Atmospheric Aerosol Particle Formation and Growth

Atmospheric new particle formation (NPF, the formation of molecular clusters smaller than 3-nanometer diameter followed by growth to larger sizes) has the potential ability to significantly increase aerosol number concentrations in the atmosphere. NPF occurs over a spatial scale of a few hundred kilometers at a temporal scale of 1-2 days. The competition of condensational growth and coagulation scavenging determines the fate of these small molecular clusters, first to grow to nucleation and Aitken mode particles and then up to cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) active-sizes, where they can have climatic effects. The study of NPF in diverse environments globally has become critically important because of its potential role in air quality, weather, and climate. However, the chemical and physical mechanisms involved in aerosol formation and growth are still not well understood. It is often that results from different studies are inconsistent or even contradicting each other. Also, many observations cannot be explained by the modeling predictions. New particle formation (NFP) is one of the most challenging areas in atmospheric science.

This Research Topic will welcome recent and cutting-edge research in particle formation and growth to achieve a better closure between the observations conducted at various atmospheric conditions and the nucleation parameterizations in regional and global models.

We welcome submissions relating to, but not limited to the following themes:
• New instrumentation
• Modeling development and analysis
• Laboratory experiments
• Field observations in a variety of environmental conditions.