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<front>
<journal-meta>
<journal-id journal-id-type="publisher">EGUsphere</journal-id>
<journal-title-group>
<journal-title>EGUsphere</journal-title>
<abbrev-journal-title abbrev-type="publisher">EGUsphere</abbrev-journal-title>
<abbrev-journal-title abbrev-type="nlm-ta">EGUsphere</abbrev-journal-title>
</journal-title-group>
<issn pub-type="epub"></issn>
<publisher><publisher-name>Copernicus Publications</publisher-name>
<publisher-loc>Göttingen, Germany</publisher-loc>
</publisher>
</journal-meta>
<article-meta>
<article-id pub-id-type="doi">10.5194/egusphere-2026-1771</article-id>
<title-group>
<article-title>Altitude-Dependent Role of Nitric Acid in Iodic Acid-Iodous Acid Nucleation: From Marine Boundary Layer Catalyst to Upper Troposphere Core Component</article-title>
</title-group>
<contrib-group><contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Zhang</surname>
<given-names>Jiaze</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Liu</surname>
<given-names>Ling</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3719-4083</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Ning</surname>
<given-names>An</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6530-4465</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Zu</surname>
<given-names>Haotian</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Li</surname>
<given-names>Jing</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Bai</surname>
<given-names>Fengyang</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0644-9971</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2">
<sup>2</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Yang</surname>
<given-names>Jie</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Zhang</surname>
<given-names>Xiuhui</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9570-7882</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
</contrib-group><aff id="aff1">
<label>1</label>
<addr-line>State Key Laboratory of Environment Characteristics and Effects for Near-space, Key Laboratory of Cluster Science, Ministry of Education of China, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing, 100081, China</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff2">
<label>2</label>
<addr-line>Institute of Catalysis for Energy and Environment, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Shenyang Normal University, Shenyang, 110034, China</addr-line>
</aff>
<pub-date pub-type="epub">
<day>20</day>
<month>04</month>
<year>2026</year>
</pub-date>
<volume>2026</volume>
<fpage>1</fpage>
<lpage>25</lpage>
<permissions>
<copyright-statement>Copyright: &#x000a9; 2026 Jiaze Zhang et al.</copyright-statement>
<copyright-year>2026</copyright-year>
<license license-type="open-access">
<license-p>This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this licence, visit <ext-link ext-link-type="uri"  xlink:href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/</ext-link></license-p>
</license>
</permissions>
<self-uri xlink:href="https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2026/egusphere-2026-1771/">This article is available from https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2026/egusphere-2026-1771/</self-uri>
<self-uri xlink:href="https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2026/egusphere-2026-1771/egusphere-2026-1771.pdf">The full text article is available as a PDF file from https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2026/egusphere-2026-1771/egusphere-2026-1771.pdf</self-uri>
<abstract>
<p>With global sulfur emissions declining and concurrent marine iodine emissions rising, new particle formation (NPF) driven by iodic acid (HIO&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt;) and iodous acid (HIO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;) has become critical to global aerosol and cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) budget. However, the role of ubiquitous nitric acid (HNO&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt;) in this iodine-driven nucleation across altitudes from the marine boundary layer (MBL) to the upper troposphere (UT) remains poorly understood. Herein, we integrated quantum chemical calculations with Atmospheric Cluster Dynamics Code (ACDC) simulations to unravel the altitude-dependent enhancement mechanism by which HNO&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt; enhances HIO&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt;-HIO&lt;sub&gt;2 &lt;/sub&gt;nucleation. Under MBL conditions, HNO&lt;sub&gt;3 &lt;/sub&gt;acts as a catalyst to promote nucleation via collision and re-evaporation processes, yielding a modest 2&amp;ndash;3-fold enhancement in nucleation. In contrast, as altitude increases to the UT, where cluster evaporation is effectively suppressed by low temperature, HNO&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt; becomes a core component of nucleation clusters, driving a 200-fold enhancement in nucleation. Consequently, the cluster formation rates of the HNO&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt;&amp;ndash;HIO&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt;&amp;ndash;HIO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; mechanism reach 10&lt;sup&gt;3&lt;/sup&gt;&amp;ndash;10&lt;sup&gt;4&lt;/sup&gt; cm&lt;sup&gt;-3&lt;/sup&gt; s&lt;sup&gt;-1&lt;/sup&gt;, exceeding those of the well-documented H&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;SO&lt;sub&gt;4&lt;/sub&gt;&amp;ndash;NH&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt;&amp;ndash;HNO&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt; mechanism under comparable UT conditions. Our findings establish HNO&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt; as a critical atmospheric agent that amplifies iodine oxoacid nucleation across altitudes, providing a critical chemical explanation for intense NPF events in both polluted coastal regions and the UT. This altitude‑dependent role of HNO&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt; links marine iodine emissions to troposphere‑wide particle formation, with important implications for global CCN budgets and the refinement of climate models.</p>
</abstract>
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<funding-group>
<award-group id="gs1">
<funding-source>National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars</funding-source>
<award-id>22225607</award-id>
</award-group>
<award-group id="gs2">
<funding-source>National Natural Science Foundation of China</funding-source>
<award-id>22376013</award-id>
<award-id>22306011</award-id>
</award-group>
</funding-group>
</article-meta>
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