Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics www.atmos-chem-phys.net 1680-7316 1680-7324 9 9 2009 10.5194/acp-9-2959-2009 http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/9/2959/2009/ http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/9/2959/2009/acp-9-2959-2009.html http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/9/2959/2009/acp-9-2959-2009.pdf 2959 2971 2009-05-06 Increased cloud activation potential of secondary organic aerosol for atmospheric mass loadings S. M. King T. Rosenoern J. E. Shilling Q. Chen S. T. Martin scot_martin@harvard.edu School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA now at: Institut de Recherches sur la Catalyse et l'Environnement de Lyon, UMR5256, Université de Lyon 1, CNRS, Villeurbanne, France now at: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Atmospheric Sciences and Global Change Division, Richland, WA 99352, USA The effect of organic particle mass loading from 1 to ≥100 μg m^−3 on the cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) properties of mixed organic-sulfate particles was investigated in the Harvard Environmental Chamber. Mixed particles were produced by the condensation of organic molecules onto ammonium sulfate particles during the dark ozonolysis of α-pinene. A continuous-flow mode of the chamber provided stable conditions over long time periods, allowing for signal integration and hence increased measurement precision at low organic mass loadings representative of atmospheric conditions. CCN activity was measured at eight mass loadings for 80- and 100-nm particles grown on 50-nm sulfate seeds. A two-component (organic/sulfate) Köhler model, which included the particle heterogeneity arising from DMA size selection and from organic volume fraction for the selected 80- and 100-nm particles, was used to predict CCN activity. For organic mass loadings of 2.9 μg m^−3 and greater, the observed activation curves were well predicted using a single set of physicochemical parameters for the organic component. For mass loadings of 1.74 μg m^−3 and less, the observed CCN activity increased beyond predicted values using the same parameters, implying changed physicochemical properties of the organic component. 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