The impact of organic coatings on light scattering by sodium chloride particles

Light scattering by airborne particles plays a major role in visibility degradation and climate change. The composition and structure of particles in air can be complex, so that predictions of light scattering a priori have significant uncertainties. We report here studies of light scattering by NaCl, a model for airborne salt particles from the ocean and alkaline lakes, with and without an organic coating formed from the low volatility products of the reaction of α-pinene with ozone at room temperature at 1 atm in air. Light scattering at 450, 550 and 700 nm was measured using an integrating nephelometer on particles whose size distribution was independently determined using a scanning mobility particle sizer (SMPS). For comparison, polystyrene latex spheres (PSL) of a known size and dioctylphthalate (DOP) particles generated with a narrow size distribution were also studied. The measured values were compared to those calculated using Mie theory. Although excellent agreement between experiment and theory was found for the PSL and DOP particles, there were large discrepancies for a polydisperse NaCl sample. These were traced to errors in the size distribution measurements. Despite the use of 85Kr neutralizers, the Boltzmann charge equilibrium distribution assumption used to derive particle size distributions from SMPS data was shown not to be valid, leading to an overestimate of the concentration of larger particles and their contribution to light scattering. Correcting for this, the combination of experiments and theory show that as salt takes up low volatility organics in the atmosphere and the geometric mean diameter increases, the effect on light scattering may be reasonably approximated from the change in size distribution under conditions where the organic coating is small relative to the core size. However, for a given particle diameter, light scattering decreases as the relative contribution of the organic component increases. Thus, light scattering by salt particles with a specific size distribution will be reduced when organics comprise a significant portion of the particles. This will lessen their impact on the visual range compared to pure salt particles, but also lead to less counterbalancing of the tropospheric warming due to greenhouse gases.

► Organic coatings on NaCl particles decrease light scattering compared to pure NaCl.
► Thin organic coatings on NaCl increase light scattering via an increase in size.
► 85Kr neutralizers may not always provide a Boltzmann equilibrium charge distribution.