Novel insights on new particle formation derived from a pan-european observing system

Dall'Osto, Manuel ... et al.-- 11 pages, 4 figures, supplementary material https://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-17343-9
The formation of new atmospheric particles involves an initial step forming stable clusters less than a nanometre in size (~10 nm). Although at times, the same species can be responsible for both processes, it is thought that more generally each step comprises differing chemical contributors. Here, we present a novel analysis of measurements from a unique multi-station ground-based observing system which reveals new insights into continental-scale patterns associated with new particle formation. Statistical cluster analysis of this unique 2-year multi-station dataset comprising size distribution and chemical composition reveals that across Europe, there are different major seasonal trends depending on geographical location, concomitant with diversity in nucleating species while it seems that the growth phase is dominated by organic aerosol formation. The diversity and seasonality of these events requires an advanced observing system to elucidate the key processes and species driving particle formation, along with detecting continental scale changes in aerosol formation into the future
We gratefully acknowledge support by the German Federal Environment Agency (Umweltbundesamt), grants no. 351 03 031 and 351 01 038, and UFOPLAN grant 3703 43 200 (title “Erfassung der Zahl feiner und ultrafeiner Partikel in der Außenluft”). [...] The study was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy through projects BIO-NUC (CGL2013-49020-R), and by the EU though the FP7-PEOPLE-2013-IOF programme (Project number 624680, MANU – Marine Aerosol NUcleations) and the Ramon y Cajal fellowship (RYC-2012-11922).The National Centre for Atmospheric Science NCAS Birmingham group is funded by the UK Natural Environment Research Council