New particle formation and sub-10 nm size distribution measurements during the A-LIFE field experiment in Paphos, Cyprus

Atmospheric particle size distributions were measured in Paphos, Cyprus, during the A-LIFE (absorbing aerosol layers in a changing climate: ageing, lifetime and dynamics) field experiment from 3 to 30 April 2017. The newly developed differential mobility analyser train (DMA-train) was deployed for t...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Atmospheric chemistry and physics 2020-05, Vol.20 (9), p.5645-5656
Main Authors: Brilke, Sophia, Fölker, Nikolaus, Müller, Thomas, Kandler, Konrad, Gong, Xianda, Peischl, Jeff, Weinzierl, Bernadett, Winkler, Paul M
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aerosol layers
Aerosol size distribution
Aerosols
Ageing
Aging
Airports
Atmospheric physics
Charged particles
Climate change
Diameters
Emission analysis
Emissions
Growth rate
Humidity
Measurement
Mobility
Nucleation
Particle formation
Particle size
Particle size distribution
Plumes
Pollution
Pollution sources
Runways
Sensors
Setting (Literature)
Size distribution
Time
Trace gases
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Summary:Atmospheric particle size distributions were measured in Paphos, Cyprus, during the A-LIFE (absorbing aerosol layers in a changing climate: ageing, lifetime and dynamics) field experiment from 3 to 30 April 2017. The newly developed differential mobility analyser train (DMA-train) was deployed for the first time in an atmospheric environment for the direct measurement of the nucleation mode size range between 1.8 and 10 nm diameter. The DMA-train set-up consists of seven size channels, of which five are set to fixed particle mobility diameters and two additional diameters are obtained by alternating voltage settings in one DMA every 10 s. In combination with a conventional mobility particle size spectrometer (MPSS) and an aerodynamic particle sizer (APS) the complete atmospheric aerosol size distribution from 1.8 nm to 10 µm was covered. The focus of the A-LIFE study was to characterize new particle formation (NPF) in the eastern Mediterranean region at a measurement site with strong local pollution sources. The nearby Paphos airport was found to be a large emission source for nucleation mode particles, and we analysed the size distribution of the airport emission plumes at approximately 500 m from the main runway. The analysis yielded nine NPF events in 27 measurement days from the combined analysis of the DMA-train, MPSS and trace gas monitors. Growth rate calculations were performed, and a size dependency of the initial growth rate (
ISSN:1680-7324
1680-7316
1680-7324
DOI:10.5194/acp-20-5645-2020