Articles | Volume 26, issue 5
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-3697-2026
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-3697-2026
Research article
 | 
16 Mar 2026
Research article |  | 16 Mar 2026

Cloud condensation nuclei phenomenology: predictions based on aerosol chemical and optical properties

Inés Zabala, Juan Andrés Casquero-Vera, Elisabeth Andrews, Andrea Casans, Gerardo Carrillo-Cardenas, Anna Gannet Hallar, and Gloria Titos

Related authors

Curve fitting algorithm for multimodal particle size distributions – a theoretical basis
Christopher N. Rapp, Gerardo Carrillo-Cardenas, Tareq Hussein, Sining Niu, Yue Zhang, Fred J. Brechtel, A. Gannet Hallar, and Daniel J. Cziczo
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 19, 5373–5385, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-19-5373-2026,https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-19-5373-2026, 2026
Short summary
Characterisation of hygroscopic aerosol processes using remote sensing and in situ techniques at the MeteoSwiss Payerne station
Arlett Díaz-Zurita, Simone Brunamonti, Alexander Haefele, Martine Collaud Coen, Giovanni Martucci, Benjamin Tobias Brem, Martin Gysel-Beer, Hassan Lyamani, Gloria Titos, Daniel Pérez-Ramírez, Christoph Hüglin, Lucas Alados-Arboledas, Alejandro Keller, Frank Gunther Wienhold, Maxime Hervo, and Francisco Navas-Guzmán
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-4361,https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-4361, 2026
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (ACP).
Short summary
A 21-year global dataset of particle number concentrations for aerosol-cloud interaction studies
Aino Ovaska, Daniel Holmberg, Elio Rauth, Mansour Alghamdi, Paulo Artaxo, Eija Asmi, John Backman, Benjamin Bergmans, Matthew Boyer, Liezl Bredenkamp, Maurizio Busetto, Delano Campos De Oliveira, Juan Andrés Casquero-Vera, Darius Ceburnis, Tak Chan, Tommy Chan, Sebastien Conil, Daniele Contini, Suzanne Crumeyrolle, Valentin Duflot, Kostas Eleftheriadis, Johan Esveld, Ekaterina Ezhova, Markus Fiebig, Shahzad Gani, Olga Garmash, Francisco Gómez-Moreno, Roy M. Harrison, Andras Hoffer, Rakesh Hooda, Antti Hyvärinen, Tareq Hussein, Jorma Joutsensaari, Nikos Kalivitis, Heinz Kaminski, Jutta Kesti, Radovan Krejci, Adam Kristensson, Chongai Kuang, Markku Kulmala, Lauri Laakso, Ari Leskinen, Heikki Lihavainen, Andreas Massling, Maik Merkel, Steffen Noe, Jakub Ondracek, Noemí Perez, Jean-Eudes Petit, Tuukka Petäjä, Michael Pikridas, Christopher Pöhlker, Mira Pöhlker, Jean-Philippe Putaud, Ximeng Qi, Cristina Reche, Sergio Rodríguez, Petr Roztocil, Jean Sciare, Karine Sellegri, Dongjie Shang, Ashish Singh, Mikko Sipilä, Henrik Skov, Mar Sorribas, Tamanna Subba, Junying Sun, Peter Tunved, Ville Vakkari, Pieter G. Van Zyl, Aki Virkkula, Jens Voigtländer, Kay Weinhold, Alfred Wiedensohler, Hee-Jung Yoo, Putian Zhou, Kai Puolamäki, Tuomo Nieminen, Veli-Matti Kerminen, Victoria A. Sinclair, and Pauli Paasonen
Earth Syst. Sci. Data Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2026-415,https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2026-415, 2026
Preprint under review for ESSD
Short summary
Evaluating Long-term seasonal variability of aerosol optical properties in Colorado
Erin K. Boedicker, Andre Bergeron, Gerardo Carrillo-Cardenas, Dominik Kulakowski, John Rogan, Elisabeth Andrews, and A. Gannet Hallar
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 26, 6593–6610, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-6593-2026,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-6593-2026, 2026
Short summary
Strong springtime increase of ice-nucleating particle concentration in the Rocky Mountains
Larissa Lacher, A. Gannet Hallar, Ian B. McCubbin, Joey Bail, Karl D. Froyd, Justin Jacquot, Xiaoli Shen, Christopher Rapp, Ottmar Möhler, and Daniel Cziczo
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 26, 6703–6726, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-6703-2026,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-6703-2026, 2026
Short summary

Cited articles

Aklilu, Y. A., Mozurkewich, M., Prenni, A. J., Kreidenweis, S. M., Alfarra, M. R., Allan, J. D., Anlauf, K., Brook, J., Leaitch, W. R., Sharma, S., Boudries, H., and Worsnop, D. R.: Hygroscopicity of particles at two rural, urban influenced sites during Pacific 2001: Comparison with estimates of water uptake from particle composition, Atmos. Environ., 40, 2650–2661, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2005.11.063, 2006. a
Almeida, G. P., Brito, J., Morales, C. A., Andrade, M. F., and Artaxo, P.: Measured and modelled cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) concentration in São Paulo, Brazil: the importance of aerosol size-resolved chemical composition on CCN concentration prediction, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 14, 7559–7572, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-7559-2014, 2014. a
Anderson, N., Strader, R., and Davidson, C.: Airborne reduced nitrogen: ammonia emissions from agriculture and other sources, Environ. Int., 29, 277–286, https://doi.org/10.1016/S0160-4120(02)00186-1, 2003. a
Andreae, M. O.: Correlation between cloud condensation nuclei concentration and aerosol optical thickness in remote and polluted regions, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 9, 543–556, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-9-543-2009, 2009. a
Andrews, E., Zabala, I., Carrillo-Cardenas, G., Titos, G., Casquero-Vera, J. A., and Hallar, A. G.: Harmonized aerosol size distribution, cloud condensation nuclei, chemistry and optical properties at 10 sites, Sci. Data, 12, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-025-04931-y, 2025a. a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, j, k, l, m, n, o, p
Download
Short summary
This study presents a comprehensive analysis of cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) phenomenology across nine observatories in diverse environments. We evaluate CCN prediction methods based on aerosol chemical composition and optical properties, including empirical and machine learning approaches. While simplified chemical schemes provide first-order estimates, incorporating optical data substantially improves CCN prediction accuracy in regions without direct measurements.
Share
Altmetrics
Final-revised paper
Preprint