Simulating Marine New Particle Formation and Growth Using the M7 Modal Aerosol Dynamics Modal

A modal atmospheric aerosol model (M7) is evaluated in terms of predicting marine new particle formation and growth. Simulations were carried out for three different nucleation schemes involving (1) kinetic self-nucleation of OIO (2) nucleation via OIO activation by H2SO4 and (3) nucleation via OIO...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Ciaran Monahan, Henri Vuollekoski, Markku Kulmala, Colin O'Dowd
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Hindawi Limited 2010-01-01
Series:Advances in Meteorology
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2010/689763
Description
Summary:A modal atmospheric aerosol model (M7) is evaluated in terms of predicting marine new particle formation and growth. Simulations were carried out for three different nucleation schemes involving (1) kinetic self-nucleation of OIO (2) nucleation via OIO activation by H2SO4 and (3) nucleation via OIO activation by H2SO4 plus condensation of a low-volatility organic vapour. Peak OIO and H2SO4 vapour concentrations were both limited to 6×106 molecules cm-3 at noontime while the peak organic vapour concentration was limited to 12×106 molecules cm-3. All simulations produced significant concentrations of new particles in the Aitken mode. From a base case particle concentration of 222 cm-3 at radii >15 nm, increases in concentrations to 366 cm-3 were predicted from the OIO-OIO case, 722 cm-3 for the OIO-H2SO4 case, and 1584 cm-3 for the OIO-H2SO4 case with additional condensing organic vapours. The results indicate that open ocean new particle production is feasible for clean conditions; however, new particle production becomes most significant when an additional condensable organic vapour is available to grow the newly formed particles to larger sizes. Comparison to sectional model for a typical case study demonstrated good agreement and the validity of using the modal model.
ISSN:1687-9309
1687-9317