Christina J Williamson, Stephan Borrmann, Philipp Brauner, Charles A Brock, Teresa Campos, Theodoros Christoudias, Francesco D'Amato, Antonis Dragoneas, Oliver Eppers, Shawn Honomichl, Matthias Kohl, Franziska Köllner, Agnieszka Kupc, Young Ro Lee, Ming Lyu, Georgia Michailoudi, Laura L Pan, Anne E Perring, Andrea Pozzer, Dylan Simone, Warren P Smith, Holger Tost, Rei Ueyama, Kirk Ullmann, Ville Vakkari, Silvia Viciani, Aki Virkkula, Ralf Weigel, Sarah Woods, Christos Xenofontos
The Asian Summer Monsoon (ASM) lofts air from polluted boundary layer regions to the upper-troposphere and lower-stratosphere. High concentrations of aerosols have been observed in ASM outflow, which influence climate by interacting with radiation and clouds and affecting atmospheric composition. Prior observations indicate that small particles form in ASM convective outflow. Laboratory and modelling studies hypothesise the importance of lofted ammonia in this process and growth of the particles to sizes where they can interact with radiation and clouds. Here we combine in-situ observation in ASM convective outflow with trajectory and Earth-system modelling to show the likely role of pollution in enhancing ASM outflow new particle formation. We show that the particles grow to sizes where they can interact with clouds and radiation, and are transported over large areas within the troposphere and stratosphere.