Articles | Volume 23, issue 3
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-1863-2023
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-1863-2023
Research article
 | 
02 Feb 2023
Research article |  | 02 Feb 2023

Particle number concentrations and size distributions in the stratosphere: implications of nucleation mechanisms and particle microphysics

Fangqun Yu, Gan Luo, Arshad Arjunan Nair, Sebastian Eastham, Christina J. Williamson, Agnieszka Kupc, and Charles A. Brock

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Cited articles

Bey, I., Jacob, D. J., Yantosca, R. M., Logan, J. A., Field, B. D., Fiore, A. M., Li, Q., Liu, H. Y., Mickley, L. J., and Schultz, M. G.: Global modeling of tropospheric chemistry with assimilated meteorology: Model description and evaluation, J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 106, 23073–23095, https://doi.org/10.1029/2001JD000807, 2001. 
Brock, C. A., Hamill, P., Wilson, J. C., Jonsson, H. H., and Chan, K. R.: Particle formation in the upper tropical troposphere – A source of nuclei for the stratospheric aerosol, Science, 270, 1650–1653, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.270.5242.1650, 1995. 
Brock, C. A., Schröder, F., Kärcher, B., Petzold, A., Busen, R., and Fiebig, M.: Ultrafine particle size distributions measured in aircraft exhaust plumes, J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 105, 26555–26567, https://doi.org/10.1029/2000jd900360, 2000. 
Brock, C. A., Williamson, C., Kupc, A., Froyd, K. D., Erdesz, F., Wagner, N., Richardson, M., Schwarz, J. P., Gao, R.-S., Katich, J. M., Campuzano-Jost, P., Nault, B. A., Schroder, J. C., Jimenez, J. L., Weinzierl, B., Dollner, M., Bui, T., and Murphy, D. M.: Aerosol size distributions during the Atmospheric Tomography Mission (ATom): methods, uncertainties, and data products, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 12, 3081–3099, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-3081-2019, 2019. 
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Short summary
Particle number concentrations and size distributions in the stratosphere are studied through model simulations and comparisons with measurements. The nucleation scheme used in most of the solar geoengineering modeling studies overpredicts the nucleation rates and particle number concentrations in the stratosphere. The model based on updated nucleation schemes captures reasonably well some aspects of particle size distributions but misses some features. The possible reasons are discussed.
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