Characteristics of ice-nucleating particles in Beijing during spring: A comparison study of measurements between the suburban and a nearby mountain area

Hu, Yaqiong; Tian, Ping; Huang, Mengyu; Bi, Kai; Schneider, J.; Umo, Nsikanabasi Silas; Ullmerich, Nikolas; Höhler, Kristina; Jing, Xianwen; Xue, Huijun; Ding, Deping; Leisner, Thomas; Möhler, Ottmar

doi:10.1016/j.atmosenv.2022.119451

Cited by 1 publication

(1 citation statement)

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“…There were also some INP observational studies conducted in China in recent years. Observations in mountainous areas indicated that mineral dust is the most effective INP in spring, while anthropogenic aerosol pollution has a limited contribution [51]. Winter observations in Beijing revealed that the mountainous region exhibits a higher abundance of INPs that can be activated at higher temperatures compared to the central urban region [52].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Vertical Distribution of Ice-Nucleating Particles over the North China Plain: A Case of Cold Front Passage

He,

Yin,

Huang

et al. 2023

Remote Sensing

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Ice-nucleating particles (INPs) are crucial for cloud freezing processes in the atmosphere. Given the limited knowledge about the vertical distribution of INPs and its relation to aerosols in China, we present two aircraft observations of INPs over the North China Plain on 23 October 2019 and 25 October 2019, before and after a cold front passage. We used a well-established method to identify the INPs on a silicon wafer and then performed single-particle chemical composition analysis using an environmental scanning electron microscope-energy dispersive spectrometer (ESEM-EDS). The INP concentrations range from 0.1 to 9.2 L−1 within activation temperatures from −20 to −29 °C. INPs are mostly concentrated within the boundary layer, and their concentration shows a decreasing trend with height (0.5~6 km) before the cold front passage. However, the highest INP concentration always appears at higher altitudes (4~5 km) after the cold front passage. The cold front passage also significantly weakens the correlations between the concentrations of INPs and aerosol particles at different sizes. The activated fraction (AF) of total aerosols increases from 10−6 to 10−4 with height from near ground to 6 km, reflecting a better nucleating capacity of the aerosols at higher altitudes. There is no obvious variation in AF after the cold front passage. Chemical analysis reveals that the INPs containing mineral dust components comprise the majority of total INPs during both flights. The proportion of pure mineral dust declines from 52.2% to 43.5% after the cold front passage while the proportion of mixed mineral dust increases from 23.9% to 45.7%, suggesting that an increased probability of aging or coating of INPs is introduced by the cold front during their long-distance transport. In addition, 88% of INPs have a diameter larger than 1 μm. This indicates that larger aerosols (>1 μm) are the major contributors to INPs at high altitudes despite their relatively low abundance. Our results demonstrate a significant impact of transport events on the sources and vertical distribution of INPs in the atmosphere.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%