Explaining apparent particle shrinkage related to new particle formation events in western Saudi Arabia does not require evaporation
Simo Hakala,Ville Vakkari,Heikki Lihavainen,Antti-Pekka Hyvärinen,Kimmo Neitola,Jenni Kontkanen,Veli-Matti Kerminen,Markku Kulmala,Tuukka Petäjä,Tareq Hussein,Mamdouh I. Khoder,Mansour A. Alghamdi,and Pauli Paasonen
Institute for Atmospheric and Earth System Research (INAR)/Physics,
Faculty of Science, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
Tareq Hussein
Institute for Atmospheric and Earth System Research (INAR)/Physics,
Faculty of Science, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
Environmental and Atmospheric Research Laboratory (EARL), Department
of Physics, School of Science, University of Jordan, Amman 11942, Jordan
Mamdouh I. Khoder
Air Pollution Research Department, Environment and Climate Change
Research Institute, National Research Centre, El Behooth Str., Dokki, Giza
12622, Egypt
Mansour A. Alghamdi
Department of Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Meteorology,
Environment and Arid Land Agriculture, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah,
Saudi Arabia
Things are not always as they first seem in ambient aerosol measurements. Observations of decreasing particle sizes are often interpreted as resulting from particle evaporation. We show that such observations can counterintuitively be explained by particles that are constantly growing in size. This requires one to account for the previous movements of the observed air. Our explanation implies a larger number of larger particles, meaning more significant effects of aerosols on climate and health.
Things are not always as they first seem in ambient aerosol measurements. Observations of...