The effectiveness of the  coagulation sink of 3–10&thinsp;nm atmospheric particles

Cai, Runlong; Häkkinen, Ella; Yan, Chao; Jiang, Jingkun; Kulmala, Markku; Kangasluoma, Juha

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-11529-2022

Articles | Volume 22, issue 17

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-11529-2022

© Author(s) 2022. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-11529-2022

© Author(s) 2022. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 22, issue 17

Research article

|

07 Sep 2022

Research article |

| 07 Sep 2022

The effectiveness of the coagulation sink of 3–10 nm atmospheric particles

Runlong Cai, Ella Häkkinen, Chao Yan, Jingkun Jiang, Markku Kulmala, and Juha Kangasluoma

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Final revised paper (published on 07 Sep 2022)
Supplement to the final revised paper
Preprint (discussion started on 14 Apr 2022)
Supplement to the preprint

Interactive discussion

Status: closed

RC1:
'Comment on acp-2022-262', Anonymous Referee #1, 04 Jul 2022

The paper by Cai et al. aims to solve one of the most confusing problems related to particle survival by quantifying coagulation coefficient. Direct experimental evidence for the effectiveness of the CoagS of new particles was provided by well controlled chamber experiments. Comparison between the measured coefficient with theoretical predictions shows that almost every coagulation leads to the scavenging of one particle, and the coagulation sink exceeds the hard-sphere kinetic limit due to van der Waals attractive force. Base on the measurement, the authors proposed high theoretical survival probabilities of new particles in NPF events observed at high coagulation sinks are caused by high growth rates. I suggest the publication of this paper. One issue should be addressed in the abstract "....the measured coagulation coefficient increases significantly with a decreasing particle size...". Please specify for what particle size this conclusion refers to. Obviously, your statement is completely wrong because coagulation coefficient with 10 nm particle decreases with the decreasing size of coagulating particles.

Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2022-262-RC1
- AC1: 'Comment on acp-2022-262', Runlong Cai, 12 Jul 2022
  
  We thank the reviewers for their efforts and comments that help to improve this manuscript. The reviewers’ comments have been addressed and the manuscript has been revised accordingly. More details on the experiments and analysis have been provided to facilitate understanding.
  Please see the supplement.
  
  Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2022-262-AC1
RC2:
'Comment on acp-2022-262', Anonymous Referee #2, 05 Jul 2022

Please see the attached pdf.

Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2022-262-RC2
- AC1: 'Comment on acp-2022-262', Runlong Cai, 12 Jul 2022
  
  We thank the reviewers for their efforts and comments that help to improve this manuscript. The reviewers’ comments have been addressed and the manuscript has been revised accordingly. More details on the experiments and analysis have been provided to facilitate understanding.
  Please see the supplement.
  
  Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2022-262-AC1
AC1: 'Comment on acp-2022-262', Runlong Cai, 12 Jul 2022

We thank the reviewers for their efforts and comments that help to improve this manuscript. The reviewers’ comments have been addressed and the manuscript has been revised accordingly. More details on the experiments and analysis have been provided to facilitate understanding.
Please see the supplement.

Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2022-262-AC1

Peer review completion

AR: Author's response | RR: Referee report | ED: Editor decision | EF: Editorial file upload

AR by Runlong Cai on behalf of the Authors (12 Jul 2022) Author's response Author's tracked changes Manuscript

ED: Referee Nomination & Report Request started (13 Jul 2022) by Guangjie Zheng

RR by Anonymous Referee #2 (07 Aug 2022)

ED: Reconsider after major revisions (07 Aug 2022) by Guangjie Zheng

AR by Runlong Cai on behalf of the Authors (12 Aug 2022) Author's response Author's tracked changes Manuscript

ED: Publish as is (14 Aug 2022) by Guangjie Zheng

AR by Runlong Cai on behalf of the Authors (22 Aug 2022)

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Short summary

The influences of new particle formation on the climate and air quality are governed by particle survival, which has been under debate due to uncertainties in the coagulation sink. Here we measure the coagulation coefficient of sub-10 nm particles and demonstrate that collisions between the freshly nucleated and background particles can effectively lead to coagulation. We further show that the effective coagulation sink is consistent with the new particle formation measured in urban Beijing.