Aerosol activation characteristics and prediction at the central European ACTRIS research station of Melpitz, Germany

Wang, Yuan; Henning, Silvia; Poulain, Laurent; Lu, Chunsong; Stratmann, Frank; Wang, Yuying; Niu, Shengjie; Pöhlker, Mira L.; Herrmann, Hartmut; Wiedensohler, Alfred

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-15943-2022

Articles | Volume 22, issue 24

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-15943-2022

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

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-15943-2022

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

Articles | Volume 22, issue 24

Research article

|

19 Dec 2022

Research article |

| 19 Dec 2022

Aerosol activation characteristics and prediction at the central European ACTRIS research station of Melpitz, Germany

Yuan Wang, Silvia Henning, Laurent Poulain, Chunsong Lu, Frank Stratmann, Yuying Wang, Shengjie Niu, Mira L. Pöhlker, Hartmut Herrmann, and Alfred Wiedensohler

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Final revised paper (published on 19 Dec 2022)
Supplement to the final revised paper
Preprint (discussion started on 27 Jun 2022)

Interactive discussion

Status: closed

RC1:
'Comment on acp-2022-427', Anonymous Referee #1, 02 Aug 2022

Please edit and improving the language of the text.

Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2022-427-RC1
- AC1: 'Reply on RC1', Yuan Wang, 19 Oct 2022
  
  Thanks for your comment. We have improved the language of the text.
  
  Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2022-427-AC1
RC2:
'Comment on acp-2022-427', Angela Buchholz, 02 Aug 2022

Please, find my detailed review report in the attached pdf.

Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2022-427-RC2
- AC2: 'Reply on RC2', Yuan Wang, 19 Oct 2022
  
  Many thanks for your kindly comments. Please find my response in the attachment.
  
  Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2022-427-AC2

Peer review completion

AR: Author's response | RR: Referee report | ED: Editor decision

AR by Yuan Wang on behalf of the Authors (19 Oct 2022) Author's response Author's tracked changes

ED: Referee Nomination & Report Request started (24 Oct 2022) by James Allan

RR by Angela Buchholz (28 Oct 2022)

RR by Anonymous Referee #1 (08 Nov 2022)

Suggestions for revision or reasons for rejection

Comments on the manuscript Wang et al. 2022, ACPD
As the Reviewer#2 commented, the authors present a 4 year-long size resolved CCN measurement data at a central European rural background station. This type of data is very valuable for the atmospheric science community. The authors have focused on analyzing the seasonal trends and test multiple approaches to predict the number of activated particles NCCN. Based on the suggestions and comments from reviewer#2, the authors have made corresponding revisions and edits on the manuscript and making the current version of the paper being improved. However, I still have some concerns here, since the data are based on a 4-year measurement, I would like to suggest the authors may present a yearly trend or changes of the aerosol CCN activation, which is not shown in the revised manuscript. It would be interesting to study and analyze such trends over a regional scale.
In addition, the authors concluded that “…. the  - Dp power-law fit measured at Melpitz could be applied to predict NCCN for other rural regions….” I wonder how did they can derive this, and it would be better to include a CCN closure test or if the authors can present a result by applying the  - Dp power-law fit measured at Melpitz to predict the NCCN at other rural sites.
In Figure 8, some important references relevant to aerosols hygroscopicity dependence on Dp may be missing (Chen et al., 2022, ACP, 22, 6773–6786, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-6773-2022, 2022). Adding these necessary discussions constitutes major revisions. I recommend publication after these are done, and the remaining issues listed below have been addressed
The authors need to present the key findings in the abstract, so as to highlight their main points.

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ED: Publish subject to minor revisions (review by editor) (09 Nov 2022) by James Allan

AR by Yuan Wang on behalf of the Authors (19 Nov 2022) Author's response Author's tracked changes Manuscript

ED: Publish as is (28 Nov 2022) by James Allan

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Short summary

Aerosol particle activation affects cloud, precipitation, radiation, and thus the global climate. Its long-term measurements are important but still scarce. In this study, more than 4 years of measurements at a central European station were analyzed. The overall characteristics and seasonal changes of aerosol particle activation are summarized. The power-law fit between particle hygroscopicity factor and diameter was recommended for predicting cloud condensation nuclei number concentration.