2019, Kecorius, Simonas, Vogl, Teresa, Paasonen, Pauli, Lampilahti, Janne, Rothenberg, Daniel, Wex, Heike, Zeppenfeld, Sebastian, van Pinxteren, Manuela, Hartmann, Markus, Henning, Silvia, Gong, Xianda, Welti, Andre, Kulmala, Markku, Stratmann, Frank, Herrmann, Hartmut, Wiedensohler, Alfred

In a warming Arctic the increased occurrence of new particle formation (NPF) is believed to originate from the declining ice coverage during summertime. Understanding the physico-chemical properties of newly formed particles, as well as mechanisms that control both particle formation and growth in this pristine environment, is important for interpreting aerosol-cloud interactions, to which the Arctic climate can be highly sensitive. In this investigation, we present the analysis of NPF and growth in the high summer Arctic. The measurements were made on-board research vessel Polarstern during the PS106 Arctic expedition. Four distinctive NPF and subsequent particle growth events were observed, during which particle (diameter in a range 10-50 nm) number concentrations increased from background values of approx. 40 up to 4000 cm-3. Based on particle formation and growth rates, as well as hygroscopicity of nucleation and the Aitken mode particles, we distinguished two different types of NPF events. First, some NPF events were favored by negative ions, resulting in more-hygroscopic nucleation mode particles and suggesting sulfuric acid as a precursor gas. Second, other NPF events resulted in less-hygroscopic particles, indicating the influence of organic vapors on particle formation and growth. To test the climatic relevance of NPF and its influence on the cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) budget in the Arctic, we applied a zero-dimensional, adiabatic cloud parcel model. At an updraft velocity of 0.1 m s-1, the particle number size distribution (PNSD) generated during nucleation processes resulted in an increase in the CCN number concentration by a factor of 2 to 5 compared to the background CCN concentrations. This result was confirmed by the directly measured CCN number concentrations. Although particles did not grow beyond 50 nm in diameter and the activated fraction of 15-50 nm particles was on average below 10 %, it could be shown that the sheer number of particles produced by the nucleation process is enough to significantly influence the background CCN number concentration. This implies that NPF can be an important source of CCN in the Arctic. However, more studies should be conducted in the future to understand mechanisms of NPF, sources of precursor gases and condensable vapors, as well as the role of the aged nucleation mode particles in Arctic cloud formation. © Author(s) 2019. This work is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

2019, Wendisch, Manfred, Macke, Andreas, Ehrlich, André, Lüpkes, Christof, Mech, Mario, Chechin, Dmitry, Dethloff, Klaus, Velasco, Carola Barrientos, Bozem, Heiko, Brückner, Marlen, Clemen, Hans-Christian, Crewell, Susanne, Donth, Tobias, Dupuy, Regis, Ebell, Kerstin, Egerer, Ulrike, Engelmann, Ronny, Engler, Christa, Eppers, Oliver, Gehrmann, Martin, Gong, Xianda, Gottschalk, Matthias, Gourbeyre, Christophe, Griesche, Hannes, Hartmann, Jörg, Hartmann, Markus, Heinold, Bernd, Herber, Andreas, Herrmann, Hartmut, Heygster, Georg, Hoor, Peter, Jafariserajehlou, Soheila, Jäkel, Evelyn, Järvinen, Emma, Jourdan, Olivier, Kästner, Udo, Kecorius, Simonas, Knudsen, Erlend M., Köllner, Franziska, Kretzschmar, Jan, Lelli, Luca, Leroy, Delphine, Maturilli, Marion, Mei, Linlu, Mertes, Stephan, Mioche, Guillaume, Neuber, Roland, Nicolaus, Marcel, Nomokonova, Tatiana, Notholt, Justus, Palm, Mathias, van Pinxteren, Manuela, Quaas, Johannes, Richter, Philipp, Ruiz-Donoso, Elena, Schäfer, Michael, Schmieder, Katja, Schnaiter, Martin, Schneider, Johannes, Schwarzenböck, Alfons, Seifert, Patric, Shupe, Matthew D., Siebert, Holger, Spreen, Gunnar, Stapf, Johannes, Stratmann, Frank, Vogl, Teresa, Welti, André, Wex, Heike, Wiedensohler, Alfred, Zanatta, Marco, Zeppenfeld, Sebastian

Clouds play an important role in Arctic amplification. This term represents the recently observed enhanced warming of the Arctic relative to the global increase of near-surface air temperature. However, there are still important knowledge gaps regarding the interplay between Arctic clouds and aerosol particles, and surface properties, as well as turbulent and radiative fluxes that inhibit accurate model simulations of clouds in the Arctic climate system. In an attempt to resolve this so-called Arctic cloud puzzle, two comprehensive and closely coordinated field studies were conducted: the Arctic Cloud Observations Using Airborne Measurements during Polar Day (ACLOUD) aircraft campaign and the Physical Feedbacks of Arctic Boundary Layer, Sea Ice, Cloud and Aerosol (PASCAL) ice breaker expedition. Both observational studies were performed in the framework of the German Arctic Amplification: Climate Relevant Atmospheric and Surface Processes, and Feedback Mechanisms (AC) project. They took place in the vicinity of Svalbard, Norway, in May and June 2017. ACLOUD and PASCAL explored four pieces of the Arctic cloud puzzle: cloud properties, aerosol impact on clouds, atmospheric radiation, and turbulent dynamical processes. The two instrumented Polar 5 and Polar 6 aircraft; the icebreaker Research Vessel (R/V) Polarstern; an ice floe camp including an instrumented tethered balloon; and the permanent ground-based measurement station at Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard, were employed to observe Arctic low- and mid-level mixed-phase clouds and to investigate related atmospheric and surface processes. The Polar 5 aircraft served as a remote sensing observatory examining the clouds from above by downward-looking sensors; the Polar 6 aircraft operated as a flying in situ measurement laboratory sampling inside and below the clouds. Most of the collocated Polar 5/6 flights were conducted either above the R/V Polarstern or over the Ny-Ålesund station, both of which monitored the clouds from below using similar but upward-looking remote sensing techniques as the Polar 5 aircraft. Several of the flights were carried out underneath collocated satellite tracks. The paper motivates the scientific objectives of the ACLOUD/PASCAL observations and describes the measured quantities, retrieved parameters, and the applied complementary instrumentation. Furthermore, it discusses selected measurement results and poses critical research questions to be answered in future papers analyzing the data from the two field campaigns.