Heterogeneous ice nucleation ability of crystalline sodium chloride dihydrate particles

The aerosol and cloud chamber AIDA (Aerosol Interactions and Dynamics in the Atmosphere) of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology has been used to quantify the deposition mode ice nucleation ability of airborne crystalline sodium chloride dihydrate (NaCl ∙ 2H 2 O) particles with median diameters between 0.06 and 1.1  µ m. For this purpose, expansion cooling experiments with starting temperatures from 235 to 216 K were conducted. Recently, supermicron‐sized NaCl ∙ 2H 2 O particles deposited onto a surface have been observed to be ice‐active in the deposition mode at temperatures below 238 K, requiring a median threshold ice saturation ratio of only 1.02 in the range from 238 to 221 K. In AIDA, heterogeneous ice nucleation by NaCl ∙ 2H 2 O was first detected at a temperature of 227.1 K with a concomitant threshold ice saturation ratio of 1.25. Above that temperature, the crystallized salt particles underwent a deliquescence transition to form aqueous NaCl solution droplets upon increasing relative humidity. At nucleation temperatures below 225 K, the inferred threshold ice saturation ratios varied between 1.15 and 1.20. The number concentration of the nucleated ice crystals was related to the surface area of the seed aerosol particles to deduce the ice nucleation active surface site (INAS) density of the aerosol population as a function of the ice supersaturation. Maximum INAS densities of about 6 ⋅ 10 10  m −2 at an ice saturation ratio of 1.20 were found for temperatures below 225 K. These INAS densities are similar to those recently derived for deposition mode ice nucleation on mineral dust particles.