Aerosol nucleation¶
Aerosol nucleation refers to the formation of new particles through gas-to-particle conversion processes. Nucleation processes are important to include in a global aerosol-climate model because of the following reasons:
- Nucleation is an important source of aerosol particle number concentration.
- Nucleation consumes gas-phase species and increases both the mass and number concentrations of aerosols, and therefore can affect other aerosol microphysics processes (e.g., condensation and coagulation).
- Newly formed particles are generally hydrophilic and not effectively scavenged due to their small sizes, so they can grow into larger sizes and act as cloud condensation nuclei and affect the formation of clouds and fog.