto, Markku Kulmala, A. Mccormick, P. Mcmurry. 2010

162 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Abstract. A dimensionless theory for new particle formation (NPF) was developed, using an aerosol population balance model incorporating recent developments in nucleation rates and measured particle growth rates. Based on this theoretical analysis, it was shown that a dimensionless parameter LΓ, characterizing the ratio of the particle scavenging loss rate to the particle growth rate, exclusively determined whether or not NPF would occur on a particular day. This parameter determines the probability that a nucleated particle will grow to a detectable size before being lost by coagulation with the pre-existing aerosol. Cluster-cluster coagulation was shown to contribute negligibly to this survival probability under conditions pertinent to the atmosphere. Data acquired during intensive measurement campaigns in Tecamac (MILAGRO), Atlanta (ANARChE), Boulder, and Hyytiala (QUEST II, QUEST IV, and EUCAARI) were used to test the validity of LΓ as an NPF criterion. Measurements included aerosol size distributions down to 3 nm and gas-phase sulfuric acid concentrations. The model was applied to seventy-seven NPF events and nineteen non-events (characterized by growth of pre-existing aerosol without NPF) measured in diverse environments with broad ranges in sulfuric acid concentrations, ultrafine number concentrations, aerosol surface areas, and particle growth rates (nearly two orders of magnitude). Across this diverse data set, a nominal value of LΓ=0.7 was found to determine the boundary for the occurrence of NPF, with NPF occurring when LΓ 0.7. Moreover, nearly 45% of measured LΓ values associated with NPF fell in the relatively narrow range of 0.1

Subfields: Atmospheric Science, Global and Planetary Change, Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis

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Citations in the corpus

Atmospheric new particle formation and growth: review of field observations (2018, background): “Kuang et al (2010) extended this work to more diverse environments with a parameter ‘LΓ’ and demonstrated the value of this parameter to be a good predictor for the occurrence of NPF. Kulmala et al (2017) introduced a dimensionless survival parameter ‘P’, a variable closely related to LΓ, and…”
Size and time-resolved growth rate measurements of 1 to 5 nm freshly formed atmospheric nuclei (2012, background): “…(Birmili et al., 2003; Kulmala et al., 2004b, c; Hirsikko et al., 2005; Stolzenburg et al., 2005; Iida et al., 2008; Manninen et al., 2009; Kuang et al., 2010), with some studies suggesting that diameter growth rates increase with size for the smallest particles (Kulmala et al., 2004b;…”
EUCAARI ion spectrometer measurements at 12 European sites – analysis of new particle formation events (2010, background): “a large condensation and coagulation sink, has traditionally been thought to suppress new particle formation (Weber et al., 1996; Kerminen et al., 2004; Kuang et al., 2010).”
Cloud condensation nuclei production associated with atmospheric nucleation: a synthesis based on existing literature and new results (2012, background): “Excluding some sulfur-rich conditions (Jung et al., 2006; Zhang et al., 2009), atmospheric sulfuric acid concentrations are, however, too low to fully explain the growth of the new particles to CCN sizes (Kuang et al., 2010; Riipinen et al., 2011; Pierce et al., 2011; Riccobono et al., 2012).”