Showing papers by "Harald Saathoff published in 2011"

Resurgence in Ice Nuclei Measurement Research

Abstract: Understanding cloud and precipitation responses to variations in atmospheric aerosols remains an important research topic for improving the prediction of climate. Knowledge is most uncertain, and the potential impact on climate is largest with regard to how aerosols impact ice formation in clouds. In this paper, we show that research on atmospheric ice nucleation, including the development of new measurement systems, is occurring at a renewed and historically unparalleled level. A historical perspective is provided on the methods and challenges of measuring ice nuclei, and the various factors that led to a lull in research efforts during a nearly 20-yr period centered about 30 yr ago. Workshops played a major role in defining critical needs for improving measurements at that time and helped to guide renewed efforts. Workshops were recently revived for evaluating present research progress. We argue that encouraging progress has been made in the consistency of measurements using the present generation of ic...

Studies of propane flame soot acting as heterogeneous ice nuclei in conjunction with single particle soot photometer measurements

Abstract: . The ice nucleation efficiency of propane flame soot particles with and without a sulphuric acid coating was investigated using the aerosol and cloud chamber facility AIDA (Aerosol Interaction and Dynamics in the Atmosphere). The test soot for cloud formation simulations was produced using a propane flame Combustion Aerosol Standard generator (CAST, Jing-CAST Technologies). The organic carbon content (OC) of the test soot was altered in a reproducible fashion by changing the fuel/air mixture of the generator. The soot content of ice nuclei was subsequently investigated using a combination of a pumped counterflow virtual impactor (PCVI) to separate and evaporate the ice crystals, and a DMT single particle soot photometer (SP2) to examine the mixing state of the BC containing ice residuals. Ice nucleation was found to be most efficient for uncoated soot of low organic carbon content (~5 % organic carbon content) where deposition freezing occurred at an ice saturation ratio S ice ~ 1.22 at a temperature T = 226.6 K with 25 % of the test soot becoming active as ice nuclei. Propane flame soot of higher organic carbon content (~30 % and ~70 % organic carbon content) showed significantly lower ice nucleation efficiency (an activated fraction of the order of a few percent in the experiments) than the low organic carbon content soot, with water saturation being required for freezing to occur. Ice nucleation occurred over the range S ice = 1.22–1.70, and T = 223.2–226.6 K. Analysis of the SP2 data showed that the 5 % organic carbon content soot had an undetectable OC coating whereas the 30 % organic carbon content soot had a thicker or less volatile OC coating. The application of a sulphuric acid coating to the flame soot shifted the threshold of the onset of freezing towards that of the homogeneous freezing of sulphuric acid; for the minimum OC flame soot this inhibited nucleation since the onset of freezing occurred at colder temperatures and required a greater ice saturation ratio; for the medium and maximum OC flame soot, the addition of a sulphuric acid significantly reduced the freezing threshold.

Volatility of secondary organic aerosol during OH radical induced ageing

Abstract: . The aim of this study was to investigate oxidation of SOA formed from ozonolysis of α-pinene and limonene by hydroxyl radicals. This paper focuses on changes of particle volatility, using a Volatility Tandem DMA (VTDMA) set-up, in order to explain and elucidate the mechanism behind atmospheric ageing of the organic aerosol. The experiments were conducted at the AIDA chamber facility of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) in Karlsruhe and at the SAPHIR chamber of Forchungzentrum Julich (FZJ) in Julich. A fresh SOA was produced from ozonolysis of α-pinene or limonene and then aged by enhanced OH exposure. As an OH radical source in the AIDA-chamber the ozonolysis of tetramethylethylene (TME) was used while in the SAPHIR-chamber the OH was produced by natural light photochemistry. A general feature is that SOA produced from ozonolysis of α-pinene and limonene initially was rather volatile and becomes less volatile with time in the ozonolysis part of the experiment. Inducing OH chemistry or adding a new portion of precursors made the SOA more volatile due to addition of new semi-volatile material to the aged aerosol. The effect of OH chemistry was less pronounced in high concentration and low temperature experiments when lower relative amounts of semi-volatile material were available in the gas phase. Conclusions drawn from the changes in volatility were confirmed by comparison with the measured and modelled chemical composition of the aerosol phase. Three quantified products from the α-pinene oxidation; pinonic acid, pinic acid and methylbutanetricarboxylic acid (MBTCA) were used to probe the processes influencing aerosol volatility. A major conclusion from the work is that the OH induced ageing can be attributed to gas phase oxidation of products produced in the primary SOA formation process and that there was no indication on significant bulk or surface reactions. The presented results, thus, strongly emphasise the importance of gas phase oxidation of semi- or intermediate-volatile organic compounds (SVOC and IVOC) for atmospheric aerosol ageing.

Ice nucleation properties of fine ash particles from the Eyjafjallajökull eruption in April 2010

Abstract: During the eruption of the Eyjafjallaj ¨ okull vol- cano in the south of Iceland in April/May 2010, about 40 Tg of ash mass were emitted into the atmosphere. It was unclear whether volcanic ash particles with d < 10 µm facilitate the glaciation of clouds. Thus, ice nucleation properties of vol- canic ash particles were investigated in AIDA (Aerosol In- teraction and Dynamics in the Atmosphere) cloud chamber experiments simulating atmospherically relevant conditions. The ash sample that was used for our experiments had been collected at a distance of 58 km from the Eyjafjallaj ¨ okull during the eruption period in April 2010. The temperature range covered by our ice nucleation experiments extended from 219 to 264 K, and both ice nucleation via immersion freezing and deposition nucleation could be observed. Im- mersion freezing was first observed at 252 K, whereas the deposition nucleation onset lay at 242 K and RHice = 126 %. About 0.1 % of the volcanic ash particles were active as im- mersion freezing nuclei at a temperature of 249 K. For de- position nucleation, an ice fraction of 0.1 % was observed at around 233 K and RHice = 116 %. Taking ice-active surface site densities as a measure for the ice nucleation efficiency, volcanic ash particles are similarly efficient ice nuclei in im- mersion freezing mode (ns,imm 10 9 m 2 at 247 K) com- pared to certain mineral dusts. For deposition nucleation, the observed ice-active surface site densities ns,dep were found to be 10 11 m 2 at 224 K and RHice = 116 %. Thus, volcanic ash particles initiate deposition nucleation more efficiently than Asian and Saharan dust but appear to be poorer ice nu- clei than ATD particles. Based on the experimental data, we have derived ice-active surface site densities as a function of temperature for immersion freezing and of relative humidity over ice and temperature for deposition nucleation.

New cloud chamber experiments on the heterogeneous ice nucleation ability of oxalic acid in the immersion mode

Abstract: . The heterogeneous ice nucleation ability of oxalic acid in the immersion mode has been investigated by controlled expansion cooling runs with airborne, ternary solution droplets composed of, (i), sodium chloride, oxalic acid, and water (NaCl/OA/H2O) and, (ii), sulphuric acid, oxalic acid, and water (H2SO4/OA/H2O). Polydisperse aerosol populations with median diameters ranging from 0.5–0.7 μm and varying solute concentrations were prepared. The expansion experiments were conducted in the AIDA aerosol and cloud chamber of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology at initial temperatures of 244 and 235 K. In the ternary NaCl/OA/H2O system, solid inclusions of oxalic acid, presumably nucleated as oxalic acid dihydrate, were formed by temporarily exposing the ternary solution droplets to a relative humidity below the efflorescence point of NaCl. The matrix of the crystallised NaCl particulates triggered the precipitation of the organic crystals which later remained as solid inclusions in the solution droplets when the relative humidity was subsequently raised above the deliquescence point of NaCl. The embedded oxalic acid crystals reduced the critical ice saturation ratio required for the homogeneous freezing of pure NaCl/H2O solution droplets at a temperature of around 231 K from 1.38 to about 1.32. Aqueous solution droplets with OA inclusions larger than about 0.27 μm in diameter efficiently nucleated ice by condensation freezing when they were activated to micron-sized cloud droplets at 241 K, i.e., they froze well above the homogeneous freezing temperature of pure water droplets of about 237 K. Our results on the immersion freezing potential of oxalic acid corroborate the findings from a recent study with emulsified aqueous solutions containing crystalline oxalic acid. In those experiments, the crystallisation of oxalic acid diyhdrate was triggered by a preceding homogeneous freezing cycle with the emulsion samples. The expansion cooling cycles with ternary H2SO4/OA/H2O solution droplets were aimed to analyse whether those findings can be transferred to ice nucleation experiments with airborne oxalic acid containing aerosol particles. Under our experimental conditions, the efficiency by which the surface of homogeneously nucleated ice crystals triggered the precipitation of oxalic acid dihydrate was very low, i.e., less than one out of a hundred ice crystals that were formed by homogeneous freezing in a first expansion cooling cycle left behind an ice-active organic crystal that acted as immersion freezing nucleus in a second expansion cooling cycle.

Temperature dependence of the kinetic isotope effect in β-pinene ozonolysis

Abstract: [1] The temperature dependence of the kinetic isotope effect (KIE) of β-pinene ozonolysis was investigated experimentally at 258, 273 and 303 K in the AIDA atmospheric simulation chamber. Compound specific carbon isotopic analysis of gas phase samples was performed off-line with a Thermo Desorption-Gas Chromatography-Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometry (TD-GC-IRMS) system. From the temporal behavior of the δ13C of β-pinene a KIE of 1.00358 ± 0.00013 was derived at 303 K, in agreement with literature data. Furthermore, KIE values of 1.00380 ± 0.00014 at 273 K and 1.00539 ± 0.00012 at 258 K were determined, showing an increasing KIE with decreasing temperature. A parameterization of the observed KIE temperature dependence was deduced and used in a sensitivity study carried out with the global chemistry transport model MOZART-3. Two scenarios were compared, the first neglecting, the second implementing the KIE temperature dependence in the simulations. β-Pinene stable carbon isotope ratio and concentration were computed, with emphasis on boreal zones. For early spring it is shown that when neglecting the temperature dependence of KIE, the calculated average age of β-pinene in the atmosphere can be up to two times over- or underestimated. The evolution of the isotopic composition of the major β-pinene oxidation product, nopinone, was examined using Master Chemical Mechanism (MCM) simulations. The tested hypothesis that formation of nopinone and its associated KIE are the determining factors for the observed δ13C values of nopinone is supported at high β-pinene conversion levels.