Growth Of Aerosol Particles Research Articles

Multicomponent Diffusion of Dusty Plasma in PMSE Including the Growth of Dust Particles

AbstractDusty plasma diffusion was applied to model the plasma response to perturbations in dust density, which yields small‐scale irregularities in electron density that are responsible for Polar Mesosphere Summer Echos. Previous diffusion models treated aerosols either as fixed‐charge dust or as multiple‐charge‐state dust using chemical rate equations. The growth of aerosol particles was previously considered in the study of layered structures in mesospheric clouds, but it has not been incorporated into dust diffusion. In this paper, a multicomponent diffusion of a dusty plasma, consisting of electrons, ions, and charged aerosols, is developed, accounting for the growth of the aerosols. It is shown that, for typical parameters in polar mesopause region, the evolution of the density structures of the dusty plasma undergoes an initial charging process (approximately 100 s), then an ambipolar diffusion process on ion time scale (approximately hundreds of seconds), and the aerosol diffusion on dust time scale (>104 s). Furthermore, the growth of the aerosols retards the dust diffusion and causes the transition from anticorrelation to correlation between the electron and ion density perturbations (contrary to only anticorrelation or correlation as in the case without considering the growth). The growth also bends the density profiles from upward shifting to downward sedimentation. In addition, larger initial grain radius and the width of the initial perturbation result in slower diffusion. The diffusion is much faster at 88 km than at 82 km.

A numerical study of effects of aerosol particles on the electric activities of a thunderstorm with a 1.5D aerosol-cloud bin model

Numerical simulations are carried out to study the effects of aerosol particles acted as cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) and ice nuclei (IN) on thunderstorm properties. A two-cylinder time-dependent cloud and aerosol interaction model with the spectral bin microphysical parameterization, explicit noninductive electrification and lightning process is utilized to explore the impacts. This model not only uses the high-resolution particle size bins to describe the distributions of aerosol particles and hydrometeors, but also can be applied to study the diffusional growth of aerosol particles to cloud droplets and to track the mass of both CCN and IN in hydrometeors. The simulated cloud properties show that increased CCN concentrations result in more numerous but smaller droplets and form ice particles less efficiently, producing less numbers of graupel and less efficient conversion to raindrops. Increased IN concentrations directly enhance the heterogeneous nucleation, and then boost the subsequent microphysical processes, contributing to the production of increasingly numbers of graupel which eventually pass through the melting layer and then enhance the precipitation. As CCN concentrations increase, the charge density gained by different mass-binned ice particles and total charge density significantly decrease due to reduced large ice particles with greater diameters than 360 μm. In contrast, as IN concentrations are further increased, dramatically increased large ice particles with greater diameters than 360 μm are produced and thus, support the enhanced charge density gained by different mass-binned ice particles and total charge density. Besides, as expected, the reduced (enhanced) lightning frequency is well explained by the reduced (increased) numbers of large ice particles (diameter>360 μm).

Size evolution of a soluble aerosol particle in air

The mechanisms responsible for hygroscopic growth/reduction in the size of water-soluble aerosol particles have a significant effect on the dynamics of coagulation and sedimentation processes in aerosol systems. By now, there is a large amount of experimental and theoretical works devoted to the study of hygroscopic growth and decrease in the size of particles of various chemical nature. Along with complex multilayer models of aerosol particle growth, the models based on a modification of the Maxwell equation for condensation and evaporation of droplets are commonly used. They allow taking into account temperature effects, the influence of the surface curvature of the particle and the presence of soluble substances in it. This paper proposes a mathematical model of the size evolution of water-soluble aerosol particles that, together with the listed effects, takes into account the change in the size of the undissolved particle core. This makes it possible to simulate all the stages of hygroscopic change in particle size, starting from the transformation of a crystal core into a drop to its subsequent growth, and also back, from the evaporation of a drop to the formation of a crystal. Using the proposed model, various scenarios of changing the state of the particle are modeled for different combinations of the initial states of the particle and the relative humidity of the air. It is shown that the predictions from the model are qualitatively and quantitatively consistent with the experimental data on the size evolution of sodium chloride particles in humidification and drying processes, as well as with the results of measurements of particle sizes in equilibrium states with increasing and decreasing relative humidity. The developed model can be used to solve different fundamental and applied problems of the dynamics of water-soluble aerosol systems.

Vertical profile of aerosol number size distribution during a haze pollution episode in Hefei, China

The vertical distribution of aerosols has important implications on haze formation as development, which is manifested to some extent by the planetary boundary layer (PBL)–aerosol interactions. Information on the number concentration and size of particles is essential to understand these processes, but studies on vertical profiles of particle number-size distribution are limited. Herein, an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) equipped with a custom-built optical particle counter (0.4–10 μm) was used to investigate the vertical profiles of particle number-size distribution in Hefei (China) during January 20–30, 2021. Combining ground-based scanning mobility particle sizer and meteorological data, the pollution accumulation and diffusion mechanisms were analyzed in depth. Results showed that as the pollution episode developed, the vertical distribution of the particle number concentration changed from a flat profile to a sharp vertical gradient. Under polluted conditions, a three-layer structure was clearly evident: uniform distribution in a mixed layer near the ground, a sharply reduced transition layer, and a low number concentration layer in the free atmosphere. Analysis revealed that fundamental to this conversion is that aerosols are highly affected by the PBL dynamics. Concurrent on-UAV and ground-based observations revealed that the ratio of particle numbers in the accumulation mode to that in the Aitken mode was 0.92 ± 0.05 in polluted days, which was almost three times that of clean days. This difference in the ratio of large to small particles suggests that hygroscopic growth of aerosol particles under high humidity conditions played an important role in haze development. Moreover, the sharp vertical gradient of the particle number concentration in the transition layer was identified as an important parameter for characterizing PBL height. The findings in this study highlight the importance of PBL dynamics on the under-studied vertical profiles of particle number-size distribution, especially during heavy pollution episodes.

Effects of hygroscopic growth of ambient urban aerosol particles on their modelled regional and local deposition in healthy and COPD-compromised human respiratory system

Total, regional and local deposition fractions of urban-type aerosol particles with diameters of 50, 75, 110 and 145 nm were modelled and studied in their dry state and after their hygroscopic growth using a Stochastic Lung Model and a Computational Fluid and Particle Dynamics method. Healthy subjects and patients with severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) were considered. The hygroscopic growth factors (HGFs) adopted were determined experimentally and represent a real urban-type environment. The hygroscopic growth of particles resulted in decrease of the deposition fractions in all major parts of the healthy respiratory system and the extent of the deposited fractions was rising monotonically with particle size. In the extrathoracic (ET) region, the relative decrease was between 7% and 13%. In the lungs the deposition decreased by 11–16%. The decrease of deposition fraction due to hygroscopic growth was more accentuated in the conductive airways (up to 25%) and less pronounced towards the terminal airways. The spatial distribution of the deposited particles remained highly inhomogeneous with some areas containing thousands times more particles than the average number of particles per unit surface area. For COPD patients, the hygroscopic growth produced similar deposition alterations in the ET region than for healthy subjects. In the conductive airways, however, the particle growth caused a substantial relative decrease in the deposition fractions. In contrast, the relative depositions of hygroscopic particles increased in the acinar region.

Zeppelin-led study on the onset of new particle formation in the planetary boundary layer

Abstract. We compared observations of aerosol particle formation and growth in different parts of the planetary boundary layer at two different environments that have frequent new particle formation (NPF) events. In summer 2012 we had a campaign in Po Valley, Italy (urban background), and in spring 2013 a similar campaign took place in Hyytiälä, Finland (rural background). Our study consists of three case studies of airborne and ground-based measurements of ion and particle size distribution from ∼1 nm. The airborne measurements were performed using a Zeppelin inside the boundary layer up to 1000 m altitude. Our observations show the onset of regional NPF and the subsequent growth of the aerosol particles happening almost uniformly inside the mixed layer (ML) in both locations. However, in Hyytiälä we noticed local enhancement in the intensity of NPF caused by mesoscale boundary layer (BL) dynamics. Additionally, our observations indicate that in Hyytiälä NPF was probably also taking place above the ML. In Po Valley we observed NPF that was limited to a specific air mass.

Humidity Dependence of the Condensational Growth of α-Pinene Secondary Organic Aerosol Particles.

The influence of relative humidity (RH) on the condensational growth of organic aerosol particles remains incompletely understood. Herein, the RH dependence was investigated via a series of experiments for α-pinene ozonolysis in a continuously mixed flow chamber in which recurring cycles of particle growth occurred every 7 to 8 h at a given RH. In 5 h, the mean increase in the particle mode diameter was 15 nm at 0% RH and 110 nm at 75% RH. The corresponding particle growth coefficients, representing a combination of the thermodynamic driving force and the kinetic resistance to mass transfer, increased from 0.35 to 2.3 nm2 s-1. The chemical composition, characterized by O:C and H:C atomic ratios of 0.52 and 1.48, respectively, and determined by mass spectrometry, did not depend on RH. The Model for Simulating Aerosol Interactions and Chemistry (MOSAIC) was applied to reproduce the observed size- and RH-dependent particle growth by optimizing the diffusivities Db within the particles of the condensing molecules. The Db values increased from 5 α-1 × 10-16 at 0% RH to 2 α-1 × 10-12 cm-2 s-1 at 75% RH for mass accommodation coefficients α of 0.1 to 1.0, highlighting the importance of particle-phase properties in modeling the growth of atmospheric aerosol particles.

Retrieval of process rate parameters in the general dynamic equation for aerosols using Bayesian state estimation: BAYROSOL1.0

Abstract. The uncertainty in the radiative forcing caused by aerosols and its effect on climate change calls for research to improve knowledge of the aerosol particle formation and growth processes. While experimental research has provided a large amount of high-quality data on aerosols over the last 2 decades, the inference of the process rates is still inadequate, mainly due to limitations in the analysis of data. This paper focuses on developing computational methods to infer aerosol process rates from size distribution measurements. In the proposed approach, the temporal evolution of aerosol size distributions is modeled with the general dynamic equation (GDE) equipped with stochastic terms that account for the uncertainties of the process rates. The time-dependent particle size distribution and the rates of the underlying formation and growth processes are reconstructed based on time series of particle analyzer data using Bayesian state estimation – which not only provides (point) estimates for the process rates but also enables quantification of their uncertainties. The feasibility of the proposed computational framework is demonstrated by a set of numerical simulation studies.

Global–regional nested simulation of particle number concentration by combing microphysical processes with an evolving organic aerosol module

Abstract. Aerosol microphysical processes are essential for the next generation of global and regional climate and air quality models to determine particle size distribution. The contribution of organic aerosols (OAs) to particle formation, mass, and number concentration is one of the major uncertainties in current models. A new global–regional nested aerosol model was developed to simulate detailed microphysical processes. The model combines an advanced particle microphysics (APM) module and a volatility basis set (VBS) OA module to calculate the kinetic condensation of low-volatility organic compounds and equilibrium partitioning of semi-volatile organic compounds in a 3-D framework using global–regional nested domain. In addition to the condensation of sulfuric acid, the equilibrium partitioning of nitrate and ammonium, and the coagulation process of particles, the microphysical processes of the OAs are realistically represented in our new model. The model uses high-resolution size bins to calculate the size distribution of new particles formed through nucleation and subsequent growth. The multi-scale nesting enables the model to perform high-resolution simulations of the particle formation processes in the urban atmosphere in the background of regional and global environments. By using the nested domains, the model reasonably reproduced the OA components obtained from the analysis of aerosol mass spectrometry measurements through positive matrix factorization and the particle number size distribution in the megacity of Beijing during a period of approximately a month. Anthropogenic organic species accounted for 67 % of the OAs of secondary particles formed by nucleation and subsequent growth, which is considerably larger than that of biogenic OAs. On the global scale, the model well predicted the particle number concentration in various environments. The microphysical module combined with the VBS simulated the universal distribution of organic components among the different aerosol populations. The model results strongly suggest the importance of anthropogenic organic species in aerosol particle formation and growth at polluted urban sites and over the whole globe.

Impacts of oxidizer concentration and fuel composition on near-source aerosol emissions from lignocellulosic biomass and constituent burning

Biomass burning (BB), a multi-step process including drying, devolatilization, and oxidation of volatiles and char, is a globally occurring phenomenon that is understood to produce significant quantities of aerosols that have a broad range of local and global effects on humans and the environment. Quantities and properties of BB-derived aerosols are difficult to predict due to the complex nature of BB. Near-source conditions, such as oxygen availability and fuel composition, have been identified as influential factors in the properties of aerosol emissions. This work examined the total and size-resolved number and mass aerosol emission factors from dry, pulverized lignocellulosic biomass and its major constituents under laboratory burning conditions to understand the influence of oxygen level and fuel composition on near-source aerosol production. Lignocellulosic biomass and major constituents, including hemicellulose (xylan), cellulose and lignin, were pyrolyzed and combusted in inert and oxidative environments at varying oxygen levels, and the aerosol particle emissions were characterized in terms of size and quantity at a fixed dilution temperature. Fuel mass and fuel heating rate were varied to assess the sensitivity of results to these factors. A previously developed summative model to predict near-source BB aerosol emissions was also tested. Results showed that the total number and mass aerosol emissions decreased with increased oxygen levels. Nucleation mode particles dominated the number emissions in both inert and oxidative environments, but larger aerosol sizes were observed in the oxidative environment. Aerosol particle coagulation and growth were observed at larger fuel masses, indicated by a significant decrease in the total number emission factors in both inert and oxidative environments, while the total mass emission factor only slightly decreased and increased in inert and oxidative environments, respectively. The size of aerosols formed was found to positively correlate with absolute fuel consumption rate, and the effects of oxidation through combustion chemistry and thermal feedback were explored. Good agreement between the simulated and measured number emission factors for pinewood was observed in both the inert and oxidative reaction environments over the range of tested fuel masses. Simulated and measured mass emission factors showed good agreement in the oxidative environment and poorer agreement in the inert environment. Reasons for this discrepancy were explored and the importance of constituent surrogate selection is highlighted.

Zeppelin-led study on the onset of new particle formation in the planetary boundary layer: dataset

Abstract. We compared observations of aerosol particle formation and growth in different parts of the planetary boundary layer at two different environments that have frequent new particle formation (NPF) events. In summer 2012 we had a campaign in Po Valley, Italy (urban background) and in spring 2013 a similar campaign took place in Hyytiala, Finland (rural background). Our study consists of airborne and ground-based measurements of ion and particle size distribution from ~1 nm. The airborne measurements were performed using a Zeppelin inside the boundary layer up to 1000 m altitude. Our observations show the onset of regional NPF and the subsequent growth of the aerosol particles happening uniformly inside the mixed layer (ML) in both locations. However, in Hyytiala we noticed local enhancement in the intensity of NPF caused by mesoscale BL dynamics. Additionally, our observations indicate that in Hyytiala NPF was probably also taking place above the ML. In Po Valley we observed NPF that was limited to a specific air mass.

Hygroscopic growth of aerosol particles consisted of oxalic acid and its internal mixture with ammonium sulfate for the relative humidity ranging from 80% to 99.5%

The hygroscopicity of atmospheric aerosol particles plays an important role in their effects on the environment and the public health. Oxalic acid (OA) has been recognized as the dominant dicarboxylic acid in the urban and the remote aerosol particles, so a number of studies have investigated the hygroscopicity of aerosols consisted of pure OA and its mixture with inorganic salt. However, few experimental studies have focused on the hygroscopicity of nanoscale particles at high relative humidity (RH) below saturation of water vapor (i.e., RH = 90–100%) due to the limitation of traditional measuring instruments. In this work, the hygroscopic growth factor (GF) of the aerosol particles composed of pure OA and internally mixed OA-ammonium sulfate (AS) at RH = 80–99.5% were studied using a high humidity tandem differential mobility analyzer (HHTDMA). The experimental results were used to verify the applicability of models including the ideal solution model, the extended aerosol inorganics model (E-AIM) combining with the revised universal quasi-chemical functional group activity coefficients (UNIFAC-Peng) model, the Aerosol Inorganic–Organic Mixtures Functional groups Activity Coefficients (AIOMFAC) model and the Zdanovskii–Stokes–Robinson (ZSR) model. According to the experimental results, the effect of RH, the composition and the initial dry particle diameter (D0) on the hygroscopic growth factor (GF) and the effective hygroscopicity parameter (κ) of particles at RH = 80–99.5% were analyzed in details. It has been found that for pure OA particles with D0 = 80/100 nm, the prediction of the UNIFAC-Peng model and the AIOMFAC model becomes more accurate than the ideal solution model with the increasing of RH, while all models cannot describe the GF of smaller particles at RH = 80–99.5%. For mixed OA-AS aerosol particles, the chemical reaction is an important reason for the discrepancies between the HHTDMA results and the model prediction. For the pure OA aerosol particles at RH ≤ 96% and particles containing AS at RH ≤ 99.5%, the sensitivity of GF to D0 is positively and negatively correlated with RH and D0, respectively. However, for all aerosol types in this study, the sensitivity of GF to RH is positively correlated with both D0 and RH. In addition, the κ based on the measurement is clearly dependent on D0 (at RH = 95–99.5%), RH and the particle composition (at RH = 80–99.5%). The measured hygroscopicity of aerosol particles at high RH might be useful in addressing challenges in solving the discrepancies between the κ measured under subsaturated and supersaturated conditions.

Influence of vegetation on occurrence and time distributions of regional new aerosol particle formation and growth

Abstract. The occurrence frequency of regional atmospheric new aerosol particle formation and consecutive growth events (fNPF) were studied with respect to vegetation activity, aerosol properties, air pollutants and meteorological data in Budapest over the time interval from 2008 to 2018. The data set evaluated contained results of in situ measurements on the land surface that were mostly performed at the Budapest platform for Aerosol Research and Training Laboratory, of satellite-based products recorded by MODIS on Terra and of modelled vegetation emission-related properties from an advanced regional biogeochemical model. The annual mean relative occurrence frequencies were considerable (with an overall mean of 21 %), remained at a constant level (with an overall SD of 5 %) and did not exhibit tendentious change over the years. The shape of the distributions of monthly mean fNPF exhibited large variability from year to year, while the overall average distribution already possessed a characteristic pattern. The structure of the new particle formation (NPF) occurrence distributions was compared to those of environmental variables including concentrations of gas-phase H2SO4, SO2, O3, NO, NO2, CO, PM10 mass and NH3; particle numbers in the size fractions of 6–1000, 6–100 and 100–1000 nm; condensation sink; air temperature (T); relative humidity (RH); wind speed (WS); atmospheric pressure (P); global solar radiation (GRad); gross primary production (GPP) of vegetation; leaf area index (LAI); and stomatal conductance (SCT). There were no evident systematic similarities between fNPF on the one hand and all of the variables studied on the other hand, except for H2SO4 and perhaps NH3. The spring maximum in the NPF occurrence frequency distribution often overlapped with the time intervals of positive T anomaly in vegetated territories. The link between the potential heat stress exerted on plants in sultry summer intervals and the summer fNPF minimum could not be proven. The relevance of environmental variables was assessed by their ratios on NPF event days and on non-event days. The gas-phase H2SO4 concentration showed the largest monthly ratios, followed by O3. The WS, biogenic precursor gases and SO2 can generally favour NPF events, although their influence seemed to be constrained. An association between the fNPF and vegetation growth dynamics was clearly identified.

Enhanced aerosol particle growth sustained by high continental chlorine emission in India

Many cities in India experience severe deterioration of air quality in winter. Particulate matter is a key atmospheric pollutant that impacts millions of people. In particular, the high mass concentration of particulate matter reduces visibility, which has severely damaged the economy and endangered human lives. But the underlying chemical mechanisms and physical processes responsible for initiating haze and fog formation remain poorly understood. Here we present the measurement results of chemical composition of particulate matter in Delhi and Chennai. We find persistently high chloride in Delhi and episodically high chloride in Chennai. These measurements, combined with thermodynamic modelling, suggest that in the presence of excess ammonia in Delhi, high local emission of hydrochloric acid partitions into aerosol water. The highly water-absorbing and soluble chloride in the aqueous phase substantially enhances aerosol water uptake through co-condensation, which sustains particle growth, leading to haze and fog formation. We therefore suggest that the high local concentration of gas-phase hydrochloric acid, possibly emitted from plastic-contained waste burning and industry, causes some 50% of the reduced visibility. Our work implies that identifying and regulating gaseous hydrochloric acid emissions could be critical to improve visibility and human health in India. Half of the reduced visibility due to haze formation in cities in India is attributed to local emission of gas-phase hydrochloric acid from waste-burning and industry, according to measurements of particulate matter and thermodynamic modelling.

Insights into the chemistry of aerosol growth in Beijing: Implication of fine particle episode formation during wintertime

Nucleation particle growth plays a major role in the occurrence of fine particles, yet the mechanism of new particle formation (NPF) remains ambiguous in the complex atmosphere of megacities and hinders the development of measures to mitigate PM2.5 pollution. In this study, the chemistry of ultrafine particles during the growth phase of nucleation events was investigated in urban Beijing from Nov. 15, 2018 to Jan. 15, 2019, using two scanning mobility particle spectrometers (SMPS) systems and an Aerodyne high-resolution time-of-flight aerosol mass spectrometer (HR-ToF-AMS). During this intense campaign, 11 NPF events were observed and the growth rate (GR) of nanoparticles ranged from 12.5 to 24.5 nm h−1. Four periodic cycles of PM2.5 episodes that included aerosol particle growth to particulate matter pollution were identified. Based on the QGR – QAMS theoretical frame that exploring the balance between the source rate of condensable vapors and the observed growth rate of nanoparticles, we clearly showed the physical and chemical evolution of nano-particle during the growth processes to ambient-atmosphere sizes (>100 nm). Generally, the modal diameter of aerosol particles grew by more than 100 nm (7 out of 11 NPF events) when the nitrate concentration and less-oxidized oxygenated organic aerosol (LO-OOA) were high; however, another class of aerosol particle growth was limited to 50–100 nm (3 out of 11 NPF events) when sulfate was high. Note that the remaining one NPF event could not be identified if it can grow up to 100 nm or not due to the unavailable of observation data during the late growth stage. By linking the aerosol growth with chemical compositions, sulfate and organics were found to be the main contributors during the initial stage of the aerosol growth, while cooking-related OA (COA) enhanced the transition stage, and nitrate and more-oxidized OOA (MO-OOA) dominated the subsequent growth of aerosol to ambient-atmosphere sizes. An important portion of aerosol growth in PM2.5 was controlled by semi-volatile organic vapors, which can partition into the externally condensed phase of the accumulation mode and coarse mode via the physical process of adsorption. Through quantifying the physical and chemical properties of aerosol particle growth, the detail processes of nucleation initiated PM2.5 pollution episodes were evaluated and provided observational evidence on the formation mechanism of winter haze pollution in the megacity of Beijing.

Hygroscopic growth of simulated lung fluid aerosol particles under ambient environmental conditions.

The hygroscopicity of respiratory aerosol determines their particle size distribution and regulates solute concentrations to which entrained microorganisms are exposed. Here, we report the hygroscopicity of simulated lung fluid (SLF) particles. While the response of aqueous particles follow simple mixing rules based on composition, we observe phase hysteresis with increasing and decreasing relative humidity (RH) and clear uptake of water prior to deliquescence. These results indicate that RH history may control the state of respiratory aerosol in the environment and influence the viability of microorganisms.

Formation and Growth of Atmospheric Aerosol Particles and Their Contribution as Cloud Condensation Nuclei over a Forest in the Kii Peninsula

Formation and Growth of Atmospheric Aerosol Particles and Their Contribution as Cloud Condensation Nuclei over a Forest in the Kii Peninsula

Transport and chemistry of isoprene and its oxidation products in deep convective clouds

Deep convective clouds can transport trace gases from the planetary boundary layer into the upper troposphere where subsequent chemistry may impact aerosol particle formation and growth. In this modelling study, we investigate processes that affect isoprene and its oxidation products injected into the upper troposphere by an isolated deep convective cloud in the Amazon. We run a photochemical box model with coupled cloud microphysics along hundreds of individual air parcel trajectories sampled from a cloud-resolving model simulation of a convective event. The box model simulates gas-phase chemical reactions, gas scavenging by liquid and ice hydrometeors, and turbulent dilution inside a deep convective cloud. The results illustrate the potential importance of gas uptake to anvil ice in regulating the intensity of the isoprene oxidation and associated low volatility organic vapour concentrations in the outflow. Isoprene transport and fate also depends on the abundance of lightning-generated nitrogen oxide radicals (NOx = NO + NO2). If gas uptake on ice is efficient and lightning activity is low, around 30% of the boundary layer isoprene will survive to the cloud outflow after approximately one hour of transport, while all the low volatile oxidation products will be scavenged by the cloud hydrometeors. If lightning NOx is abundant and gas uptake by ice is inefficient, then all isoprene will be oxidised during transport or in the immediate outflow region, while several low volatility isoprene oxidation products will have elevated concentrations in the cloud outflow. Reducing uncertainties associated with the uptake of vapours on ice hydrometeors, especially HO2 and oxygenated organics, is essential to improve predictions of isoprene and its oxidation products in deep convective outflows and their potential contribution to new particle formation and growth.

Data Acquisition System of the CLOUD Experiment at CERN

The Cosmics Leaving OUtdoor Droplets (CLOUD) experiment at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) is investigating the nucleation and growth of aerosol particles under atmospheric conditions and their activation into cloud droplets. The experiment comprises an ultraclean 26 m <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">3</sup> chamber and its associated systems (the CLOUD facility) together with a suite of around 50 advanced instruments attached to the chamber via sampling probes to analyze its contents. The set of instruments changes for each experimental campaign according to the scientific goals. The central function of the CLOUD DAQ (data acquisition) system is to combine the data from these autonomous and inhomogeneous instruments into a single, integrated CLOUD experiment database. The DAQ system needs to be highly adaptable to allow a fast setup over a single installation week at the start of each campaign when the instruments are brought to CERN and installed at the CLOUD chamber. Each campaign requires high flexibility and fast response to changes in instrument configuration or experimental parameters. The experiments require online monitoring of the physical and chemical measurements with delays of only a few seconds. In addition, the raw data, the monitoring databases, and the processed data must be archived and provided to the international collaboration for both real-time and later analyses. We will describe the various components of the CLOUD DAQ and computing infrastructure, together with the reasons for the chosen solutions.

Haze events at different levels in winters: A comprehensive study of meteorological factors, Aerosol characteristics and direct radiative forcing in megacities of north and central China

The changes in aerosol optical and microphysical properties, and sub-band shortwave direct radiative forcing (DARF) in Beijing and Wuhan were compared at different haze levels in winters. The occurrence of haze is found to be governed by the wind circulation and boundary layer in Beijing where the ground wind speed and the height of boundary layer decreased significantly with the development of haze. Compared with the boundary layer and wind, the relative humidity has a stronger impact on haze in Wuhan. Especially, hygroscopic growth of aerosol particles is observed in Wuhan. The increase of fine-mode non-absorbing particles is the main characteristic of aerosol change during haze periods. With the development of haze, the larger increase in DARF at the top of atmosphere is found in Beijing, while the change in DARF at the atmosphere is more obvious in Wuhan. Efficiency of the DARF shows that the change of DARF depends highly on the single scattering albedo in Beijing due to the obvious enhancement of particle scattering, while it depends much more on particle radius over Wuhan. The increase in particle size can also change DARF proportion of each sub-band in shortwave that the DARF proportion in ultraviolet and visible decreased. However, the DARF proportion in near-infrared increased during haze, as the light in shorter wavelength is more sensitive to the change of the fine particle radius.