Modeling the effects of heterogeneous cloud chemistry on the marine particle size distribution

Abstract

An explicit microphysical cloud model with size‐resolved chemistry is utilized to assess the impact of an externally mixed, marine aerosol on the magnitude of sulfate production in‐cloud and how the sulfate is distributed over dry particle size. Consequences of the distribution for the light‐scattering efficiency of the sulfate and its efficiency as cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) are evaluated. The model results suggest that the presence of alkaline sea‐salt particles has a significant impact on the magnitude of sulfate produced in‐cloud, its size distribution, light‐scattering efficiency, and CCN efficiency.