the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Analysis of atmospheric particle growth based on vapor concentrations measured at the high-altitude GAW station Chacaltaya in the Bolivian Andes
Cheng Wu
Diego Aliaga
Luis Blacutt
Xuemeng Chen
Yvette Gramlich
Liine Heikkinen
Wei Huang
Radovan Krejci
Paolo Laj
Isabel Moreno
Karine Sellegri
Fernando Velarde
Kay Weinhold
Alfred Wiedensohler
Qiaozhi Zha
Federico Bianchi
Marcos Andrade
Kari E. J. Lehtinen
Claudia Mohr
Taina Yli-Juuti
Abstract. Early growth of atmospheric particles is essential for their survival and ability to participate in cloud formation. Many different atmospheric vapors contribute to the growth, but even the main contributors still remain poorly identified in many environments, such as high-altitude sites. Based on measured organic vapor and sulfuric acid concentrations under ambient conditions, particle growth during new particle formation events was simulated and compared with the measured particle size distribution at Chacaltaya Global Atmosphere Watch station in Bolivia (5240 m a.s.l.) during April and May 2018, as a part of the SALTENA (Southern Hemisphere high-ALTitude Experiment on particle Nucleation and growth) campaign . The simulations showed that the detected vapors were sufficient to explain the observed particle growth, although some discrepancies were found between modelled and measured particle growth rates. This study gives an insight on the key factors affecting the particle growth on the site. Low volatile organic compounds were found to be the main contributor to the particle growth, covering on average 65 % of simulated particle mass in particle with diameter of 40 nm In addition, sulfuric acid had a major contribution to the particle growth, covering at maximum 39 % of simulated particle mass in 40 nm particle during periods when volcanic activity was detected on the area, suggesting that volcanic emissions can greatly enhance the particle growth.
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Arto Heitto et al.
Status: open (until 17 Jun 2023)
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RC1: 'Comment on egusphere-2023-526', Anonymous Referee #1, 28 May 2023
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The manuscript is well ready for discussion. The reviewer has a few minor comments for the authors considering. The measurements of CCN are critical to confirm which chemicals drove the growth of newly formed particles. However, the data were not included here while the station had taken the measurements. Anything happened? How about the growth of pre-existing particles? Does the result support the analysis presented here?
Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-526-RC1
Arto Heitto et al.
Model code and software
MODNAG Arto Heitto https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5592258
Arto Heitto et al.
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