Cloud Condensation Nuclei Behavior and Closure Assessment for the Northwest Atlantic Ocean

Advancing knowledge of cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) characteristics has important consequences for weather and climate, making field observations vital. This work characterizes CCN using airborne data from the Aerosol Cloud meTeorology Interactions oVer the western ATlantic Experiment (ACTIVATE) spanning areas from the U.S. East Coast to Bermuda between November 2020 through June 2022. CCN concentrations at the most commonly sampled supersaturation (SS; 0.37–0.43%) ranged from medians of 652 cm–3 in summer to 460 cm–3 in winter, dropping to 310 cm–3 near Bermuda in June. The median observed hygroscopicity parameter (κ) varied from 0.19–0.21 across winter, spring, and summer and increased to 0.97 near Bermuda. Using speciated composition and number size distribution measurements, we predict CCN concentrations with those measured at SS ranging from 0.16–0.72%, revealing that the cumulative median predicted-to-observed CCN ratio was 1.08, with the best agreement in spring (1.10) and the largest discrepancies near Bermuda (0.89). CCN overpredictions were associated with biomass burning events in summer, while CCN were largely underestimated near Bermuda due to higher observed κ than assumed for inorganics. This study provides key insights into CCN activity over the northwest Atlantic, capturing the transition from polluted to remote oceanic environments.

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Publication Details

Journal
ACS ES&T Air
Published
2025-10-27
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1021/acsestair.5c00151
Citations
1
Primary Topic
Atmospheric chemistry and aerosols
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
1.30
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article

Cloud Condensation Nuclei Behavior and Closure Assessment for the Northwest Atlantic Ocean

Cassidy Soloff, K. L. Thornhill, Michael A. Shook, Ewan Crosbie et al.
1 citations
ACS ES&T Air
Atmospheric chemistry and aerosols
1.30
article

Cloud Condensation Nuclei Behavior and Closure Assessment for the Northwest Atlantic Ocean

Cassidy Soloff, K. L. Thornhill, Michael A. Shook, Ewan Crosbie, Richard H. Moore, Shuaiqi Tang, Jens Redemann, Armin Sorooshian, Christiane Voigt, Glenn S. Diskin, Luke D. Ziemba, Edward L. Winstead, Hailong Wang, Simon Kirschler, Emily D. Lenhardt, Lan Gao
article en
1 citations

Abstract

Advancing knowledge of cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) characteristics has important consequences for weather and climate, making field observations vital. This work characterizes CCN using airborne data from the Aerosol Cloud meTeorology Interactions oVer the western ATlantic Experiment (ACTIVATE) spanning areas from the U.S. East Coast to Bermuda between November 2020 through June 2022. CCN concentrations at the most commonly sampled supersaturation (SS; 0.37–0.43%) ranged from medians of 652 cm–3 in summer to 460 cm–3 in winter, dropping to 310 cm–3 near Bermuda in June. The median observed hygroscopicity parameter (κ) varied from 0.19–0.21 across winter, spring, and summer and increased to 0.97 near Bermuda. Using speciated composition and number size distribution measurements, we predict CCN concentrations with those measured at SS ranging from 0.16–0.72%, revealing that the cumulative median predicted-to-observed CCN ratio was 1.08, with the best agreement in spring (1.10) and the largest discrepancies near Bermuda (0.89). CCN overpredictions were associated with biomass burning events in summer, while CCN were largely underestimated near Bermuda due to higher observed κ than assumed for inorganics. This study provides key insights into CCN activity over the northwest Atlantic, capturing the transition from polluted to remote oceanic environments.

ACS ES&T AirVol. 2(11)
NSF National Center for Atmospheric Research (US), Langley Research Center (US), University of Arizona (US), Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (US), Norsk Hydro (Germany) (DE), Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e. V. (DLR) (DE), Analytical Mechanics Associates (United States) (US), Czech Academy of Sciences, Institute of Atmospheric Physics (CZ), Atmospheric and Environmental Research (US), University of Oklahoma (US), Nanjing University (CN)
Openalex Percentile: Top 17%
Atmospheric chemistry and aerosols
1.30
DOISourceOpenAlex
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