Characteristics of regional new particle formation in urban and regional background environments in the North China Plain

Wang, Z. B.; Hu, Min; Sun, Junying; Wu, Zhijun; Yue, Dingli; Shen, Xiaojing; Zhang, Y. M.; Pei, Xiangyu; Cheng, Yafang; Wiedensohler, Alfred

doi:10.5194/acp-13-12495-2013

Cited by 107 publications

(80 citation statements)

References 66 publications

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“…(5), (7), and (9), respectively. The J 3 values reported in previous studies in urban Beijing (Wu et al, 2007;Yue et al, 2009;Wang et al, 2013Wang et al, , 2015, Shanghai (Xiao et al, 2015), and Shangdianzi, the regional background station of the North China Plain (Shen et al, 2011;Wang et al, 2013), are also shown in Fig. 7.…”

Section: Characteristics Of Estimated Formation Rate In Beijingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In most previous studies, the above population balance method was used to estimate new particle formation rates in China. The reported formation rates of 3 nm particles and larger ones are typically in the range of 1-10 cm −3 s −1 (Wang et al, 2013;Leng et al, 2014;An et al, 2015;Qi et al, 2015). One study in Shanghai reported a rate of 112.4 to 271.0 cm −3 s −1 for the formation of 1.5 nm particles inferred from a DEG-CPC (Xiao et al, 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Equation (5) is a widely used balance formula to estimate the formation rate in previous studies (Kulmala et al, 2001;Dal Maso et al, 2005;Wu et al, 2007;Shen et al, 2011;Wang et al, 2013):…”

Section: Previous Formulae For Comparisonmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The definition approach tries to limit the size range towards the minimum detected diameter (Kuang et al, 2008;Weber et al, 1996), while studies with the population balance method have used various size ranges. Some studies used the aerosol size distributions from the minimum detected diameter up to 25 nm (Kulmala et al, 2001;Dal Maso et al, 2005;Wu et al, 2007;Wang et al, 2013). Kulmala et al (2004) recommended the upper size bound as the maximum size that the critical cluster can reach during a short time interval of growth.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A new balance formula to estimate new particle formation rate: reevaluating the effect of coagulation scavenging

Cai

Jiang

2017

Atmos. Chem. Phys.

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Abstract.A new balance formula to estimate new particle formation rate is proposed. It is derived from the aerosol general dynamic equation in the discrete form and then converted into an approximately continuous form for analyzing data from new particle formation (NPF) field campaigns. The new formula corrects the underestimation of the coagulation scavenging effect that occurred in the previously used formulae. It also clarifies the criteria for determining the upper size bound in measured aerosol size distributions for estimating new particle formation rate. An NPF field campaign was carried out from 7 March to 7 April 2016 in urban Beijing, and a diethylene glycol scanning mobility particle spectrometer equipped with a miniature cylindrical differential mobility analyzer was used to measure aerosol size distributions down to ∼ 1 nm. Eleven typical NPF events were observed during this period. Measured aerosol size distributions from 1 nm to 10 µm were used to test the new formula and the formulae widely used in the literature. The previously used formulae that perform well in a relatively clean atmosphere in which nucleation intensity is not strong were found to underestimate the comparatively high new particle formation rate in urban Beijing because of their underestimation or neglect of the coagulation scavenging effect. The coagulation sink term is the governing component of the estimated formation rate in the observed NPF events in Beijing, and coagulation among newly formed particles contributes a large fraction to the coagulation sink term. Previously reported formation rates in Beijing and in other locations with intense NPF events might be underestimated because the coagulation scavenging effect was not fully considered; e.g., estimated formation rates of 1.5 nm particles in this campaign using the new formula are 1.3-4.3 times those estimated using the formula neglecting coagulation among particles in the nucleation mode.

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Section: Characteristics Of Estimated Formation Rate In Beijingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Previous Formulae For Comparisonmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

A new balance formula to estimate new particle formation rate: reevaluating the effect of coagulation scavenging

Cai

Jiang

2017

Atmos. Chem. Phys.

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“…The comparatively low number concentration of sub-3 nm particles together with the moderate particle formation rate indicated that the NPF event was suppressed. In addition, previous studies in Beijing also observed some NPF events when A Fuchs values were relatively high (Wu et al, 2007;Wang et al, 2013cWang et al, , 2017, e.g., an A Fuchs value of ∼ 555 µm 2 cm −3 . These reported A Fuchs values might be overestimated since the daily-average value rather than the average only over NPF event periods was used.…”

Section: Relationship Between a Fuchs And Npf Eventsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Aerosol surface area concentration: a governing factor in new particle formation in Beijing

Cai¹,

Yang²,

Fu³

et al. 2017

Atmos. Chem. Phys.

102

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Abstract. The predominating role of aerosol Fuchs surface area, A Fuchs , in determining the occurrence of new particle formation (NPF) events in Beijing was elucidated in this study. The analysis was based on a field campaign from 12 March to 6 April 2016 in Beijing, during which aerosol size distributions down to ∼ 1 nm and sulfuric acid concentrations were simultaneously monitored. The 26 days were classified into 11 typical NPF days, 2 undefined days, and 13 non-event days. A dimensionless factor, L , characterized by the relative ratio of the coagulation scavenging rate over the condensational growth rate (Kuang et al., 2010), was applied in this work to reveal the governing factors for NPF events in Beijing. The three parameters determining L are sulfuric acid concentration, the growth enhancement factor characterized by contribution of other gaseous precursors to particle growth, , and A Fuchs . Different from other atmospheric environments, such as in Boulder and Hyytiälä, the dailymaximum sulfuric acid concentration and in Beijing varied in a narrow range with geometric standard deviations of 1.40 and 1.31, respectively. A positive correlation between the estimated new particle formation rate, J 1.5 , and sulfuric acid concentration was found with a mean fitted exponent of 2.4. However, the maximum sulfuric acid concentrations on NPF days were not significantly higher (even lower, sometimes) than those on non-event days, indicating that the abundance of sulfuric acid in Beijing was high enough to initiate nucleation, but may not necessarily lead to NPF events. Instead, A Fuchs in Beijing varied greatly among days with a geometric standard deviation of 2.56, whereas the variabilities of A Fuchs in Tecamac, Atlanta, and Boulder were reported to be much smaller. In addition, there was a good correlation between A Fuchs and L in Beijing (R 2 = 0.88). Therefore, it was A Fuchs that fundamentally determined the occurrence of NPF events. Among 11 observed NPF events, 10 events occurred when A Fuchs was smaller than 200 µm 2 cm −3 . NPF events were suppressed due to the coagulation scavenging when A Fuchs was greater than 200 µm 2 cm −3 . Measured A Fuchs in Beijing had a good correlation with its PM 2.5 mass concentration (R 2 = 0.85) since A Fuchs in Beijing was mainly determined by particles in the size range of 50-500 nm that also contribute to the PM 2.5 mass concentration.

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Contributions of volatile and nonvolatile compounds (at 300°C) to condensational growth of atmospheric nanoparticles: An assessment based on 8.5 years of observations at the Central Europe background site Melpitz

et al. 2017

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Long‐term measurements of particle number size distributions in combination with thermodenuder analysis have been performed since July 2003 at the Central European station of Melpitz, Germany. Up to the end of 2011, 20% of all investigated days during the 8.5 years of measurements showed new particle formation and subsequent growth. To investigate the role of various chemical compound candidates for condensational nanoparticle growth, we focused on nucleation events in which the measured size distributions with and without thermodesorption both showed growth patterns (accounting for up to ~85% of all nucleation events). In this study, particulate compounds that volatilize at 300°C were specifically defined as “volatile,” in contrast to “nonvolatile” compounds, which remain in the particulate phase after being heated to 300°C. A strong correlation between ambient temperature and growth rate associated with volatile substances (except gaseous sulfuric acid) was found, which implies the importance of organics (possibly oxidized biogenic organic compounds) in particle growth at Melpitz. The contributions of the volatile compounds to the growth rate due to condensation of gaseous sulfuric acid and organics were found to be about 19% and 47%, respectively. The remaining ~25% was attributed to nonvolatile residuals, which appear to form gradually during the particle growth process and are characterized as extremely low‐volatility compounds. The growth rate associated with volatile components exhibited significant seasonal variation, with the highest value during summertime, whereas the growth rate associated with the nonvolatile fraction showed less fluctuation.

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Characteristics of regional new particle formation in urban and regional background environments in the North China Plain

Cited by 107 publications

References 66 publications

A new balance formula to estimate new particle formation rate: reevaluating the effect of coagulation scavenging

A new balance formula to estimate new particle formation rate: reevaluating the effect of coagulation scavenging

Aerosol surface area concentration: a governing factor in new particle formation in Beijing

Contributions of volatile and nonvolatile compounds (at 300°C) to condensational growth of atmospheric nanoparticles: An assessment based on 8.5 years of observations at the Central Europe background site Melpitz

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