A dynamic parameterization of sulfuric acid–dimethylamine nucleation and its application in three-dimensional modeling

Journal Article · Wed Aug 09 00:00:00 UTC 2023 · Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-8789-2023· OSTI ID:2997691

Li, Yuyang ^[1]; Shen, Jiewen ^[2]; Zhao, Bin ^[2]; Cai, Runlong ^[3]; Wang, Shuxiao ^[2]; Gao, Yang ^[4]; Shrivastava, Manish Kumar B. ^[5]; Gao, Da ^[2]; Zheng, Jun ^[6]; Kulmala, Markku ^[7]; Jiang, Jingkun ^[1]

---

1. Tsinghua University, Beijing (China)
2. Tsinghua University, Beijing (China); State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Sources and Control of Air Pollution Complex, Beijing (China)
3. University of Helsinki (Finland)
4. Ocean University of China, Qingdao (China)
5. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
6. Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology (China)
7. University of Helsinki (Finland); Beijing University of Chemical Technology (China); Nanjing University (China)

Sulfuric acid (SA) is a governing gaseous precursor for atmospheric new particle formation (NPF), a major source of global ultrafine particles, in environments studied around the world. In polluted urban atmospheres with high condensation sinks (CSs), the formation of stable SA–amine clusters, such as SA–dimethylamine (DMA) clusters, usually initializes intense NPF events. Coagulation scavenging and cluster evaporation are dominant sink processes of SA–amine clusters in urban atmospheres, yet these loss processes are not quantitatively included in the present parameterizations of SA–amine nucleation. We herein report a parameterization of SA–DMA nucleation, based on cluster dynamic simulations and quantum chemistry calculations, with certain simplifications to greatly reduce the computational costs. Compared with previous SA–DMA nucleation parameterizations, this new parameterization was able to reproduce the dependences of particle formation rates on temperature and CSs. We then incorporated it in a three-dimensional (3-D) chemical transport model to simulate the evolution of the particle number size distributions. Simulation results showed good consistency with the observations in the occurrence of NPF events and particle number size distributions in wintertime Beijing and represented a significant improvement compared to that using a parameterization without coagulation scavenging. Quantitative analysis shows that SA–DMA nucleation contributes significantly to nucleation rates and aerosol population during the 3-D simulations in Beijing (>99 % and >60 %, respectively). These results broaden the understanding of NPF in urban atmospheres and stress the necessity of including the effects of coagulation scavenging and cluster stability in simulating SA–DMA nucleation in 3-D simulations. Representing these processes is thus likely to improve model performance in particle source apportionment and quantification of aerosol effects on air quality, human health, and climate.

• Research Organization: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER)
• Grant/Contract Number: AC05-76RL01830
• OSTI ID: 2997691
• Report Number(s): PNNL-SA--216399
• Journal Information: Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, Journal Name: Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics Journal Issue: 15 Vol. 23; ISSN 1680-7324
• Publisher: Copernicus GmbH
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English