Nucleation from atmospheric fluctuations

The atmosphere is a very non-uniform medium with fluctuations appearing over a wide range of length and time scales in concentrations of condensible materials and temperatures. We describe their significance for nucleation, particularly the binary homogeneous nucleation of sulphuric acid, Small-scale fluctuations in wind, temperature and humidity were observed at Swifterbank, North Holland, at a frequency of 18Hz. The physical origins of the observed correlations are deduced together with their implications for nucleation.