Articles | Volume 21, issue 11
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-9065-2021
© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-9065-2021
© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
15 Jun 2021
Research article |
| 15 Jun 2021
| 15 Jun 2021
Large hemispheric difference in nucleation mode aerosol concentrations in the lowermost stratosphere at mid- and high latitudes
Christina J. Williamson
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences,
University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, USA
Chemical Sciences Laboratory, National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration, Boulder, CO 80305, USA
Agnieszka Kupc
Chemical Sciences Laboratory, National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration, Boulder, CO 80305, USA
Faculty of Physics, Aerosol Physics and Environmental Physics,
University of Vienna, 1090 Vienna, Austria
Andrew Rollins
Chemical Sciences Laboratory, National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration, Boulder, CO 80305, USA
Jan Kazil
Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences,
University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, USA
Chemical Sciences Laboratory, National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration, Boulder, CO 80305, USA
Karl D. Froyd
Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences,
University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, USA
Chemical Sciences Laboratory, National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration, Boulder, CO 80305, USA
Eric A. Ray
Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences,
University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, USA
Chemical Sciences Laboratory, National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration, Boulder, CO 80305, USA
Daniel M. Murphy
Chemical Sciences Laboratory, National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration, Boulder, CO 80305, USA
Gregory P. Schill
Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences,
University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, USA
Chemical Sciences Laboratory, National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration, Boulder, CO 80305, USA
Jeff Peischl
Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences,
University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, USA
Chemical Sciences Laboratory, National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration, Boulder, CO 80305, USA
Chelsea Thompson
Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences,
University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, USA
Chemical Sciences Laboratory, National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration, Boulder, CO 80305, USA
Ilann Bourgeois
Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences,
University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, USA
Chemical Sciences Laboratory, National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration, Boulder, CO 80305, USA
Thomas B. Ryerson
Chemical Sciences Laboratory, National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration, Boulder, CO 80305, USA
now at: Scientific Aviation, Boulder, CO 80301, USA
Glenn S. Diskin
NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA 23681, USA
Joshua P. DiGangi
NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA 23681, USA
Donald R. Blake
Department of Chemistry, University of California Irvine, Irvine, CA
92697, USA
Thao Paul V. Bui
Earth Science Division, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field,
California, USA
Maximilian Dollner
Faculty of Physics, Aerosol Physics and Environmental Physics,
University of Vienna, 1090 Vienna, Austria
Bernadett Weinzierl
Faculty of Physics, Aerosol Physics and Environmental Physics,
University of Vienna, 1090 Vienna, Austria
Charles A. Brock
Chemical Sciences Laboratory, National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration, Boulder, CO 80305, USA
Data sets
Nucleation mode aerosol and sulphate in the lowermost stratosphere Christina J. Williamson, Agnieszka Kupc, Andrew Rollins, Jan Kazil, Karl D. Froyd, Eric A. Ray, Daniel M. Murphy, Gregory P. Schill, Jeff Peischl, Chelsea Thompson, Ilann Bourgeois, Thomas Ryerson, Glenn S. Diskin, Joshua P. DiGangi, Donald R. Blake, Thao Paul V. Bui, Maximilian Dollner, Bernadett Weinzierl, Charles A. Brock https://daac.ornl.gov/
Short summary
Aerosols in the stratosphere influence climate by scattering and absorbing sunlight and through chemical reactions occurring on the particles’ surfaces. We observed more nucleation mode aerosols (small aerosols, with diameters below 12 nm) in the mid- and high-latitude lowermost stratosphere (8–13 km) in the Northern Hemisphere (NH) than in the Southern Hemisphere. The most likely cause of this is aircraft emissions, which are concentrated in the NH at similar altitudes to our observations.
Aerosols in the stratosphere influence climate by scattering and absorbing sunlight and through...
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