Periodic Reporting for period 1 - NPF-PANDA (New Particle Formation in Polluted Atmospheres by Nanocluster Dynamics Assessment)
Período documentado: 2020-05-01 hasta 2022-04-30
During new particle formation in the atmosphere, trace gases form small molecular agglomerates and induce a phase-transition to form liquid or solid aerosol particles.
These particles can subsequently influence the climate by altering cloud formation processes and they impact human health by contributing to air pollution. However, it was unknown how this clustering of vapours can occur under heavily polluted conditions as the clusters would rapidly adhere to larger pre-existing aerosol particles such as soot. Understanding new particle formation under challenging condtions will help to quantify its contribution to air pollution and help to shape future mitigation strategies. The overall objective of NPF-PANDA was to identify if rapid cluster growth occurs in polluted environments such that the newly formed particles can escape the scavenging. NPF-PANDA proposed to use a novel combination of several instruments for cluster concentration measurments to resolve the dynamics of these growing clusters.
These particles can subsequently influence the climate by altering cloud formation processes and they impact human health by contributing to air pollution. However, it was unknown how this clustering of vapours can occur under heavily polluted conditions as the clusters would rapidly adhere to larger pre-existing aerosol particles such as soot. Understanding new particle formation under challenging condtions will help to quantify its contribution to air pollution and help to shape future mitigation strategies. The overall objective of NPF-PANDA was to identify if rapid cluster growth occurs in polluted environments such that the newly formed particles can escape the scavenging. NPF-PANDA proposed to use a novel combination of several instruments for cluster concentration measurments to resolve the dynamics of these growing clusters.
During NPF-PANDA we performed measurements of cluster formation and growth with an unprecedented array of instruments at two locations: Hyytiälä, Finland to resemble clean conditions and San Pietro di Capofiume, Italy to resemble highly polluted conditions. We further analyzed data from our measurement station in Beijing and related chamber experiments at the CERN CLOUD chamber to investigate particle formation under polluted conditions in more detail and under controlled laboratory conditions. We further worked on the implementation of novel computational analysis tools: 1) we developed approaches to combine several instruments for cluster measurements to best exploit our field results 2) we developed software packages to better describe the cluster growth process, especially better capturing the contributions of ions and organic molecules 3) we simulated clsuter dynamics in chamber experiments and tried to reproduce the cluster growth patterns.
NPF-PANDA convincingly showed that rapid cluster growth in urban and polluted environments can indeed explain the observed survival of clusters besides their high losses towards pre-existing particles. We showed that increasing precision in cluster measurements through our analyis tools, the application of several instruments and novel instrumental developement point indeed towards the fact that clusters in highly polluted conditions grow faster than previously thought. We further demonstrated that this can result in the necessary survival of these clusters both in chamber experiments and the ambient. Beyond that, we showed that new particle formation is indeed a crucial contributor to air pollution patterns. Furthermore, we could clarify how it changed under the Covid-19 lockdown periods, potentially giving a glance towards a future, less-polluted atmosphere and the role of new particle formation within it.
We disseminated our findings in 13 peer-reviewed scientfic journal articles (with another 5 articles being already submitted, accepted or published as preprints) and on three international conferences. We also brought our results to a wider public by participation in workshops and outreach events, the maintainance of a blog and twitter account and within a nation-wide Austrian newspaper article.
NPF-PANDA convincingly showed that rapid cluster growth in urban and polluted environments can indeed explain the observed survival of clusters besides their high losses towards pre-existing particles. We showed that increasing precision in cluster measurements through our analyis tools, the application of several instruments and novel instrumental developement point indeed towards the fact that clusters in highly polluted conditions grow faster than previously thought. We further demonstrated that this can result in the necessary survival of these clusters both in chamber experiments and the ambient. Beyond that, we showed that new particle formation is indeed a crucial contributor to air pollution patterns. Furthermore, we could clarify how it changed under the Covid-19 lockdown periods, potentially giving a glance towards a future, less-polluted atmosphere and the role of new particle formation within it.
We disseminated our findings in 13 peer-reviewed scientfic journal articles (with another 5 articles being already submitted, accepted or published as preprints) and on three international conferences. We also brought our results to a wider public by participation in workshops and outreach events, the maintainance of a blog and twitter account and within a nation-wide Austrian newspaper article.
NPF-PANDA made signficiant progress beyond the state of the art: 1) our analysis tools and instrument developement resulted in unprecdented high-quality cluster size-distribution measurements. 2) our in-depth analysis of cluster growth under clean and polluted conditions improved our understanding of the role of ions, organics, coagulation and stochastics in nanoparticle growth. 3) we showed convincingly that new particle formation influences haze formation and is possible even under polluted conditions 4) we demonstrated the role of traffic emissions on the formation of condensable organics in the atmosphere by analyzing the Covid-19 lockdown periods in Beijing. 5) we summarized our findings on particle suvrival and growth within a review article enhancing the impact within the scientific community. Beyond that, we expect our findings on new particle formation in highly polluted settings to influence air pollution mitigation policies on air pollution in the future.