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Urban background aerosols: negative correlations of particle modes and fragmentation mechanism

Gramotnev, Galina and Madl, Pierre and Gramotnev, Dmitri and Burchill, Michael J. (2007) Urban background aerosols: negative correlations of particle modes and fragmentation mechanism. Geophysical Research Letters 34(L11811).

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Abstract

We demonstrate new powerful methods of statistical analysis of atmospheric aerosols on the example of urban background aerosol in the Brisbane area, Australia. It is shown that even in the absence of notable features on the size distribution, it is still possible to identify distinct particles modes and analyze their mutual interactions and transformations. The obtained unique anti-symmetric correlation patterns between particle modes may serve as fingerprints of particular evolutionary processes in the background aerosols. The obtained results suggest that thermal fragmentation of nano-particles may be one of the major physical mechanisms shaping urban background aerosols. In particular, based on the fragmentation theorem, we demonstrate possible existence of substantially different time scales for fragmentation of atmospheric aerosols. The proposed approaches and obtained results may also be important for the analysis of different types of atmospheric aerosols on local, regional and global scales.

Item Type:Journal Article
Status:Published
Keywords:Urban aerosols, Statistical analysis, Multi-channel correlations, Sources of particles, Fragmentation of nanoparticles
Subjects:230000 Mathematical Sciences > 230200 Statistics > 230202 Stochastic Analysis and Modelling
240000 Physical Sciences > 249900 Other Physical Sciences > 249999 Physical Sciences not elsewhere classified
260000 Earth Sciences > 260600 Atmospheric Sciences > 260699 Atmospheric Sciences not elsewhere classified
230000 Mathematical Sciences > 230200 Statistics > 230204 Applied Statistics
ID Code:6584
Deposited By:Gramotnev, Dmitri K.
Deposited On:19 March 2007
Alternative Locations:http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2006GL029109
Copyright Owner:Copyright 2007 American Geophysical Union
Copyright Statement:Reproduced in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher.