Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics Discussions www.atmos-chem-phys-discuss.net 1680-7367 1680-7375 9 5 2009 10.5194/acpd-9-20347-2009 http://www.atmos-chem-phys-discuss.net/9/20347/2009/ http://www.atmos-chem-phys-discuss.net/9/20347/2009/acpd-9-20347-2009.html http://www.atmos-chem-phys-discuss.net/9/20347/2009/acpd-9-20347-2009.pdf 20347 20369 2009-09-29 Composition of cirrus-forming aerosols at the tropical tropopause K. D. Froyd D. M. Murphy P. Lawson D. Baumgardner R. L. Herman NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory, Chemical Sciences Division, Boulder, CO, USA Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Science, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, USA SPEC Incorporated, Boulder, CO, USA Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Ciudad Universitaria, Mexico City, Mexico Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA The composition of residual particles from evaporated cirrus ice crystals near the tropical tropopause as well as unfrozen aerosols were measured with a single particle mass spectrometer. Subvisible cirrus residuals were predominantly composed of internal mixtures of neutralized sulfate with organic material and were chemically indistinguishable from unfrozen sulfate-organic aerosols. Ice residuals were also similar in size to unfrozen aerosol. Heterogeneous ice nuclei such as mineral dust were not enhanced in these subvisible cirrus residuals. 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