Impact of aerosol–radiation interaction on new particle formation

Abstract

New particle formation (NPF) is thought to contribute half of the global cloud condensation nuclei. A better understanding of the NPF at different altitudes can help assess the impact of NPF on cloud formation and corresponding physical properties. However, NPF is not sufficiently understood in the upper mixing layer because previous studies mainly focused on ground-level measurements. In this study, the developments of aerosol size distribution at different altitudes are characterized based on the field measurement conducted in January 2019 in Beijing, China. We find that the partition of nucleation-mode particles in the upper mixing layer is larger than that at the ground, which implies that the nucleation processing is more likely to happen in the upper mixing layer than that at the ground. Results of the radiative transfer model show that the photolysis rates of the nitrogen dioxide and ozone increase with altitude within the mixing layer, which leads to a higher concentration of sulfuric acid in the upper mixing layer than that at the ground. Therefore, the nucleation processing in the upper mixing layer should be stronger than that at the ground, which is consistent with our measurement results. Our study emphasizes the influence of aerosol–radiation interaction on the NPF. These results have the potential to improve our understanding of the source of cloud condensation nuclei on a global scale due to the impacts of aerosol–radiation interaction.