Identification

Title

A criterion for new particle formation in the sulfur-rich Atlanta atmosphere

Abstract

A simple dimensionless parameter, L, is shown to determine whether or not new particle formation can occur in the atmosphere on a given day. The criterion accounts for the probability that clusters, formed by nucleation, will coagulate with preexisting particles before they grow to a detectable size. Data acquired in an intensive atmospheric measurement campaign in Atlanta, Georgia, during August 2002 (ANARChE) were used to test the validity of this criterion. Measurements included aerosol size distributions down to 3 nm, properties and composition of freshly nucleated particles, and concentrations of gases including ammonia and sulfuric acid. Nucleation and subsequent growth of particles at this site were often dominated by sulfuric acid. New particle formation was observed when L was less than similar to 1 but not when L was greater than similar to 1. Furthermore, new particle formation was only observed when sulfuric acid concentrations exceeded 5 x 10(6) cm(-3). The data suggest that there was a positive association between concentrations of particles produced by nucleation and ammonia, but this was not shown definitively. Ammonia mixing ratios during this study were mostly in the 1 to 10 ppbv range.

Resource type

document

Resource locator

Unique resource identifier

code

http://n2t.net/ark:/85065/d7tm7bgv

codeSpace

Dataset language

eng

Spatial reference system

code identifying the spatial reference system

Classification of spatial data and services

Topic category

geoscientificInformation

Keywords

Keyword set

keyword value

Text

originating controlled vocabulary

title

Resource Type

reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2016-01-01T00:00:00Z

Geographic location

West bounding longitude

East bounding longitude

North bounding latitude

South bounding latitude

Temporal reference

Temporal extent

Begin position

End position

Dataset reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2005-11-04T00:00:00Z

Frequency of update

Quality and validity

Lineage

Conformity

Data format

name of format

version of format

Constraints related to access and use

Constraint set

Use constraints

Limitations on public access

None

Responsible organisations

Responsible party

contact position

OpenSky Support

organisation name

UCAR/NCAR - Library

full postal address

PO Box 3000

Boulder

80307-3000

email address

opensky@ucar.edu

web address

http://opensky.ucar.edu/

name: homepage

responsible party role

pointOfContact

Metadata on metadata

Metadata point of contact