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    Ice-nucleating particle concentrations unaffected by urban air pollution in Beijing, China
    (Katlenburg-Lindau : EGU, 2018) Chen, Jie; Wu, Zhijun; Augustin-Bauditz, Stefanie; Grawe, Sarah; Hartmann, Markus; Pei, Xiangyu; Liu, Zirui; Ji, Dongsheng; Wex, Heike
    Exceedingly high levels of PM2.5 with complex chemical composition occur frequently in China. It has been speculated whether anthropogenic PM2.5 may significantly contribute to ice-nucleating particles (INP). However, few studies have focused on the ice-nucleating properties of urban particles. In this work, two ice-nucleating droplet arrays have been used to determine the atmospheric number concentration of INP (NINP) in the range from -6 to -25 °C in Beijing. No correlations between NINP and either PM2.5 or black carbon mass concentrations were found, although both varied by more than a factor of 30 during the sampling period. Similarly, there were no correlations between NINP and either total particle number concentration or number concentrations for particles with diameters > 500 nm. Furthermore, there was no clear difference between day and night samples. All these results indicate that Beijing air pollution did not increase or decrease INP concentrations in the examined temperature range above values observed in nonurban areas; hence, the background INP concentrations might not be anthropogenically influenced as far as urban air pollution is concerned, at least in the examined temperature range.
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    Aircraft-based observations of isoprene-epoxydiol-derived secondary organic aerosol (IEPOX-SOA) in the tropical upper troposphere over the Amazon region
    (Katlenburg-Lindau : EGU, 2018) Schulz, Christiane; Schneider, Johannes; Amorim Holanda, Bruna; Appel, Oliver; Costa, Anja; de Sá, Suzane S.; Dreiling, Volker; Fütterer, Daniel; Jurkat-Witschas, Tina; Klimach, Thomas; Knote, Christoph; Krämer, Martina; Martin, Scot T.; Mertes, Stephan; Pöhlker, Mira L.; Sauer, Daniel; Voigt, Christiane; Walser, Adrian; Weinzierl, Bernadett; Ziereis, Helmut; Zöger, Martin; Andreae, Meinrat O.; Artaxo, Paulo; Machado, Luiz A. T.; Pöschl, Ulrich; Wendisch, Manfred; Borrmann, Stephan
    During the ACRIDICON-CHUVA field project (September-October 2014; based in Manaus, Brazil) aircraft-based in situ measurements of aerosol chemical composition were conducted in the tropical troposphere over the Amazon using the High Altitude and Long Range Research Aircraft (HALO), covering altitudes from the boundary layer (BL) height up to 14.4km. The submicron non-refractory aerosol was characterized by flash-vaporization/electron impact-ionization aerosol particle mass spectrometry. The results show that significant secondary organic aerosol (SOA) formation by isoprene oxidation products occurs in the upper troposphere (UT), leading to increased organic aerosol mass concentrations above 10km altitude. The median organic mass concentrations in the UT above 10km range between 1.0 and 2.5μgm-3 (referring to standard temperature and pressure; STP) with interquartile ranges of 0.6 to 3.2μgm-3 (STP), representing 78% of the total submicron non-refractory aerosol particle mass. The presence of isoprene-epoxydiol-derived secondary organic aerosol (IEPOX-SOA) was confirmed by marker peaks in the mass spectra. We estimate the contribution of IEPOX-SOA to the total organic aerosol in the UT to be about 20%. After isoprene emission from vegetation, oxidation processes occur at low altitudes and/or during transport to higher altitudes, which may lead to the formation of IEPOX (one oxidation product of isoprene). Reactive uptake or condensation of IEPOX on preexisting particles leads to IEPOX-SOA formation and subsequently increasing organic mass in the UT. This organic mass increase was accompanied by an increase in the nitrate mass concentrations, most likely due to NOx production by lightning. Analysis of the ion ratio of NO+ to NO2+ indicated that nitrate in the UT exists mainly in the form of organic nitrate. IEPOX-SOA and organic nitrates are coincident with each other, indicating that IEPOX-SOA forms in the UT either on acidic nitrate particles forming organic nitrates derived from IEPOX or on already neutralized organic nitrate aerosol particles.
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    Long-term cloud condensation nuclei number concentration, particle number size distribution and chemical composition measurements at regionally representative observatories
    (Katlenburg-Lindau : EGU, 2018) Schmale, Julia; Henning, Silvia; Decesari, Stefano; Henzing, Bas; Keskinen, Helmi; Sellegri, Karine; Ovadnevaite, Jurgita; Pöhlker, Mira L.; Brito, Joel; Bougiatioti, Aikaterini; Kristensson, Adam; Kalivitis, Nikos; Stavroulas, Iasonas; Carbone, Samara; Jefferson, Anne; Park, Minsu; Schlag, Patrick; Iwamoto, Yoko; Aalto, Pasi; Äijälä, Mikko; Bukowiecki, Nicolas; Ehn, Mikael; Frank, Göran; Fröhlich, Roman; Frumau, Arnoud; Herrmann, Erik; Herrmann, Hartmut; Holzinger, Rupert; Kos, Gerard; Kulmala, Markku; Mihalopoulos, Nikolaos; Nenes, Athanasios; O'Dowd, Colin; Petäjä, Tuukka; Picard, David; Pöhlker, Christopher; Pöschl, Ulrich; Poulain, Laurent; Prévôt, André Stephan Henry; Swietlicki, Erik; Andreae, Meinrat O.; Artaxo, Paulo; Wiedensohler, Alfred; Ogren, John; Matsuki, Atsushi; Yum, Seong Soo; Stratmann, Frank; Baltensperger, Urs; Gysel, Martin
    Aerosol-cloud interactions (ACI) constitute the single largest uncertainty in anthropogenic radiative forcing. To reduce the uncertainties and gain more confidence in the simulation of ACI, models need to be evaluated against observations, in particular against measurements of cloud condensation nuclei (CCN). Here we present a data set - ready to be used for model validation - of long-term observations of CCN number concentrations, particle number size distributions and chemical composition from 12 sites on 3 continents. Studied environments include coastal background, rural background, alpine sites, remote forests and an urban surrounding. Expectedly, CCN characteristics are highly variable across site categories. However, they also vary within them, most strongly in the coastal background group, where CCN number concentrations can vary by up to a factor of 30 within one season. In terms of particle activation behaviour, most continental stations exhibit very similar activation ratios (relative to particles 20nm) across the range of 0.1 to 1.0% supersaturation. At the coastal sites the transition from particles being CCN inactive to becoming CCN active occurs over a wider range of the supersaturation spectrum. Several stations show strong seasonal cycles of CCN number concentrations and particle number size distributions, e.g. at Barrow (Arctic haze in spring), at the alpine stations (stronger influence of polluted boundary layer air masses in summer), the rain forest (wet and dry season) or Finokalia (wildfire influence in autumn). The rural background and urban sites exhibit relatively little variability throughout the year, while short-term variability can be high especially at the urban site. The average hygroscopicity parameter, calculated from the chemical composition of submicron particles was highest at the coastal site of Mace Head (0.6) and lowest at the rain forest station ATTO (0.2-0.3). We performed closure studies based on -Köhler theory to predict CCN number concentrations. The ratio of predicted to measured CCN concentrations is between 0.87 and 1.4 for five different types of . The temporal variability is also well captured, with Pearson correlation coefficients exceeding 0.87. Information on CCN number concentrations at many locations is important to better characterise ACI and their radiative forcing. But long-term comprehensive aerosol particle characterisations are labour intensive and costly. Hence, we recommend operating migrating-CCNCs to conduct collocated CCN number concentration and particle number size distribution measurements at individual locations throughout one year at least to derive a seasonally resolved hygroscopicity parameter. This way, CCN number concentrations can only be calculated based on continued particle number size distribution information and greater spatial coverage of long-term measurements can be achieved.