Ice-nucleating ability of aerosol particles and possible sources at three coastal marine sites ...

• Main Authors: Si, Meng, Irish, Victoria E., Mason, Ryan H., Vergara Temprado, Jesus, Hanna, Sarah J., Ladino, Luis A., Yakobi-Hancock, Jacqueline D., Schiller, Corinne L., Wentzell, Jeremy J.B., Abbatt, Jonathan P.D., Carslaw, Ken S., Murray, Benjamin J., Bertram, Allan K.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: ETH Zurich 2018
• Subjects: Arctic; Labrador Sea; Lancaster Sound
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000303836; http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11850/303836

Despite the importance of ice-nucleating particles (INPs) for climate and precipitation, our understanding of these particles is far from complete. Here, we investigated INPs at three coastal marine sites in Canada, two at mid-latitude (Amphitrite Point and Labrador Sea) and one in the Arctic (Lancaster Sound). For Amphitrite Point, 23 sets of samples were analyzed, and for Labrador Sea and Lancaster Sound, one set of samples was analyzed for each location. At all three sites, the ice-nucleating ability on a per number basis (expressed as the fraction of aerosol particles acting as an INP) was strongly dependent on the particle size. For example, at diameters of around 0.2µm, approximately 1 in 106 particles acted as an INP at −25°C, while at diameters of around 8µm, approximately 1 in 10 particles acted as an INP at −25°C. The ice-nucleating ability on a per surface-area basis (expressed as the surface active site density, ns) was also dependent on the particle size, with larger particles being more ... : Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 18 (21) ...