ALBERT

Description: One dimensional atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) model coupled with detailed atmospheric chemistry and aerosol dynamical model, the model SOSAA, was used to predict the ABL and detailed aerosol population (characterized by the number size distribution) time evolution. The model was applied over a period of ten days in May 2013 for a pine forest site in southern Finland. The period was characterized by frequent new particle formation events and simultaneous intensive aerosol transformation. Throughout this study we refer to nucleation, condensational growth and coagulation as aerosol dynamical processes, i.e. the processes that govern the particle size distribution evolution. The aim of the study was to analyze and quantify the role of aerosol and ABL dynamics in vertical transport of aerosols. It was of particular interest to what extent the fluxes above canopy deviate due to above mentioned processes from the particle dry deposition on the canopy foliage. The model simulations revealed that the particle concentration change due to aerosol dynamics can frequently exceed the effect of particle deposition even an order of magnitude or more. The impact is however strongly dependent on particle size and time. In spite of the fact that the time scale of turbulent transfer inside canopy is much smaller than the time scales of aerosol dynamics and dry deposition, letting to assume well mixed properties of air, the fluxes at the canopy top frequently deviate from deposition inside forest. This is due to transformation of aerosol concentration throughout the ABL and resulting complicated pattern of vertical transport. Therefore we argue that the comparison of time scales of aerosol dynamics and deposition defined for the processes below the flux measurement level do not unambiguously describe the importance of aerosol dynamics for vertical transport within canopy. We conclude that under dynamical conditions the micrometeorological particle flux measurements such as performed by the eddy covariance technique do not generally represent the dry deposition. The deviation can be systematic for certain size ranges so that the conclusion applies also to time averaged particle fluxes.