Abstract

Atmospheric aerosols are of great importance in the Earth’s atmospheric system. They are central to our understanding of the climate, where they both directly and indirectly interact with solar radiation. Directly they can scatter and absorb radiation. Indirectly, they form cloud condensation nuclei, and ice nuclei, which dictate the formation of clouds and therefore further perturb the albedo of the Earth. Aerosols also provide surfaces and volumes for important atmospheric reactions to occur upon. Aerosols are also implicated in human health issues.

In this talk I will highlight my work from the last two years looking into how the physical characteristics of aerosols change in a dynamic atmospheric environment. In particular I will discuss how changes in atmospheric temperature, relative humidity and chemical oxidant concentration can perturb aerosol composition and size. A variety of laboratory and modelling tools have used for this investigation including electrodynamic balance, aerosol flow tube, environmental scanning electron microscope, and high resolution mass spectrometry. Furthermore I will discuss recent work on the role of pollen as aerosol and their potential role as giant cloud condensation nuclei.