Resources of the ionized atmosphere as an aerosol source

The potential resources on the ion-stimulated syntheses effects of aerosol particles of lower troposphere in test sites in the arctic, mountain, arid and forest areas as the function of irradiation time and gas-precursor concentration were experimentally and theoretically evaluated. The dust-free outdoor air was irradiated with an ionization current of 10− 6 A by α-rays from isotope 239Pu. The total output of radiolytic aerosols (RA) with a diameter of 3–1000 nm was found to be 0.05–0.1 molecules per 1 eV of absorbed radiation, while the physical upper limit is 0.25–0.4 molecules/eV. In an interval of exposition time from 6 to 800 s (adsorbed energy is 3 · 1012–1014 eV/cm3) the RA mass concentration at different sites was increased from 1–10 to 50–500 μg/m3. According to the liquid chromatography data the major RA material is the H2O/HNO3 solution with acid concentration ∼ 25%. The used physical model presents new aerosols as a product from small and intermediate ion association through formation of neutral clusters and describes adequately some of the peculiarities in field experiment data. Introducing SO2, NH3, and also hydrochloric, nitric and sulphuric acid vapours with concentration 0.1–1 mg/m3 in the irradiated air stimulated an increase of mass aerosol concentration by a factor of 8–30. The mean size also decreased by a factor of 3–5. These facts allowed us to expect that the chemical composition of radiolytic aerosols generated in outdoor air would noticeably differ after addition of the gas-precursors.