Organic Aerosol Growth Mechanisms and Their Climate-Forcing Implications
Steven F. Maria,1
Lynn M. Russell,3*
Mary K. Gilles,4
Satish C. B. Myneni2,5
Surface- and volume-limited chemical reactions on and in atmospheric
aerosol particles cause growth while changing organic composition
by 13 to 24% per day. Many of these particles contain carbonaceous
components from mineral dust and combustion emissions in Africa,
Asia, and North America and reveal reaction rates that are three
times slower than those typically used in climate models. These
slower rates for converting from volatile or hydrophobic to
condensed and hygroscopic organic compounds increase carbonaceous
particle burdens in climate models by 70%, producing organic
aerosol climate forcings of as much as –0.8 watt per square
meter cooling and +0.3 watt per square meter warming.
2 Department of Geosciences, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA.
3 Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA.
4 Chemical Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
5 Advanced Light Source, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: lmrussell{at}ucsd.edu
