Measurements of aerosol charging states in Helsinki, Finland

Abstract. The charging state of aerosol populations was measured with an Ion-DMPS in Helsinki, Finland between December 2008 and February 2010. Based on the charging states, we calculated the ion-induced nucleation fraction to be around 0.8 % ± 0.9 %. We review the role of ion-induced nucleation and propose different explanations for a low ion-induced nucleation participation in urban areas. We present a new method to retrieve the average charging state for an event, and a given size. We also use a new theoretical framework that allows for different concentrations of small cluster ions for different polarities (polarity asymmetry). We extrapolate the ion-induced fraction using polarity symmetry and asymmetry. Finally, a method to calculate the growth rates from the variation of the charging state as a function of the particle diameter using polarity symmetry and asymmetry is presented and used on a selection of new particle formation events.