Status: this preprint is currently under review for the journal ACP.
Particle number concentrations and size distributions in the stratosphere: Implications of nucleation mechanisms and particle microphysics
Fangqun Yu1,Gan Luo1,Arshad Arjunan Nair1,Sebastian Eastham2,3,Christina J. Williamson4,5,a,b,Agnieszka Kupc5,6,and Charles A. Brock5Fangqun Yu et al.Fangqun Yu1,Gan Luo1,Arshad Arjunan Nair1,Sebastian Eastham2,3,Christina J. Williamson4,5,a,b,Agnieszka Kupc5,6,and Charles A. Brock5
1Atmospheric Sciences Research Center, University at Albany, Albany, New York, US
2Laboratory for Aviation and the Environment, Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
3Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
4Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, USA
5Chemical Sciences Laboratory, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Boulder, CO 80305, USA
6Faculty of Physics, Aerosol Physics and Environmental Physics, University of Vienna, 1090 Vienna, Austria
anow at: Climate Research Programme, Finnish Meteorological Institute, 00101 Helsinki, Finland
bnow at: Institute for Atmospheric and Earth System Research/Physics, Faculty of Science, University of Helsinki, 00014 Helsinki, Finland
1Atmospheric Sciences Research Center, University at Albany, Albany, New York, US
2Laboratory for Aviation and the Environment, Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
3Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
4Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, USA
5Chemical Sciences Laboratory, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Boulder, CO 80305, USA
6Faculty of Physics, Aerosol Physics and Environmental Physics, University of Vienna, 1090 Vienna, Austria
anow at: Climate Research Programme, Finnish Meteorological Institute, 00101 Helsinki, Finland
bnow at: Institute for Atmospheric and Earth System Research/Physics, Faculty of Science, University of Helsinki, 00014 Helsinki, Finland
Abstract. While formation and growth of particles in the troposphere have been extensively studied in the past two decades, very limited efforts have been devoted to understanding these in the stratosphere. Here we use both Cosmics Leaving OUtdoor Droplets (CLOUD) laboratory measurements taken under very low temperatures (205–223 K) and Atmospheric Tomography Mission (ATom) in-situ observations of particle number size distributions (PNSD) down to 3 nm to constrain nucleation mechanisms and to evaluate model simulated particle size distributions in the lowermost stratosphere (LMS). We show that the binary homogenous nucleation (BHN) scheme used in most of the existing stratospheric aerosol injection (a proposed method of solar radiation modification) modeling studies overpredict the nucleation rates by 3–4 orders of magnitude (when compared to CLOUD data) and particle number concentrations in the background LMS by a factor ~2–4 (when compared to ATom data). Based on a recently developed kinetic nucleation model, which gives rates of both ion-mediated nucleation (IMN) and BHN at low temperatures in good agreement with CLOUD measurements, both BHN and IMN occur in the stratosphere. However, IMN rates are generally more than one order of magnitude higher than BHN rates and thus dominate nucleation in the background stratosphere. In the Southern Hemisphere (SH) LMS with minimum influence of anthropogenic emissions, our analysis shows that ATom measured PNSDs generally have four apparent modes. The model captures reasonably well the two modes (Aitken mode and the first accumulation mode) with the highest number concentrations and the size-dependent standard deviations. However, the model misses an apparent second accumulation mode peaking around 300–400 nm, which is in the size range important for aerosol direct radiative forcing. The bi-mode structure of accumulation mode particles has also been observed in the stratosphere well above tropopause and in the volcano-perturbed stratosphere. We suggest that this bi-mode structure may be caused by the effect of charges on coagulation and growth, which is not yet considered in any existing models and may be important in the stratosphere due to high ionization rates and long lifetime of aerosols. Considering the importance of accurate PNSDs for projecting realistic radiation forcing response to stratospheric aerosol injection (SAI), it is essential to understand and incorporate such potentially important processes in SAI model simulations.
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 over-predicts 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.
Particle number concentrations and size distributions in the stratosphere are studied through...
