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Over the last few years, several condensation particle counters (CPCs) capable of measuring in the sub-3 nm size range have been developed. Here we study the performance of CPCs based on diethylene glycol (DEG) at different temperatures during Cosmics Leaving OUtdoor Droplets (CLOUD) measurements at CERN. The data shown here are the first set of verification measurements for sub-3 nm CPCs under upper tropospheric temperatures using atmospherically relevant aerosol particles. To put the results in perspective we calibrated the DEG-CPC at room temperature, resulting in a cut-off diameter of 1.4 nm. All diameters refer to mobility equivalent diameters in this paper. At upper tropospheric temperatures ranging from 246.15 K to 207.15 K, we found cut-off sizes relative to a particle size magnifier in the range of 2.5 to 2.8 nm. Due to low number concentration after size classification, the cut-off diameters have a high uncertainty (±0.3 nm) associated with them. Operating two laminar flow DEG-CPCs with different cut-off sizes together with other aerosol instruments, we looked at the growth rates of aerosol population in the CLOUD chamber for particles smaller than 10 nm at different temperatures. A more consistent picture emerged when we normalized the growth rates to a fixed gas-phase sulfuric acid concentration. All of the instruments detected larger growth rates at lower temperatures, and the observed growth rates decreased as a function of temperature, showing a similar trend for all instruments. The theoretical calculations had a similar but much smaller temperature dependency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To calibrate a newly developed condensation particle counter, samples of known chemical composition are needed as the chemistry plays a role in the activation process. For that, we have built a calibration setup and produced ammonium sulfate, sodium chloride, tungsten oxide, silver, alkyl halide, and ionic liquid clusters down to 1 nm in mobility diameter in positive and negative mode. The chemical composition of most negatively charged clusters was solved using high-resolution mass spectrometer and we identified about 70% of the total signal of the mass spectrometer. For the Airmodus Particle Size Magnifier, which was the instrument to be calibrated, we measured cutoff diameters of 1.1, 1.3, 1.4, 1.6, and 1.6–1.8 nm for negative sodium chloride, ammonium sulfate, tungsten oxide, silver, and positive organics, respectively. From the alkyl halide and ionic liquid experiments, we concluded that the composition plays a bigger role than the charge state of the cluster in the activation process. We also showed that relative humidity of the sample flow can change the detection efficiency of the Particle Size Magnifier, which adds some uncertainties to the measured number concentrations. Copyright 2013 American Association for Aerosol Research [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Atmospheric aerosol particles influence global climate as well as impair air quality through their effects on atmospheric visibility and human health. Ultrafine (< 100 nm) particles often dominate aerosol numbers, and nucleation of atmospheric vapors is an important source of these particles. To have climatic relevance, however, the freshly nucleated particles need to grow in size. We combine observations from two continental sites (Egbert, Canada and Hyytiälä, Finland) to show that condensation of organic vapors is a crucial factor governing the lifetimes and climatic importance of the smallest atmospheric particles. We model the observed ultrafine aerosol growth with a simplified scheme approximating the condensing species as a mixture of effectively non-volatile and semi-volatile species, demonstrate that state-of-the-art organic gas-particle partitioning models fail to reproduce the observations, and propose a modeling approach that is consistent with the measurements. We find that roughly half of the mass of the condensing mass needs to be distributed proportional to the aerosol surface area (thus implying that the condensation is governed by gas-phase concentration rather than the equilibrium vapour pressure) to explain the observed aerosol growth. We demonstrate the large sensitivity of predicted number concentrations of cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) to these interactions between organic vapors and the smallest atmospheric nanoparticles -- highlighting the need for representing this process in global climate models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gas-to-particle conversion takes readily place in the atmosphere. Detecting the initial clusters, which act as embryos for the newly formed particles, is beyond traditional aerosol instrumentation. Charged atmospheric clusters can be measured with air ion spectrometers, but typical state-of-the-art condensation particle counters, which detect both neutral and charged clusters, only see particles larger than 2.5 nm in diameter. In this study we present a modified pulse-height condensation particle counter (PH-CPC) and confirm by laboratory verification that it is capable of detecting charged clusters with electrical mobility equivalent diameter down to ∼1 nm. We show how the detection efficiency and the pulse heights depend on the calibration particle size, polarity and composition. The effect of butanol supersaturation on the PH-CPC counting efficiency is also discussed. Furthermore, we developed an inversion method for the data to obtain true particle size distribution from the measurement signal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]