Aerosol number-to-volume-relationship and relative humidity in the eastern Atlantic

Abstract

Measurementsa cquiredf rom the Office of Naval Research( ONR) Pelican research aircraftd uringt he secondA erosolC haracterizationE xperiment( ACE 2) are analyzedt o derive valuesf or the dry (RH = 40%) aerosonl umber-to-volumrea tio in the submicrons izer ange. This ratioi s foundto ber elativelyc onstanwt,i tha meanv alueo f 168_ +2 1 gm- 3,i n agreemenwti th previouss tudiese lsewhere.T he impacto f ambientr elativeh umidity (RH) on the dry number-to-volumies alsoq uantifieda nd a procedurefo r estimatingth e dry from the ambientr atio established.F inally, the feasibilityo f a remoter etrievalo f the aerosoln umberc oncentrationin the submicrons izer ange,e ssentiallyth e cloudc ondensation ucleusc oncentrationa ctive at a nominal0 .2% supersaturationis, partially assessed.