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    Size-dependent particle activation properties in fog during the ParisFog 2012/13 field campaign
    (Göttingen : Copernicus, 2014) Hammer, E.; Gysel, M.; Roberts, G.C.; Elias, T.; Hofer, J.; Hoyle, C.R.; Bukowiecki, N.; Dupont, J.-C.; Burnet, F.; Baltensperger, U.; Weingartner, E.
    Fog-induced visibility reduction is responsible for a variety of hazards in the transport sector. Therefore there is a large demand for an improved understanding of fog formation and thus improved forecasts. Improved fog forecasts require a better understanding of the numerous complex mechanisms during the fog life cycle. During winter 2012/13 a field campaign called ParisFog aiming at fog research took place at SIRTA (Instrumented Site for Atmospheric Remote Sensing Research). SIRTA is located about 20 km southwest of the Paris city center, France, in a semi-urban environment. In situ activation properties of the prevailing fog were investigated by measuring (1) total and interstitial (non-activated) dry particle number size distributions behind two different inlet systems; (2) interstitial hydrated aerosol and fog droplet size distributions at ambient conditions; and (3) cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) number concentration at different supersaturations (SS) with a CCN counter. The aerosol particles were characterized regarding their hygroscopic properties, fog droplet activation behavior and contribution to light scattering for 17 developed fog events. Low particle hygroscopicity with an overall median of the hygroscopicity parameter, κ, of 0.14 was found, likely caused by substantial influence from local traffic and wood burning emissions. Measurements of the aerosol size distribution at ambient RH revealed that the critical wet diameter, above which the hydrated aerosols activate to fog droplets, is rather large (with a median value of 2.6μm) and is highly variable (ranging from 1 to 5μm) between the different fog events. Thus, the number of activated fog droplets was very small and the non-activated hydrated particles were found to contribute significantly to the observed light scattering and thus to the reduction in visibility. Combining all experimental data, the effective peak supersaturation, SSpeak, a measure of the peak supersaturation during the fog formation, was determined. The median SSpeak value was estimated to be in the range from 0.031 to 0.046% (upper and lower limit estimations), which is in good agreement with previous experimental and modeling studies of fog.
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    Aqueous phase oxidation of sulphur dioxide by ozone in cloud droplets
    (München : European Geopyhsical Union, 2016) Hoyle, C.R.; Fuchs, C.; Järvinen, E.; Saathoff, H.; Dias, A.; El Haddad, I.; Gysel, M.; Coburn, S.C.; Tröstl, J.; Bernhammer, A.-K.; Bianchi, F.; Breitenlechner, M.; Corbin, J.C.; Craven, J.; Donahue, N.M.; Duplissy, J.; Ehrhart, S.; Frege, C.; Gordon, H.; Höppel, N.; Heinritzi, M.; Kristensen, T.B.; Molteni, U.; Nichman, L.; Pinterich, T.; Prévôt, A.S.H.; Simon, M.; Slowik, J.G.; Steiner, G.; Tomé, A.; Vogel, A.L.; Volkamer, R.; Wagner, A.C.; Wagner, R.; Wexler, A.S.; Williamson, C.; Winkler, P.M.; Amorim, A.; Dommen, J.; Curtius, J.; Gallagher, M.W.; Flagan, R.C.; Hansel, A.; Kirkby, J.; Kulmala, M.; Möhler, O.; Stratmann, F.; Worsnop, D.R.; Baltensperger, U.
    The growth of aerosol due to the aqueous phase oxidation of sulfur dioxide by ozone was measured in laboratory-generated clouds created in the Cosmics Leaving OUtdoor Droplets (CLOUD) chamber at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN). Experiments were performed at 10 and −10 °C, on acidic (sulfuric acid) and on partially to fully neutralised (ammonium sulfate) seed aerosol. Clouds were generated by performing an adiabatic expansion – pressurising the chamber to 220 hPa above atmospheric pressure, and then rapidly releasing the excess pressure, resulting in a cooling, condensation of water on the aerosol and a cloud lifetime of approximately 6 min. A model was developed to compare the observed aerosol growth with that predicted using oxidation rate constants previously measured in bulk solutions. The model captured the measured aerosol growth very well for experiments performed at 10 and −10 °C, indicating that, in contrast to some previous studies, the oxidation rates of SO2 in a dispersed aqueous system can be well represented by using accepted rate constants, based on bulk measurements. To the best of our knowledge, these are the first laboratory-based measurements of aqueous phase oxidation in a dispersed, super-cooled population of droplets. The measurements are therefore important in confirming that the extrapolation of currently accepted reaction rate constants to temperatures below 0 °C is correct.