TY - JOUR

T1 - Cloud condensation nuclei activity of the Aitken mode particles near St. Petersburg, Russia

AU - Mikhailov, E. F.

AU - Ivanova, O. A.

AU - Vlasenko, S. S.

AU - Nebos’ko, E. Yu

AU - Ryshkevich, T. I.

PY - 2017/5/1

Y1 - 2017/5/1

N2 - Aitken mode atmospheric particles largely control the formation and transformation of cloud systems, which in turn have an effect on their radiative properties. In this paper, a measurement technique for the cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) activity of monodisperse particles is described and the measurement data (results) obtained for monodisperse aerosol fractions with diameters of 60, 80, and 100 nm are presented. The measurements were performed during March and April 2014 at the urban background station located in a suburban area of St. Petersburg. The CCN concentration in the water-vapor supersaturation range of 0.1–1.1% and the cloud particle activation parameters were determined. The fraction of active particles capable to serve as CCN is found to be less than 33%, which is characteristic of anthropogenic aerosols containing hydrophobic organic components. Based on the measurement data, the hygroscopicity parameter κ characterizing the chemical composition effect on condensational properties of particles has been determined. During the measurement campaign, the value of the hygroscopicity parameter varied between 0.1 and 0.8. The lower limit of κ corresponds to organic species and its higher values occurs due to presence of hygroscopically active inorganic species in particles. The average value of κ was estimated to be 0.34 ± 0.19, which is in good agreement with literature data obtained for megapolises and European continental aerosols.

AB - Aitken mode atmospheric particles largely control the formation and transformation of cloud systems, which in turn have an effect on their radiative properties. In this paper, a measurement technique for the cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) activity of monodisperse particles is described and the measurement data (results) obtained for monodisperse aerosol fractions with diameters of 60, 80, and 100 nm are presented. The measurements were performed during March and April 2014 at the urban background station located in a suburban area of St. Petersburg. The CCN concentration in the water-vapor supersaturation range of 0.1–1.1% and the cloud particle activation parameters were determined. The fraction of active particles capable to serve as CCN is found to be less than 33%, which is characteristic of anthropogenic aerosols containing hydrophobic organic components. Based on the measurement data, the hygroscopicity parameter κ characterizing the chemical composition effect on condensational properties of particles has been determined. During the measurement campaign, the value of the hygroscopicity parameter varied between 0.1 and 0.8. The lower limit of κ corresponds to organic species and its higher values occurs due to presence of hygroscopically active inorganic species in particles. The average value of κ was estimated to be 0.34 ± 0.19, which is in good agreement with literature data obtained for megapolises and European continental aerosols.

KW - anthropogenic aerosol

KW - CCN spectrometer

KW - cloud condensation nuclei

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85016836043&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1134/S0001433817030082

DO - 10.1134/S0001433817030082

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85016836043

VL - 53

SP - 326

EP - 333

JO - Izvestiya - Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics

JF - Izvestiya - Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics

SN - 0001-4338

IS - 3

ER -