Atmospheric nucleation and initial steps of particle growth: Numerical comparison of different theories and hypotheses

New particle formation in boreal forest environment in Hyytiälä, Finland, was studied in an aerosol dynamical model. Basing on the concepts of activation or kinetic collision of two pre-existing clusters at 1.5nm, several semi-empirical nucleation rate formulae were parameterized. The mechanisms had...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Atmospheric research 2010-11, Vol.98 (2-4), p.229-236
Main Authors: Vuollekoski, Henri, Nieminen, Tuomo, Paasonen, Pauli, Sihto, Sanna-Liisa, Boy, Michael, Manninen, Hanna, Lehtinen, Kari, Kerminen, Veli-Matti, Kulmala, Markku
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Activation
Aerosols
Atmosfärs- och hydrosfärsvetenskap
atmosfärvetenskap
Atmosphere and hydrosphere sciences
Atmospheric Sciences
Atmospherics
Clusters
Collision dynamics
Earth sciences
Earth, ocean, space
Exact sciences and technology
Exponents
External geophysics
Geovetenskap
Mathematical models
meteorologi
Meteorology
NATURAL SCIENCES
NATURVETENSKAP
New particle formation
Nucleation
Particles and aerosols
Sulfuric acid
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:New particle formation in boreal forest environment in Hyytiälä, Finland, was studied in an aerosol dynamical model. Basing on the concepts of activation or kinetic collision of two pre-existing clusters at 1.5nm, several semi-empirical nucleation rate formulae were parameterized. The mechanisms had linear or squared dependence on the concentration of sulphuric acid, or a low volatile organic vapor, or both, and they all showed good agreement with field measurements. A new method for examining the power dependence of apparent formation rate (at 2nm or 3nm) on sulphuric acid concentration was developed. The new method produced exponents 1.6–2.1 for cluster activation, and exponents 2.4–3.1 for kinetic collision, which suggests that the activation scenarios are in better agreement with experimental observations that imply exponents around 1–2. However, it was found that if low volatile organic vapors with concentrations exceeding that of sulphuric acid are present, they have a major role in shaping the temporal behavior of the apparent formation rates, causing error in the exponent analyses. Finally, a sensitivity study showed that the analyzed exponents grew even further, if the size of the critical cluster was assumed smaller that 1.5nm.
ISSN:0169-8095
1873-2895
1873-2895
DOI:10.1016/j.atmosres.2010.04.007