Connections between atmospheric sulphuric acid and new particle formation during QUEST III–IV campaigns in Heidelberg and Hyytiälä

This study investigates the connections between atmospheric sulphuric acid and new particle formation dur- ing QUEST III and BACCI/QUEST IV campaigns. The campaigns have been conducted in Heidelberg (2004) and Hyyti¨ al¨ a (2005), the first representing a polluted site sur- rounded by deciduous forest, and the second a rural site in a boreal forest environment. We have studied the role of sul- phuric acid in particle formation and growth by determin- ing 1) the power-law dependencies between sulphuric acid ((H2SO4)), and particle concentrations (N3 6) or formation rates at 1 nm and 3 nm (J1 and J3); 2) the time delays be- tween (H2SO4) and N3 6 or J3, and the growth rates for 1- 3 nm particles; 3) the empirical nucleation coefficients A and K in relations J1=A(H2SO4) and J1=K(H2SO4) 2 , respec- tively; 4) theoretical predictions for J1 and J3 for the days when no significant particle formation is observed, based on the observed sulphuric acid concentrations and conden- sation sinks. In both environments, N3 6 or J3 and (H2SO4) were linked via a power-law relation with exponents typi- cally ranging from 1 to 2. The result suggests that the clus- ter activation theory and kinetic nucleation have the potential to explain the observed particle formation. However, some differences between the sites existed: The nucleation coeffi- cients were about an order of magnitude greater in Heidel- berg than in Hyyti¨¨ conditions. The time lags between J3 and (H2SO4) were consistently lower than the corresponding

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