Impact of particle size distribution on the ability of aerosols to act as CCN

• Main Author: Yangyang Xu Et. Al
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Southern Ocean
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.553.2735; http://aerosols.ucsd.edu/classes/sio217dfinals/xus.pdf

Transport (GOCART) model shows that the optical depth of the global distribution of aerosols is due to the presence of different chemical components, including sulfates, dust, and sea salt. Each of these three aerosol chemical components is highly concentrated in various areas, such as the East Asia Coast, the Sahara Coast, and the Southern Ocean. Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data was used to study the characteristics of aerosols and cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) in these three ocean regions. The results show that, in all three regions, there is a clear, linear relationship between CCN number concentration and aerosol number concentration. The activation ratio, which is defined as the ratio of CCN to aerosol number concentration, increases with particle size. The results from the theoretical model calculations are consistent with satellite measurements, and they indicate that activation ratio is more sensitive to aerosol size distribution than the solubilities of the various chemical components that make up the aerosols.