AI Article Synopsis
- - The climate impact of aerosol particles, which act as cloud condensation nuclei (CCN), is influenced by their chemical makeup and how well they absorb water, known as hygroscopicity, which varies widely in different locations and times.
- - Researchers have measured CCN globally across various environments, finding that the effective hygroscopicity can be predicted from the components of organic and inorganic substances in aerosols.
- - Overall, the study reveals that while organic matter is chemically complex, its average hygroscopicity is consistent, and changes in the hygroscopicity values have a minimal effect on global climate models, refining their accuracy.
Article Abstract
The climate effects of atmospheric aerosol particles serving as cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) depend on chemical composition and hygroscopicity, which are highly variable on spatial and temporal scales. Here we present global CCN measurements, covering diverse environments from pristine to highly polluted conditions. We show that the effective aerosol hygroscopicity, κ, can be derived accurately from the fine aerosol mass fractions of organic particulate matter (ϵ) and inorganic ions (ϵ) through a linear combination, κ = ϵ ⋅ κ + ϵ ⋅ κ. In spite of the chemical complexity of organic matter, its hygroscopicity is well captured and represented by a global average value of κ = 0.12 ± 0.02 with κ = 0.63 ± 0.01 as the corresponding value for inorganic ions. By showing that the sensitivity of global climate forcing to changes in κ and κ is small, we constrain a critically important aspect of global climate modelling.
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Source |
|---|---|
| http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10545666 | PMC |
| http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-41695-8 | DOI Listing |
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