In situ observation of new particle formation (NPF) in the tropical tropopause layer of the 2017 Asian monsoon anticyclone – Part 1: Summary of StratoClim results

Year: 2021

Authors: Weigel R., Mahnke C., Baumgartner M., Dragoneas A., Vogel B., Ploeger F., Viciani S., D’Amato F., Bucci S., Legras B., Luo B., Borrmann S.

Autors Affiliation: Johannes Gutenberg Univ Mainz, Inst Phys Atmosphare, Mainz, Germany; Max Planck Inst Chem, Abt Partikelchem, Mainz, Germany; Johannes Gutenberg Univ Mainz, Zentrum Datenverarbeitung, Mainz, Germany; Forschungszentrum Julich, Inst Energy & Climate Res IEK 7, Julich, Germany; Natl Res Council CNR INO, Natl Inst Opt, Florence, Italy; Univ Paris 06, Lab Meteorol Dynam, Ecole Polytech, UMR 8539,CNRS,Ecole Normale Sperieure, Paris, France; Swiss Fed Inst Technol, Swiss Fed Inst Technol, Inst Atmospher Sci, Zurich, Switzerland; Forschungszentrum Julich, Inst Energy & Climate Res IEK 8, Julich, Germany

Abstract: During the monsoon season of the year 2017 the airborne StratoClim mission took place in Kathmandu, Nepal, with eight mission flights of the M-55 Geophysica in the upper troposphere–lower stratosphere (UTLS) of the Asian monsoon anticyclone (AMA) over northern India, Nepal, and Bangladesh. More than 100 events of new particle formation (NPF) were observed. In total, more than 2 h of flight time was spent under NPF conditions as indicated by the abundant presence of nucleation-mode aerosols, i.e. with particle diameters dp smaller than 15 nm, which were detected in situ by means of condensation nuclei counting techniques. Mixing ratios of nucleation-mode particles (nnm) of up to about50 000 mg-1 were measured at heights of 15–16 km (theta about 370 K). NPF was most frequently observed at about 12–16 km altitude (theta about 355–380 K) and mainly below the tropopause. Resulting nnm remained elevated (about 300–2000 mg-1) up to altitudes of about 17.5 km (theta about 400 K), while under NPF conditions the fraction (f ) of sub-micrometresized non-volatile residues (dp >10 nm) remained below 50 %. At about 12–14 km (theta about 355–365 K) the minimum of f(<15 %) was found, and underneath, the median f generally remains below 25 %. The persistence of particles at nucleation-mode sizes is limited to a few hours, mainly due to coagulation, as demonstrated by a numerical simulation. The frequency of NPF events observed during StratoClim 2017 underlines the importance of the AMA as a source region for UTLS aerosols and for the formation and maintenance of the Asian tropopause aerosol layer (ATAL). The observed abundance of NPF-produced nucleation-mode particles within the AMA is not unambiguously attributable to (a) specific source regions in the boundary layer (according to backward trajectory analyses), or (b) the direct supply with precursor material by convective updraught (from correlations of NPF with carbon monoxide), or (c) the recent release of NPF-capable material from the convective outflow (according to air mass transport times in the tropical tropopause layer, TTL). Temperature anomalies with 1T of 2K (peak-to-peak amplitude), as observed at a horizontal wavelength of 70–100 km during a level flight of several hours, match with NPF detections and represent an additional mechanism for local increases in supersaturation of the NPF precursors. Effective precursor supply and widely distributed temperature anomalies within the AMA can explain the higher frequency of intense NPF observed during StratoClim 2017 than all previous NPF detections with COPAS (COndensation PArticle counting System) at TTL levels over Brazil, northern Australia, or West Africa. Journal/Review: ATMOSPHERIC CHEMISTRY AND PHYSICS (PRINT)

Volume: 21 (15)      Pages from: 11689  to: 11722

More Information: Some of our research leading to the presented results received funding from the European Research Council under the European Union´s Seventh Framework Programme (FP/20072013) ERC grant agreement no. 321040 (EXCATRO). The StratoClim project was funded by the EU (FP7/2007-2018 grant no. 603557) and also supported by the German “Bundesministerium fur Bildung und Forschung” (BMBF) under the joint ROMIC project SPITFIRE (01LG1205A). The work presented includes contributions to the NSFC-DFG 2020 project ATALtrack (BO 1829/12-1 and VO 1276/6-1).
KeyWords: Asian Monsoon Anticyclon
New particle formation
STRATOCLIM
DOI: 10.5194/acp-21-11689-2021

Citations: 10
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