Articles | Volume 23, issue 1
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-251-2023
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-251-2023
ACP Letters
 | Highlight paper
 | 
13 Jan 2023
ACP Letters | Highlight paper |  | 13 Jan 2023

Strong particle production and condensational growth in the upper troposphere sustained by biogenic VOCs from the canopy of the Amazon Basin

Yunfan Liu, Hang Su, Siwen Wang, Chao Wei, Wei Tao, Mira L. Pöhlker, Christopher Pöhlker, Bruna A. Holanda, Ovid O. Krüger, Thorsten Hoffmann, Manfred Wendisch, Paulo Artaxo, Ulrich Pöschl, Meinrat O. Andreae, and Yafang Cheng

Related authors

From Single Compounds to Ambient Aerosols: A Machine-Learning-Based Estimation of Organic Hygroscopicity
Shravan Deshmukh, Laurent Poulain, Birgit Wehner, Silvia Henning, Hartmut Herrmann, and Mira Pöhlker
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-1992,https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-1992, 2026
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (ACP).
Short summary
Increasing Sea Surface Temperature Suppresses Primary Marine Aerosol Production
Raymond J. Leibensperger III, Justin D. Hamlin, Jena K. Herbst, Charbel Harb, Ke'La A. Kimble, Meinrat O. Andreae, Christopher Lee, Greg Sandstrom, M. Dale Stokes, Grant B. Deane, and Kimberly A. Prather
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-2142,https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-2142, 2026
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (ACP).
Short summary
Methanesulfonic and sulfuric acids are major contributors to tropical Indo-Pacific aerosol
Hannah Klebach, Martin Heinritzi, Katharina Kaiser, Lisa Beck, Samuel Ruhl, Samira Atabakhsh, Nirvan Bhattacharyya, Lucía Caudillo-Plath, Philipp Joppe, Thomas Klimach, Peter Lloyd, Mira Pöhlker, Ulrich Pöschl, Sarah Richter, Douglas M. Russell, Johannes Schneider, Marcel Zauner-Wieczorek, and Joachim Curtius
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-2191,https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-2191, 2026
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (ACP).
Short summary
Measurement report: Chemical composition of submicron aerosol and cirrus and contrail ice residuals measured in the UTLS over Germany in winter 2018
Philipp Brauner, Oliver Appel, Oliver Eppers, Franziska Köllner, Hans-Christian Clemen, Tiziana Bräuer, Hans-Christoph Lachnitt, Katharina Kaiser, Johannes Schneider, Antonis Dragoneas, Andreas Hünig, Sergej Molleker, Bruce E. Anderson, Yafang Cheng, Hans Schlager, Christiane Voigt, and Stephan Borrmann
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-2161,https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-2161, 2026
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (ACP).
Short summary
Upward transport and segregation of ice-nucleating particles in deep convective clouds
Jonas Schaefer, Sarah Grawe, Hans-Christian Clemen, Stephan Mertes, Johannes Schneider, Bruno Wetzel, Daniel Sauer, Jennifer Wolf, Laura Tomsche, Johanna Mayer, Roland Schrödner, Silvia Henning, Tina Jurkat-Witschas, Christiane Voigt, Helmut Ziereis, Theresa Harlaß, Mira Pöhlker, and Frank Stratmann
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-1383,https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-1383, 2026
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (ACP).
Short summary

Cited articles

Andreae, M. O.: Emission of trace gases and aerosols from biomass burning – an updated assessment, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 8523–8546, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-8523-2019, 2019. 
Andreae, M. O. and Andreae, T. W.: The cycle of biogenic sulfur compounds over the Amazon Basin: 1. Dry season, J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 93, 1487–1497, https://doi.org/10.1029/JD093iD02p01487, 1988. 
Archer-Nicholls, S., Lowe, D., Utembe, S., Allan, J., Zaveri, R. A., Fast, J. D., Hodnebrog, Ø., Denier van der Gon, H., and McFiggans, G.: Gaseous chemistry and aerosol mechanism developments for version 3.5.1 of the online regional model, WRF-Chem, Geosci. Model Dev., 7, 2557–2579, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-7-2557-2014, 2014. 
Download
Editorial statement
Traditionally, the interactions between aerosols, clouds, weather and climate has focused on sulphate aerosols. However, in the last 20 years it has become apparent that secondary organic aerosols are also highly abundant in the troposphere. These could represent a major coupling in the earth system between the biosphere and the atmosphere, and thus climate because forests are known to emit large quantities of biogenic VOCs that are known to produce secondary organic aerosols. However selectively studying their influence on the free troposphere is difficult as it requires in situ measurements aboard scientific aircraft. This study observes the role of biogenic secondary organic aerosols on the abundance of cloud condensation nuclei in the upper troposphere above the Amazon, and compares it with a state-of-the-art predictive model. This further supports the importance of these processes in earth system models and gives confidence that the current level of understanding will produce accurate predictions.
Short summary
The origins of the abundant cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) in the upper troposphere (UT) of the Amazon remain unclear. With model developments of new secondary organic aerosol schemes and constrained by observation, we show that strong aerosol nucleation and condensation in the UT is triggered by biogenic organics, and organic condensation is key for UT CCN production. This UT CCN-producing mechanism may prevail over broader vegetation canopies and deserves emphasis in aerosol–climate feedback.
Share
Altmetrics
Final-revised paper
Preprint