First Measurements of Neutral Atmospheric Cluster and 1–2 nm Particle Number Size Distributions During Nucleation Events
Recent observations throughout the atmosphere have shown that nucleation occurs frequently (Kulmala et al. 2004). Modeling studies and observations have shown that nucleated particles contribute significantly to concentrations of cloud condensation nuclei (Spracklen et al. 2008), thereby affecting climate (IPCC 2007). Size-resolved measurements extending down to molecular dimensions can provide information on processes that lead to nucleation and would enable development and verification of theories for particle nucleation and growth in the atmosphere and other aerosol systems. This article describes measurements of the complete number size distribution, spanning the size range from vapor molecules and molecular clusters to submicrometer particles, during atmospheric nucleation events. The measurements used two new instruments, the cluster chemical ionization mass spectrometer (Cluster CIMS) and the DEG SMPS. The Cluster CIMS measures neutral molecular clusters from 50 to 900 amu. The DEG SMPS is a scanning mobility particle spectrometer (SMPS) equipped with a diethylene glycol (DEG)-based condensation particle counter (CPC) capable of 1.1 nm mobility diameter particle detection, and overlapping the sizes detected by the Cluster CIMS (Iida et al. 2009; Jiang et al. 2011). The Cluster CIMS distinguishes neutral clusters from ions formed by ion-induced clustering by varying the reaction time for ions with the sampled air (Zhao et al. 2010). It distinguishes clusters from high molecular weight gases by measuring the incremental signal at a specified mass detected during nucleation events. The clusters that were measured in this study contain sulfuric acid, which is known to participate in atmospheric nucleation (Kuang et al. 2008).
- Research Organization:
- Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- DOE - OFFICE OF SCIENCE
- DOE Contract Number:
- DE-AC02-98CH10886
- OSTI ID:
- 1020905
- Report Number(s):
- BNL-94768-2011-JA; ASTYDQ; R&D Project: 2012-BNL-EE630EECA-BUDG; KP1701000; TRN: US201116%%930
- Journal Information:
- Aerosol Science and Technology, Vol. 45, Issue 4; ISSN 0278-6826
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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