Sensitivity of predicted ultrafine particle size distributions  in Europe to different nucleation rate parameterizations  using PMCAMx-UF v2.2

Patoulias, David; Florou, Kalliopi; Pandis, Spyros N.

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-1103-2025

Articles | Volume 18, issue 4

https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-1103-2025

© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-1103-2025

© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 18, issue 4

Model evaluation paper

|

26 Feb 2025

Model evaluation paper |

| 26 Feb 2025

Sensitivity of predicted ultrafine particle size distributions in Europe to different nucleation rate parameterizations using PMCAMx-UF v2.2

David Patoulias, Kalliopi Florou, and Spyros N. Pandis

Supplement

https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-1103-2025-supplement

Model code and software

Code: PMCAMx-UF version 2.1 (Particulate Matter Comprehensive Air-quality Model with extensions – Ultra-Fine) S. Pandis and D. Patoulias, D. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10078189

Code: PMCAMx-UF version 2.2 (Particulate Matter Comprehensive Air-quality Model with extensions – Ultra-Fine) (with Ternary Organic Nucleation) S. Patoulias and S. Pandis https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.12720811

Analysis Codes and Data for GMD Publication: Sensitivity of predicted ultrafine particle size distributions in Europe to different nucleation rate parameterizations using PMCAMx-UF v2.1 and v2.2 D. Patoulias et al. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13348332

Short summary

The effect of the assumed atmospheric nucleation mechanism on particle number concentrations and size distribution was investigated. Two quite different mechanisms involving sulfuric acid and ammonia or a biogenic organic vapor gave quite similar results which were consistent with measurements at 26 measurement stations across Europe. The number of larger particles that serve as cloud condensation nuclei showed little sensitivity to the assumed nucleation mechanism.