Binary homogeneous nucleation: temperature and relative humidity fluctuations, nonlinearity, and aspects of new particle production in the atmosphere

Abstract

An increase of 2°-3°C can reduce the particle formation rate by an order of magnitude. Large-scale fluctuations such as those characteristic of a well-mixed boundary layer can alternately "turn on' and "shut off' the nucleation process, giving rise to regions of new particle formation that are quite localized. These "bursts' of nucleation correspond to higher altitudes in the boundary layers. Small-scale fluctuations, more typical of normal atmospheric turbulence, can increase the binary homogeneous nucleation rate sevenfold above the rate calculated based on mean conditions. -from Authors