Variations in tropospheric submicron particle size distributions across the European continent 2008–2009 ...

• Main Authors: Beddows, David, Dall'Osto, Manuel, Harrison, Roy, Kulmala, Markku, Asmi, Ari, Wiedensohler, Alfred, Laj, Paolo, Fjaeraa, Ann Mari, Sellegri, Karine, Birmili, Wolfram, Bukowiecki, Nicolas, Weingartner, Ernest, Baltensperger, Urs, Zdimal, Vladimir, Zikova, Nadezda, Putaud, Jean-Philippe, Marinoni, Angela, Tunved, Peter, Hansson, Hans-Christen, Fiebig, Markus, Kivekäs, Niku, Swietlicki, Erik, Lihavainen, Heikki, Asmi, Eija, Ulevicius, Vidmantas, Aalto, P. P., Mihalopoulos, Nikolaos, Kalivitis, Nikos, Kalapov, Ivo, Kiss, Gyula, De Leeuw, Gerrit, Henzing, Bas, O'Dowd, Colin, Jennings, S. G., Flentje, Harald, Meinhardt, Frank, Ries, Ludwig, Denier Van Der Gon, Hugo, Visschedijk, Antoon
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Copernicus 2014
• Subjects: 550 - Geowissenschaften; Arctic
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.26041/fhnw-8158; https://irf.fhnw.ch/handle/11654/44353

Cluster~analysis of particle number size distributions from~background sites across Europe~is presented. This generated a total of nine clusters of particle size distributions which could be further combined into two main groups, namely: a south-to-north category (four clusters) and a west-to-east category (five clusters). The first group was identified as most frequently being detected inside and around northern Germany and neighbouring countries, showing clear evidence of local afternoon nucleation and growth events that could be linked to movement of air masses from south to north arriving ultimately at the Arctic contributing to Arctic haze.~The second group of particle size spectra proved to have narrower size distributions and collectively showed a dependence of modal diameter upon the longitude of the site (west to east) at which they were most frequently detected.~These clusters indicated regional nucleation (at the coastal sites) growing to larger modes further inland. The apparent growth rate of ...