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The Pan-Eurasian Experiment (PEEX) is a multi-disciplinary, multi-scale and multicomponent research, research infrastructure and capacity building program. PEEX has originated from a bottom-up approach by the science communities, and is aiming at resolving the major uncertainties in Earth System Science and global sustainability issues concerning the Arctic and boreal Pan-Eurasian regions, as well as China. The vision of PEEX is to solve interlinked global grand challenges influencing human wellbeing and societies in northern Eurasia and China. Such challenges include climate change, air quality, biodiversity loss, urbanization, chemicalization, food and fresh water availability, energy production and use of natural resources by mining, industry, energy production and transport sectors. Our approach is integrative and supra-disciplinary, recognizing the important role of the Arctic and boreal ecosystems in the Earth system. The PEEX vision includes establishing and maintaining long-term, coherent and coordinated research activities as well as continuous, comprehensive research and educational infrastructures and related capacity building across the PEEX domain. In this paper we present the PEEX structure, summarize its motivation, objectives and future outlook. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The global environment is changing rapidly due to anthropogenic emissions and actions. Such activities modify aerosol and greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere, leading to regional and global climate change and affecting e.g. food and fresh-water security, sustainable use of natural resources and even demography. Here we present a conceptual design of a global, hierarchical observation network that can provide tools and increased understanding to tackle the inter-connected environmental and societal challenges that we will face in the coming decades. The philosophy behind the conceptual design relies on physical conservation laws of mass, energy and momentum, as well as on concentration gradients that act as driving forces for the atmosphere-biosphere exchange. The network is composed of standard, flux/advanced and flagship stations, each of which having specific and identified tasks. Each ecosystem type on the globe has its own characteristic features that have to be taken into consideration. The hierarchical network as a whole is able to tackle problems related to large spatial scales, heterogeneity of ecosystems and their complexity. The most comprehensive observations are envisioned to occur in flag ship stations, with which the process-level understanding can be expanded to continental and global scales together with advanced data analysis, earth system modelling and satellite remote sensing. The denser network of the flux and standard stations allow application and up-scaling of the results obtained from flag ship stations to the global level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Four years of continuous aerosol number size distribution measurements from an Arctic Climate Observatory in Tiksi Russia are analyzed. Source region effects on particle modal features, and number and mass concentrations are presented for different seasons. The monthly median total aerosol number concentration in Tiksi ranges from 184 cm-3 in November to 724 cm-3 in July with a local maximum in March of 481 cm-3. The total mass concentration has a distinct maximum in February-March of 1.72-2.38 µgm-3 and two minimums in June of 0.42 µgm-3 and in September-October of 0.36-0.57 µgm-3. These seasonal cycles in number and mass concentrations are related to isolated aerosol sources such as Arctic haze in early spring which increases accumulation and coarse mode numbers, and biogenic emissions in summer which affects the smaller, nucleation and Aitken mode particles. The impact of temperature dependent natural emissions on aerosol and cloud condensation nuclei numbers was significant. Therefore, in addition to the precursor emissions of biogenic volatile organic compounds, the frequent Siberian forest fires, although far are suggested to play a role in Arctic aerosol composition during the warmest months. During calm and cold months aerosol concentrations were occasionally increased by nearby aerosol sources in trapping inversions. These results provide valuable information on inter-annual cycles and sources of Arctic aerosols. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One year of multi-wavelength (3+2) Raman lidar measurements at Gual Pahari, close to Delhi, were analysed. The data was split into four seasons: spring (March-May), summer (June-August), autumn (September-November) and winter (December-February). The vertical profiles of backscatter, extinction, and lidar ratio and their variability during each season are presented. The measurements revealed that, on average, the aerosol layer was at its highest in spring (5.5 km). In summer, the vertically averaged (between 1-3 km) backscatter and extinction coefficients had the highest averages (3.3 Mm-1 sr-1 and 142 Mm-1 at 532 nm, respectively). Aerosol concentrations were slightly higher in summer compared with other seasons, and particles were larger in size. The autumn showed the highest lidar ratio and high extinction-related Angstrom exponents (AEext), indicating the presence of smaller probably absorbing particles. The winter had the lowest backscatter and extinction coefficients, but AEext was the highest, suggesting still a large amount of small particles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Finnish Meteorogical Institute (FMI), together with The Energy and Resources Institute of India (TERI), contributed to the The European Integrated project on Aerosol Cloud Climate and Air Quality Interactions, EUCAARI, by conducting aerosol measurements in Gual Pahari, India, from December 2007 to January 2010. This paper describes the station setup in detail for the first time and provides 1st year preliminary results from the aerosol in-situ measurements, which include PM and BC masses, aerosol size distribution from 4 nm to 10 μm, and the scattering and absorption coefficients. The seasonal variation of the aerosol characteristics was very distinct in Gual Pahari. The highest concentrations were observed during the winter and the lowest during the rainy season. The average PM10 concentration (at STP conditions) was 177 μg m-3 and the average PM2.5 concentration was 120 μg m-3. A high percentage (4-9%) of the PM10 mass consisted of BC which indicates anthropogenic influence. The percentage of BC was higher during the winter; and according to the diurnal pattern of the BC fraction, the peak occurred during anthropogenic activity times. Another important source of aerosol particles in the area was new particle formation. The nucleated particles grew rapidly reaching the Aitken and accumulation mode size, thus contributing considerably to the aerosol load. The rainy season decreased the average fraction of particle mass in the PM2.5 size range, i.e. of secondary origin. The other removal, or in this case, dilution mechanism was based on convective mixing and boundary layer evolution. This diluted the aerosol when sun radiation and the temperature was high, i.e. especially during the pre-monsoon day time. The lighter and smaller particles were more effectively diluted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study we introduce a new laminar flow tube suitable for binary and ternary homogeneous nucleation studies. The production of sulfuric acid and water vapor mixture, the experimental setup and the method of sulfuric acid concentration determination are discussed in details. Wall losses were estimated from the measured sulfuric acid concentration profile along the laminar flow tube and compared to a theoretical prediction. In this investigation the experimental evidence of new particle formation was observed at concentration of 109 molecules of sulfuric acid in cm³ and nucleation rates measured at three relative humidities (RH) 10, 30 and 50% cover six orders of magnitudes from 10-3 to 10³ particles in cm³. Particle free air was used as a carrier gas. Our first results are compared to theoretical prediction of binary homogeneous nucleation, to results obtained by other investigators and to atmospheric nucleation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Particle number size distributions in size range 12-570 nm were measured continuously at Mount Waliguan, a remote mountain-top station in inland China. The station is located at the altitude of 3816ma.s.l., and some 600-1200m above the surrounding area. The measurement period lasted from September 2005 to May 2007. The measurements were verified with independent CPC measurements at the same site. The average particle concentration in ambient conditions was 2030 cm-3, which is higher than the values measured at similar altitude in other regions of the world. On average, the Aitken mode contributed to roughly half of the particle number concentration. The concentrations were found to be higher during the summer than during the winter. The diurnal variation was also investigated and a clear pattern was found for the nucleation mode during all seasons, so that the nucleation mode particle concentration increased in the afternoon. The same pattern was visible in the Aitken mode during the summer, whereas the accumulation mode did not show any level of diurnal pattern during any season. Excluding the nucleation mode, the average day-time particle concentrations were not significantly higher than those measured at night-time, indicating no systematic pattern of change between planetary boundary layer conditions and free troposphere conditions. In air masses coming from east, the number concentration of particles was higher than in other air masses, which indicates that the air mass might be affected anthropogenic pollution east of the station. Also other factors, such as active new-particle formation, keep aerosol number concentrations high in the area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Atmospheric new particle formation is generally thought to occur due to homogeneous or ion-induced nucleation of sulphuric acid. We compare ambient nucleation rates with laboratory data from nucleation experiments involving either sulphuric acid or oxidized SO2. Atmospheric nucleation occurs at H2SO4 concentrations 2-4 orders of magnitude lower than binary or ternary nucleation rates of H2SO4 produced from a liquid reservoir, and atmospheric H2SO4 concentrations are very well replicated in the SO2 oxidation experiments. We hypothesize these features to be due to the formation of free HSO5 radicals in pace with H2SO4 during the SO2 oxidation. We suggest that at temperatures above ∼250K these radicals produce nuclei of new aerosols much more efficiently than H2SO4. These nuclei are activated to further growth by H2SO4 and possibly other trace species. However, at lower temperatures the atmospheric relative acidity is high enough for the H2SO4-H2O nucleation to dominate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Physical and chemical properties of boundary layer clouds, together with relevant aerosol properties, were investigated during the first Pallas Cloud Experiment (First PaCE) conducted in northern Finland between 20 October and 9 November, 2004. Two stations located 6 km apart from each other at different altitudes were employed in measurements. The low-altitude station was always below the cloud layer, whereas the high-altitude station was inside clouds about 75% of the time during the campaign. Direct measurements of cloud droplet populations showed that our earlier approach of determining cloud droplet residual particle size distributions and corresponding activated fractions using continuous aerosol number size distribution measurements at the two stations is valid, as long as the cloud events are carefully screened to exclude precipitating clouds and to make sure the same air mass has been measured at both stations. We observed that a non-negligible fraction of cloud droplets originated from Aitken mode particles even at moderately-polluted air masses. We found clear evidence on first indirect aerosol effect on clouds but demonstrated also that no simple relation between the cloud droplet number concentration and aerosol particle number concentration exists for this type of clouds. The chemical composition of aerosol particles was dominated by organic matter (POM) and sulphate in continental air masses and POM, sodium and chlorine in marine air masses. The inorganic composition of cloud water behaved similarly to that of the aerosol phase and was not influenced by inorganic trace gases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Airborne measurements of nucleation mode aerosol concentrations during nucleation events over the boreal forest of southern Finland are reported. Three case studies are analysis in an attempt to characterise the spatial scales over which these events occur and to identify the source region for particle production. For the cases presented, there is no evidence of nucleation mode particles in the Free Troposphere. Nucleation mode particles are first detected in the surface layer as the nocturnal inversion breaks up and develops into the current-day's new boundary layer. In terms of spatial variability, significant variability in the concentration of nucleation mode particles was observed and was attributed to changes in the topography which comprised a mix of forest canopy and frozen lakes. Measurements over the Gulf of Bothnia indicated no nucleation mode over the sea and confirm that the scale of the events is associated with the boreal forest scale and that the new particles are produced directly above the forest canopy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study covers four years of aerosol number size distribution data from Pallas and Värriö sites 250km apart from each other in Northern Finland and compares new particle formation events between these sites. In eastern air masses almost all events were observed to start earlier at the eastern station Värriö, whereas in western air masses most of the events were observed to start earlier at the western station Pallas. This demonstrates that particle formation in a certain air mass type depends not only on the diurnal variation of the parameters causing the phenomenon (such as photochemistry) but also on some properties carried by the air mass itself. The correlation in growth rates between the two sites was relatively good, which suggests that the amount of condensable vapour causing the growth must have been at about the same level in both sites. The value of condensation sink was frequently much higher at the downwind station. It seems that secondary particle formation related to biogenic sources dominate in many cases over the particle sinks during the air mass transport between the sites. Two cases of transport from Pallas to Värriö were further analysed with an aerosol dynamics model. The model was able to reproduce the observed nucleation events 250km down-wind at Värriö but revealed some differences between the two cases. The simulated nucleation rates were in both cases similar but the organic concentration profiles that best reproduced the observations were different in the two cases indicating that divergent formation reactions may dominate under different conditions. The simulations also suggested that organic compounds were the main contributor to new particle growth, which offers a tentative hypothesis to the distinct features of new particles at the two sites: Air masses arriving from Atlantic Ocean typically spent approximately only ten hours over land before arriving at Pallas, and thus the time for the organic vapours to accumulate in the air and to interact with the particles is relatively short. This can lead to low nucleation mode growth rates and even to suppression of detectable particle formation event due to efficient scavenging of newly formed clusters, as was observed in the case studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three years of continuous measurements of aerosol optical properties and simultaneous aerosol number size distribution measurements at Pallas GAW station, a remote subarctic site in the northern border of the boreal forest zone, have been analysed. The scattering coefficient at 550nm varied from 0.2 to 94.4Mm-1 with an average of 7.1±8.6Mm-1. Both the scattering and backscattering coefficients had a clear seasonal cycle with an autumn minimum and a 4-5 times higher summer maximum. The scattering was dominated by submicron aerosols and especially so during late summer and autumn. The Ångström exponent had a clear seasonal pattern with maximum values in late summer and minimum values during wintertime. The highest hemispheric backscattering fraction values were observed in autumn, indicating clean air with few scattering particles and a particle size distribution strongly dominated by ultrafine particles. To analyse the influence of air mass origin on the aerosol optical properties a trajectory climatology was applied to the Pallas aerosol data. The most polluted trajectory patterns represented air masses from the Kola Peninsula, Scandinavia and Russia as well as long-range transport from Britain and Eastern Europe. These air masses had the largest average scattering and backscattering coefficients for all seasons. Higher than average values of the Ångström exponent were also observed in connection with transport from these areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Finnish Meteorological Institute has been monitoring airborne natural radionuclides 210Pb and 7Be at its geophysical observatory at Nurmijüarvi, southern Finland (60°30'N, 24°39'E, h = 105 m above see level). Daily aerosol samples (3500 m3/d) were collected onto glass-fiber filters with an aerosol sampler having an aerodynamic cutoff diameter of 10-15 μm depending on the wind speed. The filters were analysed for 7Be with an electrically cooled HPGe γ-ray spectrometer and for 210Pb with α-counting of the daughter 210Po using an automatic α/β-analyzer. A trajectory analysis of the observed activity concentrations revealed that the highest 7Be and 210Pb activity concentrations are associated with continental air masses coming from southeast. Meteorologically these situations often originate from high-pressure areas in central Russia. The associated air masses are often dry, which prevents the removal of radionuclides through precipitation scavenging. 222Rn, and thus 210Pb too, originate practically entirely from land areas and not from oceans. The descending movement of air in high-pressure areas promotes the transfer of 7Be from upper air to the ground level. The production of 7Be increases toward the magnetic poles of the Earth. This is not reflected in the source areas of 7Be, because the concentration variations in the ground-level air are due to large-scale weather phenomena. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]