MEASUREMENTS OF ATMOSPHERIC CONDENSATION NUCLEI SIZE DISTRIBUTIONS IN SIBERIA

The least investigated atmospheric aerosol is the one in remote continental areas. In this study, measurements of condensation nuclei size distributions near Lake Baikal, Siberia, were performed. Data for total aerosol number concentration and aerosol size distribution were obtained. The measurement equipment consisted of a TSI screen diffusion battery (SDB) Model 3040 and a TSI condensational nuclei counter (CNC) Model 3020. The average aerosol number concentration was about 10(4) cm-3. The evolution of aerosol number concentration during the day is correlated with the solar radiation. The inversion problem was solved using Tihonov's regularisation procedure. The possibility of applying this algorithm was tested in computer simulations. Different forms of aerosol size distributions were observed. The maximum radius of the distributions changes from 10 nm to about 100 nm. The data obtained are in agreement with existing theories. It is planned to continue the measurements in the next years to obtain further results.