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Science 2 June 2006:
Vol. 312. no. 5778, pp. 1375 - 1378
DOI: 10.1126/science.1125261
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Reports

Size Matters More Than Chemistry for Cloud-Nucleating Ability of Aerosol Particles

U. Dusek,1 G. P. Frank,1 L. Hildebrandt,1,4 J. Curtius,3 J. Schneider,2 S. Walter,2 D. Chand,1 F. Drewnick,2 S. Hings,2 D. Jung,3 S. Borrmann,2,3 M. O. Andreae1

Size-resolved cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) spectra measured for various aerosol types at a non-urban site in Germany showed that CCN concentrations are mainly determined by the aerosol number size distribution. Distinct variations of CCN activation with particle chemical composition were observed but played a secondary role. When the temporal variation of chemical effects on CCN activation is neglected, variation in the size distribution alone explains 84 to 96% of the variation in CCN concentrations. Understanding that particles' ability to act as CCN is largely controlled by aerosol size rather than composition greatly facilitates the treatment of aerosol effects on cloud physics in regional and global models.

1 Department of Biogeochemistry, Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, Mainz 55128, Germany.
2 Department of Particle Chemistry, Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, Mainz 55128, Germany.
3 Johannes Gutenberg University, Institute for Atmospheric Physics, Mainz 55128, Germany.
4 California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA.

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