Effect of cluster scavenging on homogeneous nucleation

A closed‐form expression for the effect of cluster scavenging on the rate of homogeneous nucleation of a vapor in the presence of continuum regime particles is obtained by solving the kinetic equation of nucleation by the method of singular perturbation. The reduction in nucleation rate of a condensing species at a given supersaturation is shown to be dependent largely on the number concentration, the size of the sink particles, and the molecular number concentration of the background gas. The reduction in the rate of nucleation due to the cluster scavenging by transition regime particles is also discussed

Modeling the gas-particle partitioning of secondary organic aerosol: the importance of liquid-liquid phase separation

The partitioning of semivolatile organic compounds between the gas phase and aerosol particles is an important source of secondary organic aerosol (SOA). Gas-particle partitioning of organic and inorganic species is influenced by the physical state and water content of aerosols, and therefore ambient relative humidity (RH), as well as temperature and organic loading levels. We introduce a novel combination of the thermodynamic models AIOMFAC (for liquid mixture non-ideality) and EVAPORATION (for pure compound vapor pressures) with oxidation product information from the Master Chemical Mechanism (MCM) for the computation of gas-particle partitioning of organic compounds and water. The presence and impact of a liquid-liquid phase separation in the condensed phase is calculated as a function of variations in relative humidity, organic loading levels, and associated changes in aerosol composition. We show that a complex system of water, ammonium sulfate, and SOA from the ozonolysis of α-pinene exhibits liquid-liquid phase separation over a wide range of relative humidities (simulated from 30% to 99% RH). Since fully coupled phase separation and gas-particle partitioning calculations are computationally expensive, several simplified model approaches are tested with regard to computational costs and accuracy of predictions compared to the benchmark calculation. It is shown that forcing a liquid one-phase aerosol with or without consideration of non-ideal mixing bears the potential for vastly incorrect partitioning predictions. Assuming an ideal mixture leads to substantial overestimation of the particulate organic mass, by more than 100% at RH values of 80% and by more than 200% at RH values of 95%. Moreover, the simplified one-phase cases stress two key points for accurate gas-particle partitioning calculations: (1) non-ideality in the condensed phase needs to be considered and (2) liquid-liquid phase separation is a consequence of considerable deviations from ideal mixing in solutions containing inorganic ions and organics that cannot be ignored. Computationally much more efficient calculations relying on the assumption of a complete organic/electrolyte phase separation below a certain RH successfully reproduce gas-particle partitioning in systems in which the average oxygen-to-carbon (O:C) ratio is lower than ~0.6, as in the case of α-pinene SOA, and bear the potential for implementation in atmospheric chemical transport models and chemistry-climate models. A full equilibrium calculation is the method of choice for accurate offline (box model) computations, where high computational costs are acceptable. Such a calculation enables the most detailed predictions of phase compositions and provides necessary information on whether assuming a complete organic/electrolyte phase separation is a good approximation for a given aerosol system. Based on the group-contribution concept of AIOMFAC and O:C ratios as a proxy for polarity and hygroscopicity of organic mixtures, the results from the α-pinene system are also discussed from a more general point of view

Theoretical basis for convective invigoration due to increased aerosol concentration

The potential effects of increased aerosol loading on the development of deep convective clouds and resulting precipitation amounts are studied by employing the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model as a detailed high-resolution cloud resolving model (CRM) with both detailed bulk and bin microphysics schemes. Both models include a physically-based activation scheme that incorporates a size-resolved aerosol population. We demonstrate that the aerosol-induced effect is controlled by the balance between latent heating and the increase in condensed water aloft, each having opposing effects on buoyancy. It is also shown that under polluted conditions, increases in the CCN number concentration reduce the cumulative precipitation due to the competition between the sedimentation and evaporation/sublimation timescales. The effect of an increase in the IN number concentration on the dynamics of deep convective clouds is small and the resulting decrease in domain-averaged cumulative precipitation is shown not to be statistically significant, but may act to suppress precipitation. It is also shown that even in the presence of a decrease in the domain-averaged cumulative precipitation, an increase in the precipitation variance, or in other words, andincrease in rainfall intensity, may be expected in more polluted environments, especially in moist environments. A significant difference exists between the predictions based on the bin and bulk microphysics schemes of precipitation and the influence of aerosol perturbations on updraft velocity within the convective core. The bulk microphysics scheme shows little change in the latent heating rates due to an increase in the CCN number concentration, while the bin microphysics scheme demonstrates significant increases in the latent heating aloft with increasing CCN number concentration. This suggests that even a detailed two-bulk microphysics scheme, coupled to a detailed activation scheme, may not be sufficient to predict small changes that result from perturbations in aerosol loading

A global perspective on aerosol from low-volatility organic compounds

Global production of organic aerosol from primary emissions of semivolatile (SVOCs) and intermediate (IVOCs) volatility organic compounds is estimated using the global chemical transport model, GEOS-Chem. SVOC oxidation is predicted to be a larger global source of net aerosol production than oxidation of traditional parent hydrocarbons (terpenes, isoprene, and aromatics). Using a prescribed rate constant and reduction in volatility for atmospheric oxidation, the yield of aerosol from SVOCs is predicted to be about 75% on a global, annually-averaged basis. For IVOCs, the use of a naphthalene-like surrogate with different high-NOx and low-NOx parameterizations produces a global aerosol yield of about 30%, or roughly 5 Tg/yr of aerosol. Estimates of the total global organic aerosol source presented here range between 60 and 100 Tg/yr. This range reflects uncertainty in the parameters for SVOC volatility, SVOC oxidation, SVOC emissions, and IVOC emissions, as well as wet deposition. The highest estimates result if SVOC emissions are significantly underestimated (by more than a factor of 2) or if wet deposition of the gas-phase semivolatile species is less effective than previous estimates. A significant increase in SVOC emissions, a reduction of the volatility of the SVOC emissions, or an increase in the enthalpy of vaporization of the organic aerosol all lead to an appreciable reduction of prediction/measurement discrepancy. In addition, if current primary organic aerosol (POA) inventories capture only about one-half of the SVOC emission and the Henrys Law coefficient for oxidized semivolatiles is on the order of 10^3 M/atm, a global estimate of OA production is not inconsistent with the top-down estimate of 140 Tg/yr by (Goldstein and Galbally, 2007). Additional information is needed to constrain the emissions and treatment of SVOCs and IVOCs, which have traditionally not been included in models

Development of the adjoint of GEOS-Chem

We present the adjoint of the global chemical transport model GEOS-Chem, focusing on the chemical and thermodynamic relationships between sulfate – ammonium – nitrate aerosols and their gas-phase precursors. The adjoint model is constructed from a combination of manually and automatically derived discrete adjoint algorithms and numerical solutions to continuous adjoint equations. Explicit inclusion of the processes that govern secondary formation of inorganic aerosol is shown to afford efficient calculation of model sensitivities such as the dependence of sulfate and nitrate aerosol concentrations on emissions of SOx, NOx, and NH3. The adjoint model is extensively validated by comparing adjoint to finite difference sensitivities, which are shown to agree within acceptable tolerances; most sets of comparisons have a nearly 1:1 correlation and R2>0.9. We explore the robustness of these results, noting how insufficient observations or nonlinearities in the advection routine can degrade the adjoint model performance. The potential for inverse modeling using the adjoint of GEOS-Chem is assessed in a data assimilation framework through a series of tests using simulated observations, demonstrating the feasibility of exploiting gas- and aerosol-phase measurements for optimizing emission inventories of aerosol precursors

Nonisothermal homogeneous nucleation

Classical homogeneous nucleation theory is extended to nonisothermal conditions through simultaneous cluster mass and energy balances. The transient nucleation of water vapor following a sudden increase in saturation ratio is studied by numerically solving the coupled mass and energy balance equations. The ultimate steady state nucleation rate, considering nonisothermal effects, is found to be lower than the corresponding isothermal rate, with the discrepancy increasing as the pressure of the background gas decreases. After the decay of the initial temperature transients, subcritical clusters in the vicinity of the critical cluster are found to have temperatures elevated with respect to that of the background gas

Homogeneous nucleation in spatially inhomogeneous systems

Homogeneous nucleation of a vapor in the presence of the loss of clusters by diffusion and thermophoretic drift is investigated. Analytical results are obtained for the cluster size distribution and the rate of nucleation by solving the modified kinetic equation for nucleation. The implications of cluster loss by diffusion and phoretic drift on the onset of the homogeneous nucleation of silicon vapor in the horizontal epitaxial chemical vapor deposition reactor is discussed. The range of conditions under which the loss of subcritical clusters by diffusion and drift becomes important for the interpretation of diffusion cloud chamber experimental data of the onset conditions of the homogeneous nucleation of vapors is also delineated

Binary nucleation of sulfuric acid-water: Monte Carlo simulation

We have developed a classical mechanical model for the H2SO4/H2O binary system. Monte Carlo simulation was performed in a mixed ensemble, in which the number of sulfuric acid molecules is fixed while that of water molecules is allowed to fluctuate. Simulation in this ensemble is computationally efficient compared to conventional canonical simulation, both in sampling very different configurations of clusters relevant in nucleation and in evaluating the free energy of cluster formation. The simulation yields molecular level information, such as the shape of the clusters and the dissociation behavior of the acid molecule in the cluster. Our results indicate that the clusters are highly nonspherical as a result of the anisotropic intermolecular interactions and that a cluster with a given number of acid molecules has several very different conformations, which are close in free energy and hence equally relevant in nucleation. The dissociation behavior of H2SO4 in a cluster differs markedly from that in bulk solution and depends sensitively on the assumed value of the free energy f(hb) of the dissociation reaction H2SO4+H2O-HSO4-. H3O+. In a small cluster, no dissociation is observed. As the cluster size becomes larger, the probability of having an HSO4-. H3O+ ion pair increases. However, in clusters relevant in nucleation, the resulting ion pairs remain in contact; about 240 water molecules are required to observe behavior that resembles that in bulk solution. If a larger value of f(hb) is assumed to reflect its uncertainty, the probability of dissociation becomes negligible. A reversible work surface obtained for a condition typical of vapor to liquid nucleation suggests that the rate-limiting step of new particle formation is a binary collision of two hydrated sulfuric acid molecules. The ion pairs formed by dissociation play a key role in stabilizing the resulting cluster. The reversible work surface is sensitive to the assumed value of f(hb), thus pointing to the need for an accurate estimate of the quantity either by ab initio calculations or experiments

Ion-induced nucleation: A density functional approach

Density functional theory is applied to ion-induced nucleation of dipolar molecules. The predicted reversible work shows a sign preference, resulting in a difference in the nucleation rate by a factor of 10–10^2, for realistic values of model parameters. The sign effect is found to decrease systematically as the supersaturation is increased. The asymmetry of a molecule is shown to be directly responsible for the sign preference in ion-induced nucleation