Description
New particle formation is widely observed in the atmosphere (Kulmala et al., 2004) and 50 % of the global budget of cloud condensation nuclei may originate from this process (Merikanto et al., 2009). Nucleation at the critical cluster size between 1-2 nm is often followed by rapid growth to sizes larger than 50 nm. Especially fast initial growth rates between 2-10 nm are crucial for the survival of the newly formed particles, because losses to pre-existing aerosol are high. The precise quantification of the conditions which cause initial growth are key to the understanding of the influence of new particle formation on the global climate (Tröstl et al., 2016). A DMA-train (Stolzenburg et al., 2016) is used for precision quantification of biogenic new particle formation in the CLOUD experiment at CERN (Kirkby et al., 2016). The DMA-train combines the precision of electrical mobility analysis with high sensitivity, by the use of six differential mobility analysers operated in parallel at distinct sizes and state-of-the-art condensation particle counters.Under precisely controlled chamber conditions and with extremely low contaminant levels, we quantify the temperature dependence of particle growth with highly oxygenated molecules (HOMs) produced by ?-pinene ozonolysis (Tröstl et al. (2016) reported initial measurements at a single temperature of 5oC). Moreover, we report the impact of isoprene and sulfuric acid contamination on the growth rates. By combination with other state-of-the-art instruments, the size-dependence of the growth rates can be determined from cluster sizes up to 100 nm. We therefore present the most detailed growth rate measurements obtained so far by CLOUD.| Period | 26 Apr 2017 |
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| Event title | EGU General Assembly 2017 |
| Event type | Conference |
| Location | Vienna, AustriaShow on map |