Model studies on ion-induced nucleation in the atmosphere -: art. no. 4427

A new model for ion-induced nucleation and charged aerosol dynamics is presented in this paper. It was found that ion-induced nucleation is able to produce a considerable amount of new particles if the preexisting particle concentration is sufficiently low. Also, when only positive or negative ions nucleate a large amount of particles in observable sizes was produced. It was also found that there can be continuous nucleation in particle sizes below the detection limit of most commonly used aerosol instruments at low temperatures and high preexisting particle concentrations. In some simulated conditions, fair agreement with observed particle formation events in boreal forest environment was achieved. According to the results, in certain situations ion-induced nucleation changes the charge distribution of the particles, which may allow the observation of ion-induced nucleation in the atmospheric conditions.