Document Type

Article

Publication Date

8-14-2019

Department

Atmospheric Sciences; Department of Physics; Department of Chemistry

Abstract

Soot particles form during combustion of carbonaceous materials and impact climate and air quality. When freshly emitted, they are typically fractal-like aggregates. After atmospheric aging, they can act as cloud condensation nuclei, and water condensation or evaporation restructure them to more compact aggregates, affecting their optical, aerodynamic, and surface properties. Here we survey the morphology of ambient soot particles from various locations and different environmental and aging conditions. We used electron microscopy and show extensive soot compaction after cloud processing. We further performed laboratory experiments to simulate atmospheric cloud processing under controlled conditions. We find that soot particles sampled after evaporating the cloud droplets, are significantly more compact than freshly emitted and interstitial soot, confirming that cloud processing, not just exposure to high humidity, compacts soot. Our findings have implications for how the radiative, surface, and aerodynamic properties, and the fate of soot particles are represented in numerical models.

Publisher's Statement

Article deposited here in compliance with publisher policies. Publisher's version of record: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-48143-y

Supporting Data

Supporting data can be accessed on Digital Commons @ Michigan Tech here: https://digitalcommons.mtu.edu/physics-fp/156/

Publication Title

Scientific Reports

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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