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Göran Frank

Director of graduate studies

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Size Matters More Than Chemistry for Cloud-Nucleating Ability of Aerosol Particles

Author

  • Ulrike Dusek
  • Göran Frank
  • Lea Hildebrandt
  • Joachim Curtius
  • Johannes Schneider
  • Saskia Walter
  • Duli Chand
  • Frank Drewnick
  • Silke Hings
  • D Jung
  • Stephan Borrmann
  • Meinrat O. Andreae

Summary, in English

Size-resolved cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) spectra measured for various aerosol types at a

non-urban site in Germany showed that CCN concentrations are mainly determined by the aerosol

number size distribution. Distinct variations of CCN activation with particle chemical composition

were observed but played a secondary role. When the temporal variation of chemical effects on

CCN activation is neglected, variation in the size distribution alone explains 84 to 96% of the

variation in CCN concentrations. Understanding that particles’ ability to act as CCN is largely

controlled by aerosol size rather than composition greatly facilitates the treatment of aerosol

effects on cloud physics in regional and global models.

Publishing year

2006

Language

English

Pages

1375-1378

Publication/Series

Science

Volume

312

Issue

5778

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)

Topic

  • Subatomic Physics

Status

Published

Research group

  • Aerosol, Nuclear Physics

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 1095-9203