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Ultrafine aerosol particles in aircraft plumes: In situ observations
Author(s) -
Schröder F. P.,
Kärcher B.,
Petzold A.,
Baumann R.,
Busen R.,
Hoell C.,
Schumann U.
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/98gl02078
Subject(s) - ultrafine particle , aerosol , soot , nucleation , ice nucleus , particle (ecology) , ice crystals , atmospheric sciences , environmental science , materials science , meteorology , combustion , chemistry , nanotechnology , geology , physics , oceanography , organic chemistry
Measurements of ultrafine particles in the near field of the DLR research aircraft ATTAS using low (0.02 g/kg fuel) and high (2.7g/kg) fuel sulfur contents (FSCs) are presented. Soot emissions of ∼ 10 15 /kg show no significant dependence on FSC. Strong evidence is found that ∼ 1/3 of the soot particles must be involved in ice nucleation in contrails, in addition to freezing of newly formed volatile particles. In the absence of contrails, numbers of volatile particles with diameters D > 5 nm reach ∼ 10 17 /kg for high FSC, and still reach ∼ 10 16 /kg for low FSC. A clear contribution of H 2 SO 4 to volatile particle growth is observed. If growth is exclusively linked to H 2 SO 4 , the S to H 2 SO 4 conversion efficiency increases with decreasing FSC. Depletion of ultrafine particles is observed in contrails, very likely due to scavenging by contrail ice crystals.