Atmospheric new particle formation characteristics in the Arctic as measured at Mount Zeppelin, Svalbard, from 2016 to 2018

• Main Authors: Lee, Haebum, Lee, KwangYul, Lunder, Chris Rene, Krejci, Radovan, Aas, Wenche, Park, Jiyeon, Park, Ki-Tae, Lee, Bang Yong, Yoon, Young-Jun, Park, Kihong
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2020
• Subjects: Arctic; Mount Zeppelin; Ny-Ålesund; Svalbard; Ny Ålesund
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2020-390; https://www.atmos-chem-phys-discuss.net/acp-2020-390/

We conducted continuous measurement of nanoparticles down to 3 nm size in the Arctic at Mount Zeppelin, Ny Ålesund, Svalbard, from 2016 to 2018, providing a size distribution of nanoparticles (3–60 nm) with a higher resolution than ever before. A significant number of nanoparticles as small as 3 nm were often observed during new particle formation (NPF), particularly in summer, suggesting that these were likely produced near the site rather than being transported from other regions after growth. The average NPF frequency per year was 24 % having the highest percentage in August (63 %). The average particle formation rate (J) for 3–7 nm particles was 0.1 cm −3 s −1 and the average growth rate (GR) was 2.62 nm h −1 . Although NPF frequency in the Arctic was comparable to that in continental areas, the J and GR were much lower. The number of nanoparticles increased more frequently when air mass originated over the south and southwest ocean regions; this pattern overlapped with regions having strong chlorophyll-α concentration and dimethyl sulfide (DMS) production capacity (southwest ocean), and was also correlated with increased daily NH 3 concentration, suggesting that marine biogenic and animal sources were responsible for gaseous precursors to NPF. Our results show that previously developed NPF occurrence criteria (low loss rate and high cluster growth rate favor NPF) are also applicable to NPF in the Arctic.