How Microscale Flow and Vapor Transport Shape New Particle Formation and Growth.
- 1School of Earth, Environment and Sustainability, University of Leeds, LeedsLS2 9JT, U.K.
- 2Environmental Research Group, School of Public Health, Imperial College London, White City Campus, Wood Lane, LondonW12 0BZ, U.K.
- 3PSI Center for Energy and Environmental Sciences , Villigen5232, Switzerland.
Abstract
Accurate simulation of atmospheric new particle formation (NPF) remains limited because large-scale models cannot resolve aerosol processes at fine spatial scales, while detailed microphysics models assume spatially homogeneous conditions. Here we use a high-resolution three-dimensional multiphysics framework (3D-ICAM) to quantify how environmental heterogeneity governs NPF dynamics at meter scales. Simulations at 10 m resolution across contrasting emission geometries reveal that spatial gradients in wind and precursor vapor convergence substantially modify local nucleation intensity, particle growth rates, and size-distribution structure. Under weak-wind conditions (<1 m s-1) the model reproduces nucleation "hotspots", intermittent multiepisode nucleation, and persistently bimodal size distributions absent under homogeneous conditions. Comparison with an equivalent box (0D) model isolates the effect of spatial structure: resolving it raises predicted growth rates at the survival-limiting sub-3 nm sizes by up to ∼20× and brings modeled growth within the range of field observations, whereas the box model underpredicts across the size spectrum. This occurs because localized, transport-generated microenvironments relax the growth-scavenging competition that governs particle survival. Meter-scale environmental structure therefore strongly influences urban NPF and must be considered when interpreting observations, constraining nucleation mechanisms, and predicting particle number and cloud condensation nuclei budgets.
Related
- Elevated Outdoor O3 Can Sustain New Particle Formation and Growth Indoors
- Vertically extended cylindrical wood scrolls with guided water transport for salt-resistant all-day vapor generation
- West-WRF AI 2-km: High-Resolution Prediction of Integrated Vapor Transport and Precipitation
- Formation of Refractory Monomethylmercury Pools by Particle Adsorption
- New Insights Into Nighttime Marine Sulfur and Nitrogen Chemistry and Related New Particle Formation Using the CLEPS Model
BibTeX
@article{ghosh2026microscale,
title = {{How Microscale Flow and Vapor Transport Shape New Particle Formation and Growth.}},
author = {Kunal Ghosh and Gargi Sengupta and Suneeti Mishra},
journal = {Environmental science \& technology},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1021/acs.est.6c10206},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42915943},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - How Microscale Flow and Vapor Transport Shape New Particle Formation and Growth.
AU - Kunal Ghosh
AU - Gargi Sengupta
AU - Suneeti Mishra
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/01
JO - Environmental science & technology
DO - 10.1021/acs.est.6c10206
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42915943
AB - Accurate simulation of atmospheric new particle formation (NPF) remains limited because large-scale models cannot resolve aerosol processes at fine spatial scales, while detailed microphysics models assume spatially homogeneous conditions. Here we use a high-resolution three-dimensional multiphysics framework (3D-ICAM) to quantify how environmental heterogeneity governs NPF dynamics at meter scales. Simulations at 10 m resolution across contrasting emission geometries reveal that spatial gradients in wind and precursor vapor convergence substantially modify local nucleation intensity, particle growth rates, and size-distribution structure. Under weak-wind conditions (<1 m s-1) the model reproduces nucleation "hotspots", intermittent multiepisode nucleation, and persistently bimodal size distributions absent under homogeneous conditions. Comparison with an equivalent box (0D) model isolates the effect of spatial structure: resolving it raises predicted growth rates at the survival-limiting sub-3 nm sizes by up to ∼20× and brings modeled growth within the range of field observations, whereas the box model underpredicts across the size spectrum. This occurs because localized, transport-generated microenvironments relax the growth-scavenging competition that governs particle survival. Meter-scale environmental structure therefore strongly influences urban NPF and must be considered when interpreting observations, constraining nucleation mechanisms, and predicting particle number and cloud condensation nuclei budgets.
SN - 0013-936X
SN - 1520-5851
ER -