ENHANCED FORMATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF SULFATE PARTICLES DUE TO MARINEBOUNDARY-LAYER CIRCULATION

Production and the subsequent development of sulfur-derived particles in the marine boundary layer have been of great interest due to their potential role in modifying the radiative properties of marine stratif orm clouds. In this work these phenomena were studied using a dynamic air parcel model, with the emphasis placed on examining how the bounda ry layer dynamics affects the system. Our simulations suggest that a h omogeneous or steady boundary layer assumption may lead to a considera ble underestimation of the number of nuclei formed. Further, we showed that if the observed particle size distributions and nonsea-salt frac tion of cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) production are to be explained by ii; situ particle production and growth, the sulfuric acid accommo dation coefficient onto nuclei must be greater than 0.1 under conditio ns typical for clean marine areas. These high values require either a sulfuric acid vapor source in addition to SO2(g) oxidation or a H2SO4( g) accommodation coefficient onto more aged particles which is less th an that onto nuclei. Both these options were tested and can be conside red viable based on our present understanding of the marine environmen t. Finally, we showed that a nighttime interaction of the boundary lay er air with clouds does not significantly affect nuclei formation or g rowth, but may lead to significant scavenging of fresh nuclei if their sulfuric acid accommodation coefficient is small. Cloud interactions during photochemically active periods may completely inhibit new parti cle production, and the growth of preexisting nuclei is likely to be s ignificantly decelerated.