Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics Discussions
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10.5194/acpd-7-13597-2007
http://www.atmos-chem-phys-discuss.net/7/13597/2007/
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http://www.atmos-chem-phys-discuss.net/7/13597/2007/acpd-7-13597-2007.pdf
13597
13626
2007-09-17
Ion-mediated nucleation as an important global source of tropospheric aerosols
F. Yu
yfq@asrc.cestm.albany.edu
Z. Wang
G. Luo
R. Turco
Atmospheric Sciences Research Center, State University of New York, 251 Fuller Road, Albany, New York 12203, USA
NZC/LAPC, Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029, China
Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, University of California, 405 Hilgard Ave, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA
Aerosol nucleation events have been observed at a variety
of locations worldwide, and may have significant climatic and health
implications. While ions have long been suggested as favorable nucleation
embryos, their significance as a global source of particles has remained
uncertain. Here, an ion-mediated nucleation (IMN) mechanism, which
incorporates new thermodynamic data and physical algorithms, has been
integrated into a global chemical transport model (GEOS-Chem) to study ion
mediated particle formation in the global troposphere. The simulated annual
mean results have been compared to a comprehensive set of data relevant to
new particle formation around the globe. We show that predicted annual
spatial patterns of particle nucleation rates agree reasonably well with
land-, ship-, and aircraft-based observations. Our simulations show that,
globally, IMN in the boundary layer is largely confined to two broad
latitude belts: one in the northern hemisphere (~20° N–70° N),
and one in the southern hemisphere (~30° S–90° S). In the
middle latitude boundary layer over continentals, the annual mean IMN rates
are generally above 10<sup>4</sup> cm<sup>−3</sup>day<sup>−1</sup>, with some hot spots
reaching 10<sup>5</sup> cm<sup>−3</sup>day<sup>−1</sup>. Zonally-averaged vertical
distribution of IMN rates indicates that IMN is significant in the tropical
upper troposphere, whole middle latitude troposphere, and over Antarctica.
The ratio of particle number annual source strength due to IMN to those
associated with primary particle emission suggests that IMN contribution is
important. Further research is needed to reduce modeling uncertainties and
understand the contribution of nucleated particles to the abundance of cloud
condensation nuclei.
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