Application of three-body recombination and attachment coefficients to tropospheric ions

Abstract

A modification ofNatanson's three-body recombination theory is used to determine empirical values of the ion-ion trapping distance. The modified theory is shown to predict accurately the altitude variation of electrical conductivity in the troposphere. The empirical trapping distance for ion-ion recombination is then used to determine the ion-aerosol trapping distance and a three-body theory for calculating the ion-aerosol attachment coefficients is developed. The theory should be valid for the small aerosols (Aitken nuclei) found naturally in the troposphere.