Heterogeneous ice nucleation of viscous secondary organic aerosol produced from ozonolysis of α-pinene

  • There are strong indications that particles containing secondary organic aerosol (SOA) exhibit amorphous solid or semi-solid phase states in the atmosphere. This may facilitate heterogeneous ice nucleation and thus influence cloud properties. However, experimental ice nucleation studies of biogenic SOA are scarce. Here, we investigated the ice nucleation ability of viscous SOA particles. The SOA particles were produced from the ozone initiated oxidation of α-pinene in an aerosol chamber at temperatures in the range from −38 to −10 °C at 5–15 % relative humidity with respect to water to ensure their formation in a highly viscous phase state, i.e. semi-solid or glassy. The ice nucleation ability of SOA particles with different sizes was investigated with a new continuous flow diffusion chamber. For the first time, we observed heterogeneous ice nucleation of viscous α-pinene SOA for ice saturation ratios between 1.3 and 1.4 significantly below the homogeneous freezing limit. The maximum frozen fractions found at temperatures between −39.0 and −37.2 °C ranged from 6 to 20 % and did not depend on the particle surface area. Global modelling of monoterpene SOA particles suggests that viscous biogenic SOA particles are indeed present in regions where cirrus cloud formation takes place. Hence, they could make up an important contribution to the global ice nucleating particle budget.

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Author:Karoliina Ignatius, Thomas Bjerring Kristensen, Emma Järvinen, Leonid Nichman, Claudia Fuchs, Hamish Gordon, Paul Herenz, Christopher Robert Hoyle, Jonathan DuplissyORCiD, Sarvesh Garimella, Antonio Dias, Carla Frege, Florian Niko Höppel, Jasmin Tröstl, Robert WagnerORCiDGND, Chao Yan, Antonio AmorimORCiD, Urs BaltenspergerORCiDGND, Joachim CurtiusORCiD, Neil McPherson DonahueORCiDGND, Martin William Gallagher, Jasper KirkbyORCiD, Markku KulmalaORCiDGND, Ottmar MöhlerORCiDGND, Harald Saathoff, Martin Schnaiter, Antonio Tomé, Annele Virtanen, Douglas R. WorsnopORCiD, Frank StratmannORCiDGND
URN:urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-418938
URL:http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/16/6495/2016
DOI:https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-6495-2016
ISSN:1680-7324
ISSN:1680-7316
Parent Title (English):Atmospheric chemistry and physics
Publisher:European Geosciences Union
Place of publication:Katlenburg-Lindau
Contributor(s):H. Grothe
Document Type:Article
Language:English
Date of Publication (online):2016/11/17
Date of first Publication:2016/05/27
Publishing Institution:Universitätsbibliothek Johann Christian Senckenberg
Release Date:2016/11/17
Volume:16
Issue:10
Page Number:15
First Page:6495
Last Page:6509
Note:
© Author(s) 2016. CC Attribution 3.0 License.
HeBIS-PPN:424004399
Institutes:Geowissenschaften / Geographie / Geowissenschaften
Dewey Decimal Classification:5 Naturwissenschaften und Mathematik / 55 Geowissenschaften, Geologie / 550 Geowissenschaften
Sammlungen:Universitätspublikationen
Licence (German):License LogoCreative Commons - Namensnennung 3.0