ACPD Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics Discussions ACPD 1680-7375 Copernicus GmbH Göttingen, Germany 10.5194/acpd-10-327-2010 Observations of turbulence-induced new particle formation in the residual layer Wehner B. 1 Siebert H. 1 Ansmann A. 1 Ditas F. 1 Seifert P. 1 Stratmann F. 1 Wiedensohler A. 1 Apituley A. 2 Shaw R. A. 1 3 Manninen H. E. 4 Kulmala M. 4 Leibniz Institute for Tropospheric Research, 04318 Leipzig, Germany RIVM - National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, 3720 BA Bilthoven, The Netherlands Department of Physics, Michigan Technological University, Houghton, MI 49931, USA Department of Physics, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 64, 00014 Helsinki, Finland 08 01 2010 10 1 327 360 This is an open-access article ditributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. This article is available from http://www.atmos-chem-phys-discuss.net/10/327/2010/acpd-10-327-2010.html The full text article is available as a PDF file from http://www.atmos-chem-phys-discuss.net/10/327/2010/acpd-10-327-2010.pdf

Aerosol particle measurements in the atmospheric boundary layer performed by a helicopter-borne measurement payload and by a lidar system from a case study during the IMPACT field campaign in Cabauw (NL) are presented. Layers of increased number concentrations of ultrafine particles were observed in the residual layer, indicating relatively recent new-particle formation. These layers were characterized by a sub-critical Richardson number and concomitant increased turbulence. Turbulent mixing is likely to lead to local supersaturation of possible precursor gases which are essential for new particle formation. Observed peaks in the number concentrations of ultrafine particles at ground level are connected to the new particle formation in the residual layer by boundary layer development and vertical mixing.

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