H₂SO₄–H₂O binary and H₂SO₄–H₂O–NH₃ ternary homogeneous and ion-mediated nucleation: lookup tables version 1.0 for 3-D modeling application

Abstract

Abstract. Formation of new particles in the atmosphere has important implications for air quality and climate. Recently, we have developed a kinetically based H2SO4–H2O–NH3-ion nucleation model which well captures the absolute values of nucleation rates as well as dependencies of nucleation rates on NH3 and H2SO4 concentrations, ionization rates, temperature, and relative humidity observed in the well-controlled Cosmics Leaving Outdoor Droplets (CLOUD) measurements. Here we employ the aforementioned recently developed kinetic nucleation model to generate nucleation rate lookup tables for H2SO4–H2O binary homogenous nucleation (BHN), H2SO4–H2O–NH3 ternary homogeneous nucleation (THN), H2SO4–H2O-ion binary ion-mediated nucleation (BIMN), and H2SO4–H2O–NH3-ion ternary ion-mediated nucleation (TIMN). A comparison of nucleation rates calculated using the lookup tables with CLOUD measurements of BHN, BIMN, THN, and TIMN is presented. The lookup tables cover a wide range of key parameters controlling binary, ternary, and ion-mediated nucleation in the Earth's atmosphere and are a cost-efficient solution for multidimensional modeling. The lookup tables and FORTRAN codes, made available through this work, can be readily used in 3-D modeling. The lookup tables can also be used by experimentalists involved in laboratory and field measurements for a quick assessment of nucleation involving H2SO4, H2O, NH3, and ions.