Download or read book Connecting Chemistry and Climate Through Aerosol Particles: Laboratory and Field Studies of Cloud Condensation Nuclei written by Douglas Bradford Collins and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page 255 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The influence of aerosol particles on the Earth's climate is a major driver of scientific uncertainty in assessing future conditions. The importance of aerosols in their role as cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) and ice nuclei (IN), known as the Aerosol Indirect Effect, is most poorly understood. The number concentration of CCN available to nucleate droplets can have important influences on cloud albedo, lifetime, and propensity to form precipitation. Natural sources are of particular importance, since the absolute influence of aerosols on cloud properties is highly sensitive to background concentrations of CCN before anthropogenic emissions. Chemical studies of sea spray aerosol (SSA) particles, the second most abundant type of natural aerosol globally, were conducted to better understand the influence of marine organic matter on CCN activity. While direct chemical measurements of aerosol particles with diameter (d) > 500 nm indicated that the production mechanism of SSA controls particle composition, especially with respect to the amount of organic matter transferred across the air-sea interface. CCN activity studies, on the other hand, showed a weak dependence on seawater organic matter concentration. The extent to which organic matter and sea salt were externally mixed for particles with d