Cold Air Outbreaks Promote New Particle Formation Off the U.S. East Coast

Andrea F. Corral, Yonghoon Choi, Ewan Crosbie, Hossein Dadashazar, Joshua P. DiGangi, Glenn S. Diskin, Marta Fenn, David B. Harper, Simon Kirschler, Hongyu Liu, Richard H. Moore, John B. Nowak, Amy Jo Scarino, Shane Seaman, Taylor Shingler, Michael A. Shook, Kenneth L. Thornhill, Christiane Voigt, Bo Zhang, Luke D. ZiembaArmin Sorooshian

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

15 Scopus citations

Abstract

New particle formation (NPF) is the dominant contributor to total particle number concentration and plays an important role in the cloud condensation nuclei budget. Airborne data from Aerosol Cloud meTeorology Interactions oVer the western ATlantic Experiment (ACTIVATE) are used to address seasonal NPF statistics and factors related to NPF in and around clouds. Higher ratios of particle concentrations greater than 3 versus 10 nm (N3/N10) were mainly observed above boundary layer cloud tops during winter as compared to summer. Cold dry air and low aerosol surface area concentration facilitate NPF over the ACTIVATE region; these conditions are especially prevalent during flights coinciding with cold air outbreaks.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article numbere2021GL096073
JournalGeophysical Research Letters
Volume49
Issue number5
DOIs
StatePublished - Mar 16 2022

Keywords

  • ACTIVATE
  • aerosol-cloud interactions
  • cold air outbreak
  • new particle formation
  • nucleation

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Geophysics
  • General Earth and Planetary Sciences

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