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New particle formation in forests inhibited by isoprene emissions

Nature volume 461, pages 381–384 (2009)Cite this article

Abstract

It has been suggested that volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are involved in organic aerosol formation, which in turn affects radiative forcing and climate1. The most abundant VOCs emitted by terrestrial vegetation are isoprene and its derivatives, such as monoterpenes and sesquiterpenes2. New particle formation in boreal regions is related to monoterpene emissions3 and causes an estimated negative radiative forcing4 of about -0.2 to -0.9 W m-2. The annual variation in aerosol growth rates during particle nucleation events correlates with the seasonality of monoterpene emissions of the local vegetation, with a maximum during summer5. The frequency of nucleation events peaks, however, in spring and autumn5. Here we present evidence from simulation experiments conducted in a plant chamber that isoprene can significantly inhibit new particle formation. The process leading to the observed decrease in particle number concentration is linked to the high reactivity of isoprene with the hydroxyl radical (OH). The suppression is stronger with higher concentrations of isoprene, but with little dependence on the specific VOC mixture emitted by trees. A parameterization of the observed suppression factor as a function of isoprene concentration suggests that the number of new particles produced depends on the OH concentration and VOCs involved in the production of new particles undergo three to four steps of oxidation by OH. Our measurements simulate conditions that are typical for forested regions and may explain the observed seasonality in the frequency of aerosol nucleation events, with a lower number of nucleation events during summer compared to autumn and spring5. Biogenic emissions of isoprene are controlled by temperature and light2, and if the relative isoprene abundance of biogenic VOC emissions increases in response to climate change or land use change, the new particle formation potential may decrease, thus damping the aerosol negative radiative forcing effect.

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Figure 1: Time series of particle properties for two experiments.
Figure 2: Experimentally observed particle number as function of OH concentration.
Figure 3: Inhibition of particle number concentration as a function of the carbon based ratio of isoprene to other VOC concentrations.

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Acknowledgements

We gratefully acknowledge support by the European Commission (IP-EUCAARI, contract number 036833-2).

Author Contributions A.K.-S., T.F.M. and J.W. developed the basic JPAC set-up and designed the study. All measurements were conducted by E.K., T.H., R.T. and R.U. Interpretation of the data was performed by A.K.-S., M.D.M. and J.W. A.K.-S. wrote the manuscript. A.K.-S., J.W., T.F.M., M.D.M. and A.W. discussed and commented on the manuscript. A.W. and U.S. provided the working environment and financial support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut ICG-2, Troposphäre,,

    Astrid Kiendler-Scharr, Miikka Dal Maso, Thorsten Hohaus, Thomas F. Mentel, Ralf Tillmann & Andreas Wahner

  2. Institut ICG-3, Phytosphäre, Forschungszentrum Jülich, Jülich 52425, Germany ,

    Jürgen Wildt, Einhard Kleist, Ricarda Uerlings & Uli Schurr

  3. Department of Physics, University of Helsinki, 00014 Helsinki, Finland

    Miikka Dal Maso

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  1. Astrid Kiendler-Scharr
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Correspondence to Astrid Kiendler-Scharr.

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Kiendler-Scharr, A., Wildt, J., Maso, M. et al. New particle formation in forests inhibited by isoprene emissions. Nature 461, 381–384 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature08292

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