Aerosol formation in the filtered atmospheric air and regularities of their evolution

Abstract

Presented is the study of atmospheric aerosol particle formation and evolution processes arising in filtered atmospheric air in complete darkness. Studies were carried out in the Large Aerosol Chamber (LAC) of RPA «Typhoon» with 3200 m3 volume under conditions close to natural atmospheric ones. The large volume of the chamber and its design features make it possible to exclude the influence of boundary conditions as well as any additional pollution sources from the chamber walls and from the equipment inside the LAC on the processes under study. We observe the formation of nanoparticles apparently due to gas-to-particle conversion in the absence of UV radiation. We investigate these newly formed particle growth regularities from 15 nm size to cloud condensation nuclei characteristic sizes under controlled conditions. The observed evolution regularities of the newly formed due to gas-to-particle conversion aerosol spectra can significantly contribute to the understanding of atmospheric aerosol formation processes responsible for cloudiness and precipitation.