Modeling study on aerosol dynamical processes regulating new particle and CCN formation at clean continental areas

Abstract

The formation of new particles and CCNs under conditions typical for clean continental areas has been investigated by performing simulations with an aerosol dynamical model. The main goal was to quantify the relative importance of the key dynamic parameters to new‐particle and CCN formation. To this end, the model output was analyzed using a global sensitivity analysis technique. It was shown that there is no unambiguous answer to the question regarding the most important factor regulating new particle formation (NPF). Instead, the answer depends largely on the relative magnitudes of the pre‐existing particle surface area and emission rates of aerosol precursors which vary according to the atmospheric conditions. We also demonstrate that different factors may control the formation of particles with detectable sizes and particles having larger, climatically relevant sizes. These results suggest that varying, problem‐specific approaches should be adopted in large scale modeling of NPF.