Nucleation modeling of the Antarctic stratospheric CN layer and derivation of sulfuric acid profiles
Recent analysis of long-term balloon-borne measurements of Antarctic stratospheric condensation nuclei (CN) between July and October showed the formation of a volatile CN layer at 21–27 km altitude in a background of existing particles. We use the nucleation model SAWNUC to simulate these CN in subs...
Published in: | Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Copernicus Publications
2017
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-7581-2017 https://doaj.org/article/55df04dbec7449979b4555030c338d8e |
id |
ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:55df04dbec7449979b4555030c338d8e |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:55df04dbec7449979b4555030c338d8e 2023-05-15T13:57:41+02:00 Nucleation modeling of the Antarctic stratospheric CN layer and derivation of sulfuric acid profiles S. Münch J. Curtius 2017-06-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-7581-2017 https://doaj.org/article/55df04dbec7449979b4555030c338d8e EN eng Copernicus Publications http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/17/7581/2017/acp-17-7581-2017.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1680-7316 https://doaj.org/toc/1680-7324 doi:10.5194/acp-17-7581-2017 1680-7316 1680-7324 https://doaj.org/article/55df04dbec7449979b4555030c338d8e Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, Vol 17, Pp 7581-7591 (2017) Physics QC1-999 Chemistry QD1-999 article 2017 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-7581-2017 2022-12-30T21:47:20Z Recent analysis of long-term balloon-borne measurements of Antarctic stratospheric condensation nuclei (CN) between July and October showed the formation of a volatile CN layer at 21–27 km altitude in a background of existing particles. We use the nucleation model SAWNUC to simulate these CN in subsiding air parcels and study their nucleation and coagulation characteristics. Our simulations confirm recent analysis that the development of the CN layer can be explained with neutral sulfuric acid–water nucleation and we show that outside the CN layer the measured CN concentrations are well reproduced just considering coagulation and the subsidence of the air parcels. While ion-induced nucleation is expected as the dominating formation process at higher temperatures, it does not play a significant role during the CN layer formation as the charged clusters recombine too fast. Further, we derive sulfuric acid concentrations for the CN layer formation. Our concentrations are about 1 order of magnitude higher than previously presented concentrations as our simulations consider that nucleated clusters have to grow to CN size and can coagulate with preexisting particles. Finally, we calculate threshold sulfuric acid profiles that show which concentration of sulfuric acid is necessary for nucleation and growth to observable size. These threshold profiles should represent upper limits of the actual sulfuric acid outside the CN layer. According to our profiles, sulfuric acid concentrations seem to be below midlatitude average during Antarctic winter but above midlatitude average for the CN layer formation. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Antarctic The Antarctic Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics 17 12 7581 7591 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Physics QC1-999 Chemistry QD1-999 |
spellingShingle |
Physics QC1-999 Chemistry QD1-999 S. Münch J. Curtius Nucleation modeling of the Antarctic stratospheric CN layer and derivation of sulfuric acid profiles |
topic_facet |
Physics QC1-999 Chemistry QD1-999 |
description |
Recent analysis of long-term balloon-borne measurements of Antarctic stratospheric condensation nuclei (CN) between July and October showed the formation of a volatile CN layer at 21–27 km altitude in a background of existing particles. We use the nucleation model SAWNUC to simulate these CN in subsiding air parcels and study their nucleation and coagulation characteristics. Our simulations confirm recent analysis that the development of the CN layer can be explained with neutral sulfuric acid–water nucleation and we show that outside the CN layer the measured CN concentrations are well reproduced just considering coagulation and the subsidence of the air parcels. While ion-induced nucleation is expected as the dominating formation process at higher temperatures, it does not play a significant role during the CN layer formation as the charged clusters recombine too fast. Further, we derive sulfuric acid concentrations for the CN layer formation. Our concentrations are about 1 order of magnitude higher than previously presented concentrations as our simulations consider that nucleated clusters have to grow to CN size and can coagulate with preexisting particles. Finally, we calculate threshold sulfuric acid profiles that show which concentration of sulfuric acid is necessary for nucleation and growth to observable size. These threshold profiles should represent upper limits of the actual sulfuric acid outside the CN layer. According to our profiles, sulfuric acid concentrations seem to be below midlatitude average during Antarctic winter but above midlatitude average for the CN layer formation. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
S. Münch J. Curtius |
author_facet |
S. Münch J. Curtius |
author_sort |
S. Münch |
title |
Nucleation modeling of the Antarctic stratospheric CN layer and derivation of sulfuric acid profiles |
title_short |
Nucleation modeling of the Antarctic stratospheric CN layer and derivation of sulfuric acid profiles |
title_full |
Nucleation modeling of the Antarctic stratospheric CN layer and derivation of sulfuric acid profiles |
title_fullStr |
Nucleation modeling of the Antarctic stratospheric CN layer and derivation of sulfuric acid profiles |
title_full_unstemmed |
Nucleation modeling of the Antarctic stratospheric CN layer and derivation of sulfuric acid profiles |
title_sort |
nucleation modeling of the antarctic stratospheric cn layer and derivation of sulfuric acid profiles |
publisher |
Copernicus Publications |
publishDate |
2017 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-7581-2017 https://doaj.org/article/55df04dbec7449979b4555030c338d8e |
geographic |
Antarctic The Antarctic |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic The Antarctic |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic |
op_source |
Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, Vol 17, Pp 7581-7591 (2017) |
op_relation |
http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/17/7581/2017/acp-17-7581-2017.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1680-7316 https://doaj.org/toc/1680-7324 doi:10.5194/acp-17-7581-2017 1680-7316 1680-7324 https://doaj.org/article/55df04dbec7449979b4555030c338d8e |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-7581-2017 |
container_title |
Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics |
container_volume |
17 |
container_issue |
12 |
container_start_page |
7581 |
op_container_end_page |
7591 |
_version_ |
1766265495841931264 |