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Importance of the organic aerosol fraction for modeling aerosol hygroscopic growth and activation: a case study in the Amazon Basin

Mircea, M ; Facchini, MC ; Decesari, S ; Cavalli, F ; Emblico, L ; Fuzzi, S ; Vestin, Anders ; Rissler, Jenny LU ; Swietlicki, Erik LU orcid and Frank, Göran LU orcid , et al. (2005) In Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics 5. p.3111-3126
Abstract
The aerosol in the Amazon basin is dominated throughout the year by organic matter, for the most part soluble in water. In this modeling study, we show how the knowledge of water-soluble organic compounds (WSOC) and the associated physical and chemical properties (e.g. solubility, surface tension, dissociation into ions) affect the hygroscopic growth and activation of the aerosol in this area. The study is based on data obtained during the SMOCC field experiment carried out in Rondonia, Brazil, over a period encompassing the dry (biomass burning) season to the onset of the wet season (September to mid-November, 2002). The comparison of predicted and measured cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) number concentration shows that the knowledge of... (More)
The aerosol in the Amazon basin is dominated throughout the year by organic matter, for the most part soluble in water. In this modeling study, we show how the knowledge of water-soluble organic compounds (WSOC) and the associated physical and chemical properties (e.g. solubility, surface tension, dissociation into ions) affect the hygroscopic growth and activation of the aerosol in this area. The study is based on data obtained during the SMOCC field experiment carried out in Rondonia, Brazil, over a period encompassing the dry (biomass burning) season to the onset of the wet season (September to mid-November, 2002). The comparison of predicted and measured cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) number concentration shows that the knowledge of aerosol WSOC composition in terms of classes of compounds and of their relative molecular weights and acidic properties may be sufficient to predict aerosol activation, without any information on solubility. Conversely, the lack of knowledge on WSOC solubility leads to a high overestimation of the observed diameter growth factors (DGF) by the theory. Moreover, the aerosol water soluble inorganic species fail to predict both DGFs and CCN number concentration. In fact, this study shows that a good reproduction of the measured DGF and CCN concentration is obtained if the chemical composition of aerosol, especially that of WSOC, is appropriately taken into account in the calculations. New parameterizations for the computed CCN spectra are also derived which take into account the variability caused by chemical effects (surface tension, molecular composition, solubility, degree of dissociation of WSOC). (Less)
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organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics
volume
5
pages
3111 - 3126
publisher
Copernicus GmbH
external identifiers
  • wos:000233422500001
  • scopus:30344446349
ISSN
1680-7324
language
English
LU publication?
yes
additional info
The information about affiliations in this record was updated in December 2015. The record was previously connected to the following departments: Nuclear Physics (Faculty of Technology) (011013007)
id
374adccc-767d-4d52-8f2f-76a3df46729e (old id 213322)
alternative location
http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/5/3111/2005/acp-5-3111-2005.html
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 12:36:03
date last changed
2022-06-09 20:32:35
@article{374adccc-767d-4d52-8f2f-76a3df46729e,
  abstract     = {{The aerosol in the Amazon basin is dominated throughout the year by organic matter, for the most part soluble in water. In this modeling study, we show how the knowledge of water-soluble organic compounds (WSOC) and the associated physical and chemical properties (e.g. solubility, surface tension, dissociation into ions) affect the hygroscopic growth and activation of the aerosol in this area. The study is based on data obtained during the SMOCC field experiment carried out in Rondonia, Brazil, over a period encompassing the dry (biomass burning) season to the onset of the wet season (September to mid-November, 2002). The comparison of predicted and measured cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) number concentration shows that the knowledge of aerosol WSOC composition in terms of classes of compounds and of their relative molecular weights and acidic properties may be sufficient to predict aerosol activation, without any information on solubility. Conversely, the lack of knowledge on WSOC solubility leads to a high overestimation of the observed diameter growth factors (DGF) by the theory. Moreover, the aerosol water soluble inorganic species fail to predict both DGFs and CCN number concentration. In fact, this study shows that a good reproduction of the measured DGF and CCN concentration is obtained if the chemical composition of aerosol, especially that of WSOC, is appropriately taken into account in the calculations. New parameterizations for the computed CCN spectra are also derived which take into account the variability caused by chemical effects (surface tension, molecular composition, solubility, degree of dissociation of WSOC).}},
  author       = {{Mircea, M and Facchini, MC and Decesari, S and Cavalli, F and Emblico, L and Fuzzi, S and Vestin, Anders and Rissler, Jenny and Swietlicki, Erik and Frank, Göran and Andreae, MO and Maenhaut, W and Rudich, Y and Artaxo, P}},
  issn         = {{1680-7324}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  pages        = {{3111--3126}},
  publisher    = {{Copernicus GmbH}},
  series       = {{Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics}},
  title        = {{Importance of the organic aerosol fraction for modeling aerosol hygroscopic growth and activation: a case study in the Amazon Basin}},
  url          = {{http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/5/3111/2005/acp-5-3111-2005.html}},
  volume       = {{5}},
  year         = {{2005}},
}