Hygroscopic properties of smoke-generated organic aerosol particles emitted in the marine atmosphere

Abstract

During the Eastern Pacific Emitted Aerosol Cloud Experiment (E-PEACE), a plume of organic aerosol was produced by a smoke generator and emitted into the marine atmosphere from aboard the R/V Point Sur. In this study, the hygroscopic properties and the chemical composition of the plumewere studied at plume ages between 0 and 4 h in different meteorological conditions. In sunny conditions, the plume particles had very low hygroscopic growth factors (GFs): between 1.05 and 1.09 for 30 nm and between 1.02 and 1.1 for 150 nm dry size at a relative humidity (RH) of 92 %, contrasted by an average marine background GF of 1.6. New particles were produced in large quantities (several 10 000 cm.-3), which lead to substantially increased cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) concentrations at supersaturations between 0.07 and 0.88 %. Ratios of oxygen to carbon (O : C) andwater-soluble organic mass (WSOM) increased with plume age: From. © 2013 CC Attribution 3.0 License.