Measurement report: Characterization of aerosol hygroscopicity over Southeast Asia during the NASA CAMP²Ex campaign

This study characterizes the spatial and vertical nature of aerosol hygroscopicity in Southeast Asia and relates it to aerosol composition and sources. Aerosol hygroscopicity via the light scattering hygroscopic growth factor, f(RH), is calculated from the amplification of PM₅ (particulate matter with a particle diameter, D_p, < 5 µm) scattering measurements from < 40 % to 82 % relative humidity during the Cloud, Aerosol, and Monsoon Processes Philippines Experiment (CAMP²Ex) between August and October 2019 over the northwest tropical Pacific. Median f(RH) is low (1.26 with lower to upper quartiles of 1.05 to 1.43) like polluted environments, due to the dominance of the mixture of organic carbon and elemental carbon. The f(RH) is lowest due to smoke from the Maritime Continent (MC) during its peak biomass burning season, coincident with high carbon monoxide concentrations (> 0.25 ppm) and pronounced levels of accumulation-mode particles and organic mass fractions. The highest f(RH) values are linked to coarser particles from the West Pacific and aged biomass burning particles in the region farthest away from the MC, where f(RH) values are lower than typical polluted marine environments. Convective transport and associated cloud processing in these regions decrease and increase hygroscopicity aloft in cases with transported air masses exhibiting increased organic and sulfate mass fractions, respectively. An evaluation of the Community Atmosphere Model with Chemistry (CAM-chem) for cases of vertical transport showed the underrepresentation of organics, resulting in overestimated modeled aerosol hygroscopicity. These findings on aerosol hygroscopicity can help to improve aerosol representation in models and the understanding of cloud formation.