Rapid modification of cloud-nucleating ability of aerosols by biogenic emissions Academic Article uri icon

abstract

  • AbstractAlthough secondary organic aerosol formation is well studied, the extent to which oxidation products of biogenic volatile organic compounds condense onto primary aerosols and modify their cloudnucleating properties remains highly uncertain. Here we show that watersoluble organic acids produced from the reaction between pinene and ozone rapidly accumulate onto preexisting particles forming coatings of organic materials that reach a mass fraction of 8090% within a time period of 30 to 60min for the reactant conditions of 7 to 37 ppbv pinene and 20 ppbv ozone. Cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) measurements reveal that the initially hydrophobic aerosols are rapidly converted to efficient CCN at a supersaturation of 0.22%. Our results imply that changes in the activation potential of a significant fraction of the atmospheric aerosol population are controlled by the formation and composition of coatings formed during the aging process, rather than by the original particle size or composition.

published proceedings

  • GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS

altmetric score

  • 0.75

author list (cited authors)

  • Ma, Y., Brooks, S. D., Vidaurre, G., Khalizov, A. F., Wang, L., & Zhang, R.

citation count

  • 42

complete list of authors

  • Ma, Yan||Brooks, Sarah D||Vidaurre, German||Khalizov, Alexei F||Wang, Lin||Zhang, Renyi

publication date

  • December 2013