New particle formation leads to enhanced cloud condensation nuclei concentrations at Antarctic Peninsula

• Main Authors: Park, Jiyeon, Kang, Hyojin, Gim, Yeontae, Jang, Eunho, Park, Ki-Tae, Park, Sangjong, Jung, Chang Hoon, Ceburnis, Darius, O'Dowd, Colin, Yoon, Young Jun
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2023
• Subjects: Antarctic; Antarctic Peninsula; King Sejong Station; The Antarctic; Antarc*; Antarctica; Sea ice; ice covered areas
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-707; https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2023/egusphere-2023-707/

Few studies have investigated the impact of new particle formation (NPF) on cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) in remote Antarctica, and none has elucidated the relationship between NPF and CCN production. To address that knowledge gap, we continuously measured the number size distribution of 2.5–300 nm particles and CCN number concentrations at King Sejong Station in the Antarctic Peninsula from January 1 to December 31, 2018. Ninety-seven new particle formation (NPF) events were detected throughout the year. The estimated median spatial scale of NPF around Antarctic peninsula was found to be approximately 155 km, indicating the large-scale of NPF events. Air back-trajectory analysis revealed that 80 cases of NPF events were associated with air masses originating over the ocean, followed by sea ice (12 cases), multiple (3 cases), and land (2 cases) regions. We present and discuss three major NPF categories: (1) marine NPF (2) sea ice NPF, and (3) multiple NPF. Our results showed that the photo-oxidation of oceanic biogenic precursors such as dimethyl sulfide (DMS) could be a key component in marine NPF events, whereas halogen compounds released from ice-covered areas could contribute to sea-ice NPF events. Terrestrial sources (wild life colonies, vegetation, and meltwater ponds) from Antarctica could affect aerosol production in multiple air masses. Out of 97 observed NPF events, 83 cases were characterized by the simultaneous increase in the CCN concentration by 2–270 % (median 44 %) in the following 1 to 36 hours (median 8 hours) after NPF events. Overall, Antarctic NPF events were found to be a significant source of particles with different physical characteristics and related to biogenic sources in and around the Antarctic Peninsula, which subsequently grew to cloud nuclei.