Organic aerosols as cloud condensation nuclei
- Lawrence Berkeley Lab., CA (United States)
Recent field measurements have shown that organic aerosols may significantly contribute to cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) concentrations. An open question is whether the apparent CCN activity of organic aerosols is due to inherent properties of organic species, or whether these particles are rendered CCN active through association with water-soluble inorganic species. Biomass smoke particles are known to be good CCN; however, they contain significant amounts of water-soluble potassium, sodium, and chloride that could serve as the substances that render the organic part of smoke particles CCN active. We performed measurements of laboratory-generated smoke particles produced by combustion of eucalyptus, redwood, and pure cellulose. While the former two contain significant amounts of inorganic water-soluble species, cellulose smoke particles are composed exclusively of organic species and are virtually free of inorganic impurities. Our results show that smoke articles from cellulose (a major component of biomass fuels) burning are completely water soluble and are efficient CCN. These findings demonstrate that some classes of biomass burning organic aerosols are intrinsically CCN active.
- OSTI ID:
- 166541
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-9510126--
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Chemical aging of single and multicomponent biomass burning aerosol surrogate-particles by OH: Implications for cloud condensation nucleus activity
Chemical aging of single and multicomponent biomass burning aerosol surrogate particles by OH: implications for cloud condensation nucleus activity