Measurement report: Cloud Processes and the Transport of Biological Emissions Regulate Southern Ocean Particle and Cloud Condensation Nuclei Concentrations

• Main Authors: Sanchez, Kevin J, Roberts, Gregory C, Saliba, Georges, Russell, Lynn M, Twohy, Cynthia, Reeves, Michael J, Humphries, Ruhi S, Keywood, Melita D, Ward, Jason P, McRobert, Ian M
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: eScholarship, University of California 2021
• Subjects: Climate Action; Astronomical and Space Sciences; Atmospheric Sciences; Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences; Antarctic; Austral; Southern Ocean; The Antarctic; Antarc*; Antarctica
• Online Access: https://escholarship.org/uc/item/26v8t8w0

Abstract. Long-range transport of biogenic emissions from the coast of Antarctica, precipitation scavenging, and cloud processing are the main processes that influence the observed variability in Southern Ocean (SO) marine boundary layer (MBL) condensation nuclei (CN) and cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) concentrations during the austral summer. Airborne particle measurements on the HIAPER GV from north-south transects between Hobart, Tasmania and 62° S during the Southern Ocean Clouds, Radiation Aerosol Transport Experimental Study (SOCRATES) were separated into four regimes comprising combinations of high and low concentrations of CCN and CN. In 5-day HYSPLIT back trajectories, air parcels with elevated CCN concentrations were almost always shown to have crossed the Antarctic coast, a location with elevated phytoplankton emissions relative to the rest of the SO. The presence of high CCN concentrations was also consistent with high cloud fractions over their trajectory, suggesting there was substantial growth of biogenically formed particles through cloud processing. Cases with low cloud fraction, due to the presence of cumulus clouds, had high CN concentrations, consistent with previously reported new particle formation in cumulus outflow regions. Measurements associated with elevated precipitation during the previous 1.5-days of their trajectory had low CCN concentrations indicating CCN were effectively scavenged by precipitation. A course-mode fitting algorithm was used to determine the primary marine aerosol (PMA) contribution which accounted for 0.07 µm) indicated that particle formation occurs more frequently above the MBL; however, the growth of recently formed particles typically occurs in the MBL, consistent with cloud processing and the condensation of volatile compound oxidation products. CCN measurements on the R/V Investigator as part of the second Clouds, Aerosols, Precipitation, Radiation and atmospheric Composition Over the southeRn Ocean (CAPRICORN-2) campaign were also conducted during the same ...