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    Aerosol activation characteristics and prediction at the central European ACTRIS research station of Melpitz, Germany
    (Katlenburg-Lindau : EGU, 2022) Wang, Yuan; Henning, Silvia; Poulain, Laurent; Lu, Chunsong; Stratmann, Frank; Wang, Yuying; Niu, Shengjie; Pöhlker, Mira L.; Herrmann, Hartmut; Wiedensohler, Alfred
    Understanding aerosol particle activation is essential for evaluating aerosol indirect effects (AIEs) on climate. Long-term measurements of aerosol particle activation help to understand the AIEs and narrow down the uncertainties of AIEs simulation. However, they are still scarce. In this study, more than 4 years of comprehensive aerosol measurements were utilized at the central European research station of Melpitz, Germany, to gain insight into the aerosol particle activation and provide recommendations on improving the prediction of number concentration of cloud condensation nuclei (CCN, NCCN). (1) The overall CCN activation characteristics at Melpitz are provided. As supersaturation (SS) increases from 0.1% to 0.7%, the median NCCN increases from 399 to 2144cm-3, which represents 10% to 48% of the total particle number concentration with a diameter range of 10-800nm, while the median hygroscopicity factor (κ) and critical diameter (Dc) decrease from 0.27 to 0.19 and from 176 to 54nm, respectively. (2) Aerosol particle activation is highly variable across seasons, especially at low-SS conditions. At SSCombining double low line0.1%, the median NCCN and activation ratio (AR) in winter are 1.6 and 2.3 times higher than the summer values, respectively. (3) Both κ and the mixing state are size-dependent. As the particle diameter (Dp) increases, κ increases at Dp of 1/440 to 100nm and almost stays constant at Dp of 100 to 200nm, whereas the degree of the external mixture keeps decreasing at Dp of 1/440 to 200nm. The relationships of κ vs. Dp and degree of mixing vs. Dp were both fitted well by a power-law function. (4) Size-resolved κ improves the NCCN prediction. We recommend applying the κ-Dp power-law fit for NCCN prediction at Melpitz, which performs better than using the constant κ of 0.3 and the κ derived from particle chemical compositions and much better than using the NCCN (AR) vs. SS relationships. The κ-Dp power-law fit measured at Melpitz could be applied to predict NCCN for other rural regions. For the purpose of improving the prediction of NCCN, long-term monodisperse CCN measurements are still needed to obtain the κ-Dp relationships for different regions and their seasonal variations.
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    Role of the dew water on the ground surface in HONO distribution: A case measurement in Melpitz
    (Katlenburg-Lindau : EGU, 2020) Ren, Yangang; Stieger, Bastian; Spindler, Gerald; Grosselin, Benoit; Mellouki, Abdelwahid; Tuch, Thomas; Wiedensohler, Alfred; Herrmann, Hartmut
    To characterize the role of dew water for the ground surface HONO distribution, nitrous acid (HONO) measurements with a Monitor for AeRosols and Gases in ambient Air (MARGA) and a LOng Path Absorption Photometer (LOPAP) instrument were performed at the Leibniz Institute for Tropospheric Research (TROPOS) research site in Melpitz, Germany, from 19 to 29 April 2018. The dew water was also collected and analyzed from 8 to 14 May 2019 using a glass sampler. The high time resolution of HONO measurements showed characteristic diurnal variations that revealed that (i) vehicle emissions are a minor source of HONO at Melpitz station; (ii) the heterogeneous conversion of NO2 to HONO on the ground surface dominates HONO production at night; (iii) there is significant nighttime loss of HONO with a sink strength of 0.16±0.12ppbv h-1; and (iv) dew water with mean NO-2 of 7.91±2.14 μgm-2 could serve as a temporary HONO source in the morning when the dew droplets evaporate. The nocturnal observations of HONO and NO2 allowed the direct evaluation of the ground uptake coefficients for these species at night: γNO2→HONO = 2.4±10-7 to 3.5±10-6, γHONO;ground = 1.7×10-5 to 2.8×10-4. A chemical model demonstrated that HONO deposition to the ground surface at night was 90 %-100% of the calculated unknown HONO source in the morning. These results suggest that dew water on the ground surface was controlling the temporal HONO distribution rather than straightforward NO2-HONO conversion. This can strongly enhance the OH reactivity throughout the morning time or in other planted areas that provide a large amount of ground surface based on the OH production rate calculation. © 2020 Copernicus GmbH. All rights reserved.
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    Decreasing trends of particle number and black carbon mass concentrations at 16 observational sites in Germany from 2009 to 2018
    (Katlenburg-Lindau : EGU, 2020) Sun, Jia; Birmili, Wolfram; Hermann, Markus; Tuch, Thomas; Weinhold, Kay; Merkel, Maik; Rasch, Fabian; Müller, Thomas; Schladitz, Alexander; Bastian, Susanne; Löschau, Gunter; Cyrys, Josef; Gu, Jianwei; Flentje, Harald; Briel, Björn; Asbach, Christoph; Kaminski, Heinz; Ries, Ludwig; Sohmer, Ralf; Gerwig, Holger; Wirtz, Klaus; Meinhardt, Frank; Schwerin, Andreas; Bath, Olaf; Ma, Nan; Wiedensohler, Alfred
    Anthropogenic emissions are dominant contributors to air pollution. Consequently, mitigation policies have been attempted since the 1990s in Europe to reduce pollution by anthropogenic emissions. To evaluate the effectiveness of these mitigation policies, the German Ultrafine Aerosol Network (GUAN) was established in 2008, focusing on black carbon (BC) and sub-micrometre aerosol particles. In this study, long-term trends of atmospheric particle number concentrations (PNCs) and equivalent BC (eBC) mass concentration over a 10-year period (2009-2018) were determined for 16 GUAN sites ranging from roadside to high Alpine environments. Overall, statistically significant decreasing trends are found for most of these parameters and environments in Germany. The annual relative slope of eBC mass concentration varies between-13.1% and-1.7% per year. The slopes of the PNCs vary from-17.2% to-1.7 %,-7.8% to-1.1 %, and-11.1% to-1.2% per year for 10-30, 30-200, and 200-800 nm size ranges, respectively. The reductions in various anthropogenic emissions are found to be the dominant factors responsible for the decreasing trends of eBC mass concentration and PNCs. The diurnal and seasonal variations in the trends clearly show the effects of the mitigation policies for road transport and residential emissions. The influences of other factors such as air masses, precipitation, and temperature were also examined and found to be less important or negligible. This study proves that a combination of emission mitigation policies can effectively improve the air quality on large spatial scales. It also suggests that a long-term aerosol measurement network at multi-type sites is an efficient and necessary tool for evaluating emission mitigation policies. © 2020 Author(s).