Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics www.atmos-chem-phys.net 1680-7316 1680-7324 9 20 2009 10.5194/acp-9-7691-2009 http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/9/7691/2009/ http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/9/7691/2009/acp-9-7691-2009.html http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/9/7691/2009/acp-9-7691-2009.pdf 7691 7710 2009-10-16 Simulation of particle size distribution with a global aerosol model: contribution of nucleation to aerosol and CCN number concentrations F. Yu yfq@asrc.cestm.albany.edu G. Luo Atmospheric Sciences Research Center, State University of New York, 251 Fuller Road, Albany, New York 12203, USA An advanced particle microphysics model with a number of computationally efficient schemes has been incorporated into a global chemistry transport model (GEOS-Chem) to simulate particle number size distributions and cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) concentrations in the atmosphere. Size-resolved microphysics for secondary particles (i.e., those formed from gaseous species) and sea salt has been treated in the present study. The growth of nucleated particles through the condensation of sulfuric acid vapor and equilibrium uptake of nitrate, ammonium, and secondary organic aerosol is explicitly simulated, along with the scavenging of secondary particles by primary particles (dust, black carbon, organic carbon, and sea salt). We calculate secondary particle formation rate based on ion-mediated nucleation (IMN) mechanism and constrain the parameterizations of primary particle emissions with various observations. Our simulations indicate that secondary particles formed via IMN appear to be able to account for the particle number concentrations observed in many parts of the troposphere. 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