Vertical and horizontal variation of aerosol number size distribution in the boreal environment

Väänänen, Riikka; Krejci, Radovan; Manninen, Hanna E.; Manninen, Antti; Lampilahti, Janne; Mazon, Stephany Buenrostro; Nieminen, Tuomo; Yli-Juuti, Taina; Kontkanen, Jenni; Asmi, Ari; Aalto, Pasi; Keronen, Petri; Pohja, Toivo; O’Connor, Ewan; Kerminen, Veli‐Matti; Petäj̈ä, Tuukka; Kulmala, Markku

doi:10.5194/acp-2016-556

Cited by 20 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 48 publications

(36 reference statements)

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“…The LA results are consistent with the previous studies [Väänänen et al, 2016;Wehner et al, 2007;O'Dowd et al, 2009;Laakso et al, 2007;Siebert et al, 2004;Stratmann et al, 2003;Pryor et al, 2011;Crumeyrolle et al, 2010;Dunne et al, 2016]; however, the HA results are new and worthy of further investigation. Figure 2 shows the dependence on the aerosol surface area concentration of PBL top height (Figure 2a), peak NPF height (Figure 2b), and the difference between the two heights ( Figure 2c).…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 91%

“…As primary sources of atmospheric aerosol particles and cloud condensation nuclei, new particle formation (NPF) and its subsequent growth have drawn increasing attention [Kulmala et al, 2004;Yu and Luo, 2009;Merikanto et al, 2009;Venzac et al, 2008;Zhang et al, 2012]. Previous studies have identified two main regions of NPF occurrence: (1) well-mixed planetary boundary layer (PBL) where most anthropogenic pollutants and natural gas precursors are emitted and located [Väänänen et al, 2016;Wehner et al, 2007;Laakso et al, 2007;Siebert et al, 2004;Stratmann et al, 2003;O'Dowd et al, 2009;Pryor et al, 2011;Crumeyrolle et al, 2010;Dunne et al, 2016] and (2) the upper free troposphere (UT) where NPF may be related to low temperature and cloud processes [Dunne et al, 2016;Krejci et al, 2003;Clarke et al, 2013;Young et al, 2007;Mirme et al, 2010;Weigel et al, 2011;Wang et al, 2016;Lee et al, 2003;Weigelt et al, 2009]. Rare NPF events in lower free troposphere (LT) have been reported and are thought to be related to the upward transport of PBLoriginated air rising along valleys [Venzac et al, 2008;Bianchi et al, 2016] or convective movement [Rose et al, 2015].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Anthropogenic pollution elevates the peak height of new particle formation from planetary boundary layer to lower free troposphere

Quan

Liu

et al. 2017

Geophysical Research Letters

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New particle formation (NPF) and subsequent growth are primary sources of atmospheric aerosol particles and cloud condensation nuclei. Previous studies have been conducted in relatively clean environments; investigation of NPF events over highly polluted megacities is still lacking. Here we show, based on a recent yearlong aircraft campaign conducted over Beijing, China, from April 2011 to June 2012, that NPF occurrence peaks in the lower free troposphere (LT), instead of planetary boundary layer (PBL), as most previous studies have found and that the distance of NPF peak to PBL top increases with increasing aerosol loading. Further analysis reveals that increased aerosols suppress NPF in PBL, but enhance NPF in LT due to a complex chain of aerosol‐radiation‐photochemistry interactions that affect both NPF sources and sinks. These findings shed new light on our understanding of NPF occurrence, NPF vertical distribution, and thus their effects on atmospheric photochemistry, clouds, and climate.

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Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 91%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Anthropogenic pollution elevates the peak height of new particle formation from planetary boundary layer to lower free troposphere

Quan

Liu

et al. 2017

Geophysical Research Letters

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“…Some of them were conducted based on stationary measurements at more than one ground-level station simultaneously (Hussein et al, 2009;Németh and Salma, 2014;Komppula et al, 2006), and some of them used sites at different altitudes in the same area (Boulon et al, 2011;Birmili et al, 2003). There have also been airborne measurements on the spatial scale of NPF events (Väänänen et al, 2016). The flight measurements are efficient in deriving the vertical and horizontal extents and characteristics of an NPF event but are technically demanding and costly.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Birmili et al, 2003;Komppula et al, 2006;Charron et al, 2007;Hussein et al, 2009;Németh and Salma, 2014;Väänänen et al, 2016) in which the horizontal scale of NPF has been found to be from hundreds to thousands of kilometres. Many of these studies have used one or several measurement sites as the bases of their analysis.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Spatial distribution and occurrence probability of regional new particle formation events in eastern China

et al. 2018

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Abstract. In this work, the spatial extent of new particle formation (NPF) events and the relative probability of observing particles originating from different spatial origins around three rural sites in eastern China were investigated using the NanoMap method, using particle number size distribution (PNSD) data and air mass back trajectories. The length of the datasets used were 7, 1.5, and 3 years at rural sites Shangdianzi (SDZ) in the North China Plain (NCP), Mt. Tai (TS) in central eastern China, and Lin'an (LAN) in the Yangtze River Delta region in eastern China, respectively. Regional NPF events were observed to occur with the horizontal extent larger than 500 km at SDZ and TS, favoured by the fast transport of northwesterly air masses. At LAN, however, the spatial footprint of NPF events was mostly observed around the site within 100-200 km. Difference in the horizontal spatial distribution of new particle source areas at different sites was connected to typical meteorological conditions at the sites. Consecutive large-scale regional NPF events were observed at SDZ and TS simultaneously and were associated with a high surface pressure system dominating over this area. Simultaneous NPF events at SDZ and LAN were seldom observed. At SDZ the polluted air masses arriving over the NCP were associated with higher particle growth rate (GR) and new particle formation rate (J ) than air masses from Inner Mongolia (IM). At TS the same phenomenon was observed for J , but GR was somewhat lower in air masses arriving over the NCP compared to those arriving from IM. The capability of NanoMap to capture the NPF occurrence probability depends on the length of the dataset of PNSD measurement but also on topography around the measurement site and typical air mass advection speed during NPF events. Thus the long-term measurements of PNSD in the planetary boundary layer are necessary in the further study of spatial extent and the probability of NPF events. The spatial extent, relative probability of occurrence, and typical evolution of PNSD during NPF events presented in this study provide valuable information to further understand the climate and air quality effects of new particle formation.

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“…Disadvantageously, with ground-based in situ measurements no vertically resolved information about aerosol properties is available, which is needed to ascertain aerosol-cloud interaction (Breon, 2006). Without vertically resolved information, ground-based observations are usually assumed to be representative of the entire PBL and even ground-based measurements are often extrapolated to larger scales (Väänänen et al, 2016). Thus, as stated, e.g., by Rosati et al (2016a), it is of scientific interest to better understand whether ground-based in situ measurements can be used to investigate aerosol properties, in particular their optical properties, for elevated atmospheric layers.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Helicopter-borne observations of the continental background aerosol in combination with remote sensing and ground-based measurements

et al. 2018

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Abstract. This paper examines the representativeness of ground-based in situ measurements for the planetary boundary layer (PBL) and conducts a closure study between airborne in situ and ground-based lidar measurements up to an altitude of 2300 m. The related measurements were carried out in a field campaign within the framework of the HighDefinition Clouds and Precipitation for Advancing Climate Prediction (HD(CP) 2 ) Observational Prototype Experiment (HOPE) in September 2013 in a rural background area of central Europe.The helicopter-borne probe ACTOS (Airborne Cloud and Turbulence Observation System) provided measurements of the aerosol particle number size distribution (PNSD), the aerosol particle number concentration (PNC), the number concentration of cloud condensation nuclei (CCN-NC), and meteorological atmospheric parameters (e.g., temperature and relative humidity). These measurements were supported by the ground-based 3 + 2 wavelength polarization lidar system Polly XT , which provided profiles of the particle backscatter coefficient (σ bsc ) for three wavelengths (355, 532, and 1064 nm). Particle extinction coefficient (σ ext ) profiles were obtained by using a fixed backscatter-to-extinction ratio (also lidar ratio, LR). A new approach was used to determine profiles of CCN-NC for continental aerosol. The results of this new approach were consistent with the airborne in situ measurements within the uncertainties.In terms of representativeness, the PNSD measurements on the ground showed a good agreement with the measurements provided with ACTOS for lower altitudes. The ground-based measurements of PNC and CCN-NC are representative of the PBL when the PBL is well mixed. Locally isolated new particle formation events on the ground or at the top of the PBL led to vertical variability in the cases presented here and ground-based measurements are not entirely representative of the PBL.Based on Mie theory (Mie, 1908), optical aerosol properties under ambient conditions for different altitudes were determined using the airborne in situ measurements and were compared with the lidar measurements. The investigation of the optical properties shows that on average the airbornebased particle light backscatter coefficient is 50.1 % smaller for 1064 nm, 27.4 % smaller for 532 nm, and 29.5 % smaller for 355 nm than the measurements of the lidar system. These results are quite promising, since in situ measurement-based Mie calculations of the particle light backscattering are scarce and the modeling is quite challenging. In contrast, for the particle light extinction coefficient we found a good agreement. The airborne-based particle light extinction coefficient was just 8.2 % larger for 532 nm and 3 % smaller for 355 nm, for an assumed LR of 55 sr. The particle light extinction coefficient for 1064 nm was derived with a LR of 30 sr. For this wavelength, the airborne-based particle light extinction coefficient is 5.2 % smaller than the lidar measurements. For the first time, the lidar ratio of 30 sr for 1064 nm was det...

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Vertical and horizontal variation of aerosol number size distribution in the boreal environment

Cited by 20 publications

References 48 publications

Anthropogenic pollution elevates the peak height of new particle formation from planetary boundary layer to lower free troposphere

Anthropogenic pollution elevates the peak height of new particle formation from planetary boundary layer to lower free troposphere

Spatial distribution and occurrence probability of regional new particle formation events in eastern China

Helicopter-borne observations of the continental background aerosol in combination with remote sensing and ground-based measurements

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