Measurement report: Cloud processes and the transport of biological emissions affect southern ocean particle and cloud condensation nuclei concentrations

• Published in: Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics
• Other Authors: Sanchez, Kevin J. (author), Roberts, Gregory C. (author), Saliba, Georges (author), Russell, Lynn M. (author), Twohy, Cynthia (author), Reeves, Michael J. (author), Humphries, Ruhi S. (author), Keywood, Melita D. (author), Ward, Jason P. (author), McRobert, Ian M. (author)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2021
• Subjects: Antarctic; Austral; Southern Ocean; The Antarctic; Antarc*; Antarctica
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-3427-2021

Long-range transport of biogenic emissions from the coast of Antarctica, precipitation scavenging, and cloud processing are the main processes that influence the observed variability in Southern Ocean (SO) marine boundary layer (MBL) condensation nuclei (CN) and cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) concentrations during the austral summer. Airborne particle measurements on the HIAPER GV from north-south transects between Hobart, Tasmania, and 62ffi S during the Southern Ocean Clouds, Radiation Aerosol Transport Experimental Study (SOCRATES) were separated into four regimes comprising combinations of high and low concentrations of CCN and CN. In 5 d HYSPLIT back trajectories, air parcels with elevated CCN concentrations were almost always shown to have crossed the Antarctic coast, a location with elevated phytoplankton emissions relative to the rest of the SO in the region south of Australia. The presence of high CCN concentrations was also consistent with high cloud fractions over their trajectory, suggesting there was substantial growth of biogenically formed particles through cloud processing. Cases with low cloud fraction, due to the presence of cumulus clouds, had high CN concentrations, consistent with previously reported new particle formation in cumulus outflow regions. Measurements associated with elevated precipitation during the previous 1.5 d of their trajectory had low CCN concentrations indicating CCN were effectively scavenged by precipitation. A coarse-mode fitting algorithm was used to determine the primary marine aerosol (PMA) contribution, which accounted for <20% of CCN (at 0.3% supersaturation) and cloud droplet number concentrations. Vertical profiles of CN and large particle concentrations ( Dp>0 :07 mu m) indicated that particle formation occurs more frequently above the MBL; however, the growth of recently formed particles typically occurs in the MBL, consistent with cloud processing and the condensation of volatile compound oxidation products.