New particle formation from isoprene under upper-tropospheric conditions
Aircraft observations have revealed ubiquitous new particle formation in the tropical upper troposphere over the Amazon<sup>1,2</sup> and the Atlantic and Pacific oceans<sup>3,4</sup>. 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 troposphere<sup>5</sup>. 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 10<sup>5</sup> cm<sup>-3</sup>, reaching rates around 30 cm<sup>-3</sup> s<sup>-1</sup> at acid concentrations of 10<sup>6</sup> cm<sup>-3</sup>. 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<sup>-1</sup>. We find that rapid nucleation and growth rates persist in the presence of NO<sub>x</sub> 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 troposphere<sup>1,2</sup>, resulting in tens of thousands of particles per cubic centimetre.
Authors
- Markku Kulmala (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3464-7825)
- J. Kirkby (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2341-9069)
- Maija Peltola (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7046-3057)
- Richard C. Flagan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5690-770X)
- Jens Top (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3318-4451)
- Nirvan Bhattacharyya (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3911-6492)
- Marcel Zauner-Wieczorek (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0867-665X)
- Rainer Volkamer (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0899-1369)
- Brandon Lopez
- Katrianne Lehtipalo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1660-2706)
- Siddharth Iyer (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5989-609X)
- António Tomé (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9144-7120)
- Birte Rörup (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8755-9453)
- Hartwig Harder (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6868-714X)
- Wenjuan Yu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5439-141X)
- Yandong Tong (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2304-4850)
- Douglas R. Worsnop (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8928-8017)
- Jos Lelieveld (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6307-3846)
- Joachim Curtius (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3153-4630)
- Siegfried Schobesberger (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5777-4897)
- Martin Heinritzi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9171-8127)
- Ilona Riipinen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9085-2319)
- Lejish Vettikkat (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6808-5643)
- Neil M. Donahue (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3054-2364)
- Kalju Tamme
- Paul M. Winkler (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6861-6029)
- Nsikanabasi Silas Umo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2571-163X)
- Xu‐Cheng He (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7416-306X)
- Mónica Martínez
- Urs Baltensperger (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0079-8713)
- Jiali Shen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8701-7929)
- Lubna Dada (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1105-9043)
- Rima Baalbaki (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4480-2107)
- Rómulo Cruz-Simbrón (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5942-9918)
- Andreas Kürten (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8955-4450)
- Dina Alfaouri (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0215-3786)
- A. Amorim (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0638-2321)
- Manjula R. Canagaratna (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8803-4007)
- Eva Sommer (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7415-8386)
- Urs Rohner
- Roseline C. Thakur (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3238-4171)
- T. Christoudias (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9050-3880)
- Manuel Granzin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6734-9811)
- Markus Lampimäki (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1990-6155)
- Mihnea Surdu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1815-2750)
- Wiebke Scholz (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2617-620X)
- Heikki Junninen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7178-9430)
- Sarah Richter (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4906-0499)
- Imad El Haddad (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2461-7238)
- Zhensen Zheng
- Hamish Gordon (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1822-3224)
- Mario Simon (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4900-7460)
- Lisa Beck (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3700-5895)
- Jonathan Duplissy (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8819-0264)
- Antti Onnela (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9946-9762)
- Armin Hansel (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1062-2394)
- Ottmar Möhler (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7551-9814)
- Bernhard Mentler (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3852-0397)
- Gabriela R. Unfer (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8727-2831)
- Jenna DeVivo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0003-5097-1008)
- Lucía Caudillo-Plath
- Mago Reza
- Lu Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9818-6282)
- Boxing Yang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0002-0450-8955)
- João Almeida (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8502-2721)
- Jiangyi Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0007-5244-5334)
- Christos Xenofontos (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0004-7637-5199)
- Felix Kunkler (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0001-4168-9137)
- Thinus F. Kruger (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0008-6569-2761)
- H. Beckmann (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0007-9685-5757)
- Douglas M. Russell (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1434-247X)
- Milin Kaniyodical Sebastian (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6549-4932)
- Emelda Ahongshangbam (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0000-0552-6368)
- Hannah Klebach (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0009-7233-6295)
- Moritz Berntheusel
- Anouck Chassaing (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0002-5478-814X)
- Lena Große Schute
- Aleksandra Morawiec
- Pedro Rato (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5536-8879)
- Jakob Weissbacher
Institutions
- Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (DE)
- Goethe University Frankfurt (DE)
- California Institute of Technology (US)
- Finnish Meteorological Institute (FI)
- University of Vienna (AT)
- University of Helsinki (FI)
- University of Lisbon (PT)
- Cyprus Institute (CY)
- University of Beira Interior (PT)
- Stockholm University (SE)
- Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (US)
- Tampere University (FI)
- University of Eastern Finland (FI)
- University of Colorado Boulder (US)
- Universität Innsbruck (AT)
- University of Cambridge (GB)
- Helsinki Institute of Physics (FI)
- Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies (DE)
- Paul Scherrer Institute (CH)
- Helsinki Institute for Information Technology (FI)
- Ionicon Analytik (Austria) (AT)
- Tofwerk (Switzerland) (CH)
- Aerodyne Research (US)
- Max Planck Institute for Chemistry (DE)
- Leibniz Institute for Tropospheric Research (DE)
- University of Tartu (EE)
- European Organization for Nuclear Research (CH)
- Carnegie Mellon University (US)
- Beijing University of Chemical Technology (CN)
- Nanjing University (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Nature
- Published
- 2024-12-04
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-08196-0
- Citations
- 37
- Primary Topic
- Atmospheric chemistry and aerosols
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 13.92