Atmospheric new particle formation at Utö, Baltic Sea 2003-2005

Abstract

Nearly 3 yr (March 2003–December 2005) of continuous particle number size distribution measurements have been conducted at the island of Ut¨o in the Baltic Sea. The measured particle size range was from 7 to 530 nm. During the measurement period, a total of 103 regional new-particle formation events were observed. The characteristics of the nucleation events at Ut¨o were similar to those reported in the literature in other Nordic sites, though measured condensation sinks were rather high (geometric mean of 3.8 × 10−3 s−1) during event days. Clear evidence was found that new particles nucleate regionally near Ut¨o, rather than are transported from greater distances. However, the Baltic Sea seems to have an inhibiting effect on new-particle formation. The boreal forest areas in the continental Finland were found to have an enhancing effect on the nucleation probability in Ut¨o, suggesting that at least some of the precursor gases for nucleation and/or condensational growth of particles originate from these forests. In addition to regional new-particle formation events, a total of 94 local events were observed in Ut¨o. These are short-lived events with a small footprint area, and can at least partly be tracked down to the emissions of ship traffic operating at Ut¨o.