Improved parameterization for H₂SO₄ - H₂O nucleation

Anni Määttänen (1) , J. Julin (2) , J. Merikanto (3) , I. K. Ortega (4) , H. Vehkamäki (5)

1 PLANETO - LATMOS
2 ITM - Department of Applied Environmental Science [Stockholm]
3 FMI - Finnish Meteorological Institute
4 PhLAM - Laboratoire de Physique des Lasers, Atomes et Molécules - UMR 8523
5 Department of Physical Sciences [Helsinki]

We are currently extending the two-component nucleation parameterization for sulphuric acid and water in stratospheric conditions (Vehkamäki et al., 2002) for a larger validity range. One motivation for doing this was the need for nucleation parameterizations for the atmosphere of Venus. Both the clouds of Venus and aerosols found in the Earth’s stratosphere are mainly composed of sulphuric acid droplets, and sulfuric acid nucleation has a role also in tropospheric particle formation.

Keywords: Homogeneous sulfuric acid - water nucleation; Classical Nucleation Theory; Parameterization

Domains: Earth and Planetary Astrophysics [astro-ph.EP]

Anni Määttänen, J. Julin, J. Merikanto, I. K. Ortega, H. Vehkamäki. Improved parameterization for H₂SO₄ - H₂O nucleation. Proceedings of the NOSA-FAAR Symposium 2015. Report Series in Aerosol Science n° 165, Finnish Association for Aerosol Research FAAR, Mar 2015, Kuopio, Finland. pp.81. ⟨insu-01157917⟩