CERN Accelerating science

Article
Title	New particle formation from isoprene under upper-tropospheric conditions
Related title	New particle formation from isoprene under upper-tropospheric conditions
Author(s)	Shen, Jiali (Helsinki U.) ; Russell, Douglas M (Frankfurt U., FIAS) ; DeVivo, Jenna (Carnegie Mellon U.) ; Kunkler, Felix (Mainz, Max Planck Inst.) ; Baalbaki, Rima (Helsinki U.) ; Mentler, Bernhard (Innsbruck U.) ; Scholz, Wiebke (Innsbruck U.) ; Yu, Wenjuan (Helsinki U.) ; Caudillo-Plath, Lucía (Frankfurt U., FIAS) ; Sommer, Eva (CERN ; Vienna U.) ; Ahongshangbam, Emelda (Helsinki U.) ; Alfaouri, Dina (Helsinki U.) ; Almeida, João (CERN ; Lisbon U.) ; Amorim, Antonio (Lisbon U.) ; Beck, Lisa J (Frankfurt U., FIAS) ; Beckmann, Hannah (Innsbruck U. ; Tartu, Inst. Phys.) ; Berntheusel, Moritz (Frankfurt U., FIAS) ; Bhattacharyya, Nirvan (Carnegie Mellon U.) ; Canagaratna, Manjula R (Unlisted) ; Chassaing, Anouck (Stockholm U.) ; Cruz-Simbron, Romulo (Colorado U. ; Colorado U., CIRES) ; Dada, Lubna (Minnesota U., Math. ; Northeastern U. ; PSI, Villigen) ; Duplissy, Jonathan (Helsinki U.) ; Gordon, Hamish (Carnegie Mellon U.) ; Granzin, Manuel (Frankfurt U., FIAS) ; Schute, Lena Große (Frankfurt U., FIAS) ; Heinritzi, Martin (Frankfurt U., FIAS) ; Iyer, Siddharth (Tampere U. of Tech.) ; Klebach, Hannah (Frankfurt U., FIAS) ; Krüger, Timm (Frankfurt U., FIAS) ; Kürten, Andreas (Frankfurt U., FIAS) ; Lampimäki, Markus (Helsinki U.) ; Liu, Lu (Minnesota U., Math. ; Northeastern U. ; PSI, Villigen) ; Lopez, Brandon (Carnegie Mellon U.) ; Martinez, Monica (Mainz, Max Planck Inst.) ; Morawiec, Aleksandra (Vienna U.) ; Onnela, Antti (CERN) ; Peltola, Maija (Helsinki U.) ; Rato, Pedro (Frankfurt U., FIAS ; CERN) ; Reza, Mago (Colorado U. ; Colorado U., CIRES) ; Richter, Sarah (Frankfurt U., FIAS) ; Rörup, Birte (Helsinki U.) ; Sebastian, Milin Kaniyodical (KIT, Karlsruhe) ; Simon, Mario (Frankfurt U., FIAS) ; Surdu, Mihnea (Minnesota U., Math. ; Northeastern U. ; PSI, Villigen) ; Tamme, Kalju (Tartu, Inst. Phys.) ; Thakur, Roseline C (Helsinki U.) ; Tomé, António (UBI, Covilha ; Beira Interior U., Covilha) ; Tong, Yandong (Colorado U. ; Colorado U., CIRES) ; Top, Jens (Minnesota U., Math. ; Northeastern U. ; PSI, Villigen) ; Umo, Nsikanabasi Silas (KIT, Karlsruhe) ; Unfer, Gabriela (TROPOS, Leibniz) ; Vettikkat, Lejish (Helsinki U.) ; Weissbacher, Jakob (Innsbruck U.) ; Xenofontos, Christos (Cyprus Inst.) ; Yang, Boxing (Minnesota U., Math. ; Northeastern U. ; PSI, Villigen) ; Zauner-Wieczorek, Marcel (Frankfurt U., FIAS) ; Zhang, Jiangyi (Helsinki U.) ; Zheng, Zhensen (Innsbruck U.) ; Baltensperger, Urs (Minnesota U., Math. ; Northeastern U. ; PSI, Villigen) ; Christoudias, Theodoros (Cyprus Inst.) ; Flagan, Richard C (Caltech) ; Haddad, Imad El (Minnesota U., Math. ; Northeastern U. ; PSI, Villigen) ; Junninen, Heikki (Tartu, Inst. Phys.) ; Möhler, Ottmar (KIT, Karlsruhe) ; Riipinen, Ilona (Stockholm U.) ; Rohner, Urs (LLNL, Livermore) ; Schobesberger, Siegfried (Helsinki U.) ; Volkamer, Rainer (Colorado U. ; Colorado U., CIRES) ; Winkler, Paul M (Vienna U.) ; Hansel, Armin (Innsbruck U.) ; Lehtipalo, Katrianne (Helsinki U. ; Finnish Meteorological Inst.) ; Donahue, Neil M (Carnegie Mellon U.) ; Lelieveld, Jos (Mainz, Max Planck Inst. ; Cyprus Inst.) ; Harder, Hartwig (Mainz, Max Planck Inst.) ; Kulmala, Markku (Helsinki U. ; Nanjing U. (main) ; CICQM, Beijing) ; Worsnop, Doug R (Helsinki U. ; Unlisted) ; Kirkby, Jasper (Frankfurt U., FIAS ; CERN) ; Curtius, Joachim (Frankfurt U., FIAS) ; He, Xu-Cheng (Helsinki U. ; Finnish Meteorological Inst. ; Cambridge U. (main))
Publication	2024
Number of pages	9
In:	Nature 636 (2024) 115-123
DOI	10.1038/s41586-024-08196-0
Subject category	Physics in General
Accelerator/Facility, Experiment	CERN CLOUD
Abstract	Abstract Aircraft observations have revealed ubiquitous new particle formation in the tropical upper troposphere over the Amazon1,2 and the Atlantic and Pacific oceans3,4. Although the vapours involved remain unknown, recent satellite observations have revealed surprisingly high night-time isoprene mixing ratios of up to 1 part per billion by volume (ppbv) in the tropical upper troposphere5. Here, in experiments performed with the CERN CLOUD (Cosmics Leaving Outdoor Droplets) chamber, we report new particle formation initiated by the reaction of hydroxyl radicals with isoprene at upper-tropospheric temperatures of −30 °C and −50 °C. We find that isoprene-oxygenated organic molecules (IP-OOM) nucleate at concentrations found in the upper troposphere, without requiring any more vapours. Moreover, the nucleation rates are enhanced 100-fold by extremely low concentrations of sulfuric acid or iodine oxoacids above 105 cm−3, reaching rates around 30 cm−3 s−1 at acid concentrations of 106 cm−3. Our measurements show that nucleation involves sequential addition of IP-OOM, together with zero or one acid molecule in the embryonic molecular clusters. IP-OOM also drive rapid particle growth at 3–60 nm h−1. We find that rapid nucleation and growth rates persist in the presence of NO x at upper-tropospheric concentrations from lightning. Our laboratory measurements show that isoprene emitted by rainforests may drive rapid new particle formation in extensive regions of the tropical upper troposphere1,2, resulting in tens of thousands of particles per cubic centimetre.
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