References

ACPD

Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics Discussions

ACPD

1680-7375

Copernicus GmbH

Göttingen, Germany

10.5194/acpd-8-9673-2008

SO2 oxidation products other than H2SO4 as a trigger of new particle formation – Part 2: Comparison of ambient and laboratory measurements, and atmospheric implications

Laaksonen

¹ ⁷ Kulmala

² Berndt

³ Stratmann

³ Mikkonen

¹ Ruuskanen

¹ Lehtinen

K. E. J.

¹ ⁷ Dal Maso

² Aalto

² Petäjä

² Riipinen

² Sihto

S.-L.

² Janson

⁴ Arnold

⁵ Hanke

⁵ Ücker

⁵ Umann

⁵ Sellegri

⁵ ⁸ O’Dowd

C. D.

⁶ Viisanen

⁷

University of Kuopio, Department of Physics, POB 1627, 70211 Kuopio, Finland

University of Helsinki, Department of Physical Sciences, Helsinki, Finland

Leibniz-Institut für Troposphärenforschung e.V., Permoserstraße 15, 04318 Leipzig, Germany

Stockholm University, Department of Applied Environmental Science (ITM), Atmospheric Science Unit, SE-10691, Stockholm, Sweden

Max-Planck-Institute for Nuclear Physics, Heidelberg, Germany

National University of Ireland, Galway, Department of Physics, Ireland

Finnish Meteorological Institute, POB 503, 00101 Helsinki, Finland

now at: Laboratoire de Météorologie Physique (LaMP), Observatoire de Physique du Globe de Clermont-Ferrand (OPGC), UMR 6016 CNRS, France

27 05 2008

8 3 9673 9695

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Atmospheric new particle formation is generally thought to occur due to homogeneous or ion-induced nucleation of sulphuric acid. We compare ambient nucleation rates with laboratory data from nucleation experiments involving either sulphuric acid or oxidized SO2. Atmospheric nucleation occurs at H2SO4 concentrations 2–4 orders of magnitude lower than binary or ternary H2SO4 nucleation. In contrast, the atmospheric nucleation rates and H2SO4 concentrations are very well replicated in the SO2 oxidation experiments. We explain these features by the formation of free HSO5 radicals in pace with H2SO4 during the SO2 oxidation. We suggest that at temperatures above ~250 K these radicals produce nuclei of new aerosols much more efficiently than H2SO4. These nuclei are activated to further growth by H2SO4 and possibly other trace species. However, at lower temperatures the atmospheric relative acidity is high enough for the H2SO4–H2O nucleation to dominate.

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