Number concentration and size distributions of submicron particles in Jinan urban area:Characteristics in summer and winter

The aerosol number concentration and size distribution were measured with the newly developed Wide-range Particle Spectrometer in summer and winter of 2006 at the urban site of Jinan City. Here reported the characteristics of fine particles of the different observation seasons. Relative high number concentrations for the particles in the diameter range of 10-500 nm were observed in both seasons. It was found that the dominant number distributed in particle diameter smaller than 100 nm and the percentage over the number concentration of all air particles is much higher than what has been measured in other urban sites over the world. The number mean diameter in summer was much smaller than in winter, strongly suggesting the different origin of ultrafine particles in different seasons. That is, particles in ultrafine mode mainly came from nucleation and new particle formation in summer while from traffic emission in winter. The diurnal variation also supported this point. Number concentration in the diameter range of 10-200 um got their peak values at noontime, well correlated with the mixing ratio of SO2 and the intensity of solar radiation in summer. While in winter, those in the same diameter range showed the main peaks during the traffic hours happened in the morning and evening.

Continuous Measurement of Number Concentrations and Elemental Composition of Aerosol Particles for a Dust Storm Event in Beijing

A continuous measurement of number size distributions and chemical composition of aerosol particles was conducted in Beijing in a dust storm event during 21-26 March 2001. The number concentration of coarse particles （ 〉2μm） increased more significantly than fine particles （ 〈2μm） during the dust storm due to dust weather, while the anthropogenic aerosols collected during the non-dust-storm period tended to be associated with fine particles. Elemental compositions were analyzed by using proton-induced X-ray emission （PIXE）. The results show that 20 elements in the dust storm were much higher than in the non-dust-storm period. The calculated soil dust concentration during the dust storm was, on average, 251.8μg m^-3, while it was only 52.1μg m^-3 on non-dust-storm days. The enrichment factors for Mg, A1, P, K, Ca, Ti, Mn, Fe, C1, Cu, Pb, and Zn show small variations between the dust storm and the non-dust-storm period, while those for Ca, Ni and Cr in the dust storm were much lower than those in the non-dust-storm period due to significant local emission sources. A high concentration and enrichment factor for S were observed during the dust storm, which implies that the dust particles were contaminated by aerosol particles from anthropogenic emissions during the long-range transport. A statistical analysis shows that the elemental composition of particles collected during the dust storm in Beijing were better correlated with those of desert soil colleted from desert regions in Inner Mongolia. Air mass back-trajectory analysis further confirmed that this dust storm event could be identified as streaks of dust plumes originating from Inner Mongolia.

Evaluation of the WDM6 scheme in the simulation of number concentrations and drop size distributions of warm-rain hydrometeors: comparisons with the observations and other schemes

The number concentrations and drop size distributions(DSDs)of warm-rain hydrometeors play an important role in the simulation of microphysical processes.To evaluate the performance of the WDM6 scheme,which predicts the cloud number concentration(Nc)explicitly in aspects of warm-rain hydrometeors number concentrations and DSDs,the simulation of the WDM6 scheme is compared with airborne observations of a flight trial,as well as with the simulations of the Thompson scheme and Morrison scheme.Results show that the WDM6 scheme produces smaller(larger)cloud(rain)number concentrations and wider cloud DSDs compared to the observations,with the largest biases at upper levels of stratiform cloud(SC).The Thompson scheme and the Morrison scheme,both of which set the Nc as a constant,compare better to the observations than the WDM6 scheme in aspects of Nc and DSD.Sensitivity tests of the initial cloud condensation nuclei(CCN)number concentration(CCN0)of the WDM6 scheme show that a better choice of the initial CCN0 may improve the simulation of convective cloud but helps little in terms of SC.The simulation of rain number concentration and DSD is not sensitive to the CCN0 in the WDM6 scheme.

Number Concentration of Cylindrical Particles in a Fluidized Bed

In this study, a three-dimensional model based on RANS, slender-body theory and Newton-Euler dynamics is established to study the number concentration, one of the most important fluidization characteristics of cylindrical particles. Also, the effects of interaction between cylindrical particles are taken into account by introducing the rigid collision dynamics. To validate the model, the fluidization experiments of cylindrical particles in a cold-state fluidized bed are carried out. The number concentration characteristics of cylindrical particles are obtained from computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation. It is found that cylindrical particles arriving at the exit of the riser the earliest come from the near-wall regions, the horizontal transfer of so many cylindrical particles from the radial centre regions to the near-wall regions is evident. Meanwhile, there is no distinct relationship between the number concentration and inlet wind velocity.

Influence of air masses on particle number concentration and size distribution at Mt. Waliguan, Qinghai Province, China

Particle size distribution of 12-500 nm was measured at Mt. Waliguan, China Global Atmosphere Watch Baseline Observatory, from Aug. in 2005 to May in 2007.72-hr back-trajectories at 100-m arrival height above ground level for the same period were calculated at 6：00, 12：00, and 21：00 （Beijing Time） for each day using the Hybrid Single-Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory （HYSPLIT-4） model developed by NOAA/ARL. It was found that air mass sources significantly impact particle number concentration and size distribution at Mt. Waliguan. Cluster analysis of back-trajectories show that higher Aitken mode particle number concentration was observed when air masses came from or passed by the northeastern section of Mt. Waliguan, with short trajectory length. High number concentration of nucleation mode was associated with air masses from clean regions, with long trajectory length.

ANALYSIS OF PARTICULATE MASS CONCENTRATION,AEROSOL NUMBER CONCENTRATION AND VISIBILITY IN BEIJING

Particulate mass concentration (PM10, PM2.5), aerosol number concentration (NOPC), aerosol size distribu-tion and atmospheric visibility were simultaneously measured in Beijing in the summer and winter of 2001. From the profuse data collected, the following conclusions can be drown: (1) there are two peaks for the average diurnal variations of PM10 and NOPC in the summer, an obvious valley can be seen between 12:30 and 15:00 for their average diurnal variation in the winter; (2) there is one single peak for the average diurnal variation of atmospheric visibility in the summer, while there are two peaks in the winter; (3) PM10 and NOPC are usually smaller in the summer than those in the winter; (4) the average visibility is much lower during 00:00~09:00 in the summer than that in the winter, because of the very high relative humidity and higher concentration of the large particles (r>1.25 mm) in the summer during the period; (5) aerosol size distributions usually depend closely on season and relative humidity at the same place.

RELATIVE LEVELS OF INDOOR AND OUTDOOR PARTICLE NUMBER CONCENTRATIONS IN A RESIDENTIAL BUILDING IN XI'AN

The time series of indoor and outdoor particle number concentrations in a naturally ventilated residential building in Xi＇an were tested simultaneously for 7 days in summer. The relationships between indoor and outdoor concentrations were examined and discussed, and linear regression analysis was employed to correlate the indoor and outdoor concentrations. The diurnal cycles of indoor and outdoor particle concentrations of different particle size ranges all showed positive correlations between indoor and outdoor number concentrations, The I/O ratios of number concentrations varied with the increase of particle size in the range of 0.89 （±0.19） to 0.99 （±0.15）.

EVOLUTION OF NUMBER CONCENTRATION OF NANO-PARTICLES UNDERGOING BROWNIAN COAGULATION IN THE TRANSITION REGIME

Evolution of number concentration of nanoparticles undergoing Brownian coagulation in the transition regime is studied theoretically and numerically. The results show that the curves of particle size distribution move toward the area with large particle diameters, the curve peak becomes lower and the range that particle diameters cover becomes wider as time elapses. In the process of coagulation the particles with small diameter disappear gradually and the particle size distribution remains a log-normal distribution. The change rate of the particle size distribution is more appreciable at the initial stage than that at the final stage. The initial Knudsen number has a significant effect on the coagulation rate which increases with decreasing the initial Knudsen number. The larger the initial geometric standard deviation is, the smaller the curve peak is, and the wider the area that curves cover is. The initial geometric standard deviation has a significant effect on the particle size distribution which can remain a self-preserving state when the initial geometric standard deviation is smaller than 2. With the increase of the diversity of initial particle size, the particle size distribution does not obey the log-normal distribution any more as time elapses.

Identifying Supercooled Liquid Water in Cloud Based on Airborne Observations: Correlation of Cloud Particle Number Concentration with Icing Probability and Proportion of Spherical Particles

Identifying supercooled liquid water(SLW)in clouds is critical for weather modification,aviation safety,and atmospheric radiation calculations.Currently,aircraft identification in the SLW area mostly depends on emprical estimation of cloud particle number concentration(N_(c))in China,and scientific verification and quantitative identification criteria are urgently needed.In this study,the observations are from the Fast Cloud Droplets Probe,Rosemount ice detector(RICE),and Cloud Particle Imager(CP_(i))onboard a King Air aircraft during seven flights in 2018 and 2019 over central and eastern China.Based on this,the correlation among N_(c),the proportion of spherical particles(P_(s)),and the probability of icing(P_(i))in supercooled stratiform and cumulus-stratus clouds is statistically analyzed.Subsequently,this study proposes a method to identify SLW areas using N_(c) in combination with ambient temperature.The reliability of this method is evaluated through the true skill statistics(TSS)and threat score(TS)methods.Numerous airborne observations during the seven flights reveal a strong correlation among Nc,P_(s),and P_(i)at the temperature from 0 to−18°C.When Nc is greater than a certain threshold of 5 cm^(−3),there is always the SLW,i.e.,P_(i)and P_(s)are high.Evaluation results demonstrate that the TSS and TS values for Nc=5 cm^(−3)are higher than those for Nc<5 cm^(−3),and a larger Nc threshold(>5 cm^(−3))corresponds to a higher SLW identification hit rate and a higher SLW content.Therefore,Nc=5 cm^(−3)can be used as the minimum criterion for identifying the SLW in clouds at temperature lower than 0°C.The SLW identification method proposed in this study is especially helpful in common situations where aircraft are equipped with only Nc probes and without the CP_(i)and RICE.

Origin of high particle number concentrations reaching the St. Louis, Midwest Supersite

Ultrafine particles are associated with adverse health effects. Total Particle Number Concentration（TNC） of fine particles were measured during 2002 at the St. Louis — Midwest supersite. The time series showed overall low level with frequent large peaks. The time series was analyzed alongside criteria pollutant measurements and meteorological observations. Multiple regression analysis was used to identify further contributing factors and to determine the association of different pollutants with TNC levels. This showed the strong contribution of sulfur dioxide（SO2） and nitrogen oxides（NO x） to high TNC levels. The analysis also suggested that increased dispersion resulting from faster winds and higher mixing heights led to higher TNC levels. Overall, the results show that there were intense particle nucleation events in a SO2 rich plume reaching the site which contributed around 29% of TNC. A further 40% was associated with primary emissions from mobile sources. By separating the remaining TNC by time of day and clear sky conditions,we suggest that most likely 8% of TNC are due to regional nucleation events and 23% are associated with the general urban background.

Measuring the number concentration of arbitrarily-shaped gold nanoparticles with surface plasmon resonance microscopy

Molar concentration of gold nanoparticles is one of the most critical parameters of gold colloids in order to develop their applications in sensing, diagnostics and nanomedicine. Previous methods often stand just for gold nanoparticles with regular shape and narrow size distribution. In the present work, we proposed an absolute quantification method that determined the molar concentration of gold nanoparticles with arbitrary shapes and polydisperse sizes. This approach involved the real time monitoring and counting of individual nanoparticles collision events, from which the quantification of molar concentration was achieved using a theoretical model consisting of Fiek＇s laws of diffusion and Stokes-Einstein equation. The determination of spherical gold nanoparticles concentration resulted in excellent agreement with traditional spectrometry method. It was further demonstrated that the present approach can be expanded to determine the molar concentration of gold nanoparticles with arbitrary shapes and poly-diversed distributions.

Analysis on the Macro and Micro Physical Characteristics of Stratiform Cloud in Henan

By using the microphysical data of stratiform cloud in Henan which were observed by PMS airborne cloud particle measure system on March 23 in 2007 and combining with the radar,satellite,sounding data,the macro and micro physical structure characteristics of cloud were analyzed.The results showed that the average diameter of small cloud drop which was measured by FSSP-100 in the warm layer of cloud was mainly during 5-12 μm,and the average value was 7.33 μm.The biggest diameter of small cloud drop changed during 14-47 μm,and the average value was 27.80 μm.The total number concentration scope of small cloud drop was during 47.73-352.00 drop/cm3,and the average value was 160 drop/cm3.In the cold layer of cloud,the biggest diameter of small cloud particle(included the cloud droplet and the ice crystals)which was measured by FSSP-100 was 24.8 μm.The total number concentration scope of small cloud particle was during 0.899-641.000 drop/cm3,and the average value was 297 drop/cm3.The airborne King heat line liquid water content instrument observed that the super-cooling liquid water existed in the cloud.The super-cooling cloud water content changed during 0.02-0.20 g/m3,and the average value was 0.093 g/m3.The biggest value which was 0.202 g/m3 appeared in 4 368 m height(the temperature was-8.5 ℃).The particle spectrum type in the cloud was mainly the negative exponent type and the single peak type.

Preliminary Research on the Size Distribution of Aerosols in Beijing

Number concentration and size distribution of atmospheric aerosols were measured in Beijing by an optical particle counter. The relationship between aerosol size distribution and relative humidity is discussed. The results show that the size distribution, diurnal variation, daily variation of atmospheric aerosols have a good relation to relative humidity and Richardson number. Key words Atmospheric aerosol - Number concentration - Size distribution - Relative humidity - Richardson number This work is financially supported by NKBRSF Project (G1999043400), Knowledge Creative Project (8-2101 and 82303) founded by TAP, CAS.The authors would like to express their thanks to Prof. Zhang Wen for his work in this observation.

Comparison of two double-moment microphysics schemes in aspects of warm-rain droplet spectra and raindrop budget

Simulation results of the WDM6 scheme and the Thompson scheme,both of which are commonly-used double-moment bulkmicrophysics schemes,are compared within theWeather Research and Forecasting model.The purpose of the comparison is to study the difference in the aspects of the warm-rain hydrometeor number concentrations,the droplet size distributions,and the budgets of the rain mixing ratio and number concentration.It is found that the WDM6 scheme overestimates the ratio and the amount of large precipitation,and underestimates those of small precipitation,compared to the Thompson scheme.The cloud number concentration(CNC)predicted in the WDM6 scheme is one to three orders ofmagnitude smaller than that of the Thompson scheme,which is set to the specific valueof CNC.The cloud droplet spectra of the WDM6 scheme are broader.The WDM6 scheme produces a larger rain number concentration and smaller mass mean diameter of raindrops under the influence of both warm and cold rain processes—specifically,autoconversion and melting of snow and graupel.The WDM6 scheme produces a larger autoconversion rate and smaller total melting rate of snow and graupel than the Thompson scheme in the rain mixing ratio budget.The sign of the difference in the rain-cloud collection varieswith region,and the rain-cloud collection process together with evaporation of rain have a major influence on the sign of the surface precipitation difference between the two schemes.

Spectral dispersion of cloud droplet size distributions and radar threshold reflectivity for drizzle

From first principles, we find that the radar threshold reflectivity between nonprecipitating clouds and precipitating clouds is strongly related to not only the cloud droplet number concentration but also the spectral dispersion of cloud droplet size distributions. The further investigation indicates that the threshold value is an increasing function of spectral dispersion and cloud droplet number concentration. These results may improve our understanding of the cloud-precipitation interaction and the aerosol indirect effect.

Evaluating the performance of a WRF microphysics ensemble through comparisons with aircraft observations

observation data obtained in a mesoscale convective system are compared to Weather Research and Forecasting(WRF)model simulations using four microphysics schemes(Morrison,WSM6,P3,SBM)with different complexities.The main purpose of this paper is to assess the performance of the microphysics ensemble in terms of cloud microphysical properties.Results show that although the vertical distributions of liquid water content(LWC)and ice water content(IWC)simulated by the four members are quite different in the convective cloud region,they are relatively uniform in the stratiform cloud region.Overall,the results of the Morrison scheme are very similar to the ensemble average,and both of them are closer to the observations compared to the other schemes.Besides,the authors also note that all members still overpredict the LWC by a factor of 2–8 in some regions,resulting in large deviation between the observation and ensemble average.

Experimental Study on the Effect of Humidification on the Pollution Characteristics of Particulate Matter in the Office

Indoor air quality has a direct impact on human health. Indoor air quality has aroused great concern. This experimental study compares the effects of different water humidification on the indoor particulate pollution characteristics, and analyzes the mass concentration and the particulate number concentration distribution of different sizes of particulates with time under each condition of the purified water humidification, the tap water humidification and the cold boiled water humidification in the office. The results show that under the three kinds of wetting conditions, the concentration of the fine particulates is higher. More minerals are contained in the tap water and the cold boiled water, so the two kinds of humidification have more significant impact on indoor particulate matter. But the purified water humidification has nearly no significant effect on it. The calcium and magnesium ionic compounds are partly removed after the water boiled, so the cold boiled water humidification has less impact on the indoor particulate matter than the tap water humidification. The mass concentration and particulate number concentration of the particle may also be affected due to the frequency of ultrasonic vibration.

Characterization of cloud microphysical properties in different cloud types over East Asia based on CloudSat/CALIPSO satellite products

By using four-year CloudSat/CALIPSO satellite data,the authors investigated cloud microphysical properties in three representative regions over East Asia,where models commonly suffer from great biases in simulations of cloud radiative effects.This study aims to provide an observational basis of cloud microphysical properties for the modeling community,against which the model simulations can be validated.The analyzed cloud microphysical properties include mass,number concentration,and effective radius for both liquid and ice phases.For liquid clouds,both cloud mass and number concentration gradually decrease with height,leading to the effective radius being nearly uniformly spread in the range of 8-14μm.For ice clouds,the cloud mass and effective radius decrease with height,whereas the number concentration is nearly uniform in the vertical.The cloud microphysical properties show remarkable differences among different cloud types.Cloud mass and number concentration are larger in cumuliform clouds,whereas smaller in cirrus clouds.By comparing cloud properties among the Tibetan Plateau,East China,and the western North Pacific,results show the values are overall smaller for liquid clouds but larger for ice clouds over the Tibetan Plateau.

Comparison of aircraft observations with ensemble forecast model results in terms of the microphysical characteristics of stratiform precipitation

The prediction of the particle number concentration and liquid/ice water content of cloud is significant for many aspects of atmospheric science.However,given the uncertainties in the initial and boundary conditions and imperfections of microphysical schemes,the accurate prediction of these microphysical properties of cloud is still a big challenge.The ensemble approach may be a viable way to reduce forecast uncertainties.In this paper,a large-scale stratiform cloud precipitation process is studied by comparing results of a 10-member ensemble forecast model with aircraft observation data.By means of the ensemble average,the prediction of bulk parameters such as liquid water content and ice water content can be improved in comparison with the control member,but the particle number concentrations are still one to two orders of magnitude less than those from observations.Intercomparison of raindrop size spectra reveals a big distinction between observations and predictions for particles with a diameter less than 1000μm.

An Observational Study on Physical and Optical Properties of Atmospheric Aerosol in Autumn in Nanjing

Based on observing data of atmospheric aerosol in the north suburban area of Nanjing from September to November in 2007, the number concentration, mass concentration, size distribution and optical properties of atmospheric aerosol particles and the relation to meteorological factors were analyzed, and their concentration and optical properties during hazy and non-hazy days were compared. The results showed that aerosol pollution was serious in autumn in this region; the deterioration of visibility had close correlation to fine particles, that is, the average number concen- tration of aerosol was 17 044.2 cm^-3, in which ultra fine particles accounted for 64.3%; the daily average mass concentration of PM2.5 was 281 μg/m3, and the ratio of PM2.5 to PM10 was 0.74; the accumulation mode particles dominated in number and surface concentration distributions, while the volume concentration distribution presented a main peak at size of 1.0 -2.8 μm; fine particles increased during hazy days compared with non-hazy days; the scatter coefficient closely correlated to the particle size, concentration and atmospheric humidity. It was also indicated that meteorological conditions played a critical role in formation of hazy weather, that is, weak large-scale weather systems, low wind speed, high humidity and strong inversion were favorable conditions for hazy weather in autumn.