Occurrence of an ultrafine particle mode less than 20 nm in diameter in the marine boundary layer during Arctic summer and autumn

The International Arctic Ocean Expedition 1991 (IAOE-91) provided a platform to study the occurrence and size distributions of ultrafine particles in the marine boundary layer (MBL) during Arctic summer and autumn. Measurements of both aerosol physics, and gas/particulate chemistry were taken aboard...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Wiedensohler, Alfred, Covert, David S., Swietlicki, Erik, Aalto, Pasi, Heintzenberg, Jost, Leck, Caroline
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Milton Park : Taylor & Francis 2017
Subjects:
air mass type
atmospheric particulates
IAOE
marine boundary layer
oceanic boundary layer
shipborne observation
submicron aerosol mode
ultrafine particle
ultrafine particle mode
550
Aitken
Arctic
Arctic Ocean
oden
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.34657/1131
https://oa.tib.eu/renate/handle/123456789/431
Description
Summary:The International Arctic Ocean Expedition 1991 (IAOE-91) provided a platform to study the occurrence and size distributions of ultrafine particles in the marine boundary layer (MBL) during Arctic summer and autumn. Measurements of both aerosol physics, and gas/particulate chemistry were taken aboard the Swedish icebreaker Oden. Three separate submicron aerosol modes were found: an ultrafine mode (Dp < 20 nm), the Aitken mode (20 < Dp < 100 nm), and the accumulation mode (Dp > 100 nm). We evaluated correlations between ultrafine particle number concentrations and mean diameter with the entire measured physical, chemical, and meteorological data set. Multivariate statistical methods were then used to make these comparisons. A principal component (PC) analysis indicated that the observed variation in the data could be explained by the influence from several types of air masses. These were characterised by contributions from the open sea or sources from the surrounding continents and islands. A partial least square (PLS) regression of the ultrafine particle concentration was also used. These results implied that the ultrafine particles were produced above or in upper layers of the MBL and mixed downwards. There were also indications that the open sea acted as a source of the precursors for ultrafine particle production. No anti-correlation was found between the ultrafine and accumulation particle number concentrations, thus indicating that the sources were in separate air masses. publishedVersion

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