Variations in tropospheric submicron particle size distributions across the European continent 2008–2009

Beddows, D.C.S. and Dall’Osto, M. and Harrison, R. M. and Kulmala, M. and Asmi, A. and Wiedensohler, A. and Laj, P. and Fjaeraa, A.M. and Sellegri, K. and Birmili, W. and Bukowiecki, N. and Weingartner, E. and Baltensperger, U. and Zdimal, V. and Zikova, N. and Putaud, J.-P. and Marinoni, A. and Tunved, P. and Hansson, H.-C. and Fiebig, M. and Kivekäs, N. and Swietlicki, E. and Lihavainen, H. and Asmi, E. and Ulevicius, V. and Aalto, P. P. and Mihalopoulos, N. and Kalivitis, N. and Kalapov, I. and Kiss, G. and de Leeuw, G. and Henzing, B. and O’Dowd, C. and Jennings, S. G. and Flentje, H. and Meinhardt, F. and Ries, L. and Denier van der Gon, H. A. C. and Visschedijk, A. J. H. (2014) Variations in tropospheric submicron particle size distributions across the European continent 2008–2009. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics Discussions, 14. pp. 4327-4348. ISSN 1680-7367

Preview

Text +_KGy_variation_in_tropospheric_submicron_particle_size_distributions_ACP_2014.pdf - Submitted Version Download (3MB) | Preview

Abstract

Cluster analysis of particle number size distributions from background sites across Europe is presented. This generated a total of nine clusters of particle size distributions which could be further combined into two main groups, namely: a south-to-north category (four clusters) and a westto- east category (five clusters). The first group was identified as most frequently being detected inside and around northern Germany and neighbouring countries, showing clear evidence of local afternoon nucleation and growth events that could be linked to movement of air masses from south to north arriving ultimately at the Arctic contributing to Arctic haze. The second group of particle size spectra proved to have narrower size distributions and collectively showed a dependence of modal diameter upon the longitude of the site (west to east) at which they were most frequently detected. These clusters indicated regional nucleation (at the coastal sites) growing to larger modes further inland. The apparent growth rate of the modal diameter was around 0.6– 0.9 nm h−1. Four specific air mass back-trajectories were successively taken as case studies to examine in real time the evolution of aerosol size distributions across Europe. While aerosol growth processes can be observed as aerosol traverses Europe, the processes are often obscured by the addition of aerosol by emissions en route. This study revealed that some of the 24 stations exhibit more complex behaviour than others, especially when impacted by local sources or a variety of different air masses. Overall, the aerosol size distribution clustering analysis greatly simplifies the complex data set and allows a description of aerosol aging processes, which reflects the longer-term average development of particle number size distributions as air masses advect across Europe.

Actions (login required)

Edit Item