Aerosol particle number size distributions and particulate light absorption at the ZOTTO tall tower (Siberia), 2006–2009

Abstract

Abstract. This paper analyses aerosol particle number size distributions, particulate absorption at 570 nm wavelength and carbon monoxide (CO) measured between September 2006 and January 2010 at heights of 50 and 300 m at the Zotino Tall Tower Facility (ZOTTO) in Siberia (60.8 • N; 89.35 • E). Average number, surface and volume concentrations are broadly comparable to former studies covering shorter observation periods. Fits of multiple lognormal distributions yielded three maxima in probability distribution of geometric mean diameters in the Aitken and accumulation size range and a possible secondary maximum in the nucleation size range below 25 nm. The seasonal cycle of particulate absorption shows maximum concentrations in high winter (December) and minimum concentrations in mid-summer (July). The 90th percentile, however, indicates a secondary maximum in July/August that is likely related to forest fires. The strongly combustion derived CO shows a single winter maximum and a late summer minimum, albeit with a considerably smaller seasonal swing than the particle data due to its longer atmospheric lifetime. Total volume and even more so total number show a more complex seasonal variation with maxima in winter, spring, and summer. A cluster analysis of back trajectories and vertical profiles of the pseudo-potential temperature yielded ten clusters with three levels of particle number concentration: Low concentrations in Arctic air masses (400-500 cm −3 ), mid-level concentrations for zonally advected air masses from westerly directions between 55 • and 65 • N (600-800 cm −3 ), and high concentrations for air masses advected from the belt of industrial and population centers in Siberia and Kazakhstan (1200 cm −3 ). The obCorrespondence to: J. Heintzenberg (jost@tropos.de) servational data is representative for large parts of the troposphere over Siberia and might be particularly useful for the validation of global aerosol transport models.

Spatial and seasonal distribution of Arctic aerosols observed by the CALIOP satellite instrument (2006–2012)

“…In the European, Asian and North American sectors there are two maxima: one in December-January and another in July. The summer peak is consistent with measurements of particle number and volume concentration in the planetary boundary layer at the Zotino Tall Tower Facility (ZOTTO) in the Siberian Low Arctic (60.8 • N, 89.35 • E), which show a June-July maximum in median particle number concentration (JuneJuly: 900 cm −3 ; November-February: 520 cm −3 ) and comparable volume concentrations between summer and winter (Heintzenberg et al, 2011). In the Atlantic sector, the seasonality is reversed with a summer minimum and a DecemberMarch maximum, corresponding to elevated sea salt aerosol concentrations generated by high winds during winter (see Sect.…”

Pan-Eurasian Experiment (PEEX): towards a holistic understanding of the feedbacks and interactions in the land–atmosphere–ocean–society continuum in the northern Eurasian region

“…Measurements conducted at the ZOTTO site in central Siberia have shown that biogenic secondary organic aerosols reach high concentrations in summer and dominate the aerosol composition during this season (Mikhailov et al, 2015a, b;Ryshkevich et al, 2015). At this site, however, new particle formation events are seen much less frequently than at the Nordic stations (Heintzenberg et al, 2011). At present, relatively little is known about the overall contribution of biogenic emissions to aerosol number or mass concentrations, or to the cloud condensation nuclei budget, in northern Eurasia.…”

Long-term measurements of aerosol and carbon monoxide at the ZOTTO tall tower to characterize polluted and pristine air in the Siberian taiga

“…Continuous measurements of comprehensive sets of atmospheric constituents in the gas and particle phase together with meteorological parameters have been carried out at ZOTTO since October 2006 (Kozlova et al, 2008;Heintzenberg et al, 2008). With regards to aerosol, a study of the representativeness of the ZOTTO facility and first analyses of the particle size distribution data can be found in Heintzenberg et al (2008) and Heintzenberg and Birmili (2010); a statistical analysis of particle size distribution, particle absorption, and CO data taken from the first four years of operation of the ZOTTO facility (September 2006 to January 2010) is given in Heintzenberg et al (2011), together with seasonally dependent major air mass pathways and the related particle size distributions.…”

“…The principle of this instrument has been described previously (Knutson and Whitby, 1975;Winklmayr et al, 1991;Birmili et al, 1999) and detailed information about the ZOTTO DMPS system is given in Heintzenberg et al (2008Heintzenberg et al ( , 2011. In short, the ZOTTO DMPS consists of a 28 cm-long Hauke-type Differential Mobility Analyzer (DMA) and a Condensation Particle Counter (CPC, TSI model 3672).…”